Total Factor Energy Efficiency, Carbon Emission Efficiency, and Technology Gap: Evidence from Sub-Industries of Anhui Province in China

Ya Chen,Wei Xu,Zhixiang Zhou,Qian Zhou

doi:10.3390/su12041402

Abstract

The phenomena of “large energy consumption, high carbon emission, and serious environmental pollution” are against the goals of “low energy consumption, low emissions” in China’s industrial sector. The key to solving the problem lies in improving total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) and carbon emission efficiency (TFCE). Considering the heterogeneity of different sub-industries, this paper proposes a three-stage global meta-frontier slacks-based measure (GMSBM) method for measuring TFEE and TFCE, as well as the technology gap by combining meta-frontier technology with slacks-based measure (SBM) using data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA can effectively avoid the situation where the technology gap ratio (TGR) is larger than unity. This paper uses the three-stage method to empirically analyze TFEE and TFCE of Anhui’s 38 industrial sub-industries in China from 2012 to 2016. The main findings are as follows: (1) Anhui’s industrial sector has low TFEE and TFCE, which has great potential for improvement. (2) TFEE and TFCE of light industry are lower than those of heavy industry under group-frontier, while they are higher than those of heavy industry under meta-frontier. There is a big gap in TFEE and TFCE among sub-industries of light industry. Narrowing the gap among different sub-industries of light industry is conducive to the overall improvement in TFEE and TFCE. (3) The TGR of light industry is significantly higher than that of heavy industry, indicating that there are sub-industries with the most advanced energy use and carbon emission technologies in light industry. And there is a bigger carbon-emitting technology gap in heavy industry, so it needs to encourage technology spillover from light industry to heavy industry. (4) The total performance loss of industrial sub-industries in Anhui mainly comes from management inefficiency, so it is necessary to improve management and operational ability. Based on the findings, some policy implications are proposed.

Highlights

Global warming and other environmental problems caused by excessive energy consumption are becoming more and more serious and have threatened the production and health of human beings [1,2]
Similar to [42], this paper proposes a three-stage global meta-frontier slacks-based measure (GMSBM) model to measure total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) and TFCE performance and technology gap
The distinguishing feature of “high energy consumption and high carbon emission” in the industrial sector makes TFEE and TFCE become the focus of scholars

Summary

Introduction

Global warming and other environmental problems caused by excessive energy consumption are becoming more and more serious and have threatened the production and health of human beings [1,2]. As the world’s most energy-consuming and carbon-emitting country [5], has set relevant energy-saving and emission-reducing targets. China’s industrial sector, which consumed 68% of its energy in 2015 and emitted 84.2% of its carbon dioxide [6], is the key sector to reduce excessive energy consumption and CO2 emissions by improving total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) and carbon emission efficiency (TFCE) [7,8]. As a key province with the two important national strategies, the analysis of industrial TFEE and TFCE in Anhui plays an important role in accelerating energy-saving and emission reduction and promoting a better realization of the “made in China 2025” target. This paper analyzes the TFEE and TFCE of 38 industrial sub-industries in Anhui

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion