An Innovative Double-Frontier Approach to Measure Sustainability Efficiency Based on an Energy Use and Operations Management Perspective

Linyan Zhang, Chunhao Xu, Jian Zhang (), Bingyin Lei, Anke Xie, Ning Shen, Yujie Li and Kaiye Gao ()
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Linyan Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
Chunhao Xu: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
Jian Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
Bingyin Lei: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
Anke Xie: Yunnan Key Laboratory of Blockchain Application Technology, Kunming 650233, China
Ning Shen: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
Yujie Li: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
Kaiye Gao: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-21

Abstract: China’s economic development has achieved great success in recent years, but the problems of energy scarcity and environmental pollution have become increasingly serious. To enhance the reliability and efficiency between energy, the environment and the economy, sustainable development is an inevitable choice. In the context of measuring sustainability efficiency, a network data envelopment analysis model is proposed to formulate the two-stage process of energy use and operations management. A double frontier is derived to optimize the available energy for sustainable development. Due to nonlinearity, previous linear methods are not directly applicable to identify the double frontier and calculate stage efficiencies for inefficient decision-making units. To address this problem, this study develops the primal-dual relationship between multiplicative and envelopment network models based on the Lagrange duality principle of parametric linear programming. The newly developed approach is used to evaluate the sustainability efficiency of 30 administrative regions in China. The results show that insufficient sustainability efficiency is a systemic problem. Different regions should take different measures to conserve energy and reduce pollutant emissions for sustainable development. To increase sustainability efficiency, regions should support energy-saving and emission-reducing technologies in production processes and strengthen their capacity for technological innovation. Compared with energy use efficiency, operations management efficiency in China has a wider range of changes. During the operations management stage, there is not much difference between the capacity and quantity of each region. Based on benchmark regions at the efficiency frontier, there is an opportunity to improve operations management in the near future. Blockchain technology can effectively improve energy allocation efficiency.

Keywords: sustainability efficiency; double frontier; energy use; operations management; blockchain technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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