Análisis multicriterio para el cambio de combustibles fosiles a energías renovables de la empresa Reybanpac

Este documento presenta una solución al alto costo operativo de uno de los sistemas de riego bananero de la empresa Reybanpac. Mediante la aplicación del proceso analítico jerárquico del análisis multicriterio y debido a las necesidades del recurso hídrico en la zona de estudio, como solución al presente caso de estudio se considera la implementación de un sistema de bombeo alimentado por un conjunto solar FV, la red pública o un sistema a combustión de bajo consumo. En el proceso de selección se da prioridad a tecnologías amigables con el medio ambiente y que permitan la minimización del uso de combustibles fósiles, este procedimiento se realizó bajo la evaluación de los criterios de eficiencia, ambientales, económicos y sociales. La corroboración del sistema electo se optó por la aplicación del indicador económico de costo beneficio. Para una correcta operación y dimensionamiento del sistema electo se optó por la ayuda de la herramienta computacional PVsyst, ya que esta además de proporcionar una correcta evaluación de la energía disponible en la zona de estudio permitió verificar que los valores de los parámetros eléctricos sean correctos.This document presents a solution to the high operating cost of one of the banana irrigation systems of the Reybanpac company. Through the application of the hierarchical analytical process of the multicriteria analysis and due to the needs of the water resource in the study area, as a solution to the present case study, the implementation of a pumping system powered by a solar PV system, the public network or a low consumption combustion system. In the selection process, priority is given to technologies that are friendly to the environment and that allow the minimization of the use of fossil fuels, this procedure was carried out under the evaluation of efficiency, environmental, economic and social criteria. To corroborate the elected system, the application of the economic cost-benefit indicator was chosen. For a correct operation and sizing of the chosen system, the help of the PVsyst computational tool was chosen, since this in addition to providing a correct evaluation of the energy available in the study area allowed to verify that the values of the electrical parameters are correct

Secure and Sustainable Energy System

This special issue aims to contribute to the climate actions which called for the need to address Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, keeping global warming to well below 2°C through various means, including accelerating renewables, clean fuels, and clean technologies into the entire energy system. As long as fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) are still used in the foreseeable future, it is vital to ensure that these fossil fuels are used cleanly through abated technologies. Financing the clean and energy transition technologies is vital to ensure the smooth transition towards net zero emission by 2050 or beyond. The lack of long‐term financing, the low rate of return, the existence of various risks, and the lack of capacity of market players are major challenges to developing sustainable energy systems.This special collected 17 high-quality empirical studies that assess the challenges for developing secure and sustainable energy systems and provide practical policy recommendations. The editors of this special issue wish to thank the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) for funding several papers that were published in this special issue

Sustainable Freight Transport

This Special Issue of Sustainability reports on recent research aiming to make the freight transport sector more sustainable. The sector faces significant challenges in different domains of sustainability, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the management of health and safety impacts. In particular, the intention to decarbonise the sector’s activities has led to a strong increase in research efforts—this is also the main focus of the Special Issue. Sustainable freight transport operations represent a significant challenge with multiple technical, operational, and political aspects. The design, testing, and implementation of interventions require multi-disciplinary, multi-country research. Promising interventions are not limited to introducing new transport technologies, but also include changes in framework conditions for transport, in terms of production and logistics processes. Due to the uncertainty of impacts, the number of stakeholders, and the difficulty of optimizing across actors, understanding the impacts of these measures is not a trivial problem. Therefore, research is not only needed on the design and evaluation of individual interventions, but also on the approach of their joint deployment through a concerted public/private programme. This Special Issue addresses both dimensions, in two distinct groups of papers—the programming of interventions and the individual sustainability measures themselves

Uncertain Multi-Criteria Optimization Problems

Most real-world search and optimization problems naturally involve multiple criteria as objectives. Generally, symmetry, asymmetry, and anti-symmetry are basic characteristics of binary relationships used when modeling optimization problems. Moreover, the notion of symmetry has appeared in many articles about uncertainty theories that are employed in multi-criteria problems. Different solutions may produce trade-offs (conflicting scenarios) among different objectives. A better solution with respect to one objective may compromise other objectives. There are various factors that need to be considered to address the problems in multidisciplinary research, which is critical for the overall sustainability of human development and activity. In this regard, in recent decades, decision-making theory has been the subject of intense research activities due to its wide applications in different areas. The decision-making theory approach has become an important means to provide real-time solutions to uncertainty problems. Theories such as probability theory, fuzzy set theory, type-2 fuzzy set theory, rough set, and uncertainty theory, available in the existing literature, deal with such uncertainties. Nevertheless, the uncertain multi-criteria characteristics in such problems have not yet been explored in depth, and there is much left to be achieved in this direction. Hence, different mathematical models of real-life multi-criteria optimization problems can be developed in various uncertain frameworks with special emphasis on optimization problems

Rethinking the risk matrix

So far risk has been mostly defined as the expected value of a loss, mathematically PL (being P the probability of an adverse event and L the loss incurred as a consequence of the adverse event). The so called risk matrix follows from such definition. This definition of risk is justified in a long term “managerial” perspective, in which it is conceivable to distribute the effects of an adverse event on a large number of subjects or a large number of recurrences. In other words, this definition is mostly justified on frequentist terms. Moreover, according to this definition, in two extreme situations (high-probability/low-consequence and low-probability/high-consequence), the estimated risk is low. This logic is against the principles of sustainability and continuous improvement, which should impose instead both a continuous search for lower probabilities of adverse events (higher and higher reliability) and a continuous search for lower impact of adverse events (in accordance with the fail-safe principle). In this work a different definition of risk is proposed, which stems from the idea of safeguard: (1Risk)=(1P)(1L). According to this definition, the risk levels can be considered low only when both the probability of the adverse event and the loss are small. Such perspective, in which the calculation of safeguard is privileged to the calculation of risk, would possibly avoid exposing the Society to catastrophic consequences, sometimes due to wrong or oversimplified use of probabilistic models. Therefore, it can be seen as the citizen’s perspective to the definition of risk

An extension of the AHP dummy pivot modeling applied to the restructuring of the iron and steel industry in China

The iron and steel industry of China has a wide distribution structure, which leads to low production efficiency, high resource use, and weak bargaining power among global competitors. A carefully planned and executed restructuring of the industry will provide the enterprise with a competitive advantage. Making the optimal restructuring decisions, however, is not easy because: 1) the decisions involve qualitative measures within a complex and uncertain environment, 2) the alternatives include up to 31 administrative regions, and 3) there are astounding differences in the economic development among the 31 alternatives. The orders-of-magnitude approach of the analytic hierarchy process (OM-AHP) could be a useful method to tackle the first and second challenges. However, this approach does not currently explain how to address the large differences between small items in a cluster and big items in a cluster when there are no medium items between them. A model of OM-AHP with a dummy pivot is proposed to tackle this particular challenge. This approach is then applied in a multicriteria decision making problem to both demonstrate how the proposed approach works and provide a solution for the restructuring of the steel industry in China. © 1988-2012 IEEE

Proceedings of the European Conference on Agricultural Engineering AgEng2021

This proceedings book results from the AgEng2021 Agricultural Engineering Conference under auspices of the European Society of Agricultural Engineers, held in an online format based on the University of Évora, Portugal, from 4 to 8 July 2021. This book contains the full papers of a selection of abstracts that were the base for the oral presentations and posters presented at the conference. Presentations were distributed in eleven thematic areas: Artificial Intelligence, data processing and management; Automation, robotics and sensor technology; Circular Economy; Education and Rural development; Energy and bioenergy; Integrated and sustainable Farming systems; New application technologies and mechanisation; Post-harvest technologies; Smart farming / Precision agriculture; Soil, land and water engineering; Sustainable production in Farm buildings

Proceedings of the inaugural construction management and economics ‘Past, Present and Future’ conference CME25, 16-18 July 2007, University of Reading, UK

This conference was an unusual and interesting event. Celebrating 25 years of Construction Management and Economics provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the research that has been reported over the years, to consider where we are now, and to think about the future of academic research in this area. Hence the sub-title of this conference: “past, present and future”. Looking through these papers, some things are clear. First, the range of topics considered interesting has expanded hugely since the journal was first published. Second, the research methods are also more diverse. Third, the involvement of wider groups of stakeholder is evident. There is a danger that this might lead to dilution of the field. But my instinct has always been to argue against the notion that Construction Management and Economics represents a discipline, as such. Granted, there are plenty of university departments around the world that would justify the idea of a discipline. But the vast majority of academic departments who contribute to the life of this journal carry different names to this. Indeed, the range and breadth of methodological approaches to the research reported in Construction Management and Economics indicates that there are several different academic disciplines being brought to bear on the construction sector. Some papers are based on economics, some on psychology and others on operational research, sociology, law, statistics, information technology, and so on. This is why I maintain that construction management is not an academic discipline, but a field of study to which a range of academic disciplines are applied. This may be why it is so interesting to be involved in this journal. The problems to which the papers are applied develop and grow. But the broad topics of the earliest papers in the journal are still relevant today. What has changed a lot is our interpretation of the problems that confront the construction sector all over the world, and the methodological approaches to resolving them. There is a constant difficulty in dealing with topics as inherently practical as these. While the demands of the academic world are driven by the need for the rigorous application of sound methods, the demands of the practical world are quite different. It can be difficult to meet the needs of both sets of stakeholders at the same time. However, increasing numbers of postgraduate courses in our area result in larger numbers of practitioners with a deeper appreciation of what research is all about, and how to interpret and apply the lessons from research. It also seems that there are contributions coming not just from construction-related university departments, but also from departments with identifiable methodological traditions of their own. I like to think that our authors can publish in journals beyond the construction-related areas, to disseminate their theoretical insights into other disciplines, and to contribute to the strength of this journal by citing our articles in more mono-disciplinary journals. This would contribute to the future of the journal in a very strong and developmental way. The greatest danger we face is in excessive self-citation, i.e. referring only to sources within the CM&E literature or, worse, referring only to other articles in the same journal. The only way to ensure a strong and influential position for journals and university departments like ours is to be sure that our work is informing other academic disciplines. This is what I would see as the future, our logical next step. If, as a community of researchers, we are not producing papers that challenge and inform the fundamentals of research methods and analytical processes, then no matter how practically relevant our output is to the industry, it will remain derivative and secondary, based on the methodological insights of others. The balancing act between methodological rigour and practical relevance is a difficult one, but not, of course, a balance that has to be struck in every single paper