International Comparison Of Total Factor Energy Efficiency Under The Carbon Constraint

Energy efficiency is always the focus of researchers because of the important roles the energy plays in production and daily life. At the same time, environmental problems such as climate change are also catching attentions of researchers. It’s important to find the way to improve the energy efficiency under the carbon constrain.This paper estimated the TFEE(total factor energy efficiency) of 45 countries from 1980 to 2010 by using RAM-DEA model considering the factor of energy structure. We also calculated the inefficiency of each kind of energy including coal, petroleum, natural gas, renewable electricity and nuclear power. And the most optimal energy structure was also calculated. Finally we analyzed how the TFEE is influenced by relevant factors. Firstly, we found that TFEE has a U-shape relationship with GDP per capita. The middle-high income countries has the lowest scores among our sample. Secondly, the inefficiency of non-fossil energy is higher than that of fossil energy, and can be improved by enlarging the consumption. Meanwhile, the fossil energy should be reduced. Thirdly, both the industry structure and energy stru cture have strong influence on the TFEE. And the ministry department of energy efficiency and energy efficiency law also have different effect on TFEE.The optimization of energy efficiency refers to many aspects of development. The feature of energy recourses in China makes it difficult to change the coal based energy structure in short-time. The upgrading of energy saving technology, pollution taxes and energy subsidies, energy price can enhance the TFEE in the short-run. In the long-run, the optimization of industry structure and energy structure can significantly improve the TFEE of China.