A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies

Data envelopment analysis has gained great popularity in energy and environmental (E&E) modeling in recent years. In this paper, we present a literature survey on the application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to E&E studies. We begin with an introduction to the most widely used DEA techniques, which is followed by a classification of 100 publications in this field. The main features observed are summarized. Issues related to the selection of DEA models in E&E studies are discussed.