Investigating the Impacts of ICT Imports on Renewable Energy Production: the case of Iran

Authors
Maryam Hajipour Apourvari
mehdi nejati
mojtaba bahmani
Sayyed Abdolmajid jalaee
Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman
Abstract
The increase in greenhouse gas emissions is one of the crises in today's world. Because it doubles global warming and environmental pollution. The increase in greenhouse gas emissions has encouraged many countries to substitute renewable energy instead of fossil fuel. The effective use of green energy such as renewable energy and nuclear energy is highly dependent on the technology used in the production of this type of energy. For this reason, the aim of this study is to investigate the impact of importing information and communication technology goods on renewable energy production in Iran. In this research, has been used the Computable general equilibrium model based on the social accounting matrix of 2014. The results show that in all scenarios, the production of fossil electricity in both peak and base times, as well as the production of ICT goods, will decrease because with the release of the import of these goods, foreign ICT goods will replace domestic ones and the production of these goods will be domestic. Also, the production of other sectors has increased and the largest increase is related to the gas sector. By applying the first scenario (10 to 100% change in tariff, without change in the productivity of production factors related to the production of renewable energies), with the further reduction of the tariff, the production of renewable electricity will also decrease in both peak and base times, but when The fact that the import of ICT goods is accompanied by a 3, 5 and 7 percent increase in the productivity of the production factors related to the production of renewable energies (scenarios two to four) will increase the production of renewable electricity in the base load. The production of renewable electricity at peak load has decreased in all scenarios and the results do not change with the increase in efficiency. By reducing the tariff on the import of ICT goods, the amount of CO2 emissions will decrease. Also, as the productivity of the production factors related to the sector of renewable energy production increases, CO2 decreases to a greater extent. It should be noted that with the reduction of the tariff on the import of ICT goods, the price of the goods has decreased in the investigated sectors. As a result, reduce the pollution caused by the consumption of fossil fuels and use them optimally.


Keywords
carbon dioxide emission
fossil fuel
General Equilibrium Model
information and communication technology (ICT)
renewable energy
Afzal, M.N.I. & Gow, J. (2016). Electricity Consumption and Information and Communication Technology in the Next Eleven Emerging Economies. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econ journals, 6(3), 381-388.
- Alizadeh, M. & Gulkhandan, A. (2014). Measuring the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on energy consumption in selected countries of the MENA region (systemic GMM approach). Journal of Regional Economics and Development, 22(10), 116-139. (In Persian).
- A˜n´on Hig´on, D., Gholami, R., & Shirazi, F. (2017). ICT and environmental sustainability: a global perspective. Telematics Inf, 34(4), 85-95.
- Armaroli, N., & Balzani, V. (2011). Towards an electricity-powered world. Energy and Environmental Science. 4(9). 3193-3222.
- Armaroli, N., & Balzani, V. (2016). Solar Electricity and solar fuels: Status and Perspectives in the Context of the Energy Transition. Chemistry- A European journal.22(1). 32-57.
- Azam, A., Rafiq, M., Shafique, M., & Yuan, J. (2021). An empirical analysis of the non-linear effects of natural gas, nuclear energy, renewable energy and ICT-Trade in leading CO2 emitter countries: Policy towards CO2 mitigation and economic sustainability. Journal of Environmental Management 286.
-Bahmani, M., Nejati, M., Hajipour,M. (2023). Environmental Impacts of ICT Imports from North and South: The Case of Iran. Agrociencia Journal, 57(9).
- Bezazan, F., & Soleimani Movahhed, M. (2012). An introduction to computable general equilibrium models: Ni published. 131-134. (In Persian).
- BP, 2021. Statistical Review of World Energy, 70th edition.
- Cho, Y., Lee, J., & Kim, T.Y. (2007). The impact of ICT investment and energy price on industrial electricity demand Dynamic growth model approach. Energy Policy, 35(9), 4730-4738.
- Dong, K., Sun, R., Jiang, H., & Zeng, X. (2018). CO2 emissions, economic growth, and the environmental Kuznets curve in China: what roles can nuclear energy and renewable energy play? Journal of Cleaner Production, 196:51-63.
- Ghasemi, A.R., & Mohammad Khanpour Ardabil, R. (2013). Investigating the impact of information and communication technology on the intensity of energy consumption in the transportation sector. Iranian Energy Economy Research Journal, 4 (13), 169-190. (In Persian).
- Han, B., Wang, D., Ding, W., & Han, L. (2016). Effect of information and communication technology on energy consumption in China. Springer; International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 84(1), 297-315.
- Havakhor, M. (2014). Production of electrical energy from renewable sources based on the goals of the fifth development plan of the country. The fourth international conference on new approaches in energy conservation. Tehran. (In Persian).
- Hiltty, L.M. & Ruddy, T.F. (2010). Sustainable development and ICT interpreted in a natural science context: the resulting research question for the social sciences, Information, Communication & Society. 13(1), 7-22.
- Hu, J. L., Chen, Y.C., & Yang, Y. P. (2022). The Development and Issues of Energy-ICT: A Review of Literature with Economic and Managerial Viewpoints. Energies, 15(2), 594.
- IEA, 2018. Energy Policies of IEA Countries: Switzerland 2018 Review. International Energy Agency.
- IEA, 2022. Global Energy Review: CO2 Emissions in 2021. International Energy Agency.
- Mahdavi, R. (1393). Evaluation of supplementary policies for energy price reform in the transportation sector: computable general equilibrium model. Iranian Energy Economics Research Journal, 3 (12), 145-178. (In Persian).
- Mazini, A., & Jafarikhah, T. (2019). Evaluation of the effect of the expansion of information and communication technology on the intensity of energy consumption in Iran (provincial approach). Quarterly Journal of Energy Economics Studies, 16 (67), 117-140. (In Persian).
- Montazeri, Mehran (2017), The impact of international trade and information technology on environmental pollution in D8 and G8 countries, Master's thesis, Faculty of Economics, Management and Administrative Sciences, Semnan University. (In Persian).
-Moosmann, L., Neier, H., Mandl, N., & Radunsky, K. (2016). Implementing the Paris Ggreement- issues at Stake in View of the Cop 22 Climate Change Conference in Marrakesh, Policy Department A: Economic and Scientific Policy. 319-587.
- Mousavi, M., Shah Abadi, A., & Shayganmehr, S. (2016). The impact of technology spillover from foreign direct investment channel and import of goods on the share of renewable energy production in total energy. Technology Development Management Quarterly, 5(1), 99-122. (In Persian).
- Murshed, M., Chadni, M.H., Ferdaus, J., 2020. Does ICT trade facilitate renewable energy transition and environmental sustainability? Evidence from Bangladesh. Energy Ecol. Environ. 5, 470–495.
- Murshed, M., Saboori, B., Madaleno, M., Wang, H., Dogan, ˘ B., 2022b. Exploring the nexuses between nuclear energy, renewable energy, and carbon dioxide emissions: The role of economic complexity in the G7 countries. Renew. Energy 190, 664–674.
- Nejati,M., Ibrahim Shah, Muhammad., 2023. How does ICT trade shape environmental impacts across the north-south regions? Intra-regional and Inter-regional perspective from dynamic CGE model. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 186.
- Nikoyee, F., Alavi Rad, A., & Mousavi, S. N. (2018). The effect of the expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) on the consumption of renewable energy in Iran's economic sectors (industry, services, agriculture). Agricultural Economics Research, 13(2), 294-281. (In Persian).
- Peters, J. (2016). GTAP-E-Power: an electricity-detailed economy-wide model. Journal of global economic analysis, 1(2): 156-187.
- Peters, J.C. & T.W. Hertel. (2017). Achieving the Clean Power Plan 2030 CO2target with the new normal in natural gas prices. The Energy Journal, 38(5):23-50.
- Sarkodie, S.A., & Adams., A. (2018). Renewable energy, nuclear energy, and environmental pollution: Accounting for political institutional quality in South Africa. Science of the Total Environment, 643, 1590–1601.
- Solarin, S.A., Shahbaz, M., Khan, H.N., & Razali, R. Bin. (2019). ICT, financial development, economic growth and electricity consumption: new evidence from Malaysia. International Management Institute, 22(4), 941-962.
- Stallo, C., De Sanctis, M., Ruggieri, M., Bisio, I., & Marchese, M. (2010). ICT Applications in Green and Renewable Energy Sector. Proceedings of the Workshop on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, 175-179.
- Wakelin, O., & Shadrach, B. (2001). Impact assessment of appropriate and innovative technologies in enterprise development. 1-36.
- Zamaniyan, Gh. (2019). Technology spillover through trade and foreign direct investment on productivity: the case of OECD and Non-OECD countries (PHD thesis). Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan. (In Persian).