Measurement, Differences, and Driving Factors of Land Use Environmental Efficiency in the Context of Energy Utilization

Lingyao Wang, Huilin Liu, Xiaoyan Liu () and Fangrong Ren ()
Additional contact information
Lingyao Wang: School of Internet of Things, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China
Huilin Liu: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Xiaoyan Liu: Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Fangrong Ren: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: Land urbanization enables a thorough perspective to explore the decoupling of land use environmental efficiency (LUEE) and energy use, thereby supporting the shift into low-carbon land use by emphasizing energy conservation and reducing carbon emissions. This paper first calculates LUEE from 2011 to 2021 by using the EBM-DEA model in China. The geographical detector model is used to examine the driving factors of land use environmental efficiency. The results show the following: (1) China’s LUEE is high in general but shows a clear pattern of spatial differentiation internally, with the highest values in the eastern region represented by Beijing, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, while the central and western regions show lower LUEE because of their irrational industrial structure and lagging green development. (2) Energy consumption, economic development, industrial upgrading, population size, and urban expansion are the driving factors. Their explanatory power for the spatial stratification heterogeneity of land use environmental impacts varies. (3) Urban expansion has the greatest impact on the spatial differentiation of land use environmental effects, while energy consumption also shows significant explanatory strength. In contrast, economic development and population size exhibit relatively weaker explanatory effects. (4) The interaction of the two driving factors has a greater impact on LUEE than their individual effects, and the interaction is a two-factor enhancement. Finally, we make targeted recommendations to help improve land use environmental efficiency.

Keywords: energy use; land use environmental efficiency; EBM-DEA model; geographical detector model; green sustainable advancement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/8/1573/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/8/1573/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:8:p:1573-:d:1714854

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().