Optimal design of the renewable energy map of Greece using weighted goal-programming and data envelopment analysis

Renewable energy forms have been widely used in the past decades highlighting a "green" shift in energy production. An actual reason behind this turn to renewable energy production is EU directives which set the Union's targets for energy production from renewable sources, greenhouse gas emissions and increase in energy efficiency. All member countries are obligated to apply harmonized legislation and practices and restructure their energy production networks in order to meet EU targets. Towards the fulfillment of 20-20-20 EU targets, in Greece a specific strategy which promotes the construction of large scale Renewable Energy Source plants is promoted. In this paper, we present an optimal design of the Greek renewable energy production network applying a 0-1 Weighted Goal Programming model, considering social, environmental and economic criteria. In the absence of a panel of experts Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is used in order to filter the best out of the possible network structures, seeking for the maximum technical efficiency. Super-Efficiency DEA model is also used in order to reduce the solutions and find the best out of all the possible. The results showed that in order to achieve maximum efficiency, the social and environmental criteria must be weighted more than the economic ones

Seasonal power peaking and the diffusion of demand-side technologies : modelling socio-economic & technical dynamics in the Greek Islands

Imperial Users onl

Wind energy potential for the electricity production - Knjazevac Municipality case study (Serbia)

Geospatial potential for harvesting wind energy is not an easy task to perform in conditions of deficiency of accurate data in remote and large areas (macro to medium locations). There are different methodologies available to identify the most suitable location for the installation of wind power generators. One of the most suitable approaches that employ the Multi-Criteria Analysis method for wind energy potential of the Municipality of Knjazevac (East Serbia) is combining the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information Systems. Collection and creation of geospatial data for the research encompassed meteorological data from all available sources, digital elevation model (DEM) to analyze the orography of the terrain, and Landsat 8 satellite data to analyze six land cover (LC) classes. The identification of three best locations for the wind power generators (wind farms) using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analysis solved the major location problem: how to select the best locations for investment in the renewable energy sector and minimize the impact on the environment. The result indicates that only one part of the municipality, at the hub height of 100 m, has enough wind potential to produce energy

Research Methodologies and Ethical Challenges in Digital Migration Studies

This Open Access book investigates the methodological and ethical dilemmas involved when working with digital technologies and large-scale datasets in relation to ethnographic studies of digital migration practices and trajectories. Digital technologies reshape not only every phase of the migration process itself (by providing new ways to access, to share and preserve relevant information) but also the activities of other actors, from solidarity networks to border control agencies. In doing so, digital technologies create a whole new set of ethical and methodological challenges for migration studies: from data access to data interpretation, privacy protection, and research ethics more generally. Of specific concern are the aspects of digital migration researchers accessing digital platforms used by migrants, who are subject to precarious and insecure life circumstances, lack recognised papers and are in danger of being rejected and deported. Thus, the authors call for new modes of caring for (big) data when researching migrants’ digital practices in the configuration of migration and borders. Besides taking proper care of research participants’ privacy, autonomy, and security, this also spans carefully establishing analytically sustainable environments for the respective data sets. In doing so, the book argues that it is essential to carefully reflect on researchers’ own positioning as being part of the challenge they seek to address

Ecology as Philosophical Problem: on the Concept of the Ecology of Wholeness

An attempt is made to analyse ecology as a philosophical problem, as a holistic phenomenon, that is, to analyse ecology in the broadest possible context, since philosophy is the only form of social consciousness which is directed at all-embracing cognition and understanding of the world. And the process of understanding of any essence, including ecology, is directed, first of all, at achieving the conceptual unity and congruity of facts and phenomena belonging to different and even polar aspects of the Universe. The philosophical foundation of the concept of the ecology of wholeness is laid