Factorizing changes in energy and environmental indicators through decomposition

We introduce a decomposition method for factorizing changes in energy demand or gas emissions over time. This method has the advantage of giving perfect decomposition. It can also handle cases with zero values in the data set. We compare this new method with three existing methods and summarize the respective decomposition formulae for various applications. Three application studies using data for Singapore, China, and Korea are presented. In each case, the change of a different energy or environmental indicator is decomposed using the four methods and the results obtained are compared. Our new method is superior to any of the three existing methods and may be generally applied in energy and environmental decomposition studies. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.