Evaluating clean energy alternatives for Jiangsu, China: An improved multi-criteria decision making method

Ling Zhang, Peng Zhou, Sidney Newton, Jian-xin Fang, De-qun Zhou and Lu-ping Zhang

Energy, 2015, vol. 90, issue P1, 953-964

Abstract: Promoting the utilization of clean energy has been identified as one potential solution to addressing environmental pollution and achieving sustainable development in many countries around the world. Evaluating clean energy alternatives includes a requirement to balance multiple conflict criteria, including technology, environment, economy and society, all of which are incommensurate and interdependent. Traditional MCDM (multi-criteria decision making) methods, such as the weighted average method, often fail to aggregate such criteria consistently. In this paper, an improved MCDM method based on fuzzy measure and integral is developed and applied to evaluate four primary clean energy options for Jiangsu Province, China. The results confirm that the preferred clean energy option for Jiangsu is solar photovoltaic, followed by wind, biomass and finally nuclear. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to evaluate the values of clean energy resources for Jiangsu. The ordered weighted average method is also applied to compare the method mentioned above in our empirical study. The results show that the improved MCDM method provides higher discrimination between alternative clean energy alternatives.

Keywords: Choquet integral; Clean energy; Fuzzy measure; MCDM (multi-criteria decision making) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:90:y:2015:i:p1:p:953-964

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.07.124

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