Data Envelopment Analysis Procedure Research Articles

Joint environmental and cost efficiency analysis of electricity generation

Fossil-fuel based electricity generation produces the largest proportion of human-related carbon pollution in the United States. Hence, fuel choices by steam plants are key determinants of the industry's impact on national and global greenhouse gas emissions, and key foci for climate change policy. Yet, little research has been done to examine the economic and environmental tradeoffs among the different types of fuels that are used by these plants. This paper applies a Data Envelopment Analysis procedure that incorporates the materials balance principle to estimate the allocations of coal, gas and oil inputs that minimize carbon emissions and costs. Using EIA 906 and FERC 423 data, the paper estimates cost/carbon tradeoffs facing two sets of plants: those that use coal and gas inputs, and those that use coal, gas and oil inputs. Findings for our three-input sample show that there would be a 79% increase in cost for moving from the cost-efficient point to the carbon efficient point, while there would be a 38% increase in carbon for moving from the carbon efficient point to the cost-efficient point. These conclusions indicate that, in general, the gap between efficient cost and efficient environmental production is wide, and would require substantial policy intervention, technological change or market adjustment before it could be narrowed. However, our examination of individual plants shows that what is true in general is often not true for specific plants. Some plants that are currently less efficient than those on the production frontier could produce the same amount of electricity with less carbon output and less fuel input. Additionally, many plants on the production frontier could improve both cost and carbon efficiency by changing their mixture of fossil-fuel inputs.

Joint Environmental and Cost Efficiency Analysis of Electricity Generation

Fossil-fuel based electricity generation produces the largest proportion of human-related carbon pollution in the United States. Hence, fuel choices by steam plants are key determinants of the industry's impact on national and global greenhouse gas emissions, and key foci for climate change policy. Yet, little research has been done to examine the economic and environmental tradeoffs among the different types of fuels that are used by these plants. This paper applies a Data Envelopment Analysis procedure that incorporates the materials balance principle to estimate the allocations of coal, gas and oil inputs that minimize carbon emissions and costs. Using EIA 906 and FERC 423 data, the paper estimates cost/carbon tradeoffs facing two sets of plants: those that use coal and gas inputs, and those that use coal, gas and oil inputs. Findings for our three-input sample show that there would be a 79 percent increase in cost for moving from the cost efficient point to the carbon efficient point, while there would be a 38 percent increase in carbon for moving from the carbon efficient point to the cost efficient point. These conclusions indicate that, in general, the gap between efficient cost and efficient environmental production is wide, and would require substantial policy intervention or market adjustment before it could be narrowed. However, our examination of individual plants shows that what is true in general is often not true for specific plants. If plants that are currently less efficient than those on the production frontier were to become efficient, they could produce the same amount of electricity with less carbon output and less fuel input. Additionally, many plants on the production frontier could improve both cost and carbon efficiency by changing their mixture of fossil-fuel inputs.

Ecommerce and hotel performance: three-stage DEA analysis

This paper is the first to apply the three-stage data envelopment analysis procedure to analyze the impact of ecommerce on hotel performance. After purging the effects of exogenous factors, this study found that there are no significant differences in efficiency owing to different ecommerce adoption status. In other words, ecommerce adoption is not the main determinant of the efficiency of international tourist hotels in Taiwan.

Relative efficiency of fire and emergency services in Florida: an application and test of data envelopment analysis

This study conducts relative efficiency of fire and emergency services using a nonparametic technique called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This study selects a set of inputs and outputs and examines the nature of information obtained from the DEA procedure. The study focuses on the interpretation and practical usefulness of such information for the fire and emergency services. The results of this study help fire and emergency managers and consultants understand how the DEA approach can be used to identify weaknesses and strengths of fire and emergency services and evaluate their efficiency.

On the utilization of resources: perspectives from the U.S. telecommunications industry

The issue of resource utilization is important in the resource-based stream of work, since the ability of firms to utilize resources is a key indicator of their competitive abilities. This paper specifies why some firms might be better at utilizing resources than others. Thereafter, it demonstrates how to empirically ascertain differences in resource utilization patterns between firms using the U.S. telecommunications industry as a context. The data envelopment analysis procedure (DEA), which is a firm-level resource utilization measure, is used. This procedure can be useful for the resource-based approach research agenda since performance is measured in resource terms. DEA is applied to measure variations in different dimensions of resource utilization for the firms making up the local operating sector of the telecommunications industry. The use of DEA to guide empirical research and address theoretical issues within the resource-based paradigm is illustrated, using the resource utilization index for the telecommunications firms as the measure of strategic performance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.