A systematic approach for assessment of renewable energy using analytic hierarchy process

Energy, Sustainability and Society

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[1] 0000 0001 0816 4489, grid.263857.d, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 62026-1805, Edwardsville, IL, USA;

关键词: Analytic hierarchy process;    Multi-criteria decision-making;    Renewable energy;    Sustainability;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13705-019-0219-y

来源: publisher

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCities around the world face a great challenge in establishing a long-term strategy for the development of energy alternatives. Previous research tried to identify renewable energy across many different cities. Because each city has unique characteristics in terms of geographic and environmental conditions, population, economic development, and social and political environment, the most sustainable energy source for one city might be the least sustainable for another.MethodsThis research develops and implements a systematic approach to assess renewable energy and identify the energy alternatives for a city using the analytic hierarchy process. The methodology integrates experts’ input and data analytics and helps decision-makers form long-term strategies for renewable energy development.ResultsThe decision support system is applied to three cities, Chengdu in China, Eskisehir in Turkey, and Chicago in the United States of America. Results show that improving energy efficiency and development of solar and wind energy are the most preferred energy alternatives whereas nuclear and hydroelectric are the least preferred energy alternatives for these three cities.ConclusionsThe results of this study are in line with decades of research and development in energy alternatives and show a clear direction for the future development of energy alternatives around the world. There are differences in the rankings of energy alternatives for different cities, indicating that it is necessary to apply the decision support system developed in this study to help form customized energy strategies for cities with unique characteristics.

【 授权许可】

CC BY