Resource use efficiency of US electricity generating plants during the SO2 trading regime: A distance function approach.

This paper measures resource use efficiency of electricity generating plants in the United States under the SO2 trading regime. Resource use efficiency is defined as the product of technical efficiency and environmental efficiency, where the latter is the ratio of good output (electricity) to bad output (SO2) with reference to the best practice firm, i.e., one that is producing an optimal mix of good and bad outputs. This concept of environmental efficiency is similar to that of output oriented allocative efficiency. Using output distance functions we compare three methods for the calculation of resource use efficiency, namely, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), deterministic parametric programming and nonparametric linear programming. This paper reveals the strengths and weaknesses of these methods for estimating efficiency. Both SFA and linear programming approaches can estimate the efficiency scores. For plants in the dataset the overall geometric mean of the three methods for technical efficiency, environmental efficiency and resource use efficiency is 0.737, 0.335 and 0.248, respectively. The rank correlation coefficient between technical efficiency, environmental efficiency and resource use efficiency is 0.213, 0.617 and 0.877, respectively. The regression analyses of performance across plants shows units in phase I of the SO2 trading programme are negatively related to measures of economic and environmental performance. This suggests that the market for SO2 allowances, per se, may not be minimizing compliance cost. We also find that a decrease in SO2 emission rates not only increases environmental efficiency but also leads to an increase in resource use efficiency. This finding concurs with the hypothesis that enhancement in the environmental performance of a firm leads to an increase in its overall efficiency of resource use as well.Technical efficiency ; Environmental efficiency ; Resource-use efficiency ; Distance functions ; SO2 allowance program

Pattern Identification of Land use and Resource use efficiencies in Agriculture in Jhabua Tribal district in Madhya Pradesh

In the fifties and sixties of 20th century, the regional economists identified a regional process of circular and cumulative causation of under- development of resource-rich but backward regions (Myrdal) and core-periphery relation of developed industrial regions with resource hinterland regions (Friedman). In the seventies, environment and development conflicts were identified leading to ecological and socio-economic degradation in the resource regions. In the regional framework, the tribal regions as sub-national regions have come under serious anthropogenic impacts due to increasing demands for resource materials for trade and industries. Growing awareness of environmental degradation and depletion, the policy makers, planners, environmentalist and economists have focused their attention to examine the efficiencies of land use and the resource use in agriculture, identifying the ecological and economic efficiencies of the resource use pattern. Agriculture, being an organic economic activity, has a close relation with the natural resources like land and water. The tribal ecology is changing and the tribes have gradually adapted to agriculture activities and a distinct agro-ecosystem has grown in tribal areas. The tribes are trying to diversify the resource use for their ecological and economic sustenance. The government is also influencing resource use and land use as development strategy in the tribal region. It is necessary to examine the land use and the resource use efficiencies in the agricultural areas in regional and temporal framework. Land use and resource use efficiencies have been measured to evaluate ecologic and economic efficiency and growth in agriculture. Since, agriculture operates in system dynamic framework in which agriculture has close relation with other uses like forestry in ecological landscape in eco-regional framework and is affected by climatic change and other anthropogenic impacts resulting from industrialization and urbanization. it is necessary to identify the land use and resource use efficiencies in agriculture in the tribal eco-system. Along with land, other natural resources like water are important in agriculture. The efficiency of irrigation may be an indicator to identify the use of water resource and its efficiency in agriculture. The land use and irrigation intensity are used as an indicators for measuring land use and resource use efficiency in this study. In this paper, the land use intensity has been measured by (1) Analysis of the land use extension in agriculture in different tahsils of Jhabua district to identify the level of resource use in different regions. (2) The land use and irrigation intensity has been used as measure of resource use intensity and efficiency in different tahsils in study area (3) The agricultural land use efficiency has been measured using standard coefficient, which is a modified Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method for agricultural land use zoning based on land use efficienciesPattern identification, land use and resource use efficiency, Kendall's Ranking coefficient

Classifying resource efficiency indicators based on LCA practices

Our whole society depends on the use of natural resources. Despite the fact that most natural resources are limited, they are not always used in a sustainable way. To monitor the transition towards a more resource efficient society, a wide variety of indicators has been developed over the years, both within a policy context and an industrial context. However, these indicators are not univocally defined, which generates confusion about the real meaning of resource efficiency. Indeed, the term resource efficiency is interpreted in different ways: from the simple accounting of resource extraction to environmental impact assessment related to resource availability and provision of resources ; from the micro-level of products and companies to the macro-level of regions and countries ; from a gate-to-gate perspective to a life cycle perspective or from a national perspective1 to a global perspective . Also the considered resource range (which natural resource types are taken into account) and the used quantification metric (monetary or physical) can vary from indicator to indicator. Another issue is the provenience of resources: in some studies is referred to natural resources, while in others waste is also considered to be a potential resource . This paper tries to bring order into these different visions by proposing a systematized framework for resource efficiency indicators based on LCA practices. The proposed framework is subdivided in multiple levels based on the interpretations summarized above. The use of the framework is illustrated by structuring several resource efficiency indicators in practice today, e.g. the GDP over DMC (Gross Domestic Product over Domestic Material Consumption), used within a policy context, or process-efficiency, used within an industrial context. Within this framework, resource efficiency indicators can be classified and critically evaluated, identifying possibilities for further development and improvement

Resource Use Efficiency in Poultry Production in Bureti District, Kenya

Poultry production is one of the most important economic activities to the smallholder farmers of Kenya. However, constraints are evident which have resulted in low production of poultry and poultry products to meet population demand and for socio-economic sustainability of the livelihoods. The objective of the study was to determine resource use efficiency, optimal production levels, production systems of small-scale poultry farmers in Bureti district, Kenya. Primary data were obtained using a set of structured questionnaires from 300 representative farmers drawn from the study area using cross-sectional sampling techniques. Data were analyzed by Cobb-Douglas production function. The results showed that the resources used in poultry production were underutilized while others were over utilized. The efficiency indicators for poultry feeds (0.0603) showed that poultry feeds were inefficiently used. Labour efficiency indicator (-0.091) showed that farmers were not only grossly inefficient in the use of the resource but also over utilized it while the efficiency indicator (60.86) for poultry equipment implied the resource was inefficiently utilized. It is recommended that farmers should use inputs more efficiently (particularly feeds which were being inefficiently utilized) by reducing their levels of employment.Economic Efficiency, Resource Use Efficiency, Small-Holder Poultry Farmers, Kenya, Livestock Production/Industries,

Organic farming and resource efficiency

The Chapter discusses the efficiency of nutrient and energy use in organic farming, regarding the pressing need to make efficient use of natural resources. Nutrient recycling, the use of adapted plant varieties and energy-saving through the ban of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer are organic farming practices that enhance resource efficiency

Efficiency, economics, and environmental implications of phosphorus resource use and the fertilizer industry in China

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for crop production and is often in short supply. The necessary P fertilizers are derived from deposits in the lithosphere, which are limited in size and nonrenewable. China is one of the world's largest consumers and producers of P fertilizers. Thus, P resource use efficiency in China has an important impact on the worldwide efficiency of P resource use. This study examined the P fertilizer industry in China in terms of P resource use efficiency, economics, and environmental risk, and explored options for improvement through scenario analysis. P resource use efficiency decreased from a mean of 71% before 1995 to 39% in 2003, i.e., from every 10 kg P in rock material, only 3.9 kg P was used to produce fertilizer, 5.6 kg of the residues were discarded at the mining site, and 0.5 kg was manufacturing waste. The decreased efficiency was caused by increased P rock mining activities, especially from small, inefficient miners. Enhanced mining was supported by local governments and by the growing P fertilizer industry, where high-analysis P fertilizers have fourfold higher gross margins than traditional low-analysis fertilizers. Although the growing fertilizer industry is contributing significantly to the development of some regions, the economic efficiency is still lower than in other countries, e.g., in the USA. The P resource is depleting quickly, and the environmental consequences of inefficient use are serious. The amount of accumulated phosphor gypsum was estimated to be 110 Tg, the amount of deteriorated land reached 475 km(2), and the consumption of ground water was 1.8 billion m(3) per year. The low efficiency and serious environmental risk could be attributed to the numerous small inefficient miners, which were supported by intervention of governmental subsidies and taxes after 1995. This study proved that there is a great deal of room for improvement in the resource use efficiency up to 77% by integrated measures, which need broad cooperation of miners, fertilizer plants, and agriculture

Improved resource efficiency and cascading utilisation of renewable materials

In light of various environmental problems and challenges concerning resource allocation, the utilisation of renewable resources is increasingly important for the efficient use of raw materials. Therefore, cascading utilisation (i.e., the multiple material utilisations of renewable resources prior to their conversion into energy) and approaches that aim to further increase resource efficiency (e.g., the utilisation of by-products) can be considered guiding principles. This paper therefore introduces the Special Volume “Improved Resource Efficiency and Cascading Utilisation of Renewable Materials”. Because both research aspects, resource efficiency and cascading utilisation, belong to several disciplines, the Special Volume adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and presents 16 articles, which can be divided into four subjects: Innovative Materials based on Renewable Resources and their Impact on Sustainability and Resource Efficiency, Quantitative Models for the Integrated Optimisation of Production and Distribution in Networks for Renewable Resources, Information Technology-based Collaboration in Value Generating Networks for Renewable Resources, and Consumer Behaviour towards Eco-friendly Products. The interdisciplinary perspective allows a comprehensive overview of current research on resource efficiency, which is supplemented with 15 book reviews showing the extent to which textbooks of selected disciplines already refer to resource efficiency. This introductory article highlights the relevance of the four subjects, presents summaries of all papers, and discusses future research directions. The overall contribution of the Special Volume is that it bridges the resource efficiency research of selected disciplines and that it presents several approaches for more environmentally sound production and consumption

Resource Use Efficiency of Millet/Cowpea Intercropping in Niger State, Nigeria

The study examined the profitability and resources-use efficiency of millet/cowpea mixed farmers production in Niger state Nigeria. The primary data for the study was obtained using structured questionnaire administered to 80 randomly sampled farmers in Kotangora Local Government Area of Niger State. Farm budgeting technique and exponential production function were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the estimated gross margin, net farm income, gross ratio, operating ratio and returns on investment are N57,542.42 per hectare, N54,240.40 per hectare, 0.37, 0.31 and 2.15. The regression result shows that seed and family labour were statistically significant at 1% level of probability, while farm size and hired labour were statistically significant at 5% level of probability. The allocative efficiency results show that seeds, family labour and agrochemicals were under-utilized. Farm size and hired labour were over-utilized. Efficiency and productivity could be improved if the farmers use more seed, family labour, agrochemicals, less of hired labour and land.Crop Production/Industries,

FARMERS RESOURCE – USE AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN COWPEA PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA

In Nigeria, the use of stochastic frontier to estimate farm level efficiency effects is still at the rudimentary level and is beginning to build up. Few studies have been undertaken but there is dearth need for more empirical studies on this important issue. This paper presents the analysis of technical efficiency of cowpea production in Osun state southwest Nigeria, using the stochastic production frontier, budgetary and resource-use efficiency analyses. The marginal value products of all the resources used are less than their prices (MVPResource-Use Efficiency, Technical Efficiency, Cowpea Production, Stochastic Frontier, Tobit Model and Marginal Products