Carbon efficiency evaluation: An analytical framework using fuzzy DEA

Date
2016-02-18
Authors
Ignatius, J.
Ghasemi, M. R.
Zhang, F.
Emrouznejad, A.
Hatami-Marbini, A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a powerful analytical technique for measuring the relative efficiency of alternatives based on their inputs and outputs. The alternatives can be in the form of countries who attempt to enhance their productivity and environmental efficiencies concurrently. However, when desirable outputs such as productivity increases, undesirable outputs increase as well (e.g. carbon emissions), thus making the performance evaluation questionable. In addition, traditional environmental efficiency has been typically measured by crisp input and output (desirable and undesirable). However, the input and output data, such as CO2 emissions, in real-world evaluation problems are often imprecise or ambiguous. This paper proposes a DEA-based framework where the input and output data are characterized by symmetrical and asymmetrical fuzzy numbers. The proposed method allows the environmental evaluation to be assessed at different levels of certainty. The validity of the proposed model has been tested and its usefulness is illustrated using two numerical examples. An application of energy efficiency among 23 European Union (EU) member countries is further presented to show the applicability and efficacy of the proposed approach under asymmetric fuzzy numbers.
Description
Keywords
Energy efficiency, Data envelopment analysis, Fuzzy expected interval, Fuzzy expected value, Fuzzy ranking approach
Citation
Ignatius, J. et al. (2016) Carbon efficiency evaluation: An analytical framework using fuzzy DEA. European Journal of Operational Research, 253 (2), pp. 428-440
Research Institute
Centre for Enterprise and Innovation (CEI)