Energy crops are positioned as the most promising renewable energy sources. They are specifically targeted at the production of biofuels (solid, liquid and gaseous) and for the development of vegetal products with specific attributes that make them suitable for industrial processing and transformation into energy. The prospect of using “alternative crops” renders attractive the opportunity of introducing certain plant species where land, including mountains, hills and plains, has gradually been abandoned or fallen into disuse. One of the aspects of the use of biomass for energy purposes that is still rather controversial regards their full environmental sustainability. Unfortunately in many cases, when an environmental evaluation is developed, using various methodologies, we immediately encounter a certain degree of uncertainty in input data, making it difficult to obtain a meaningful result. One possible solution for correct management of data uncertainty, as we know, is that of using fuzzy-sets. The main objective of this study is to propose and to test the validity and effectiveness of a fuzzy multi-criteria method, called F-Promethee, to help the analyst to compare a set of energy crops and to obtain a ranking of their environmental sustainability.
Fuzzy PROMETHEE for the environmental quality assessment of energy dedicated crops
CAVALLARO, Fausto;
2012-01-01
Abstract
Energy crops are positioned as the most promising renewable energy sources. They are specifically targeted at the production of biofuels (solid, liquid and gaseous) and for the development of vegetal products with specific attributes that make them suitable for industrial processing and transformation into energy. The prospect of using “alternative crops” renders attractive the opportunity of introducing certain plant species where land, including mountains, hills and plains, has gradually been abandoned or fallen into disuse. One of the aspects of the use of biomass for energy purposes that is still rather controversial regards their full environmental sustainability. Unfortunately in many cases, when an environmental evaluation is developed, using various methodologies, we immediately encounter a certain degree of uncertainty in input data, making it difficult to obtain a meaningful result. One possible solution for correct management of data uncertainty, as we know, is that of using fuzzy-sets. The main objective of this study is to propose and to test the validity and effectiveness of a fuzzy multi-criteria method, called F-Promethee, to help the analyst to compare a set of energy crops and to obtain a ranking of their environmental sustainability.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
