Stochastic Frontier Analysis Modeling Research On Intercity Transportation Energy Efficiency In China

As the basic and pillar industry of national economy,transport provides strong support for social development.However,the rapid development of transport sector will inevitably lead to a significant increase of energy consumption.According to the National Statistics Department,transportation,warehousing and postal industry in China have become the third largest energy consumption industry.Therefore,it is of great guiding significance for the sustainable development of transport industry and environmental protection in China to reasonably analyze the key influencing factors of transport energy efficiency,infer the development trend of transport energy efficiency,and explore the development strategies to improve energy efficiency.This study takes the intercity transportation modes in 30 provincial administrative regions of China as the research target,and collects the comprehensive statistical data from 2000 to 2018.Based on stochastic frontier analysis theory,this study analyzes the specific impact factors of transport energy efficiency through modeling analysis and case analysis.Considering the differences of energy efficiencies among different transportation modes,this work calculates and compares the energy efficiencies of different transportation modes.On this basis,using the stochastic frontier analysis theory,this research studies the relationship between transport energy efficiency and transportation route mileage,passenger and freight turnover,car ownership,residents living standards and the number of transport employees.This work uses the maximum likelihood estimation method to calibrate the parameters of established model,so as to determine the specific influence factors of transport energy efficiency variables in the model.According to the established model,this study analyzes the effect of various influencing factors of transport energy efficiency,and puts forward the optimization strategy of transport energy efficiency.The results show that the transport energy efficiency increases with the income improvement of residents,but the increases of transportation turnover and car ownership reduce transport energy efficiency.For the 30 provincial administrative regions selected in this study,the change trend of transport energy efficiency with time are basically the same in different regions.But the transport energy efficiencies of different regions are positively related to their economic development level.The transport energy efficiency in eastern China is the highest among three regions.In addition,considering the 30 provincial administrative regions as a whole,there are significant differences in energy efficiency of different transportation modes.For highway,railway,waterway and civil aviation transport,the energy efficiency of railway transport is the highest.Although highway transport accounts for the largest proportion of all the intercity transports,its transport energy efficiency is low.Relatively speaking,although the energy efficiency of civil aviation transport is high,it accounts for a relatively low proportion of all the intercity transports.Although the energy efficiency of water transport is higher than that of highway,it accounts for a small proportion of all the intercity transports and has little impact on the overall energy efficiency of the transport sector.In view of this,with the continuous improvement of economic development level and the increase of transport demand in China,the transport sector should achieve sustainable development in the future.Narrowing the interregional economic gap and reasonably adjusting the passenger and freight volume of different transport modes will become important means to support the sustainable and healthy development of transport sector of China.This paper includes 14 figures,17 tables and 75 references.