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

• Published in: Energy, sustainability and society Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: Budak, Gerçek, Chen, Xin, Celik, Serdar, Ozturk, Berk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 11.09.2019; Springer Nature B.V; BMC
• Subjects: Alternative energy; Alternative energy sources; Analytic hierarchy process; Analytics; Cities; Decision analysis; Decision support systems; Economic development; Economics and Management; Energy; Energy efficiency; Energy Policy; Environmental conditions; Mathematical analysis; Multi-criteria decision-making; Original Article; R&D; Renewable and Green Energy; Renewable energy; Renewable resources; Research & development; Smart cities; Solar energy; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Wind power; Renewable energy; Sustainability; Analytic hierarchy process; Multi-criteria decision-making
• ISSN: 2192-0567; 2192-0567
• DOI: 10.1186/s13705-019-0219-y

Background Cities 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. Methods This 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. Results The 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. Conclusions The 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.