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Analysis of China’s regional energy efficiency based on DEA considering integer constraint

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Abstract

To achieve the goal of green development and low-carbon development, the Chinese government has proposed a series of high-quality development and energy efficiency improvement measures. This study constructs two data envelopment analysis (DEA) models using meta-frontier methods to analyze China’s regional and provincial energy efficiency. Compared to traditional DEA models, the proposed models not only integrate technical-level disparities between different regions but also consider integer constraints on variables. The empirical results reveal that there is still great potential for optimization in China’s energy efficiency. There are serious development imbalances in energy efficiency and technology levels in different regions of China. In addition, the efficiency optimization space of each region is discussed from the viewpoints of technology and management. The results show that most provinces need to improve efficiency in terms of management, technology, or both.

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Acknowledgements

This research is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the Grant Numbers. 72174053, 71871153 and 71971203; Anhui Philosophy and Social Science Foundation under the Grant Number. AHSKY2021D147; the sponsorship of the Collaborative Innovation Center for New Urbanization and Social Governance of Soochow University; the sponsorship of the Tang Scholar of Soochow University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanity and Law, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China

    Xiaohong Liu

  2. Center for Chinese Urbanization Studies and School of Business, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Jiasen Sun

  3. Dongwu Think Tank, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Jiasen Sun

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  1. Xiaohong Liu
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  2. Jiasen Sun
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Correspondence to Jiasen Sun.

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Liu, X., Sun, J. Analysis of China’s regional energy efficiency based on DEA considering integer constraint. Environ Dev Sustain (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02192-y

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