China's energy efficiency improvement on account of the development of wind and solar power: Applying a dynamic non-radial directional distance function

China is developing wind energy and solar power as the main channels to deal with climate warming and has put forward the goal of achieving peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutralization by 2060. Previous studies evaluating the nation energy efficiency rarely consider the impact of wind and solar power. Thus, different from past literature, this research introduces Carbon Emission Reduction Capacity (CERC) by wind and solar power as a new output variable and applies a dynamic non-radial directional distance function to evaluate China's energy efficiency from 2011 to 2019. The empirical results show that northwest provinces with their high proportion of wind and solar power present better energy performance, while some eastern and central provinces with high efficiency as seen in previous study have greater room for improvement of wind and solar power. It is suggested that the China government formulate more flexible policies to support the sustainable development of wind and solar power, so as to reduce the consumption of fossil energy and cope with climate warming. (c) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study introduces the Carbon Emission Reduction Capacity (CERC) by wind and solar power as a new output variable to evaluate China's energy efficiency. Provinces in northwest China with high proportions of wind and solar power exhibit better energy performance, while some provinces in the east and central regions have room for improvement.