Technical Efficiency and CO2 Reduction Potentials: An Analysis of the German Electricity Generating Sector

Stefan Seifert, Astrid Cullmann and Christian von Hirschhausen

No 1426, Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin from DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the technical efficiency of CO2 reduction potentials of German power and heat plants, using a non-parametric sequential Data Envelopment Analysis. We apply a metafrontier framework to evaluate plant-level efficiencies in the transformation of inputs into desirable (energy) and undesirable (CO2 emissions) outputs, taking into account different fossil fuel generation technologies. We dispose of a unique data set for coal-, lignite-, gas- and biomass-fired power plants from 2003 through 2010 that provides an unbalanced panel of 1459 observations. We find intra-group differences within energy generation technology, but natural gas fired power plants clearly have the highest efficiency. Furthermore, the analysis points to significant savings potentials for CO2 and fuel-input.

Keywords: Electricity generation; non-parametric efficiency analysis; Germany; Panel 2003-1010 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 L94 Q50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 p.
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-ene and nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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