687 research outputs found

    Environmental efficiency : meaning and measurement and application to Australian dairy farms

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    Technical efficiency has been widely studied in the literature, but in its pursuit, many of the inputs used can impact on the environment. Environmental effects can be modelled as undesirable output or, as has been the case in more recent studies, as conventional inputs. This paper examines the concept of environmental efficiency and how it can be used to evaluate the performance of Australian dairy farming, using nitrogen surplus, arising from excessive applications of fertilizer, as a detrimental input. Farming promotes the image of clean and green production and if this image is to be maintained, there is a need to ensure activities are environmentally friendly.<br /

    Environmental efficiency: Meaning and measurement and application to Australian dairy farms

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    Technical efficiency has been widely studied in the literature, but in its pursuit, many of the inputs used can impact on the environment. Environmental effects can be modelled as undesirable output or, as has been the case in more recent studies, as conventional inputs. This paper examines the concept of environmental efficiency and how it can be used to evaluate the performance of Australian dairy farming, using nitrogen surplus, arising from excessive applications of fertilizer, as a detrimental input. Farming promotes the image of clean and green production and if this image is to be maintained, there is a need to ensure activities are environmentally friendlyefficiency, detrimental inputs, nitrogen surplus, DEA, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

    Environmental and Energy Efficiency Evaluation Based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

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    Efficiency and productivity assessment are essential to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of countries, services and processes. In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in the environmental effects of economic activities, and the need to assess the environmental and energy efficiency has been internationally recognized. Energy and environmental efficiency assessments of decision-making units (DMUs), such as countries, utilities, processes and services are relevant and have strong implications for companies, regulators, stakeholders, policy makers, and customers. To improve both the decision-making process and the management of DMUs, fundamental and practical knowledge about energy and environmental efficiency and productivity is essentia

    Water pollution in wastewater treatment plants: An efficiency analysis with undesirable output

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    The environmental efficiency of 96 Tuscan (Italian) wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is investigated taking into account the quality of the outgoing water in terms of pollutant. In this regard, the presence of the residual nitrogen in the outgoing treated water is considered as undesirable output. The efficiency analysis is performed by applying a novel integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process/Non-radial Directional Distance Function (AHP/NDDF) approach, combining the benefits of the two techniques. Similarly to the standard NDDF approach, the suggested model allows to include simultaneously inputs, desirable and undesirable outputs and not to overestimate the efficiency scores. At the same time, the AHP inclusion gives the possibility to directly take into account the decision maker preferences in the weighting system and to encompass some existing directional distance function models as special cases.The obtained results are then used to identify the efficiency explanatory variables: among them, the facilities' capacity, the percentage of wastewater discharged by the industrial and agricultural activities and the level of compliance with the pollutant concentration threshold set by the legislator have a significant impact on the WWTP performance. The integrated performance assessment allows the water authorities to combine the WWTP efficiency together with the environmental sustainability issue and it has the potential for further promising environmental inspections

    Environmental Efficiency Assessment of Dublin Port Using Two-Stage Non-Radial DEA Model

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    Global maritime trade has reached 11 billion tons and accounts for more than 80% of global merchandise trade (United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD), 2019). As a result, there is a wide range of vessels, from very large bulk carriers (coal, ores, grains, etc., and crude oil/refinery carriers) to container ships to various cruise ships and naval vessels. To efficiently accommodate these various vessels, ports have had to evolve from wharves to efficient logistical hubs within the larger supply chain that move vessels deeper into the hinterland. Port development is critical to managing the growing volume of cargo (European Commission (EC), 2011)

    Environmental Efficiency Assessment of U.S. Transport Sector: A Slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

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    Sustainable transportation in the U.S. is essential for long-term economic growth and mobility, and environmental preservation. Using a non-radial slack-based measurement data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) model and state-level data, this study assesses the environmental efficiency of the transportation sector in the U.S. from years 2004 to 2012. In addition to environmental efficiency, carbon efficiency and potential carbon reduction were estimated for the 50 U.S. states. The findings of this study reveal that U.S. transportation sector was environmentally inefficient; U.S. states had an average transportation environmental efficiency score below 0.64. Therefore the states could substantially reduce carbon emissions to improve the environmental efficiency of their transportation sectors

    Measuring Eco-efficiency of Production: A Frontier Approach

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    Eco-efficiency of production is an important concept both from the viewpoint of society and business community; but as yet, there is no unambiguous way to its measurement. The purpose of this paper is to present a general measurement framework based on production theory and the activity analysis approach. Although we exploit the existing methods and techniques, our approach diverges essentially from the usual treatments of the environmental performance of firms in the productive efficiency analysis. The main difference between our approach and the earlier studies is that we build on the definition of eco-efficiency as the ratio of economic value added to the environmental damage index. Related to this orientation, we also approach eco-efficiency from a more aggregate perspective. Our general framework is illustrated by an empirical application to the evaluation of eco-efficiency of road transportation in Finland.Eco-efficiency, Environmental Pressures, Aggregation, Benefit of the Doubt Weighting, Distance Function, Activity Analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis, Road transportation

    Does the Kyoto Protocol Agreement matters? An environmental efficiency analysis

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    This paper uses both conditional and unconditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models in order to determine different environmental efficiency levels for a sample of 110 countries in 2007. In order to capture the effect of countries compliance with the Kyoto Protocol Agreement (KPA), we condition the years since a country has signed the agreement until 2007. Particularly, various DEA models have been applied alongside with bootstrap techniques in order to determine the effect of Kyoto protocol agreement on countries’ environmental efficiencies. The study illustrates how the recent developments in efficiency analysis and statistical inference can be applied when evaluating environmental performance issues. The results indicate that the first six years after countries signed the Kyoto protocol agreement have a positive effect on their environmental efficiencies. However after that period it appears that countries avoid complying with the actions imposed by the agreement which in turn has an immediate negative effect on their environmental efficiencies.Environmental efficiency; Kyoto protocol agreement; Conditional full frontiers; Statistical inference; DEA

    Improving energy efficiency considering reduction of CO2 emission of turnip production:A novel data envelopment analysis model with undesirable output approach

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    Modern Turnip production methods need significant amount of direct and indirect energy. The optimum use of agricultural input resources results in the increase of efficiency and the decrease of the carbon footprint of turnip production. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is a well-known technique utilized to evaluate the efficiency for peer units compared with the best practice frontier, widely used by researches to analyze the performance of agricultural sector. In this regard, a new non-radial DEA-based efficiency model is designed to investigate the efficiency of turnip farms. For this purpose, five inputs and two outputs are considered. The outputs consist turnip yield as a desirable output and greenhouse gas emission as an undesirable output. The new model projects each DMU on the strong efficient frontier. Several important properties are stated and proved which show the capabilities of our proposed model. The new models are applied in evaluating 30 turnip farms in Fars, Iran. This case study demonstrates the efficiency of our proposed models. The target inputs and outputs for these farms are also calculated and the benchmark farm for each DMU is determined. Finally, the reduction of CO2 emission for each turnip farm is evaluated. Compared with other factors like human labor, diesel fuel, seed and fertilizers, one of the most important findings is that machinery has the highest contribution to the total target energy saving. Besides, the average target emission of turnip production in the region is 7% less than the current emission

    Comparing biofuels through the lens of sustainability: A data envelopment analysis approach

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    Liquid biofuels can facilitate the transition towards a more sustainable transportation sector by curbing carbon emissions while maintaining most of the current vehicle fleet. Today, a myriad of alternatives are available to produce biofuels, where different decisions for the fuel type, blend, conversion process and carbon source will affect the final cost and environmental impact of the product. In this contribution, we analyze the performance of 72 different biofuels routes based on 12 indicators that cover the three sustainability dimensions: economic, environmental and social. The proposed multi-criteria approach combines Data Envelopment Analysis with Life Cycle Assessment to evaluate biofuels from a cradle-to-wheel perspective, that is, considering the production chain spanning from biomass production to the combustion of the biofuel in the engine. Results reveal that there are 35 biofuels routes performing better than the rest, with renewable diesel being a better option than ethanol-based blends or biodiesel, and waste biomass preferred over cellulosic biomass or bio-oils. The selection of the carbon source proofed to be the most important decision, highlighting the need to consider regional aspects related to soil and climate before promoting a certain biofuel. Overall, our results can help to derive effective policies for the adoption of biofuels attaining the best performance at minimum cost and environmental risks.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
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