Development of an Economic and Environmental Decision Making Model for Optimal Solar and Wind Energy Utilization
Abstract
Since the emergence of renewable energy, Renewable Energy Technology (RET) has been
considered harmless, clean and free. On the other hand, non-renewable energy sources are perceived
as the only hostile technology to the environment without focusing on the detrimental effect of
Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Many people have continued to use this „harmless‟ technology
without considering the long term environmental and economic impacts. It is, therefore, important to
evaluate the environmental impacts of solar and wind technologies and decide on the net
environmental and economic benefit before utilization. This will ensure optimal utilization while
maintaining the quality and availability of natural resources for current and future generations. For a
suitable decision from the model, there is need to interrelate social, health, ecosystem, emissions and
resource cost effects of solar and wind technology to the environmental and economic impacts. This
will improve the judgment on whether or not to deploy the technology depending on the net benefit
to the community. In light of the above, in this thesis an Economic-Environmental Decision Making
Model (EEDMM) for optimal utilization of solar and wind energy is developed. The model is
developed using Modified ReCiPe 1.3 and PowerSizing models and simulated based on the
Improved Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA2) on MATLAB environment. Improved
Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm is also utilized to solve the uncertainties of solar and wind
energy sources. The simulated results from this thesis demonstrates the economic and environmental
impacts of solar and wind technologies, and effectively makes the decision on the viability of
deploying the technology as per the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations provided
by UNEP in the 2018 – 2021 medium term strategy. The simulated results show that solar PV causes
reduction in Ozone depletion by 30.15% while wind reduces it by 81.86% as compared to
conventional sources. These two energies are shown to reduce climate change to global warming
potential, toxification to human being, photochemical oxidation formation, formation of particulate
matter and radiation due to ionization with respect to the inputs; taking the fuel costs as the
constraints. In conclusion, the developed Economic and Environmental Decision Making Model
(EEDMM) is useful in providing prior advice to the users on whether or not the utilization of the
solar and wind is achieved. The decisions are made from the EEDMM chart.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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