Measuring energy efficiency performance of China’s transport sector: A data envelopment analysis approach

Abstract

This study presents an application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach with considering undesirable outputs, and not only examines the energy efficiency performance of China’s transport sector from 2003 to 2009, but also maximizes energy-saving potential of transport sector of China’s 30 administrative regions. Environmental DEA technology is adopted, which treats undesirable measures by distinguishing between weak and strong disposability. The output directional distance function is used, which explicitly expands desirable outputs and simultaneously reduces undesirable outputs. From the empirical results, the lowest number of efficient regions was recorded in 2007 or 2008, which eventually slightly recovered. Similarly, the overall average energy efficiency reached the lowest record in 2007 or 2008. These results are consistent with the policy guidance in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) period that a series of new policies in the transport sector are implemented to reverse the trend of energy intensity increase. The Eastern area generally performed better than the Central area and Western area. The Central area was better than the Western area, except in some critical years such as in 2008, the financial crisis significantly affected port turnover. The total potential energy saving from 2003 to 2009 was 35.72 Mtce, the total potential energy saving was approximately 2.75% of the total transport energy use.