Sustainable energy, environmental protection, and global warming are the most discussed topics in today’s world. Demand forecasting is paramount for the design of energy generation systems to meet the increasing energy demand. In this chapter, an examination of the causal nexus between energy consumption, total population, greenhouse gas emissions, and per capita GDP was carried out to forecast Zimbabwe’s energy consumption by 2030. A time series data from 1980 to 2012 were employed alongside econometric techniques to explore the causal relationship among the variables under review. The stationary test revealed the integration of all the data series of interest of order one ∼ I(1). The autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model forecasted Zimbabwe’s 2030 energy demand around 0.183 quadrillion Btu as against the current 0.174 quadrillion Btu. The empirical finding is indicative for policy- and decision makers who design the energy policy framework geared towards achieving the universal access to modern energy technologies in Zimbabwe.
Part of the book: Renewable Energy
Advancement in energy policies has stimulated the adoption of instruments used in the renewable energy sector and climate change mitigation. Renewable energy policies play a crucial role in the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, by providing access to modern energy and energy security by diversifying energy supply. There have been numerous policies developed in Ghana to improve the uptake of renewable energy for electricity production and to ensure efficient use of electrical energy. Some of the specific government policy objectives include reducing technical and commercial losses in power supply, support the modernization and expansion of the energy infrastructure to meet the growing demands, ensure reliability and accelerate the development and utilisation of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies. These policies have defined targets and period to be implemented. This chapter outlined the renewable energy and energy efficiency policies in Ghana by matching the policy objectives against policy instruments and outcomes to measure what has been achieved. A comparative analysis was made with South Africa and Morocco’s renewable energy sectorial policies on the basis of various strategies adopted to their achievements and what Ghana can learn from.
Part of the book: Renewable Energy