Revealing potential of energy-saving behind emission reduction: A DEA-based empirical study
Management of Environmental Quality
ISSN: 1477-7835
Article publication date: 22 November 2018
Issue publication date: 15 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to generate quantitative managerial insights for the improvement of the energy-saving potential and the coordinated development between economic growth and environmental protection.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, based on the classical DEA theory, is developed from the perspective of emission reduction.
Findings
The empirical results indicate that China’s overall environmental efficiency is low and that there is huge improvement space for energy saving. Under the concerns of emission reduction, the energy-saving potential of the central region exceeds that of both the eastern and western regions. With regard to water, electricity and gas consumption, the electricity-saving potential exceeds the potential for both water saving and gas saving.
Originality/value
Previous studies rarely focused on the energy-saving potential, while considering environmental pollution. This paper applies a novel DEA method to evaluate the energy-saving potential of 30 Chinese provinces for 2015 with a focus on emission reduction concerns. Furthermore, both regional differences and energy type differences of the saving potential were analyzed.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors contributed equally to this paper. The authors sincerely thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. This research is supported by National Natural Science Funds of China (No. 71571173). Dr Xiang Ji is thankful for the financial supports from China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos 2018T110630 and 2017M622027) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. WK2040160029). Professor Jie Wu also is thankful for the financial supports from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. WK2040160028), Top-Notch Young Talents Program of China, and the Research Center of Modern Logistics Engineering of USTC.
Citation
Zhang, D., Li, M., Ji, X., Wu, J. and Dong, Y. (2019), "Revealing potential of energy-saving behind emission reduction: A DEA-based empirical study", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 714-730. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-07-2018-0125
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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