Do skills enable the reduction of emissions from household energy use? Findings from a survey of households in rural India

Hermannsson, K. et al. (2024) Do skills enable the reduction of emissions from household energy use? Findings from a survey of households in rural India. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 76(2), pp. 447-467. (doi: 10.1080/13636820.2023.2283733)

Abstract

We use new survey data from 1,203 households in rural Eastern India to estimate cross-sectional models of overall energy use and embedded emissions. Findings indicate that the primary driver of household energy use is household size and affluence. This is unsurprising and consistent with findings from the engineering literature on energy demand. However, there is also a substantial and significant moderating influence of skills on energy use. For emissions, we observe a bifurcated relationship in line with educational attainment. For those that have completed secondary education or more, skills are negatively associated with energy use and emissions, whereas for those with lesser qualifications more skills are associated with more energy use and emissions. The results are consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve, which implies that a critical level of affluence is required before environmental impacts start lessening. The results also echo a sociological critique of human capital theory − that individual abilities are not productive in and of themselves, but rather in relation to socially determined opportunity structures. Our findings show that this could also hold for greenhouse gas emissions.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: The work was supported by the Scottish Funding Council [SFC/AN/14/2019]; Scandurra acknowledges additional funding as a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación Grants Programme fellow (Ref. IJC2019-040056-I).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: You, Dr Siming and Gordon, Professor Jillian and Watson, Dr Ian and Gillespie, Dr Steven and Hermannsson, Professor Kristinn
• Authors: Hermannsson, K., Scandurra, R., Sarangi, S., Chaturvedi, P., Bhaskar, T., Pandey, A., Krishna, B. B., Gillespie, S., Gordon, J., Bongiovanni, I., Watson, I., and You, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy; College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management; College of Social Sciences > School of Education; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Educational Leadership & Policy; College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Journal Name: Journal of Vocational Education and Training
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1363-6820
• ISSN (Online): 1747-5090
• Published Online: 28 November 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Journal of Vocational Education and Training 76(2):447-467
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence