Energy sources evaluation based on multi-criteria decision support approach in China

Abstract

This study aims to develop a comprehensive evaluation approach to analyze and grade the energy sources based on statistical data. A brief bibliometric analysis for energy sources evaluation shows that clean, sustainable and environment friendly of energy development is the main trend. Four kinds of energy sources including raw coal, crude oil, natural gas and electricity, are analyzed. The approach is developed based on the extended technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and criteria importance through inter-criteria correlation (CRITIC). The CRITIC method is utilized to assign the weights of attributes and the extended TOPSIS is applied to grade the energy sources. An example about energy sources evaluation in China is adopted. Results show that non-renewable energy sources (raw coal and crude oil), are main energy sources from 2010 to 2018. Additionally, the correlation analysis and sensitivity studies are presented to illustrate the feasibility of the developed approach. Developed approach provides a tool in energy sources analysis.