A new data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to select eco-efficient technologies in the presence of undesirable outputs

Abstract

Recent global attention to the challenges of environmental protection is forcing firms and governments to evaluate, rank, and select eco-efficient technologies. Technologies may consume inputs to produce both desirable and undesirable outputs. It seems that the data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a proper method to evaluate eco-efficient technologies. There are some DEA extensions for dealing with undesirable output, and sometimes it is difficult to choose a suitable model to evaluate the technologies. The challenge becomes much more complex when the outcomes of models are not similar. In such a condition, subjective selection of alternative DEA models may lead to deviation from an optimal decision. Accordingly, the objective of this paper is to develop a combined model to include all characters of the previous DEA techniques in a flexible model to select optimum eco-efficient technology in the presence of undesirable outputs. A case study demonstrates the application of proposed procedure.