Energy sources evaluation based on multi-criteria decision support approach in China

Urban traffic significantly contributes to air pollution, and its effects are expected to increase in the coming years. Environmental policy measures can help achieve long-term goals, in which new modes of mobility for residents can play a significant role. However, local-level decision-making is also crucial. In the face of economic volatility, cities must carefully decide on sustainable transportation expenditures that respect budget limitations and promote local air quality standards. To create a sustainable traffic strategy and address the rise in traffic demands due to increased passenger transport, the use of buses with alternative drive technologies and fuel options is becoming increasingly important in European cities. However, buses utilizing alternative drive technologies and fuel options have varying impacts on air pollution, and the required investments and expenses vary. To determine the appropriate propulsion technology and fuel for buses specifically in Nis, the analysis based on multiple criteria will be conducted using the CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) and in the following TOPSIS (Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution) methods according to the defined criteria. The CRITIC method utilizes different normalization types to compute weighting coefficients and analyze their effect on the alternative rankings. Additionally, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient will be used to examine the degree of correlation between the rankings of different alternative drive technologies and fuel options for buses, calculated through the TOPSIS method.

Despite humans' acknowledgement of the main drivers of global warming, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still increasing dramatically worldwide. GHG emissions in the U.S. have increased by 17% during the 1990-2009 period and are expected to increase even more with the economic growth after the current recession. Although current dominant policy for combating global warming relies on substitution of fossil energy sources with the renewable ones, we argue that such a general policy may be inefficient. In fact, such a policy is only a short-fix solution to the problem and may be associated with unintended consequences or secondary effects on other sectors and valuable natural resources. This paper highlights the necessity of multi-criteria decision analysis to select energy sources which are not only efficient in terms of GHG emissions reduction, but also will have minimal adverse effects on other sectors and resources. By simultaneous consideration of performances of energy sources under different sustainability criteria, it is discussed why some renewable energy sources may be even less promising than some nonrenewable energy sources in reducing GHG emissions without affecting other resources and violating the sustainability rationales. The three considered sustainability criteria in this study include carbon footprint, water footprint, and cost, reflecting the environmental efficiency, water use efficiency, and economic efficiency, respectively. The performances of a range of non-renewable and renewable energy sources are considered under the three sustainability criteria to rank the energy sources based on different social choice rules with respect to the uncertainty involved in estimating the performances.

The power transformer is one of the most critical facilities in the power system, and its running status directly impacts the power system's security. It is essential to research the risk priority evaluation of the power transformer parts. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a methodology for analyzing the potential failure modes (FMs) within a system in various industrial devices. This study puts forward a hybrid FMEA framework integrating novel hesitant fuzzy aggregation tools and CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation) method. In this framework, the hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs) are used to depict the uncertainty in risk evaluation. Then, an improved HFWA (hesitant fuzzy weighted averaging) operator is adopted to fuse risk evaluation for FMEA experts. This aggregation manner can consider different lengths of HFSs and the support degrees among the FMEA experts. Next, the novel HFWGA (hesitant fuzzy weighted geometric averaging) operator with CRITIC weights is developed to determine the risk priority of each FM. This method can satisfy the multiplicative characteristic of the RPN (risk priority number) method of the conventional FMEA model and reflect the correlations between risk indicators. Finally, a real example of the risk priority evaluation of power transformer parts is given to show the applicability and feasibility of the proposed hybrid FMEA framework. Comparison and sensitivity studies are also offered to verify the effectiveness of the improved risk assessment approach.

Over the years, electricity shortage has been a persistent problem in the socioeconomic development of Nigeria. Although the country’s primary source of energy has been non-renewable energy sources such as natural gas, crude oil, coal and lignite, these sources have negatively impacted our climate, through pollution and greenhouse gas emissions among others. As the world is rapidly shifting from non-renewable fuel sources to renewable energy sources such as: hydropower; solar; biomass; geothermal; and wind which are environmentally friendly to combat climate change, and provide energy security. Nigeria should not be left behind in this global shift. This article seeks to examine the laws, policies and institutional frameworks that promotes renewable energy in Nigeria while identifying the critical challenges that hinders its implementation and discussing the significance of promoting renewable energy for sustainable development. The finding reveals that Nigeria is yet to maximize the benefits of renewable energy sources despite the numerous frameworks that Nigeria has due to barriers militating against its implementation such as absence of a cogent and specific legal framework on renewable energy. Adopting a doctrinal legal research methodology, the study made some recommendations among others, the enactment of a comprehensive, specific and coherent legal framework on renewable energy in Nigeria which is of utmost importance, as well as strengthening the existing policies to enhancing the capacity of energy regulatory bodies.

Western Europe is far from lacking in natural gas. Its gas reserves are much greater than its oil reserves with regard to their energy content, and its gas production covers nearly three-quarters of its own needs, as opposed to only one-third for crude oil. Western European gas reserves are thus an important asset in the security of its energy supplies. However, most of the increase in European gas reserves over the last fifteen years has come from offshore discoveries, mainly in the North Sea. This zone now contains 60% of the proven reserves and accounts for nearly half of gas production in Western Europe. This trend will continue in the coming decades, with increasing difficulties in the development and exploitation of new resources, whether due to the water depth or to the increasing distance between consumption regions and recent discoveries. Therefore, the new generation of fields in the North Sea will necessarily call for new technological developments far in advance of the techniques now mastered. The experience gained during the development of giant fields (Frigg, Troll) together with the studies carried out for the exploitation of marginal fields make up the basis for current research routes, which have been redirected in keeping with the economic situation. In addition to the optimization of proven concepts aiming at greater process integration, new technological developments will aim at both multiphase concepts and subsea implementation. The production of "frontier" gas resources and hence the development of new technologies are the price that Europe will have to pay to limit its dependence on gas imports.

Design of pilot-scale delamination plant along with techno-economic and life cycle assessments considering renewable and non-renewable energy sources

A comprehensive evaluation method of DC voltage sag in medium–low voltage DC distribution system

Hydropower in Turkey: Economical, social and environmental aspects and legal challenges

Oil drives the entire world economy, and it is entirely a geostrategy issue. The strong development of the economy over the past few decades has provided a global stage for those countries that have a stable political establishment while managing enormous amounts of oil. Now, year after year, it is becoming increasingly clear that the importance of oil and gas is falling away, and it is those energy sources that bring about a reduction in the half-life that comes into the scene. Oil and gas are non-renewable energy sources and as such are naturally limited, therefore their reserve will become economically unprofitable in the future, and exploitation will reach its natural end. The aim of this research paper is divided into two structures: the first thesis concerns giving a fresh insight into the state of the oil market from the beginning of the pandemic to the present day. The issue of geopolitical relations between Riyadh and Moscow is to be addressed here and how much of a negative consequence the price war has left on their fiscal calculations, although geopolitical friction has deepened the shock further into financial markets. Thus, the fiscal calculation of both countries suffered revenue shocks, but it also prompted an even deeper decline in stock indexes and temporary stagflation of the global economy. The second thesis refers to a brief review of the analysis of the long-term future of non-renewable and renewable energy sources. The future of cleaner forms of energy is imperative, but also a challenging task, as this means shifting the entire structure of national economies to green and renewable. The focus is on giving insight into why this is a necessity, but also why there could be a dangerous precedent and negative cash flows in some structures of the economy. Currently, and any future planning and fulfillment of climate guidelines, must not lead to an increase in energy poverty and consequently a decrease in living standards, because in all geopolitical games the line is always drawn between rich and poor countries, that is, advanced economies and developing economies. Therefore, the long-term and global leaders in green and renewable energy sources will be those countries that successfully implement public interests in these projects, because only in this way can the goal be met – shifting a certain structure of the economy to cleaner sources while satisfying social utility and increasing employment.

1. Introduction Nordin, Simeh, Shariff and Baharim (2007), proved in their studies that there is a relationship between the price of crude oil and biodiesel. The results showed that the increase in oil prices during the period of the last few years encouraged some countries to begin to pay attention to the use of alternative fuels, among others from the plant (biodiesel). The increase of petroleum will increase biodiesel production. Ramli, Abas, R. and Ayatollah (2007) in their studies proved that the crude oil price is affected by biodiesel, the first derivative product of palm oil which produces palm oil (known as crude palm oil or abbreviated with CPO), utilizing biodiesel which comes from palm oil, the results showed that the biodiesel increase has affected the crude palm oil price. The development industries based on this CPO in addition directed to produce food products such as cooking oil, margarine, shortening, Cocoa Butter subtitute (CBS), and vegetable ghee, it is also directed to produce non-food products, such as industrial oleochemical primary (fatty acid, fatty alcohol, glycerin) and other oleochemical derivatives, namely surfactants, cosmetics, farmacy, and bioenergy. Oil palm plantations and palm oil industry as a means to improve the socio-economic conditions of rural communities through the implementation of operations Inti-Plasma programs (Zen et al., 2006). When the world oil price increases, many countries use CPO as raw material of bio-diesel fuel as a substitute (Karuppuswamy, Sundararaj and Elangovan, 2007; Pociovalisteanu et al., 2010; Thalassinos and Politis, 2012; Thalassinos et al., 2012). These conditions favor the use of biodiesel as a variety of targets alternatives to fossil energy applied to several countries in the world (Kennerly and Neely, 2003). In 2020, the European Union set a target of 10 percent biofuels of raw palm oil. Zen, Barlow and Gondowarsito (2006) studied that the crude oil prices have an influence on the palm oil as pointed out by Ahuja and Khamba (2008). It has been proved that there is an influence of biodiesel on the production of palm oil. The research result on the biodiesel and its impact on crude palm oil and its implications for palm oil, showed that the growing number of biodiesel has a positive and significant effect towards crude oil palm as well as the implications for the production of palm oil rises (Ashayeri, 2007). The increase of demand and the use of palm oil as a fuel is expected to cause disruption of the availability of CPO as raw materials for food, especially palm oil (Chand and Shirvani, 2000; Enkawa and Schvaneveldt, 2001). Novelty of this research is to add the existing variables into world oil price of the biodiesel and its impact on crude palm oil and its effect on oil palm. 2. Theory and Hypothesis As Santoso (2014) has pointed out bio-diesel is a natural renewable energy source that made from biomass or vegetable oil. As the bio-diesel has physical properties very similar to petroleum derived diesel fuel or ADO (Automobile Diesel Oil), bio-diesel has been used for motor engine since 1880's. In 1920's, bio-diesel production infrastructure has been nearly eliminated since diesel engine manufacturers altered their engine to utilize petroleum diesel that was much cheaper than Bio-diesel production. Recently, an increase on oil consumption, crude oil price, and ADO import have lead to consider bio-diesel utilization for transportation sector in Indonesia. An increase of the crude oil price that lead to a decreasing cost differential for bio-diesel production, bio-diesel utilization as alternative energy source in Indonesia is a real possibility. Some environmental impact concerns would also increase the bio-diesel utilization prospect. Oil palm is a highly profitable crop adapted to the humid tropics and the area devoted to this crop is likely to expand significantly in the future. It has many environmentally favourable attributes over its full life cycle. …

Herein, optimal groundwater pumping solutions based on a variety of energy resources and water storage options are estimated and classified. Each energy source and water storage option is first characterized considering energy, economic, and environmental criteria. A multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) process based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) is subsequently applied to identify and classify the optimal groundwater pumping solutions under such a multidimensional framework. An aquifer located in the southeast of Spain is analyzed in a case study to assess the proposed optimal MCDM-based approach. Conventional diesel-based equipment, solar PV power plants, and direct grid connection, as well as three water storage systems––direct pumping, seasonal storage, and annual storage––are identified as potential energy sources and water storage options, respectively. Characterization and visualization of these energy and water storage systems, as well as prioritized option results, are also discussed herein.

On a theoretical and practical level, the benefits and environmental impacts resulting from the use of renewable and non-renewable energy sources have been mostly accepted, understood, and calculated. In addition, infrastructure construction studies have been conducted, studied, and implemented for the utilization of most energy sources. The cognitive processes for processing information about processable energy sources are not directly involved with renewable or non-renewable energy sources but refer to each of the energy sources that make them up separately. The aim of the present paper is to carefully select the best or most suitable landscaping design, phytotechnical planning, phytotechnical material, and phytotechnical method for the arrangement of renewable energy sources (RES) environment. The methodology that will be used will be as follows: Collection of findings from data sources and data collection such as literature review. Consideration of alternative solutions for findings. State whether the hypothesis or theory is supported or not supported and/or can answer the research questions. Consideration of the generalizability of the findings. There are specific factors for a phytotechnical method in photovoltaic energy power generating stations that need to be considered and analyzed in the present paper. Such as planting surfaces that are safe for planting, planting species to be used and related to the soil morphology or physiology, plants’ height, preparatory interventions to create suitable conditions at planting sites, and growing methods and maintenance of the planting. These factors are defined according to the classification of photovoltaic station work (A1, A2, B, exempt from environmental licensing). The results include the selection of the necessary plant species according to the principles of phyto-technical arrangement and the necessary specifications.

Heavy oil will be a major future energy source as conventional oil production rates decline. Consideration of recent trends suggests that the next decade will see acceleration of heavy oil developments. The Canadian industry and governments should be consciously poised to take full advantage of these developments. In addition, because heavy oil development is geomechanically demanding, the role of petroleum geomechanics will be vital. Are popular rock mechanics paradigms complete? No; they generally fail to consider proper coupling to the stress and pressure fields, to physicochemical factors (as in shales), and to dynamic effects. Coupling the mechanical behaviour of the rock matrix with processes such as fluid flow, dynamic excitation, fabric liquefaction, and gas solution behaviour is one of the most important innovations taking place in petroleum geomechanics research. Ongoing developments include new models to describe dynamic pressure pulsing effects, new models to describe Cold Heavy Oil Production (CHOP), and new models for shale stability that include mechano-chemical coupling. Valuable practical applications have paralleled these developments. Introduction Are current petroleum rock mechanics paradigms complete? Do existing models account for all first-order effects? Are there applications areas that have been ignored or missed? Why is geomechanics becoming a more important enabling discipline, particularly for heavy oil? Does heavy oil even have a future? This article will briefly explore some of these questions. Conventional Oil, Heavy Oil A consensus has emerged that worldwide production of conventional oil will peak in the next decade(1). Thereafter, a gradual decline in light oil production will occur (Figure 1). The decline rate may be affected by new technologies such as gravity drainage and pressure pulsing. However, given the large amount of information on the world's sedimentary basins and the low probability of finding many large, easy-to-develop deposits, it is unlikely that the production decline will ever be reversed. In the past, there have always been new basins to explore; at present, there is at least seismic data on almost all of the world's sedimentary basins, if not exploratory wells and geochemical analysis. These data now allow reasonable bounds to be placed on the size distribution of undiscovered deposits in basins throughout the world. Simply put, we are running out conventional oil because we are running out of new basins. Furthermore, the difficulty of exploitation in difficult, remote basins (Antarctic fringe, Arctic basins, deep offshore) means that only the larger finds will be developed. Are we running out of energy or oil? No; only conventional oil is potentially in short supply. This is apparent for several reasons. First, over the span of centuries, new energy sources systematically displace previous ones (e.g., cow dung, wood, charcoal, coal, oil, nuclear, natural gas, solar, hydrogen cycle); this will happen with oil. Second, conventional oil represents only a small fraction of the hydrocarbon resources in basins (Table 1); technology developments and price will permit economic access to other HC resources. Third, if demand for oil continues indefinitely, oil can be made from natural gas or coal.

A novel multilevel decision-making evaluation approach for the renewable energy heating systems: A case study in China

In urban areas, the transportation sector is one of the principal sources of substantial energy consumption and carbon emission. Although diesel and gasoline are still the main energy sources used in urban transportation, alternative and transitional energy sources have been introduced. The alternative and transitional energy sources include electricity (used in hybrid, electric, and fuel-cell vehicles), biofuels, gaseous fuels from other sources (hydrogen, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas [LPG]), alcohols, and ethers. Alternative and transitional energy sources can be used to promote the development of sustainable transportation systems because these sources are renewable and have a lower environmental impact than diesel and gasoline. However, various technical, economic, and policy factors can prevent the successful application of alternative energy sources. In this review, we summarize the latest literature regarding alternative and transitional energy sources in order to understand the current applications of these energy sources in urban transportation and their future applications.