Title: A linguistic TOPSIS model to evaluate the sustainability of renewable energy options

Authors: Haris Doukas, Charikleia Karakosta, John Psarras

Addresses: Management and Decision Support Systems Lab (EPU-NTUA), School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9, Iroon Polytechniou str., 15780, Athens, Greece. ' Management and Decision Support Systems Lab (EPU-NTUA), School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9, Iroon Polytechniou str., 15780, Athens, Greece. ' Management and Decision Support Systems Lab (EPU-NTUA), School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9, Iroon Polytechniou str., 15780, Athens, Greece

Abstract: Renewable Energy Sources (RES) could be used to reduce carbon emissions, decrease dependence on fossil fuels and meet energy policy objectives towards Sustainable Development (SD). However, appraising the RES options| contribution to SD is a complex task, considering the different aspects of SD and the uncertainty of related information. The paper|s objective is to extend the numerical multicriteria method TOPSIS for processing linguistic data in the form of 2-tuples, so as to show how energy policy objectives towards SD and RES are assessed using linguistic variables. Moreover, the application of the proposed method to the Greek energy market is presented.

Keywords: renewable energy; sustainability; sustainable development; multiple criteria; TOPSIS; 2-tuples; linguistic variables; energy policy; Greece.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2009.027976

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2009 Vol.32 No.1/2, pp.102 - 118

Published online: 24 Aug 2009 *

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