Efficiency Evaluation of Energy in Northeastern China Based on Data Envelopment Analysis.

The development of the energy economy in Northeastern China is unbalanced. In this paper, some energy structures such as oil, coal, and electricity are chosen as input indexes, while per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and total retail sales of consumer goods are desirable output indexes. The main causes of haze are industrial waste gas emission, industrial wastewater discharge, and solid waste production, which are regarded as undesirable output indexes. Environmental variables include industrial structure, urbanization, per capita GDP, and government planning. The proportion of the tertiary industry's output value to its total output value is one of the important indexes to measure economic development in one area. Therefore, industrial structure plays a vital role in a region's economic development. The tertiary industry oriented by service sector is the main force to promote economic transformation. The development of the urban economy will change from high to low as the process of urbanization, which can be characterized by green coverage of the urban built-up area. The higher per capita GDP, the higher the economic development can be achieved. Government planning refers to the total number of construction projects and completed projects in the year the government takes measures to control pollution. It shows that the total factor productivity of energy green efficiency has been stable in the last decades but fluctuated wildly in special periods, in which technical progress has played a great role, as well as the increase of technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]