A cross-country evaluation of energy efficiency from the sustainable development perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to estimate energy efficiency of 132 countries from 2007 to 2014 according to their performance, categorizing the nations into similar groups. Design/methodology/approach Data envelopment analysis model based on Goal Programming and then K-Means clustering algorithm are used to determine the efficiency and clustering the nations based on their efficiency performances. Findings The results of the study reveal that developing low-income countries could lead to high energy-efficiency scores, and countries with different development and income levels can become efficient in the field of energy consumption. Following the nations during a seven-year period also indicates that the changes in energy-related indicators such as renewable energy consumption and energy productivity are the main drivers to move a country between clusters. Originality/value The present study aimed to investigate whether similar nations with similar energy efficiency level in a cluster are similar in their development and income level, and changing the energy consumption pattern during the seven-year period could move the countries from a cluster to another one.