The effect of population growth and energy intensity on electricity consumption in Ghana.

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October 2016
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Electricity use has become a necessary and key input and an engine for growth for most economies in the world. In this era of industrialization, the quantity of electricity consumed in a country has been linked closely with economic structure and the level of population growth. This study investigates the effect of population growth and electricity intensity on electricity consumption in Ghana. The study employed two methods to individually assess the impact of population growth and energy intensity on electricity consumption on one hand and the sector effect of electricity intensity on electricity consumption on the other hand. Vector autoregressive (VAR) model was employed to ascertain the impact of Ghana’s growing population and energy intensity on electricity consumption using time series data from 1980 - 2015. Findings of the model reveal that population growth has a positive significant impact on electricity consumption whiles intensity has a significant negative effect on electricity consumption. The decomposition analysis also revealed that intensity impacts negatively on electricity consumption. The study further revealed that activity effect is the major contributor of electricity consumption. The study therefore recommends more rigorous energy conservation policies and that policies on efficient gadget use should be enforced to avoid energy loses. Also, it further recommends that households should be encouraged to use renewable energy as supplement, so as to cut back intensity on the national grid.
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A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Economics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Economics)
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