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Chinese construction industry energy efficiency analysis with undesirable carbon emissions and construction waste outputs

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Abstract

As the construction industry generates more than 30% of global greenhouse gases and more than 40% of global urban waste every year, energy conservation and emission reduction has become extremely important. This study proposes an innovative output system that includes undesirable carbon dioxide and construction waste outputs. A three-stage DEA-Malmquist model is used to measure the energy efficiency of the construction industry in 30 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2017, and a stochastic frontier method is used in the second stage to analyze and remove the energy efficiency influences of environmental factors and random errors. It was found that the total factor energy efficiency change (TFEECH) and technology change (TECH) in China’s construction industry was underestimated because of the environmental factors and random errors. GRP per capita, energy consumption structures, industrial development degrees, and industrial concentrations were all found to play a positive role in improving energy efficiency; however, urbanization levels, technical equipment, policy support, and marketization were found to have a negative effect. Policy suggestions are given based on the empirical results.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The study is financially supported by the Research on Shared Electric Vehicle Service Optimization and Cooperative Development of Supply Chain (71871151).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Economy and Enterprise Development Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Xuedong Liang

  2. Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Xuedong Liang, Shifeng Lin, Xueyao Bi, Enfan Lu & Zhi Li

Authors
  1. Xuedong Liang
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  2. Shifeng Lin
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  3. Xueyao Bi
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  4. Enfan Lu
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  5. Zhi Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Investigation, methodology, and data collection were performed by Xuedong Liang. Data collection, model building, and original draft writing were performed by Shifeng Lin; methodology and model building were performed by Xueyao Bi. Data collection was performed by Enfan Lu. Methodology, writing-review, and editing were performed by Zhi Li. In addition, all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhi Li.

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Liang, X., Lin, S., Bi, X. et al. Chinese construction industry energy efficiency analysis with undesirable carbon emissions and construction waste outputs. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 15838–15852 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11632-z

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