Econometric Analysis of the Effect of Urbanization on Energy Security in Africa: Evidence from Panel Data for Selected African Countries

Abstract

The aim of study was to investigate the effect of urbanization on energy security in Africa. Panel data were collected from 30 African countries including both developing and world development indicators for the period of 2000-2019. Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STRIPAT) model was used to identify the effect of urbanization and related factor on energy security. Energy efficiency was measured as the ratio of GDP to total energy consumption. Fixed effect regression technique was used to estimate the coefficient and their result indicate that urbanization, industrialization and per capita income can improve energy security in Africa. Industrialization improves energy security based on economies of scale mainly investing in energy saving technology. Government of African countries should optimize industrialization and urbanization while paying attention on improving the technology to reduce energy consumption, invest in energy saving technology to ensure energy security in their development process. Diversifying the source of energy has been considered as a way of ensuring energy sustainability.

Keywords: energy security, urbanization, STRIPAT model, panel data, Africa

DOI: 10.7176/JETP/10-2-02

Publication date: April 30^th 2020