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Benefits and costs in selecting fuel for municipality heating systems with the Analytic Hierarchy Process

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Abstract

Municipal economy problems are of a complex nature. Existing requirements for sustainable development make us apply various criteria while solving these problems. These can, for example, include economic, financial, social and environmental criteria. To handle them effectively, multi-criteria analysis should be applied. Decisions about heat production and delivery systems belong to such multidisciplinary problems. They were usually resolved in the past using classical numerical methodology that took into account only the technical and economic merits of the various alternatives. By applying multi-criteria tools instead it is possible to obtain more realistic results and make more effective decisions. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) seems to be a good alternative to fill the existing gap between decision-making as it is actually practiced and the traditional methods when applied to selecting district heating (DH) systems. This paper presents such an application. Our application is to select the best heat energy source for a DH system for a medium sized city located in Poland. Our results led to an interesting conclusion with regard to the best heat energy source. Our results suggest that intensifying the effort to make widespread the use of more efficient, but financially more costly, energy sources is the best.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management and Engineering Production, Opole University of Technology, Opole, Poland

    Mirosław Dytczak & Grzegorz Ginda

Authors
  1. Mirosław Dytczak
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  2. Grzegorz Ginda
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Correspondence to Mirosław Dytczak.

Additional information

This work was financially supported by the Rector of Opole University of Technology, Opole, Poland.

Mirosław Dytczak Born on 15th of December 1946 in Lodz, Poland. M.Sc in Civil Engineering (1971), Ph.D (1977) and D.Sc. (habilitation) in Mechanical Engineering (1988) (Decision Problems in District Heating Systems Design) from Warsaw University of Technology (WUT). Present position: professor at Opole University of Technology (OUT) and the WUT. Also consultant in district heating modernisation and development at “Infrasystem” (private consulting firm). Primary fields of interest are operational research, mathematical modeling and applications of numerical methods especially in: Energy and Environmental Resource Economics (District Heating and Cooling Systems), Environment Protection, Alternative Sources of Energy (eg. Central Solar Heating Plants with Seasonal Storage), Urban and Rural Infrastructure Systems. Member of several home and international bodies; Member of Polish Civil Engineers Society PZITS NOT (since 1973), Expert of PZITS-NOT in district Heating (No 1088Y, 1982), Expert of United Nations — Framework Convention on Climate Change (nominated by UN 12-th of March 1997), Member of International Council for Thermal Energy Storage (from 1985, Toronto, representative of Poland), Member of International Society on MCDM. Teaching experience: since 1978 assistant professor, associate professor (1987) and professor (1990). Promotour of over 150 master and 4 PhD theses. Over 200 published research articles, reports and realized projects. Professional experience: author of many conceptual studies, strategies of district heating modernization and development, master plans and feasibility studies for over 30 cities in Poland. Some international experiences obtained from Technical University of Denmark (solar energy and seasonal energy storage 1978–1994), Carl Bro Consulting Copenhagen (software Condors II 1985–1988), Hickling Consulting Ltd Ottawa Canada (DESA project 1985–1987), Magma GmbH Aachen Germany (software for simulation foundry processes Magmasoft 1988–1991).

Grzegorz Ginda Born on 4th of March 1966 in Opole, Poland. MSc in civil engineering (since 1991), PhD (1999) at Opole University of Technology (OUT), Poland. Present position: assistant professor at the OUT, Faculty of Management and Engineering Production. His main areas of interest comprise: operational research and mathematical modeling with regard to engineering and management; applications of software for engineering and management, especially FLOSS software; fire safety problems of buildings and structures; energy building auditing; building thermal analysis. A member of Polish Society of Civil Engineers PZITB (since 1995), building energy auditor (since 1999). Teaching experience includes: a tutorship (since 1999) of 8 MSc and 11 BSc theses in civil engineering; teaching courses pertaining to: engineering (structural and architectural design, building thermal analysis, engineering graphics, fittings design, roads design, applications of computer science, construction planning) and management (operational research, forecasting and simulations). About 50 published research papers. Professional experience: participation in civil engineering structural and urban design projects, building energy auditing projects.

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Dytczak, M., Ginda, G. Benefits and costs in selecting fuel for municipality heating systems with the Analytic Hierarchy Process. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng. 15, 165–177 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-5005-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-5005-7

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