IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v41y2020i6p233-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transient and Persistent Energy Efficiency in the Wastewater Sector based on Economic Foundations

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Longo
  • Mona Chitnis
  • Miguel Mauricio-Iglesias
  • Almudena Hospido

Abstract

Given the increasing importance of the wastewater sector in terms of energy usage, the understanding of the level of energy efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is useful to both the industry itself as well as policy makers. Here, based on economic foundations, we apply a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) approach for energy demand modelling to estimate energy efficiency in the wastewater sector. Using specific SFA models and panel data from 183 Swiss WWTPs over the period 2001 to 2015, the paper illustrates that distinguishing between persistent and transient inefficiency is essential to deduce appropriate energy efficiency diagnosis in WWTPs. In this respect, persistent energy inefficiency is found to be more severe than transient energy inefficiency. Furthermore, it is shown that the age of the equipment influences the demand for energy and the energy savings due to technological innovation are quantified. Finally, economies of output density and scale are estimated demonstrating that for plants operating below optimal scale significant energy savings can be achieved if plants would be operated at higher size. Moreover, our analysis reveals also that for plants larger than 100,000 Population Equivalent, at least from an energy efficiency point of view, it would be no more beneficial to increase their scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Longo & Mona Chitnis & Miguel Mauricio-Iglesias & Almudena Hospido, 2020. "Transient and Persistent Energy Efficiency in the Wastewater Sector based on Economic Foundations," The Energy Journal, , vol. 41(6), pages 233-254, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:41:y:2020:i:6:p:233-254
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.41.6.slon
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/01956574.41.6.slon
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/01956574.41.6.slon?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lundgren, Tommy & Marklund, Per-Olov & Zhang, Shanshan, 2016. "Industrial energy demand and energy efficiency – Evidence from Sweden," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 130-152.
    2. Gale A. Boyd, 2008. "Estimating Plant Level Energy Efficiency with a Stochastic Frontier," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 23-44.
    3. Longo, Stefano & d’Antoni, Benedetto Mirko & Bongards, Michael & Chaparro, Antonio & Cronrath, Andreas & Fatone, Francesco & Lema, Juan M. & Mauricio-Iglesias, Miguel & Soares, Ana & Hospido, Almudena, 2016. "Monitoring and diagnosis of energy consumption in wastewater treatment plants. A state of the art and proposals for improvement," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1251-1268.
    4. Massimo Filippini & Thomas Geissmann & William H. Greene, 2018. "Persistent and transient cost efficiency—an application to the Swiss hydropower sector," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 65-77, February.
    5. Subal Kumbhakar & Gudbrand Lien & J. Hardaker, 2014. "Technical efficiency in competing panel data models: a study of Norwegian grain farming," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 321-337, April.
    6. Soren Leth-Petersen, 2002. "Micro Econometric Modelling of Household Energy Use: Testing for Dependence between Demand for Electricity and Natural Gas," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 57-84.
    7. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Swanson, Joseph A, 1981. "Productivity Growth, Scale Economies, and Capacity Utilization in U.S. Railroads, 1955-74," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 994-1002, December.
    8. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Wang,Hung-Jen & Horncastle,Alan P., 2015. "A Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Stata," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107609464, November.
    9. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    10. Hillard Huntington & Eric Smith, 2011. "Mitigating Climate Change Through Energy Efficiency: An Introduction and Overview," The Energy Journal, , vol. 32(1_suppl), pages 1-6, June.
    11. Arellano, Manuel, 2003. "Panel Data Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199245291, Decembrie.
    12. Longo, S. & Mauricio-Iglesias, M. & Soares, A. & Campo, P. & Fatone, F. & Eusebi, A.L. & Akkersdijk, E. & Stefani, L. & Hospido, A., 2019. "ENERWATER – A standard method for assessing and improving the energy efficiency of wastewater treatment plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 897-910.
    13. Yangseon Kim & Peter Schmidt, 2000. "A Review and Empirical Comparison of Bayesian and Classical Approaches to Inference on Efficiency Levels in Stochastic Frontier Models with Panel Data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 91-118, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Christopher F. Parmeter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2022. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis: Foundations and Advances I," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 8, pages 331-370, Springer.
    2. Gale A. Boyd & Jonathan M. Lee, 2020. "Relative Effectiveness of Energy Efficiency Programs versus Market Based Climate Policies in the Chemical Industry," The Energy Journal, , vol. 41(3), pages 39-62, May.
    3. Lester C. Hunt & Paraskevas Kipouros, 2023. "Energy Demand and Energy Efficiency in Developing Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Mark A. Andor & David H. Bernstein & Stephan Sommer, 2021. "Determining the efficiency of residential electricity consumption," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 2897-2923, June.
    5. Amjadi, Golnaz & Lundgren, Tommy, 2022. "Is industrial energy inefficiency transient or persistent? Evidence from Swedish manufacturing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    6. Anne Musson & Damien Rousselière, 2020. "Exploring the effect of crisis on cooperatives: a Bayesian performance analysis of French craftsmen cooperatives," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(25), pages 2657-2678, May.
    7. Magambo, Isaiah & Dikgang, Johane & Gelo, Dambala & Tregenna, Fiona, 2021. "Environmental and Technical Efficiency in Large Gold Mines in Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 108068, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Kang, Jijun & Yu, Chenyang & Xue, Rui & Yang, Dong & Shan, Yuli, 2022. "Can regional integration narrow city-level energy efficiency gap in China?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    9. Maziotis, Alexandros & Molinos-Senante, Maria, 2022. "The impact of model specification and environmental variables on measuring the overall technical efficiency of water and sewerage services: Evidence from Chile," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 191-198.
    10. Pontus Mattsson & Jonas Månsson & William H. Greene, 2020. "TFP change and its components for Swedish manufacturing firms during the 2008–2009 financial crisis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 79-93, February.
    11. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Gudbrand Lien, 2017. "Yardstick Regulation of Electricity Distribution Disentangling Short-run and Long-run Inefficiencies," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 5).
    12. Amjadi, Golnaz, 2020. "Essays on Energy Efficiency, Environmental Regulation and Labor Demand in Swedish Industry," Umeå Economic Studies 982, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    13. Macharia, Kenneth Kigundu & Gathiaka, John Kamau & Ngui, Dianah, 2022. "Energy efficiency in the Kenyan manufacturing sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    14. Iván Fernández-Val & Martin Weidner, 2018. "Fixed Effects Estimation of Large-TPanel Data Models," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 109-138, August.
    15. Schumann, Martin & Severini, Thomas A. & Tripathi, Gautam, 2021. "Integrated likelihood based inference for nonlinear panel data models with unobserved effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 223(1), pages 73-95.
    16. MAIMOUNA DIAKITE & Jean-François BRUN, 2016. "Tax Potential and Tax Effort: An Empirical Estimation for Non-Resource Tax Revenue and VAT’s Revenue," EcoMod2016 9537, EcoMod.
    17. Sabine Gralka, 2018. "Persistent inefficiency in the higher education sector: evidence from Germany," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 373-392, July.
    18. Cheng, Xiaomei & Bjørndal, Endre & Lien, Gudbrand & Bjørndal, Mette, 2015. "Productivity Development for Norwegian Electricity Distribution Companies 2004-2013," Discussion Papers 2015/27, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    19. Montes, Gabriel Caldas & da Cunha Lima, Luiza Leitão, 2018. "Effects of fiscal transparency on inflation and inflation expectations: Empirical evidence from developed and developing countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 26-37.
    20. Du, Minzhe & Wang, Bing & Zhang, Ning, 2018. "National research funding and energy efficiency: Evidence from the National Science Foundation of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 335-346.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:41:y:2020:i:6:p:233-254. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.