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A confusion of tongues or the art of aggregating indicators--Reflections on four projective methodologies on sustainability measurement

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  • Özdemir, Enver Doruk
  • Härdtlein, Marlies
  • Jenssen, Till
  • Zech, Daniel
  • Eltrop, Ludger

Abstract

To achieve consensus on the broad term sustainability abstractness is required. In turn, to take sustainability as an action guiding mandate for implementation it needs to be concrete. The paper seeks to bridge the gap from theory of sustainability to practical application by implementing four different methods, i.e. social cost analysis, ecological footprint analysis, exergy approach and multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA). These methods will be exemplarily applied for sustainability analysis of household heating technologies focusing on wood pellet boilers, wood chip fired district heating stations and natural gas fired condensing boilers. Based on the integrated assessment of exemplary heat supply technologies a critical outlook on the four projective approaches is given.

Suggested Citation

  • Özdemir, Enver Doruk & Härdtlein, Marlies & Jenssen, Till & Zech, Daniel & Eltrop, Ludger, 2011. "A confusion of tongues or the art of aggregating indicators--Reflections on four projective methodologies on sustainability measurement," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 2385-2396, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:15:y:2011:i:5:p:2385-2396
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    Cited by:

    1. Stefan Dragos Cîrstea & Calin Moldovan-Teselios & Andreea Cîrstea & Antoniu Claudiu Turcu & Cosmin Pompei Darab, 2018. "Evaluating Renewable Energy Sustainability by Composite Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
    2. Edivando Vitor do Couto & Pablo B. Oliveira & Luciane Maria Vieira & Marcelo H. Schmitz & José Hilário D. Ferreira, 2020. "Integrating Environmental, Geographical and Social Data to Assess Sustainability in Hydrographic Basins: The ESI Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Michiel C. Zijp & Reinout Heijungs & Ester Van der Voet & Dik Van de Meent & Mark A. J. Huijbregts & Anne Hollander & Leo Posthuma, 2015. "An Identification Key for Selecting Methods for Sustainability Assessments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-23, March.
    4. Diaz-Balteiro, L & González-Pachón, J. & Romero, C., 2017. "Measuring systems sustainability with multi-criteria methods: A critical review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(2), pages 607-616.
    5. Fabrizio, Enrico & Seguro, Federico & Filippi, Marco, 2014. "Integrated HVAC and DHW production systems for Zero Energy Buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 515-541.
    6. Alberto Melane-Lavado & Agustín Álvarez-Herranz, 2018. "Different Ways to Access Knowledge for Sustainability-Oriented Innovation. The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-30, November.

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