Publication
Title
A distance-to-sustainability-target approach for indicator aggregation and its application for the comparison of wind energy alternatives
Author
Abstract
Sustainability impact assessments studies combine several indicators to cover environmental, economic and social impacts. These indicators describe different impact pathways and are expressed in different units, which makes comparing alternatives challenging. An aggregated metric is required to facilitate the presentation and communication of sustainability. The presented aggregation framework is based on the distance-to-target method NR-TOPSIS and adapted to a distance-to-sustainability-target approach. A procedure is given for aggregating 12 sustainability indicators into a single score sustainability indicator. Reference points for normalization of diverse impact indicators and weighting factors are investigated. The framework was applied to a wind energy case study comparing one offshore and two onshore alternatives. The case study results were compared using both a dashboard of 12 endpoint indicators and an aggregated sustainability indicator. The indicator was presented on a sustainability scale that indicated the distance of the investigated cases to an ideal (sustainable) solution. A sensitivity analysis of the weighting factors showed that the distribution of weights influenced the ranking of alternatives, especially when the alternatives are positioned close to each other on the sustainability scale, as it is the case for the wind energy scenarios. For most of the weighting scenarios, the onshore wind energy project using permanent magnet synchronous generators appeared to be the most sustainable solution.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Renewable and sustainable energy reviews. - Oxford, 1997, currens
Publication
Oxford : Pergamon-elsevier science ltd , 2023
ISSN
1364-0321 [print]
1879-0690 [online]
DOI
10.1016/J.RSER.2023.113608
Volume/pages
185 (2023) , p. 1-14
Article Reference
113608
ISI
001143898000001
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 04.03.2024
Last edited 08.08.2024
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