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Climate Change and Renewable Energy: How to Choose the Optimal Pool of Technologies

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Ecological Economics

Abstract

Renewable energy is seen as an alternative to conventional energy sources, which are predominantly fossil-fuel based and cause dangerous climate change. Various forms of renewable energy also require some resource inputs and installations need to be replaced every 30 years or so. This leads an analyst to the problem of careful selection of a pool of energy sources. Although the conventional form of analysis has largely been centred on cost-minimization, more and more additional criteria, belonging to the economic, social, technical, risk, resource and emissions realms are introduced to make justified decisions on the selection of one technology or of one combination over the other. This chapter makes the first step towards this goal by providing taxonomy of criteria used in decision making regarding renewable energy; it also reviews existing modelling approaches which are currently used in the field. Methodologically, the emphasis in this chapter is on multicriteria decision aid tools.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oxford, Queen Elizabeth House Flat 3, Banbury House 1 Staverton Road Oxfordshire, Oxford, OX2 6XH, UK

    Dr. Stanislav E. Shmelev

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  1. Dr. Stanislav E. Shmelev
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Correspondence to Stanislav E. Shmelev .

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Shmelev, S.E. (2012). Climate Change and Renewable Energy: How to Choose the Optimal Pool of Technologies. In: Ecological Economics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1972-9_8

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