| dc.description.abstract | Rapid depletion of non-renewable energy sources, high dependence on imported oil and greenhouse gas emissions mitigation are critical contemporary challenges for Thailand. Accordingly, energy conservation policies have been implemented since 1995, which required industries and buildings to reduce their energy intensity (EI) and consumption immediately. This study investigates the effectiveness of the prevailing energy policy in Thailand and reveals the key determinants of energy and CO2 emissions growth between 1995 and 2010 using a hybrid input–output approach. The key findings include the observation that EI improvement was, surprisingly, only apparent in a few sectors, namely transportation, non-metallics, paper and textiles. Meanwhile, other sectors exhibit no discernible evidence of EI reductions. The embodied energy and CO2 emissions analysis revealed that almost 50% of the growth seen in Thailand’s energy consumption and CO2 emissions over the study period is accounted for by the production of manufactured goods for export rather than for domestic consumption. In addition, structural decomposition analysis suggests that the final demand effect was the strongest factor for determining the efficacy of energy conservation, whereas the energy efficiency effect was not as impactful as expected for decreasing energy consumption. Further, the decomposition analysis for energy consumption in the residential sector revealed that households in all regions of Thailand moderately favour the use of energy-efficient products. Increasing incomes accentuate energy demand in poorer regions. An analysis based on energy and emission consumption revealed that the other manufacturing, construction and food and beverage sectors were among the five largest contributors to energy use and emissions in 2000 as well as 2010. Importantly, present-day energy conservation and climate change mitigation policies in Thailand have tended to neglect these sectors because they were deemed the least energy-intensive sectors according to governmental reports published from 1995 to 2015. Unfortunately, the consumption behaviours and choices vis-a-vis intermediate inputs of these energy-intensive sectors, based on a consumption perspective, exhibit interindustry linkage effects with respect to the changes in the energy demand among heavy industries. Consequently, this impacted national energy consumption and emissions. They are still the hidden contributors of energy demand and CO2 in the economy and also receive insufficient attention. Therefore, additional energy and emission policies based on a consumption perspective should be comprehensively pursued to harness the full potential of energy savings and emission-reductions initiatives in order for future economic growth to be environmentally sustainable. | en_US |