Chinese construction industry energy efficiency analysis with undesirable carbon emissions and construction waste outputs

As the construction industry generates more than 30% of global greenhouse gases and more than 40% of global urban waste every year, energy conservation and emission reduction has become extremely important. This study proposes an innovative output system that includes undesirable carbon dioxide and construction waste outputs. A three-stage DEA-Malmquist model is used to measure the energy efficiency of the construction industry in 30 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2017, and a stochastic frontier method is used in the second stage to analyze and remove the energy efficiency influences of environmental factors and random errors. It was found that the total factor energy efficiency change (TFEECH) and technology change (TECH) in China’s construction industry was underestimated because of the environmental factors and random errors. GRP per capita, energy consumption structures, industrial development degrees, and industrial concentrations were all found to play a positive role in improving energy efficiency; however, urbanization levels, technical equipment, policy support, and marketization were found to have a negative effect. Policy suggestions are given based on the empirical results.