International comparisons of energy and environmental efficiency in the road transport sector

The present work provides an international comparison of the energy intensity and the carbon dioxide intensity in road transport for a group of 90 countries over the period 1980–2012. This paper attempts to perform a comparative analysis to find the most appropriate mapping of the energy performance in road transport taking into account the three dimensions of sustainable energy development, namely road transport-related energy consumption, economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions. An important result of the study is the inverse relationship between energy efficiency and environmental efficiency. Through the calculated Theil coefficient, our empirical findings highlight the existence of spatial and temporal disparities between countries. In 2012, Tunisia occupies the 48th and the 38th rank respectively in terms of energy and environmental efficiency. Based on a general index of energy performance in the road transport sector, it is deemed to have a medium–high energy performance by occupying the 34th rank. The study shows the importance of enhancing a number of policies for the road transport system through the joint improvement of the fuel price policy, of the road infrastructure policy and of the fuel-efficient road vehicles policy, in order to maintain sustainable energy road transport.

[1]  Yang Liu,et al.  Temporal and spatial variations in on-road energy use and CO2 emissions in China, 1978–2008 , 2013 .

[2]  Pekka Peura,et al.  From Malthus to sustainable energy—Theoretical orientations to reforming the energy sector , 2013 .

[3]  Daniel De Wolf,et al.  Indicators for sustainable energy development: A multivariate cointegration and causality analysis from Tunisian road transport sector , 2013 .

[4]  Atef Saad Alshehry,et al.  Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth: The case of Saudi Arabia , 2014 .

[5]  Quentin Wodon,et al.  Future Inequality in CO2 Emissions and the Impact of Abatement Proposals , 2000 .

[6]  Jeroen Buysse,et al.  Energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth nexus in Bangladesh: Cointegration and dynamic causality analysis , 2012 .

[7]  Renzhi Liu,et al.  Study of the Energy and Environmental Efficiency of the Chinese economy based on a DEA Model , 2012 .

[8]  G. Timilsina,et al.  Transport sector CO2 emissions growth in Asia: Underlying factors and policy options , 2009 .

[9]  E. Haddad,et al.  Energy Policy and Regional Inequalities in the Brazilian Economy , 2013 .

[10]  Ming Zhang,et al.  Decomposition analysis of energy consumption in Chinese transportation sector , 2011 .

[11]  Qiang Cui,et al.  The changing trend and influencing factors of energy efficiency: The case of nine countries , 2014 .

[12]  Lee Schipper,et al.  Energy efficiency in the Japanese transport sector , 2013 .

[13]  Jamal O. Jaber,et al.  Statistical assessment and analyses of the determinants of transportation sector gasoline demand in Jordan , 2013 .

[14]  Fatih Karanfil,et al.  Estimation of real GDP and unrecorded economy in Turkey based on environmental data , 2007 .

[15]  A. Jaffe,et al.  The energy-efficiency gap What does it mean? , 1994 .

[16]  Rafaa Mraihi,et al.  Road transport-related energy consumption: Analysis of driving factors in Tunisia , 2013 .

[17]  Haji Hassan Masjuki,et al.  A review on energy pattern and policy for transportation sector in Malaysia , 2012 .

[18]  A. Huzayyin,et al.  Analysis of thirty years evolution of urban growth, transport demand and supply, energy consumption, greenhouse and pollutants emissions in Greater Cairo , 2013 .

[19]  Herbert A. Sturges,et al.  The Choice of a Class Interval , 1926 .

[20]  L. Liang,et al.  Does environmental regulation affect energy efficiency in China's thermal power generation? Empirical evidence from a slacks-based DEA model , 2014 .

[21]  Sunday Olayinka Oyedepo,et al.  On energy for sustainable development in Nigeria , 2012 .

[22]  Yi-Ming Wei,et al.  China’s regional energy and environmental efficiency: A Range-Adjusted Measure based analysis , 2013 .

[23]  Lee Schipper,et al.  Mind the Gap: The Vicious Circle of Measuring Automobile Fuel Use , 1993 .

[24]  Wolfgang Fischer,et al.  Methods of measuring sustainable development of the German energy sector , 2013 .

[25]  Guanghui Zhou,et al.  A study of energy efficiency of transport sector in China from 2003 to 2009 , 2013 .

[26]  G. Fiorito.  Can we use the energy intensity indicator to study decoupling in modern economies , 2013 .

[27]  N. Lior.  Sustainable energy development (May 2011) with some game-changers , 2012 .

[28]  Ling Zhang,et al.  Modelling policy decision of sustainable energy strategies for Nanjing city: A fuzzy integral approach , 2014 .

[29]  Ünal Çamdali,et al.  Energy and exergy efficiencies in Turkish transportation sector, 1988-2004 , 2007 .

[30]  D. Kammen,et al.  Letting the (energy) Gini out of the bottle: Lorenz curves of cumulative electricity consumption and Gini coefficients as metrics of energy distribution and equity , 2005 .

[31]  Piyush Tiwari,et al.  An analysis of trends in passenger and freight transport energy consumption in India , 2013 .

[32]  José M. Martínez-Val,et al.  Energy for Sustainable Development: A systematic approach for a badly defined challenge , 2013 .