Energy-intensity developments for 19 OECD countries and 51 sectors

A principal aim of this paper is to introduce and discuss a new database that combines the recently launched ‘EU KLEMS Growth and Productivity Accounts’ with physical-energy data from the International Energy Agency (IEA). We do so by means of an empirical analysis consisting of the following components at various levels of sectoral detail. First, we document per country the growth rates of energy use, value added and energy intensity (i.e. the ratio of energy use to value added). Second, we compare levels of energy intensity across countries and analyze the evolution of the observed cross-country differences over time. Third, by means of a decomposition analysis we calculate for each country to what extent aggregate energy-intensity trends can be explained from, respectively, shifts in the underlying sectoral structure and efficiency improvements within individual sectors. Finally, we identify issues and areas of research within the field of energy economics where these data may be applied fruitfully.