Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for Jordan

Renewable energy sources are environmentally friendly and sustainable resources. However, there is no unique renewable energy resource that suits all countries. As such, nations must select the right option ‒ or combination of options ‒ that aligns with their local economic, technical, and environme...

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Main Authors: Nawras Shatnawi, Hani Abu-Qdais, Farah Abu Qdais
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021-01-01
Series:Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2021.1930715
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author Nawras Shatnawi
Hani Abu-Qdais
Farah Abu Qdais
author_facet Nawras Shatnawi
Hani Abu-Qdais
Farah Abu Qdais
author_sort Nawras Shatnawi
collection DOAJ
description Renewable energy sources are environmentally friendly and sustainable resources. However, there is no unique renewable energy resource that suits all countries. As such, nations must select the right option ‒ or combination of options ‒ that aligns with their local economic, technical, and environmental circumstances. Such a selection process is usually performed using a decision-making tool based on multi-criteria analysis. This study aims to find the most effective renewable energy option for Jordan by soliciting experts’ opinions under several criteria and sub-criteria. The collected responses of experts from the energy field were analyzed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The AHP model used in the study consisted of four criteria, eleven sub-criteria, and four renewable energy alternatives. The results indicate that the technical criterion had the highest weight of 53.6% as compared to the environmental criterion which came second with a weight of 29.0% followed by geographical and socioeconomic criteria which have the lowest weights of 11.3% and 6.0%, respectively. The results reveal that under the technical criterion a high rank has given to maturity of the technology followed by availability of know-how with a weight of 0.875 and 0.125, respectively. The sequence of the preferable options based on the study results was: wind energy with 51.9%, followed by the solar energy option with 31.3%, and finally biomass and hydropower with 10.5% and 7.1%, respectively. Sensitivity analysis was performed and showed that the renewable energy options are not sensitive to the technical or environmental criteria, while they were slightly sensitive to the geographical and socioeconomic criteria.
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spelling doaj.art-78cdf685a0b347c3b203363e55f979162022-12-21T16:58:26ZengTaylor & Francis GroupSustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy1548-77332021-01-0117120921910.1080/15487733.2021.19307151930715Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for JordanNawras Shatnawi0Hani Abu-Qdais1Farah Abu Qdais2Surveying and Geomatics Engineering Department, Al-Balqa Applied UniversityCivil Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science and TechnologyIndustrial Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science and TechnologyRenewable energy sources are environmentally friendly and sustainable resources. However, there is no unique renewable energy resource that suits all countries. As such, nations must select the right option ‒ or combination of options ‒ that aligns with their local economic, technical, and environmental circumstances. Such a selection process is usually performed using a decision-making tool based on multi-criteria analysis. This study aims to find the most effective renewable energy option for Jordan by soliciting experts’ opinions under several criteria and sub-criteria. The collected responses of experts from the energy field were analyzed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The AHP model used in the study consisted of four criteria, eleven sub-criteria, and four renewable energy alternatives. The results indicate that the technical criterion had the highest weight of 53.6% as compared to the environmental criterion which came second with a weight of 29.0% followed by geographical and socioeconomic criteria which have the lowest weights of 11.3% and 6.0%, respectively. The results reveal that under the technical criterion a high rank has given to maturity of the technology followed by availability of know-how with a weight of 0.875 and 0.125, respectively. The sequence of the preferable options based on the study results was: wind energy with 51.9%, followed by the solar energy option with 31.3%, and finally biomass and hydropower with 10.5% and 7.1%, respectively. Sensitivity analysis was performed and showed that the renewable energy options are not sensitive to the technical or environmental criteria, while they were slightly sensitive to the geographical and socioeconomic criteria.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2021.1930715analytical hierarchy process (ahp)decision makingenergy optionsrenewable energyjordan
spellingShingle Nawras Shatnawi
Hani Abu-Qdais
Farah Abu Qdais
Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for Jordan
Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy
analytical hierarchy process (ahp)
decision making
energy options
renewable energy
jordan
title Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for Jordan
title_full Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for Jordan
title_fullStr Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for Jordan
title_full_unstemmed Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for Jordan
title_short Selecting renewable energy options: an application of multi-criteria decision making for Jordan
title_sort selecting renewable energy options an application of multi criteria decision making for jordan
topic analytical hierarchy process (ahp)
decision making
energy options
renewable energy
jordan
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2021.1930715
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