Evaluating the performance of Chinese fossil fuel power plants by data environment analysis: An application of three intermediate approaches in a time horizon.

To our knowledge, the previous studies did not answer the following questions: how much does window analysis differ from the original Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approaches and how to develop DEA window analysis? To address these questions, we propose three intermediate approaches (cross-sectional approach, window efficiency analysis and window index approach) and statistically compare their performances. The underlying concern is that we need to examine whether a metrological bias exists in our study. The concern is important in guiding policy issues such as energy policy and climate change. Empirically, the proposed approaches are applied to measure the unified efficiency of fossil fuel power plants at a provincial level in China from 2007 to 2017, since these plants are important energy consumers and CO 2 emitters. We obtain two important implications. First, considerable differences were confirmed among the three approaches, thus implying an existence of the methodological bias. Second, Beijing (the capital of China) outperformed the other provinces in terms of their measures, since the government has paid serious attention to air pollution emitted from fossil fuel power plants. The governmental regulation in Beijing is a good example of pollution prevention in China. It is expected that the success on Beijing will be disseminated to the other provinces. This paper proposed three approach, i.e. one conventional approach (cross-sectional approach) and two new approaches (window efficiency analysis and window index approach). The two new approaches were capable of measuring efficiency shifts or technology shifts over time. Empirically, these approaches were adopted to evaluate the performance of Chinese fossil fuel power plants. Image 1 • We evaluate the performance of China's fossil fuel power plants from 2007 to 2017. • Three formulations are utilized for DEA intermediate approach. • The first policy effort was put on Beijing and gradually on other provinces. • China made a progress on economic and environmental measures during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]