Environmental Assessment on Energy and Sustainability by Data Envelopment Analysis

14ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

14.1 INTRODUCTION

After describing the world energy trend in Chapter 13, this chapter rediscusses previous policy efforts for environmental protection in four industrial regions. This retreat is important for understanding why we are now facing different types of industrial pollution (e.g., air, water, soil and others) and serious environmental issues (e.g., global warming and climate change) alongside our industrial development and economic growth in the world. The four industrial regions to be discussed in this chapter include Europe, Japan, China and the United States, all of which are selected because they are the regions whose environmental achievements are measured by the proposed DEA approaches in Section II. This chapter also discusses a deregulation trend on energy sectors, in particular the electric power industry. This deregulation is important for sustainability development and enhancement. Thus, this chapter discusses environmental issues and a future direction on deregulation, consequently enhancing the status of sustainability in the four regions.

The remainder of this chapter is organized as follows: Section 14.2 discusses environmental protection in the European Union (EU). Section 14.3 describes Japanese industrial pollution and prevention efforts. Section 14.4 examines Chinese pollution and governmental efforts. Chapter 14.5 discusses environmental issues in the United States. Section 14.6 summarizes this chapter.

14.2 EUROPEAN UNION

14.2.1 ...