Carbon productivity growth, technological innovation, and technology gap change of coal-fired power plants in China. (October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yu, Yanni; Qian, Tao; Du, Limin
• Is Part Of: Energy policy. Volume 109(2017)
• Page Start: 479
• Page End: 487
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Subjects: Q52 -- Q54 -- Q58; Carbon productivity -- Sequential meta-frontier Luenberger index -- Coal power plants -- China; Energy policy -- Periodicals; Politique énergétique -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 333.79
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.05.040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-4215

Abstract

Abstract: This paper proposes a sequential meta-frontier Luenberger productivity index (SMLPI) that incorporates undesirable outputs to measure carbon productivity growth over time. This new index combines the concepts of sequential production technology, meta-frontier directional distance function, and the Luenberger productivity Index to produce a composite indicator, so that it can take group heterogeneities and the progressive nature of technology into consideration for productivity measurement. The SMLPI is then applied to a unique dataset of China's coal-fired power plants, including 5048 observations covering the period 1999–2008. The results show an increasing trend of carbon productivity growth during the sample period for both state- and non-state-owned power plants. Further decomposition analyses show that the production technology also exhibits an increasing trend for both groups, but the efficiency change exhibits a decreasing trend. For the state-owned group, the technology gap decreased before 2003, but increased thereafter. On the contrary, for the non-state-owned power plants, the technology gap increased before 2003, but decreased thereafter. Highlights: A new sequential meta-frontier Luenberger productivity index is proposed. The carbon productivity of China's power plants increased during 1999–2008. The production technology increased while the efficiency change fluctuated.