China’s Water Utilization Efficiency: An Analysis with Environmental Considerations

Ma, Hailiang; Shi, Chong; Chou, Nan-Ting

doi:10.3390/su8060516

Cited by 47 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…In a pioneering work, Hu et al [25] incorporated water input into the total-factor production framework to construct an index of total-factor water efficiency (TFWE) which was defined as the ratio of optimal-to-actual water use. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a multi-factor efficiency assessment technique has been widely applied to deal with water efficiency evaluation issues [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. For example, Wang et al [28] employed a slacks-based measure approach to examine water use efficiency of regional industrial systems in China.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-Examining Regional Total-Factor Water Efficiency and Its Determinants in China: A Parametric Distance Function Approach

Zheng

Zhang

Xing

2018

Water

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It is accepted that improving water efficiency is a key task for China in achieving water sustainability, as the knowledge of water efficiency and its determinants can provide critical information for water policy formulation. To this end, this paper presents a parametric frontier approach to analyze water efficiency performance and its influencing factors in one step. The proposed approach first introduces the Shephard water distance function to construct total-factor water efficiency (TFWE) index and then adopts the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) technique to compute the index and its determinants. A case study of regions in China from 2000 to 2015 is presented. The main findings are summarized as follows: (1) Both the overall China and most of the regions still have room for improvement in water efficiency. SFA and data envelopment analysis (DEA) might lead to different results in benchmarking water efficiency. Moreover, SFA has higher discriminating power than DEA in this regard. (2) There exists significant disparity of water efficiency among the regions of China, and the difference in TFWE takes on a U-shaped evolution trend, which first decreases in a fluctuation way and then increases monotonically. (3) Factors like industrial structure, import and export trade, environmental regulation and urbanization level have a positive impact on water efficiency, while resource endowment and economic level exhibit negative and nonlinear effects, respectively. Finally, several policy recommendations are made to improve water efficiency levels and promote water sustainability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-Examining Regional Total-Factor Water Efficiency and Its Determinants in China: A Parametric Distance Function Approach

Zheng

Zhang

Xing

2018

Water

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“…With the comprehensive development of society and economy in China, rural urbanization is the inevitable trend of rural development [1]. During rural urbanization, the high-density conglomeration of people, factors of production, and economic activities will produce some environmental problems, such as environmental pollution by industrial and domestic wastewater, gas, and residue [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Urbanization on Rural Drinking Water Quality in Beijing, China

Zhang¹,

Gao²,

Wei

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:Urbanization is an inevitable trend in historical development, but eco-environmental problems, including drinking water safety, have gradually become more and more outstanding during the process of rural urbanization. Ten districts in rural areas of Beijing, China were selected to study the effects of urbanization on drinking water quality. The relation between the urbanization index and drinking water quality indicators were explored. The influence of the urbanization process on drinking water quality showed that housing construction, population urbanization, energy consumption, and industrialization during urban development were closely related to drinking water quality. The paired t-test showed the total electricity consumption, living electricity consumption, tertiary industry, and the GDP growth rate had boundary (p = 0.06) or significantly positive (p < 0.05) relations with the qualified rate of rural drinking water. The grey correlation analysis showed that the growth rates of the value-added of housing construction areas were the most important factor affecting comprehensive water quality of Beijing rural areas, followed by the growth rates of the value-added by secondary industry and total electricity consumption, and then the growth rates of the value-added by the tertiary industry and GDP. Urbanization had a significant impact on individual water quality indicators. The results of this study provided some supports for drinking water security in the face of urbanization.

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“…Policymakers are urged to take serious actions to ensure electricity supply. Improving efficiency on the supply side is an essential step toward sustainable economic development (Ma, Shi, & Chou, ). Thus, along with encouraging the development of renewable energy sources, the Chinese government has been working to introduce competition on the supply side and encourage energy savings on the demand side and incentivizing electricity utilities to advance their technologies (Ma & Zhao, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incentivizing sustainable development: The impact of a recent policy reform on electricity production efficiency in China

Li¹,

Xie

Wang

2019

Sustainable Development

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China's rapid economic growth has tremendously accelerated its energy use, calling for a more sustainable supply of scarce and nonrenewable energy. Using a firm‐level dataset of 30 major Chinese electricity utilities from 2010 to 2014, this paper applies a stochastic frontier analysis to determine the utilities' technical efficiency, incorporating their operational environments related to a recent policy reform to encourage sustainable development. Our main findings are (a) state ownership, consumer density, and a chief executive officer with a science and engineering background are factors that can improve technical efficiency; (b) asset‐related subsidy increases efficiency whereas income‐related subsidy lowers efficiency; and (c) the five largest regional electricity generation firms exhibit above‐average efficiency levels. These results provide evidence that supports the recent Chinese policy reform. The findings also suggest that electricity generation efficiency, which is essential to sustainable economic development, can be improved through performance‐based regulation and incentives.

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China’s Water Utilization Efficiency: An Analysis with Environmental Considerations

Cited by 47 publications

References 45 publications

Re-Examining Regional Total-Factor Water Efficiency and Its Determinants in China: A Parametric Distance Function Approach

Re-Examining Regional Total-Factor Water Efficiency and Its Determinants in China: A Parametric Distance Function Approach

Effects of Urbanization on Rural Drinking Water Quality in Beijing, China

Incentivizing sustainable development: The impact of a recent policy reform on electricity production efficiency in China

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