Research On The Differential Decomposition And Influencing Factors Of Total-factor Energy Efficiency In Chinese Coal Mining Cities Considering Environmental Constraints

There is no doubt that energy plays an important role in production and life.In order to alleviate the contradiction between the demand for economic growth and the limitation of resources and the importance of ecological environment,it is particularly important to study the energy utilization efficiency in order to change the high-consumption and low-yield economic growth mode.Currently,coal mining cities are facing severe environmental problems,which are actually energy consumption problems.Therefore,this article introduces a calculation method about total-factor energy efficiency(TFEE)considering environmental constraints to conduct research on coal mining cities.This is in line with the basic idea of ecological civilization construction in China and is also an active exploration of the healthy and sustainable economic development model advocated by our country.Firstly,this study measures the TFEE of 35 coal prefecture-level cities using the Slack-Based Measure(SBM)model with undesirable output based on two assumptions of constant or variable returns to scale.Then,according to TFEE measured under the assumptions of constant return to scale,cities are categorized into high,medium,and low efficiency groups using K-means clustering.The Malmquist-Luenberger index and the Thiel index are used to study dynamic and static difference decomposition for each group,respectively.Then,the panel Tobit model and the mediating effect test model are constructed to empirically research the influence and mechanism of financial development level and environmental regulation on TFEE.After that,the empirical results are analyzed in depth,and the research conclusions are summarized,and policy recommendations suitable for the actual conditions of different groups of coal mining cities are put forward.The following are the main conclusions of this research:⑴ There is a significant gap between the TFEE of each city.Among them,Tangshan,Ordos,Jixi,Xuzhou,and Zaozhuang are consistently at the optimal efficiency level,while Xinzhou has always been at the lowest efficiency level.The effective energy utilization areas accounted for no more than 20%,which indicated that the overall situation of energy utilization is not ideal.And the TFEE of each coal mining city measured under the assumptions of constant return to scale is lower than or equal to the TFEE of each coal mining city measured under the assumptions of variable return to scale.⑵ The sources of TFEE growth differ for all groups.In terms of the growth of TFEE,the technical progress effect of all groups increases gradually,while the pure technology effect shows a steady decrease.From 2005 to 2007,the overall difference mainly comes from the difference in the TFEE of coal mining cities within each group.However,from 2008 to 2017,the overall difference was largely caused by differences in the TFEE of coal mining cities between groups.⑶ From the perspective of what role the financial development level plays,the financial development level has a significant role in promoting the overall TFEE of coal mining cities,and there is a partial mediating effect.The level of financial development has a significant inhibiting effect on the TFEE of the high-efficiency group,but the role of technological progress as an intermediary variable is not significant.There is also a mediating effect of technological progress in the promotion effect of financial development on the TFEE of medium-efficiency group.The level of financial development promotes the improvement of TFEE in low-efficiency group,but the mediating effect of technological progress is not significant.⑷ From the perspective of environmental regulations affecting TFEE,environmental regulations has played a significant role in promoting the TFEE of coal mining cities as a whole,high-efficiency,medium-efficiency and low-efficiency groups,but the mediating effect of technological progress is not significant.And there is no U-shaped relationship between TFEE and environmental regulation in overall coal mining cities.The paper contains 18 figures,24 tables and 116 literatures.