Selection of biogas, solar, and wind power plants’ locations: An MCDA approach

This study discusses a multi-criteria approach to locating biogas, solar and wind power plants that significantly addresses the challenge of global warming caused by power generation. Because the utility of locations to build renewable energy power plants depends on economic, social and environmental dimensions, after reviewing literature, the sustainable frameworks of criteria affecting the location of biogas, solar and wind power plants were examined in this paper. The offered frameworks are applied to determining the site of biogas, solar, and wind power plants in Iran. The provinces of Iran are assessed as alternatives in this paper. To compute the weight of criteria in the offered framework, data from a sample of experts in Iran are used via an online survey form designed based on the best-worst method (BWM). Using the results of the BWM and the performance data, the overall score are calculated for the various provinces of Iran. The results of this study indicate that energy saving, effect on resources and natural reserves and wind flow, respectively, are the most effective factors for determining the place of biogas, solar and wind power plants, and South Khorasan, Khuzestan, and Khuzestan show the best result for establishing biogas, solar, and wind power plants in Iran respectively

Extension of the TOPSIS Considering the Dispersion among the Criteria of Each Alternative

TOPSIS is located in compensatory decision-making methods. The basic principle is that the chosen alternative should have the shortest distance from the positive ideal solution and the longest distance from the negative ideal solution. The existence of incremental and decreasing uniform trend in positive and negative criteria is one of the TOPSIS characteristics in determining positive and negative ideal points. While the utility assigned to the decision maker after a certain level in each criterion will be less tangible. Therefore, in the ranking of alternatives in addition to the value of each alternative in each indicator, the balance among criteria of each alternative should be considered so the alternative that has an appropriate place in an important indicator, but does not have an appropriate place in other criteria, not to be the first chance for selecting. For this purpose, in this paper by adding virtual dimension to the decision matrix that comes from the deviations among criteria of each alternative, we have tried to compensate the mentioned weakness. To evaluate the proposed method, three different examples are presented. Thus, each of the three provided examples, solved by proposed method, TOPSIS, VIKOR, Deng and SAW and then by using the Spearman correlation coefficient the number of significant correlation relationships between the proposed method and TOPSIS with the other three methods were compared. Then, the rating similarity percentage of the proposed method and TOPSIS were compared with VIKOR, Deng and SAW

Measuring the Importance of Decision-Making Criteria in Biofuel Production Technology Selection

Environmental problems, combined with a finite supply of fossil fuels, have made the use of renewable energy sources necessary. Biomass is a renewable source of energy that has played a very important role in energy production in recent years. Because there are a number of technologies that can be used to convert biomass into energy, it is important to select the best option. The fact that multiple options are available that need to be evaluated based on a set of decision-making criteria makes this a multicriteria decision-making problem. This paper takes the first step in proposing an evaluation framework and identifying the importance of the relevant decision-making criteria in biofuel production technology selection. To determine the importance of the selection criteria, experts were asked to respond to an online questionnaire based on the best-worst method. The results indicate that air pollution, land use change, and human expertise are the three most important criteria for selecting the best biofuel production technology in our case country, Iran.</p

Bioethanol sustainable supply chain design: A multi-attribute bi-objective structure

To design a bioethanol supply chain, along with the transportation and operational costs, it is vital to consider more factors categorized into three sustainability pillars (i.e. economy, social and environment). In this paper, to develop a mathematical model for bioethanol supply chain (BSC), we propose a two-phase methodology; in the first phase, using a sustainable framework of attributes contributing to the facility location selection in the BSC network, we calculate the sustainability score of alternatives through employing the best-worst method (BWM). Then, considering the results of the multi-attribute step as the parameters of an objective function called the sustainability value function, we develop a bi-objective multi-level bioethanol supply chain model. To solve the proposed model, a Nested bi-objective Optimization Genetic Algorithm (NbOGA) is introduced in this research. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the presented BSC model and the algorithm for a real-world problem. The results show that using the proposed structure, both sustainability attributes and transportation costs are appropriately satisfied in the BSC network

Efficient Harvesting of Saffron Using Integer Programming

Among various products available in agriculture, saffron plays a major role in contributing to Iran's gross domestic product and per capita income growth. Due to shortage of workforce and short duration of harvesting, areas under cultivation of saffron in Iran will be declining in coming years. Thus, proper planning for optimum use of workforce is one of the most important techniques to access efficient harvesting. In this regard, an integer programming model is proposed to solve the problem in this paper. Number of working shift and working hours in each shift are among decision variables in the proposed model, which satisfy the objective function, i.e. minimizing the total cost of workforce, with constrains including number of working hours in each shift, speed of workforce, number of fields that should be harvested in each day and relationship between working hours of each worker and the cost allocated­­­­. To evaluate the proposed model, we employ the data collected from fields located in different areas of Qaen, South Khorasan province, Iran. By comparing the output of the proposed model to the real situation, the ability of the model is confirmed. Finally, concluding remarks and suggestions for future research are provided

Measuring the Importance of Decision-Making Criteria in Biofuel Production Technology Selection

Environmental problems, combined with a finite supply of fossil fuels, have made the use of renewable energy sources necessary. Biomass is a renewable source of energy that has played a very important role in energy production in recent years. Because there are a number of technologies that can be used to convert biomass into energy, it is important to select the best option. The fact that multiple options are available that need to be evaluated based on a set of decision-making criteria makes this a multicriteria decision-making problem. This paper takes the first step in proposing an evaluation framework and identifying the importance of the relevant decision-making criteria in biofuel production technology selection. To determine the importance of the selection criteria, experts were asked to respond to an online questionnaire based on the best-worst method. The results indicate that air pollution, land use change, and human expertise are the three most important criteria for selecting the best biofuel production technology in our case country, Iran.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport and Logistic

Sustainable Location Selection of Data Centers: Developing a Multi-Criteria Set-Covering Decision-Making Methodology

In this paper, a multi-criteria set-covering methodology is proposed to select suitable locations for a set of data centers. First, a framework of criteria, with social, economic and environmental dimensions, is presented. The framework is used to calculate the suitability of potential data center locations in Iran. To that end, a sample of specialists in Iran was asked to take part in an online questionnaire, based on best-worst method (BWM), to determine the weight of the criteria included in the proposed framework, after which a number of potential locations are evaluated on the basis of the criteria. The proposed model is evaluated under a number of settings. Using the proposed multi-criteria set-covering model, not only the utility of candidate places is evaluated by sustainability criteria but also all service applicants are covered by at least one data center with a specific coverage radius.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport and Logistic

Corn cultivation location selection for bioethanol production: An application of BWM and extended PROMETHEE II

The purpose of this paper is to streamline the supply of corn, one of the key ingredients in the production of bioethanol. Using a comprehensive sustainable framework of criteria (including social, economic, and environmental dimensions), the potential locations of corn cultivation in Iran are examined from a multi-criteria decision analysis perspective. To this end, we need to find the importance of the relevant evaluation criteria and a ranking method to rank the potential locations. Best worst method (BWM) is used to determine the weight of the criteria presented in the framework based on the opinion of a sample of Iranian experts, after which the ‘preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations II’ (PROMETHEE II) is applied to ranking the different provinces of Iran. To improve the ranking results, we extend the PROMETHEE II by employing a set of piecewise linear value functions, for which the performance of alternatives with respect to the criteria calculated by the piecewise linear value functions is used to determine the amount of deviation in the first step of PROMETHEE II. The results of the hybrid methodology indicate that the presence of water, land cost and air pollution are the most important factors determining the ranking of the alternatives, and that Kordestan is the best province for corn cultivation in Iran.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport and Logistic

Evaluation of factors contributing to the failure of information systems in public universities: The case of Iran

In this paper, we evaluate the reasons for the failure of information systems in public universities. To that end, we start by presenting a hierarchical structure of criteria after reviewing related studies, and dividing the criteria into the categories of project management, organizational management, human-related, organizational and technical. To assess the weight of the criteria in the proposed framework, we collect the opinions of a sample of information technology experts working in different public universities in Iran, using an online questionnaire that is based on the best–worst method (BWM). By analyzing the weight of the criteria, we can reveal that misfit of information systems software (closely followed by lack of top management support and unsuccessful monitoring and measurement) has the greatest impact on the failure of information systems in the public universities of Iran. The methodology proposed in this paper can be used in other countries facing the same problem.</p

Innovation and Survival of Traditional Industries : Measuring Barriers Using the Best-Worst Method

Traditional industries, seen as cultural heritages, need to be innovative to grow and survive in the era of fast technological advancement. Traditional industries are continuously encountering decline. This research aims at identifying and addressing barriers to innovation to make an informed decision for better survival and improvement. A review of literature was used to propose a hierarchical structure of criteria in which innovation barriers were categorized into organizational, environmental, and supply chain dimensions. An online questionnaire was designed based on a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method called Best-Worst Method (BWM) to identify the importance of the barriers. The opinion of 41 experts working in the Iranian Carpet and Leather industries was collected. The results indicate that organizational culture and management support are the most important barriers to innovation in the Leather and Carpet industries. We also found that environmental criteria are the least important criteria in both selected traditional industries. Results illustrated that the two industries have no significant difference in the three perspectives