Innovations in Energy Efficiency Management: Role of Public Governance

Abstract

The article summarizes the arguments and counter-arguments within the scientific debate on the influence of state administration on innovations in energy efficiency management of the national economy. The main goal of the conducted research is to form and prove a hypothesis regarding the effectiveness of the methodological toolkit for assessing the impact of the level of government efficiency on the divergent energy efficiency subindex of the national economy. The systematization of literary sources and approaches to solving the problem of the role of state administration in the context of the formation of innovations in energy efficiency management proved that active discussions are currently underway on this topic. The urgency of solving this scientific problem is to develop an effective mechanism for finding additional determinants of influence on the level of energy efficiency for the further possibility of harmonizing domestic and European energy policies. The study of the role of state management of the innovative component of energy efficiency development in the article is carried out in the following logical sequence: at the first stage, the initial data array was formed, which was checked for multicollinearity (Pearson’s correlation coefficient) and normality of distribution (graphic quantile method of comparing two probability distributions) using statistical analysis tools at the second and third stages; at the fourth stage, a quantile regression OLS model was built, which allows taking into account the heterogeneity of the studied factors. Methods of bibliometric and comparative analysis, correlational and quantile methods became the methodological tools of the conducted research, the years from 2000 to 2020 were chosen as the research period. Ukraine and the EU countries (27) were chosen as the object of the study, because they allow us to compare the level of energy efficiency of countries and their positions in the world ranking of the quality of public administration. The article presents the results of an empirical analysis and found that for Ukraine, the diffusion of green innovations leads to a slight increase in the level of energy efficiency of the national economy by 0.7%, while for the countries of the European Union – by an average of 3%. The experience of the countries of the European Union shows that the multiplier effect in increasing the energy efficiency of the national economy is provided by the growth of green innovations and the activation of the green investment market. Increasing the efficiency of public administration to the level of reference countries will allow to increase the divergent energy efficiency sub-index for Ukraine by 16.1% for the rule of law, 18.9% for the government’s ability to openly implement policies and regulatory measures, and 10.7% for corruption control. The results of the conducted research may be useful for further research in the field of energy efficiency of the national economy.