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ARS Home » Plains Area » Brookings, South Dakota » Integrated Cropping Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #244425
Title: A data envelopment analysis approach to compare the environmental efficiency of energy technologies and countries

Author
item KONGAR, ELIF - University Of Bridgeport
item Rosentrater, Kurt

Submitted to: International Journal of Green Computing
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/29/2010
Publication Date: 11/8/2010
Citation: Kongar, E., Rosentrater, K.A. 2010. A data envelopment analysis approach to compare the environmental efficiency of energy technologies and countries. International Journal of Green Computing. 1(2):1-18.

Interpretive Summary: Due to increasing demand for energy, alternative and renewable sources are expected to have rapid growth in the coming years. Computer models can be used to as decision aids to guide the development and deployment of these alternative technologies. However, the current body of research providing comparative decision making models for both conventional and alternative energy sources is very limited. Furthermore, existing literature also falls short in offering a unifying model that benchmarks the technical efficiencies of countries in terms of their energy usage in relation to environmental impact. This paper aims at filling these gaps by developing two sets of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models. These models were used to calculate and rank the technical efficiencies of (i) conventional and alternative energy sources for the U.S., and (ii) energy usage of selected countries. The first set of DEA models considered both the economics of energy sources and additional environmental criteria such as CO2 emissions and environmental damage cost. The second set of models evaluated the relative technical efficiencies of the top 25 petroleum consuming countries in the world in terms of the environment (such as renewable energy as a proportion of total energy supply, specific renewable energy sources used, and carbon dioxide emissions). Numerical examples have been included to demonstrate the functionality of the models.

Technical Abstract: Due to increasing financial and environmental concerns, governmental rules, regulations and incentives alternative energy sources are soon expected to grow at a much faster pace than conventional sources of energy. However, the current body of research providing comparative decision making models for conventional and alternative energy sources is still limited. Furthermore, existing literature also falls short in offering a unifying model that benchmarks the technical efficiencies of countries in terms of their energy usage in relation to environmental impact. This paper aims at filling these gaps by proposing two sets of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to calculate and rank the technical efficiencies of (i) conventional and alternative energy sources for the U.S., and (ii) energy usage of selected countries depending on various criteria. The first set of DEA models considers both the economics of energy sources and additional environmental criteria such as CO2 emissions and damage cost. The second set evaluates the relative technical efficiencies of the top 25 petroleum consuming countries in the world in terms of the environment. Numerical examples are also included to demonstrate the functionality of the proposed models.