Energy Environmental Efficiency Research Articles

Spatial correlation network structure of energy-environment efficiency and its driving factors: a case study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Improving energy-environment efficiency is not only a requirement for constructing China’s ecological civilization but also inevitable for achieving sustainable economic and social development. Studies on energy-environment efficiency based on relational data and network perspectives are limited, which hinders the development of collaborative regional emission reduction activities. This study uses the SBM-Undesirable model to measure the energy-environment efficiency of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration from 2010 to 2020, adopts a modified gravity model and social network analysis to reveal the structural characteristics of its spatial correlation network, and explores its driving factors through the QAP method. The study found (1) an overall upward trend in energy-environment efficiency but with problems of uneven development. (2) The spatial correlation of energy-environment efficiency shows a complex network structure, with increasing network correlation and strong network stability; the network can be divided into four plates: net benefit, net overflow, two-way spillover, and agent. (3) Differences in industrial structure, environmental regulation, economic development, and technological innovation significantly impact the formation of spatial correlation network of energy-environment efficiency. This study provides a reference for the construction of a cross-regional synergistic mechanism to improve energy-environment efficiency.

Assessment of green technology innovation on energy-environmental efficiency in China under the influence of environmental regulation considering spatial effects

Enhancing energy-environmental efficiency (EEE) is crucial for achieving energy conservation and emission reduction goals. Investigating the mechanism through which green technology innovation (GTI) affects EEE and understanding the role of environmental regulation (ER) in this process provides a theoretical basis for efficient utilization of GTI and ER. This study employs a Dynamic Spatial Durbin Model and utilizes panel data from 2003 to 2017 for 30 Chinese provinces to examine the impact of GTI on EEE in the presence of ER. The empirical results reveal: (1) GTI has a U-shaped impact on EEE, primarily driven by SubGI. (2) GTI’s influence on EEE is predominantly reflected in PTE, also stemming from SubGI. (3) The interaction term between ER and GTI is 0.0022, while the GTI coefficient is − 0.0741, and the GTI quadratic term coefficient is 0.0007, all statistically significant. This implies that ER mitigates the negative impact of GTI on EEE while strengthening its positive effect. These findings provide empirical evidence and policy insights for more effectively utilizing GTI and ER to enhance EEE and achieve energy conservation and emissions reduction goals.

Brazilian Biofuels Policy (RenovaBio): Overview and generation of decarbonization credits by biodiesel production facilities

Brazil developed its National Biofuels Policy (RenovaBio) to meet goals established at the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, updated in the context of the Glasgow Climate Pact, and to achieve the scenario established in the Brazilian Energy Plan. RenovaBio is a public policy that has as its main objectives the establishment of goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the recognition of the importance of biofuels in the Brazilian energy matrix through the audited certification of biofuel producing plants. RenovaCalc is a RenovaBio tool used to assess the energy-environmental efficiency of installations to calculate the emission of decarbonization credits that can be sold to fossil fuel distributors and other interested parties. In this sense, this work presents an evaluation of the profile of the biodiesel producing plants certified from October 2019 to December 2021, in addition to discussing data such as the carbon emission intensity of the production cycles, the Energy-Environmental Efficiency Note and the eligible volume of biodiesel. The results indicate that RenovaBio has become a national project that should contribute to the energy transition to a low-carbon economy and enable actions to decarbonize technological routes of raw materials conversion.

Insulation of high-storey residential buildings in the territory of urban communities and determination of its energy-environmental efficiency

Insulation of high-storey residential buildings in the territory of urban communities and determination of its energy-environmental efficiency

The Effects of Low-Carbon Governance on Energy-Environmental Efficiency: Evidence from China’s Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy

ABSTRACT Energy-environmental efficiency directly relates to global climate change and sustainable development. The research applies a staggered DiD design to estimate the effects of low-carbon governance on energy-environmental efficiency via panel data of 284 cities in China. Results show that low-carbon governance significantly improves both unified energy-environmental efficiency and pure energy-environmental efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that low-carbon governance in central cities has no significant effect on energy-environmental efficiency, while that in peripheral cities can improve energy-environmental efficiency, which indirectly confirms the law of decreasing returns to scale. At the same time, low-carbon governance in both resource-based and non-resource-based cities improves energy-environmental efficiency. However, among resource-based cities, low-carbon governance in growth and mature cities facilitates energy-environmental efficiency, while this effect disappears in declining and regeneration cities. Mechanism tests suggest that low-carbon governance immediately improves energy-environmental efficiency through intensive energy use and carbon emission reduction channels. The intermediate effect channels are mainly driven by fiscal decentralization, industrial structure upgrading, industrial agglomeration, innovation, and marketization, where fiscal decentralization plays a dominant role.

The impact of digital infrastructure on energy-environmental efficiency: empirical evidence from China

Frontier studies have focused on the environmental performance of traditional infrastructure, but have generally neglected the effects and mechanisms of digital infrastructure on energy-environmental efficiency. This study attempts to use fixed effect models and mediating effect model based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2017 to assess the impact of digital infrastructure on energy environmental efficiency and identify its mechanism. The non-radial directional distance function is used to measure energy environmental efficiency. The empirical results show that digital infrastructure promotes energy-environmental efficiency, which remains robust after a series of tests. Technological progress and energy industry advancement are the pathways through which digital infrastructure affects energy-environmental efficiency. Furthermore, we find that the positive effect of digital infrastructure on energy and environmental efficiency is significant in the east and where factor mismatch is high. Therefore, policymakers should develop digital technology and enact various environmental policies to effectively increase the construction of digital infrastructure, promote investment in technology research and development, accelerate the energy technology progress, and improve energy efficiency.

Impacts of environmental regulation and energy misallocation on energy environmental efficiency

Impacts of environmental regulation and energy misallocation on energy environmental efficiency

Combination of top-down and bottom-up DEA models using PCA: A two-stage network DEA with shared input and undesirable output for evaluation of the road transport sector

This paper presents a network data envelopment analysis (NDEA) model to assess road transport sector by considering energy and non-energy inputs, shared input, and desirable and undesirable outputs. The sector is considered as a two-stage framework where in stage 1, energy-environmental efficiency is calculated and in stage 2, technical efficiency is estimated. There are two general approaches for evaluation of the network structures using NDEA models: bottom-up and top-down. In the bottom-up approach of this study, a goal programming NDEA (GP-NDEA) model is proposed to calculate the efficiency of the two stages at the same time and then overall efficiency is obtained using the results of the two stages. In the top-down approach, both non-radial SBM-NDEA and RAM-NDEA models are applied to calculate the overall efficiency and then the efficiencies of stage 1 and stage 2 are estimated using the results of the overall efficiency. Three different models GP-NDEA, SBM-NDEA, and RAM-NDEA lead to different results and to obtain the final efficiencies and ranks, principal component analysis (PCA) method is applied. The efficiency generated by different bottom-up and top-down approaches are considered as indicators in PCA, and the final scores for both stages are calculated using PCA. To illustrate the capability of the proposed approach, an actual dataset of road transport sector in provinces of Iran is gathered and the results of the different models are analyzed.

Research on the Influence Mechanism of Factor Misallocation on the Transformation Efficiency of Resource-Based Cities Based on the Optimization Direction Function Calculation Method

Reasonable evaluation of the transformation efficiency of resource-based cities can provide a reliable basis for correcting factor misallocation and optimizing factor allocation. This study improves the directional distance function from the aspects of direction vector endogeneity, relative distance and exogenous weight. Based on the improved model, the data of China’s prefecture-level cities from 2003 to 2018 are used to measure and compare the transformation efficiency of resource-based cities and non-resource-based cities. By setting different exogenous weights, the transformation efficiency considering the total factor and the transformation efficiency only considering the energy factor are obtained. Further comparative analysis shows that the two transformation efficiencies of resource-based cities are lower than those of non-resource-based cities, and the two keep the same change trend. Whether it is a resource-based city or a non-resource-based city, the level of transformation efficiency that only considers energy factors is lower. Further, this study decomposes the transformation efficiency of resource-based cities according to the three dimensions of transformation efficiency and finds that the energy efficiency, output efficiency and environmental efficiency of China’s resource-based cities are different, and the transformation efficiency in the three dimensions of energy conservation, economic growth and environmental friendliness is also different.

Do energy-environmental efficiency benefit from advanced policy zones? Evidence from national new zones of China.

As global climate change aggravates, reducing energy consumption and environmental pollution is essential to sustainable economic development. This paper measures the energy-environmental efficiency of 284 prefecture-level cities in China using a non-radial directional distance function (NDDF) and data envelopment analysis (DEA), and evaluates the impact of the establishment of national new zones on energy-environmental efficiency using the multi-period difference-in-difference model (DID). The results are: first, establishing national new zones improves the energy-environmental efficiency of the prefecture-level cities in which they are located by 13%-25%, and the mechanisms include enhancing the green technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Second, national new zones have both negative and positive spatial spillover effects. Third, in terms of heterogeneity, the impact of establishing national new zones on energy-environmental efficiency increases with larger quantile of the latter; national new zones with the one-city layout have significant stimulating impacts on energy-environmental efficiency, but those with the two-city layout have no significant impact, which means there is no significant green synergistic development impact among cities. We also discuss the policy implications of the research, including enhanced policy support and regulation to support the energy environment sector.

Evaluation and comparative analysis of urban public institutions energy-environmental efficiency from the perspective of dual carbon

The ‘dual carbon’ goals are China's long-term development strategy for low greenhouse gas emissions in the mid-21st century, and energy conservation and emission reduction are major decisions and plans made by the Chinese government to achieve the ‘dual carbon’ goals. Energy conservation in public institutions is the focus of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, the accurate evaluation of energy efficiency is a prerequisite for energy conservation in public institutions and an important element in achieving China's dual carbon goals. Therefore, we propose the Slacks Based Measure-Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) model considering carbon emissions to evaluate the energy-environmental efficiency of urban public institutions in subtropical regions of China and apply the Gini coefficient to measure the unbalanced development of energy-environmental efficiency in similar institutions. The results demonstrate that: (1) The current energy-environmental efficiency of urban public institutions is 0.83, and there are significant differences in the energy-environmental efficiency of different types of public institutions; (2) The average value of institutional scale efficiency is close to the optimal level, and the main factor currently limiting the energy-environmental efficiency of urban public institutions is pure technical efficiency; (3) The average energy-environmental efficiency of the model considering the unexpected carbon emission indicators of public institutions is 1.82% higher than the model without carbon emission. Due to its non-parametric nature, this method shows good applicability for multi-input and multi-output energy-environmental efficiency assessment, which could be a guideline for quantifying the energy-saving potential of public institutions.

Optimum combination of heterogeneous environmental policy instruments and market for green transformation: Empirical evidence from China's metal sector

Based on the new structural economics view that the combination of effective governments and efficient markets is the fundamental path to high-quality development, this study investigates how heterogeneous environmental policy instruments combine with marketization to improve the total factor energy-environmental efficiency (TFEEE) in China's metal sector. Utilizing the provincial panel data from 2006 to 2019, a super-efficiency slacks-based measure data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) integrated with the global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index is employed to estimate the energy-environmental efficiency and its dynamic changes. The evaluation results imply a significant increasing trend in the energy-environmental efficiency, but the overall level is rather low with disparities between sub-sectors and different regions. Using a dynamic panel threshold model, the “strong” version of the Porter Hypothesis is validated that command-and-control environmental policy (CEP), market-incentive environmental policy (MEP), and voluntary environmental policy (VEP) have an optimum stringency range to induce TFEEE growth, while the impact modes are drastically diverse. Further study verifies that higher marketization is conducive to triggering the facilitation effect of heterogeneous environmental policy instruments on the TFEEE but with completely different threshold values of marketization, which decrease sequentially corresponding to VEP, CEP, and MEP.

IMPACT OF IMPORTED INTERMEDIATE GOODS ON ENERGY-ENVIRONMENTAL EFFICIENCY: FIRM-LEVEL EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

Improving energy-environmental efficiency (EEE) is an important way to achieve China’s carbon peak, carbon-neutral goals and green transformational development. The scale of imports of intermediate goods has been increasing rapidly with the deepening of China’s opening up to the outside world, which has played a positive role in promoting high-quality development. Considering that enterprises are the main players in transforming energy consumption patterns and high-quality development, we investigated the impact of imported intermediate goods on EEE from a microfield perspective. The empirical results showed that imported intermediate goods significantly contributed to EEE and that firms’ innovation capacity and productivity are the corresponding influencing mechanisms. The effects of importing intermediate goods in foreign-invested enterprises, enterprises in the eastern and coastal regions and capital-intensive enterprises are more obvious in improving EEE. Further expansion of imports of intermediate goods, enhancement of enterprises’ capacity for independent innovation, deepening structural reforms and accelerated development of the digital economy can help enhance the promotional effect of imports of intermediate goods on enterprises’ EEE.

Assessing sustainable development goals attainment through energy-environmental efficiency: The case of Latin American and Caribbean countries

This study evaluates the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs) using energy-environmental efficiency as a principal driver. Hicks-Moorsteen Index, based on optimal targets,is utilized to estimate the performance of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries towards SDGs. Performance is decomposed into catch-up efficiency and technological progress. Results show that, compared to 2012, only 15% of the countries evaluated exhibit improved catch-up efficiency in 2020, while 74% of the countries evaluated showed technological progress in 2020 compared to 2012. Improvement in SDGs attainment in LAC results from technological advancement and not catch-up efficiency. Gross catch-up inefficiency appears to obstruct SDGs attainment. The regression elaborates the indirect extrinsic socio-economic dimension of the SDGs accomplishment. Specifically, the results of the fully modified ordinary least squares and generalized method of moments for the examined years support the desired prospects for green productivity among the cross-section of LAC. Moreover, in each of the upper years, the result suggests that environmental performance and renewable energy-induced economic progress are vital for the examined countries' sustainable green productivity. Notably, the result predicts a slow but progressive path toward achieving the SDGs, suggesting more intentional and inclusive effort by the respective economies.

Economic, Energy and Environmental Efficiency of Road Freight Transportation Sector in the EU

The proper development of transportation constitutes the basis for an effectively functioning economy at the national and global levels. On the other hand, transportation significantly impacts the environment and climate. Sustainable transportation management should therefore include both economic, social and environmental aspects. The article aims to comprehensively assess the economic–energy–environmental efficiency of the 27-road freight transport sector in EU countries in 2019. The research was conducted using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The Slacks-Based Measure–Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) model was used, taking into account unwanted (undesirable) effects. As non-energy inputs in the DEA model used the labor in the road freight transport sector, stock of registered goods vehicles, and the length of the road network. Moreover, the energy consumption by the road freight transport sector was used as energy inputs in the DEA model. Desirable outputs were taken as road freight transport sector revenues and freight work performed by the sector. GHG emissions expressed in CO2 equivalent were treated as undesirable outputs. The research also adopts energy productivity and GHG emission efficiency indicators. The eco-efficiency of the road freight transport sector in EU countries varies. Ten countries have efficient road freight transport sectors. The efficient road freight transport group included Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Bulgaria. They efficiently transformed the inputs into outputs. Five countries were recognized as eco-efficiency followers, including Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Sweden and Romania, and 12 countries were characterized by an inefficient road freight transport sector. Based on benchmarking principles for inefficient road freight transport sectors, the changes in input and output levels were proposed to improve efficiency. The relationship between the economic development of EU countries and the eco-efficiency of the road freight transport sector was also analyzed, indicating a positive relationship between the variables but with weak strength. The main contributions of this article are an extension of previous DEA works that assesses the efficiency of the road freight transport sector, also considering undesirable variables. Research conclusions are particularly important for policymakers in the context of management sustainable transportation development in the EU.

Super-SBM DEA and DTW-based analysis of the energy-environmental efficiency in emerging economies

ABSTRACT Achieving high economic growth rates has always been the primary objective of emerging economies. While some countries have experienced phenomenal economic success in recent years, there is widespread consensus that economic prosperity has been accompanied by rapid environmental degradation. This research aims to empirically investigate whether the development process in emerging economies were environmentally efficient. The study computes and analyses the energy-environmental super-efficiency scores for 14 leading emerging economies from 1980 to 2019 using the Slack-Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis with undesirable output. The study also conducts a similarity analysis using the Dynamic Time Warping non-parametric approach, while the Dynamic Time Warping Barycenter Averaging-k-means algorithm is performed to assign economies to different clusters according to their energy-environmental super-efficiency. The findings divulge some divergence regarding the magnitude and evolution over time of super-efficiency scores. Four emerging economies, Brazil, The Philippines, Pakistan, and Vietnam, have been the most efficient, while South Africa recorded the worst scores during the same period. The Dynamic Time Warping path analysis suggests the presence of lead-lag relationships between the super-efficiency scores of China, as the reference economy, and the other economies. Finally, the Dynamic Time Warping Barycenter Averaging-k-means algorithm suggests the presence of four clusters.

Understanding Chinese energy-environmental efficiency: performance, decomposition, and strategy.

Understanding energy-environmental efficiency is important for coordinating economic development and eco-environment protection through energy use; however, vague definitions and conflicting results confuse researchers and policymakers and impact China's high-quality development. After delimiting energy-environmental efficiency, this study employed the intermediate adjustment situation three-stage Slacks-Based Model Data Envelopment Analysis model to explore Chinese provincial energy-environmental efficiencies from 1995 to 2018, and discussed their impacts by regional strategies. The results illustrated that Chinese energy-environmental efficiencies were overestimated, and their national average value dropped from 0.573 to 0.361 after removing the influence of external environmental factors and random interference. Moreover, energy-environmental efficiencies in East China performed significantly better than other regions, with expanding gaps between regions existed. Moreover, China maintained low-scale efficiency and high pure energy-environmental efficiency, and the low-scale efficiency led to the worrisome energy-environmental efficiency. Fortunately, pure energy-environmental efficiencies were promising, but their downward trends that started in 2002 should be a warning. Unexpectedly, the regional strategies held various impacts, they benefitted overall energy-environmental efficiency and scale efficiency, but not help pure energy-environmental efficiency, and the impacts were weak and short time. Policymakers should improve scale efficiency and formulate regional strategies in a timely manner to maintain energy-environmental efficiency improvement.

Thermal Engineering Tests of Heating Boiler Houses when Working on Peat Fuel

Modern development of society and the economy is generally accompanied by abandonment of non-renewable fuels in the system of existing attitudes toward environmental issues and resource conservation. The paper presents the results of complex operational tests of КВм-2.0 water boilers with automatic stoker and КВр-0.4K at heat supply facilities of the Arkhangelsk region under the typical operating conditions on coal, fuel mixtures, and also peat briquettes and sod peat. Experimental work was carried out using modern methods and advanced technical means. Within the framework of the research on the conversion of boilers to peat fuel, balance experiments were carried out; technical, economic and environmental performance indicators were obtained; the selection and analysis of focal residues were carried out, fine solid and soot particles polluted into the environment were studied in detail. The paper presents graphs of changes in gross efficiency, heat loss with exhaust gas, heat loss with incomplete combustion, and concentrations of sulfur and nitrogen oxides during the cycle between loading peat briquettes into the КВр-0.4K boiler, as well as graphs of changes in the heat balance components and gross efficiency all boiler units under investigation. The conversion of heat generating plants to peat fuel combustion makes it possible to achieve a significant reduction in emissions of solid and soot particles without upgrading ash-collecting plants. Complex experimental studies conducted of existing hot water boilers with a nominal heating capacity of 0.4 and 2.0 MW have shown the possibility, as well as the energy-environmental efficiency of burning briquetted and sod peat in the combustion chambers of these heat generating plants.

The impact of environmental regulation on firms’ energy-environment efficiency: Concurrent discussion of policy tool heterogeneity

• Environmental regulations can improve energy-environment efficiency of firms. • Environmental policies have asymmetric impact on heterogeneous firms. • End treatment and source control are important channels for improving efficiency. • Impact of different policy tools on energy-environment efficiency is heterogeneous. • Micro evidence for evaluating the effect of environmental regulation is provided. Energy-environment efficiency can be used as a means of control to change the mode of economic development by considering the pollution reduction factor. Taking China as an example, this study uses a nonradial superefficiency data envelopment analysis method to measure microlevel energy-environment efficiency and investigates the relationship between environmental regulation and efficiency. The findings show that for every 1% increase in environmental regulation, firms’ energy-environment efficiency increases by approximately 0.04% and that environmental regulations have a greater impact on pollution-intensive firms and private firms compared to other types of firms. A median effect model shows that end treatment and source control are important channels through which environmental regulation can improve firms’ energy-environment efficiency. In addition, the influence of different environmental regulation policy tools on firm energy-environment efficiency is heterogeneous. With every 1% increase in a command-and-control and market-based incentive policy, energy-environment efficiency increases by 0.01–0.02%, while the effect of public participation policy tools is not significant. This study provides not only new micro empirical evidence for evaluating the effect of environmental regulation but also a reference for applying and coordinating different types of environmental policy tools.

Assessment of the total-factor energy efficiency and environmental performance of Persian Gulf countries: a two-stage analytical approach.

 In recent decades, achieving sustainable economic growth and development through energy efficiency has been a key challenge for Persian Gulf countries. This study presents a two-stage analysis of the energy efficiency and environmental performance of Persian Gulf countries in 2000–2014 using data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression. The hypothesis of this study is that energy efficiency is low in the Persian Gulf countries and these countries have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At first, using data envelopment analysis, total-factor energy efficiency and environmental efficiency of the Persian Gulf countries were measured. Then, using Tobit regression, the effects of GDP per capita, oil price, industrialization degree, population size, paper citation rate, foreign direct investment, and the degree of commercial openness on energy efficiency were investigated. The results of the first stage measurements show that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had the highest and second highest total-factor energy efficiency, respectively, while Oman and Iran had the lowest, and second lowest, respectively. In terms of environmental performance, the UAE and Qatar proved to have the best and second best performance, respectively, while Iran and Iraq showed the weakest and second weakest performance, respectively. The results of Tobit regression revealed that GDP per capita, oil prices, industrialization degree, and population size had a direct relationship with energy efficiency while the paper citation rate (as an index of science, technology, and innovation) and foreign direct investment had an inverse relationship with energy efficiency. This study shows that the Persian Gulf countries could potentially reduce their energy consumption by up to 18%. Finally, a number of environmentally friendly economic policies and several environmental projects are proposed and it is emphasized that more innovative green technologies should be used to increase energy efficiency and optimize the energy structure to combat climate change.