Evaluation of Economic, Social and Environmental Effects of Low-Emission Energy Technologies Development in Poland: A Multi-Criteria Analysis with Application of a Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP)

Abstract

Abstract:The European Commission as well as the Polish government are promoting sustainable use of energy sources as a part of the dominating sustainable development paradigm. The development of low-emission energy sources engages the challenges of gradual depletion of coal, oil and natural gas reserves, as well as the intensification of the greenhouse effect. The energy policy should take into account development of low-emission energy technologies that contribute mostly to meeting the goals of sustainable development in three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. This study aims to assess the extent to which five low-emission energy technologies contribute to social welfare in the scope of the concept of sustainable development. Heuristic methods, including fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) are used to resolve the multi-goal problem in order to achieve the aim of this research. Research results show that economic goal is still the most important to the development of various low-emission energy technologies in Poland, followed by the social and environmental goals. Secondly, renewable energy technologies should be utilized instead of nuclear energy to meet sustainable development policy goals. Photovoltaics, followed by biomass and biogas are perceived as the most suitable renewable energy sources. Wind on-shore and wind of-shore are on third and fourth place, respectively.

An Overview of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods in Dealing with Sustainable Energy Development Issues

“…Using AHP methods as a basis, Supriyasilp et al [17] have evaluated hydropower production opportunities in the Ping River Basin (Thailand). Using the fuzzy AHP method, Ligus [24] aimed to assess the contribution of low-polluting energy technologies to social welfare (the study was made using the case of Poland).…”

Progress in Renewable Energy Technologies: Innovation Potential in Latvia

“…This hybrid model requested to define the relative importance of criterions using the fuzzy AHP method, after what implementing of FTOPSIS helped to rank five technologies according to their relative closeness to ideal solution. To measure specific study among other studies, where hybrid methods of FAHP and TOPSIS are used, the results are compared with other research results [24], [30].…”

Achievements of the European Union Countries in Seeking a Sustainable Electricity Sector

“…A set of indicators for assessing the sustainability of the electricity sector has been developed on the basis of a methodology developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, International Energy Agency, Eurostat, and European Environment Agency [29], and is also based on the analysis of scientific literature (analysis of methods for sustainable energy system planning [30][31][32] and impact analysis [33], analysis of methods for renewable energy development [34][35][36][37], analysis of alternative methodologies for analysing off-grid electricity supply [38], and analysis of empirical studies that are based on MCDM methods (the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Analytic Network Process (ANP) [39][40][41], Fuzzy Sets [42]; the Weighted Sum Model (WSM) [43], Monte Carlo Simulation [44]).…”