Renewable and sustainable energy efficiency: An analysis of Latin American countries

The rise in energy consumption is a serious problem in the modern world. Therefore, policies to ensure energy efficiency have become a priority for any nation that is looking to develop its economy. Considering that Latin America has shown rapid economic development and plays an important role in the world economy, the objective of this work was to measure and analyze the renewable energy sources and energy efficiency of the Latin American countries, providing information on benchmark countries. Data envelopment analysis, the slacks‐based measure model with variable returns to scale and window analysis were used, and from the slacks provided, the total‐factor energy efficiency, the total‐factor carbon emissions efficiency, and renewable and sustainable energy efficiency indices were calculated. The inputs used were gross fixed capital formation, labor, and energy consumption; and the outputs used were CO2 emissions (undesirable output) and gross domestic product (desired output). The results showed that Brazil is the country with the highest RSEE, followed by Venezuela and Uruguay.