Low carbon buildings and regional prosperity: the economic growth effects of energy efficiency and environmental performance in China’s Construction industry

Zhang, L.M., 2020. Ocean energy economic efficiency, energy environmental performance and regional economic growth. In: Guido Aldana, P.A. and Kantamaneni, K. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Coastal Management, and Marine Science Technology. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 104, pp. 676–681. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Ensuring the relationship between energy economic efficiency and energy environmental performance is the key to the development of regional economy. China's economic development is based on a large number of coal consumption, which leads to increasingly serious environmental problems. Based on this, based on computer simulation analysis and statistical analysis, the relationship between energy economic efficiency, energy environmental performance and regional economic growth is deeply studied in this paper. Through the comprehensive analysis of the factors affecting China's economic growth through computer simulation, it is found that the improvement of energy economic benefits and energy environmental performance is not paid attention to in the process of China's economic growth. In the process of economic growth in the future, we should pay attention to the coordinated development of the above three. And provide theoretical reference for related research.

ABSTRACTIt is one of the issues of current concern for international research engaged in data envelopment analysis (DEA) that how to achieve more accurate results of environmental and energy efficiency evaluation. Past studies about the application of DEA to environmental performance measurement often follow the concept of undesirable factors. In the context, slacks-based measure of super-efficiency, a non-radial super-efficiency model compared to the traditional radial super-efficiency DEA models, offers a remarkable alternative, largely due to their ability to deal with ranking the performance of efficient decision-making units (DMUs). This paper extends super-efficiency approach to the additive super-efficiency DEA approach with undesirable outputs to measuring environmental performance. Unlike the traditional radial super-efficiency DEA suffering from infeasibility, the additive super-efficiency models in the context of undesirable factors are always feasible. A case study of regional environmental performance in China is also presented by applying the proposed the additive super-efficiency DEA approach. The results show that the environmental efficiency scores of inefficient provinces were slightly lowered in China, and identified regions where these provinces have the capacity to develop without damaging overall performance.

Introduction. The study of the development of CO2-neutral economy shows that this concept was only examined from a theoretical point of view in the first phases and has become a priority development area of all countries of the world since 2019. Carbon neutrality means not only a massive conversion of traditional energy into renewable (alternative), but also a complete thermal modernization, a change in the production sector towards energy saving and energy efficiency, innovative changes in wastewater treatment systems and recycling, etc. In other words, an important engine for the development of a CO2-neutral economy in the national economic system is a set of mechanisms and instruments to improve energy efficiency through sustainable innovative development. Theoretical base. For a detailed analysis of the conditions for the development of the energy efficiency of the national economy (Charles, 2019), it is necessary to monitor the state of the energy system and the environmental situation in the country (Huang, 2019), since today almost all countries of the world have reconsidered their priority areas in the development of the energy sector and have actively started to implement reforms for modernization and conversion towards energy production (Khan, 2018). The most promising areas were alternative energy sources and the development of a carbon-neutral economy (Jiahai, 2019). Therefore, the countries of the European Union have agreed on an action plan for energy efficiency for the period 2007-2020 (Kraemer, 2020), which is a 20-20-20 plan - reducing CO2 emissions by 20%, improving energy efficiency by 20% and increasing the share of renewable sources in the energy sector by 20% (Lakshman, 2019). In this phase, Russia plans to achieve 11% of renewable energy sources in the structure of final energy consumption and increase energy efficiency by 9%. At the same time, Russia, which has joined the Paris Climate Agreement (Rehbein, 2020), has set itself the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 (Shu, 2019). The aim of the study is to develop theoretical and methodological tools for assessing the level of energy efficiency of the national economy and its main determinants. Results. The forecast results showed that there is a significant discrepancy between the optimistic and realistic scenarios of the dynamics of changes in the economy’s diverging sub-index of energy efficiency. According to the optimistic scenario, the balancing of the convergent and divergent sub-indices will take more than 10 years (in 2020, the value of the convergent sub-index of energy efficiency of the national economy was 0.84 and the projected value of the divergent sub-index in 2030 was 0.71). Conclusions. The growth of the economy’s integral energy efficiency index is possible if a stable balance is achieved between its convergent and divergent determinants. Calculations have confirmed that the implementation of state policies to ensure the energy efficiency of the economy should primarily focus on increasing divergent determinants of the energy efficiency of the economy. To target the diverging sub-index of the national economy’s energy efficiency, the paper performs a scenario forecast of the vector of its change based on the Brown model, which takes into account the retrospective nature of the distribution of its time series and eliminates fluctuations in random variables.

The coordination between China’s economic growth and environmental emission is very important. Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve theory, this paper uses panel smooth transition regression model to investigate the relationship between two representative emissions, i.e., CO2 and SO2, and economic growth. The empirical results show that there is no linear relationship between them. Inverted “U”-shaped relationship does not exist between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth in China, but we find that the elasticity of the high-income areas is significantly less than that of the low-income areas. Environmental Kuznets Curve phenomenon exists between economic growth and sulfur dioxide emissions, and the elasticity in many developed provinces experienced from positive to negative status. This result verifies the international empirical evidence that CO2 does not decrease with economic growth and SO2 can generally meet the Environmental Kuznets Curve. This phenomenon indicates that the relationship between China’s economic development and environmental emission is consistent with international experience. Finally, some policy recommendations are given in the conclusion.

Energy saving and emission reduction sometimes mean high cost, so companies do not have enough motivation to always support the related policy. By neglecting the economic cost and the imperfect substitution among input factors, widely used energy efficiency indicators such as “energy intensity” will sometimes lead to uneconomic results. Based on the theory of economic efficiency, “energy economic efficiency” is proposed as a new energy efficiency measurement to integrate cost information. In this paper, we further discuss energy economic efficiency, propose supplementary properties, and measure the efficiency of twelve public thermal power companies during the period of China’s 12th five-year plan. Our results show that (2) the economic efficiency of the twelve public companies decreased slowly. The average economic efficiency was 0.82, and there was approximately 40 billion RMB in potential cost savings in 2015, accounting for 18% of the total cost. (2) The energy economic efficiency of these twelve companies increased by approximately 10% during 2011–2015. (3) The primary mission of most thermal power company is to improve the coal combustion technology. (Christensen 4) When expanding production, the input factors will sometimes be uncoordinated, which will lead to increased costs and decreased energy economic efficiency.

Purpose: This study aims to determine the influence of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) on economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It examines the endogenous growth theory and the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory, and how they relate to the regional data.Method: Using panel quantile autoregression models, this study explores the relationship between FDI inflows into SSA with energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth. The study is based on data from 1975 to 2018.Result: The study findings conclusively demonstrate that foreign direct investment has a significant impact on the economic growth of the SSA region. Furthermore, the study reveals that energy consumption and carbon emissions in the SSA have consistently increased throughout the study period, with foreign direct investment being identified as the primary driver of this trend. These findings are consistent with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, as well as the endogenous growth theory, which suggests that FDI operations can have negative consequences on the host environment.Practical Implications for Economic Growth and Development: The study suggests that Sub-Saharan Africa should manage FDI carefully to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability by promoting green investments and creating an investment-friendly environment.

This study aims to determine the trade-off between river pollution and the growth of the economy in the context of India using the concept of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). According to EKC theory, environmental pressure tends to rise faster than income growth in the early stages of economic development and then declines in the later stages with further economic growth. The present study has used the cross-sectional time series data for river pollutants of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Dissolved Hydrogen Ions (PH) across various states of India for the period 1990–1991 to 2005–2006. This study shows why the conventional EKC model is not sufficient to ascertain the declining path of pollution as the economy grows in the second stage. The paper uses the modified EKC theory where the EKC curve is proposed to have 2 turning points. Our results indicated ‘tilted-S shaped’ relationship which contradicts EKC in the early stages. Most of the regions that were studied have crossed the first turning point but are still to cross the second turning point, which means that there will be an ascent in the pollution level in the future. This calls for more stringent environment policies complementing the desired growth path.

In the existing literatures concerning on relationship between financial agglomeration and regional economic growth, the contradiction between economic growth and environmental protection is often neglected. This paper employs the non-radial direction distance function, under the framework of super-efficiency DEA, to take the undesired output like waste water and exhaust gas in the process of regional economic growth into the measurement indicators of regional economic development. This paper further focuses on the relationship between financial agglomeration and regional green economic growth. Three main conclusions are drawn. First, there are inverted U-shaped relationships between financial agglomeration and regional green economy development. Compared with the undesirable output, the impact interval of financial agglomeration on economic growth has changed. Second, the heterogeneous impact of financial agglomeration on the regional green economy development is not only reflected in the significance of the impact, but also in the direction of the impact. Third, the impact of financial agglomeration on regional green economy has a non-linear threshold characteristic.

The energy efficiency of the Russian economy lags far behind the developed countries of the world. Increasing energy efficiency and, above all, energy saving, is the source that can provide additional economic growth through organizational and technical measures. The object of research is the economy of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the increase in energy efficiency of which is of particular relevance due to its high energy intensity. The purpose of the study is to carry out an energy-economic analysis of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and to fulfill the forecast of the growth of the energy efficiency of the economy. The methodical approach developed by the authors is based on balance and statistical methods. In the course of the study, retrospective fuel and energy balances (FEB) of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (for the period 2005-2017) were developed, energy efficiency indicators were calculated and a regression equation was compiled for the forecast of the energy intensity of the gross regional product (GRP). The forecast for the development of the economy and the fuel and energy complex (FEC) of the Krasnoyarsk Territory has been made, the forecast TEBs have been developed (for the period up to 2050), the energy intensity of the regional GRP has been calculated for the long term, and measures have been proposed to increase energy efficiency.

Energy metrics is the development of a whole new theoretical framework for the conception and measurement of energy and economic performances, energy efficiency and productivity improvements with important political economy implications consistent with the best use of all natural and economic resources. The purpose of this research is to present some vital energy indicators based on magnitude and scale of energy weakness, GDP per barrel that is an indicator of energy productivity and barrels per capita that is an indicator of energy efficiency. Energy metrics can support policy maker to monitor energy system of countries in order to design effective strategy and political economy focused to increase the competitive advantage of countries in modern economies.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a popular mathematical tool for analyzing the relative efficiency of homogenous decision-making units (DMUs). However, the existing DEA models cannot tackle the newly confronted applications with imprecise and negative data as well as undesirable outputs simultaneously. Thus, we introduce undesirable outputs into modified slack-based measure (MSBM) model and propose an interval-modified slack-based measure (IMSBM) model, which extends the application of interval DEA (IDEA) in fields that concern with less undesirable outputs. The novelties of the model are that it considers the undesirable outputs while dealing with imprecise and negative data, and it is slack-based. Furthermore, the model with undesirable outputs is proven translation-invariant and unit-invariant. Moreover, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the changes of the lower and upper bounds of the efficiency score after considering the undesirable outputs. The empirical results show that, without considering undesirable outputs, most of the lower bounds of the efficiency scores will be overestimated when the DMUs are weakly efficient and inefficient. The upper bound will also change after considering undesirable outputs when the DMU is inefficient. Finally, an improved degree of preference approach is introduced to rank the DMUs.

The measure proposed in this paper is a new nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) scheme, the hybrid measure, for determining efficiency in the presence of radial and nonradial inputs or outputs. Further extension of the scheme occurred to address nonseparable desirable and undesirable outputs. Applying the model to measure the overall efficiency of U.S. electric utilities in the presence of both desirable and undesirable outputs indicated that the utilities had improved their overall management and environmental efficiency between 1996 and 2000. In accordance with global environmental conservation awareness, undesirable outputs of production and social activities (e.g., air pollutants and hazardous waste) have harmful social and environmental dimensions. Thus, development of technologies with less undesirable outputs is important in every area of production. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) usually indicates that producing more outputs relative to fewer input resources is a criterion of efficiency. In the presence of undesirable outputs, however, one should recognize technologies with more good (desirable) outputs and fewer bad (undesirable) outputs relative to fewer input resources as efficient. Addressing the problem included integrating the radial and nonradial measures of efficiency in DEA into a unified framework called the hybrid measure. The extension of the model followed to address desirable (good) and undesirable (bad) outputs where separable and nonseparable goods and bads in input and output items were evident. Conducting the empirical study involved applying the model to 30 U.S. electric utilities over five years (1996-2000) using two inputs, total generation capacity (separable) and fuel consumption (nonseparable), and four outputs, nonfossil power generation (separable good), fossil power generation (nonseparable good), nitrogen oxide emissions (nonseparable bad), and sulfur dioxide emissions (nonseparable bad). Reducing bad outputs is an important objective of the electric utilities but not their only goal. Utilities have to supply electricity to their customers, manage efficient production, and make a profit. The purpose of this study was to measure overall efficiency, taking into account not only environmental but also management efficiency. The results indicate that the U.S. utilities under study improved their overall management and environmental

Environment Degradation and Economic Growth in the Qatar Economy: Evidence from a Markov Switching Equilibrium Correction Model

The paper develops a two-state-variable environmental growth model to derive the optimal growth path for the relationship between pollution and economic growth, which is used to verify the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. It is found that the theoretical outcomes imply the existence of the EKC relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth, which is dependent on the combining effects of the pollution intensity, abatement technology of pollution emission, production technology, and the return rate of capital stock.

The study examined the relationship between external financial flows, domestic savings and economic growth in the SADC region for the period from 1980 to 2009 specifically looking at the role played by institutions. The majority of countries in the SADC region are experiencing low levels of savings, which has led to them relying more on external financial flows to bridge the gap between domestic demand for finance and domestic supply. However the relationship between external finance and economic growth is still a contentious issue. Given this, the study has thus examined the link between growth and external finance in the region, specifically focusing on the impact of the different forms of external financial flows on economic growth in the region incorporating the role played by institutions. The empirical results revealed that three types of external financial flows have a significant impact on economic growth in the SADC region except ODA; however when all the different types of external financial flows were interacted with the measure of institutions, they all become significant and more enhanced in explaining economic growth in the region. This supports the hypothesis that good institutions are necessary in promoting economic growth in developing countries. The empirical results also suggest that foreign capital is another channel through which a crisis in developing countries can be transmitted to the SADC region.