Decision Support for Energy Transition : Application of Multi-criteria Decision Making on Danish Residential Heating

Abstract

With the increasing awareness of the impact of climate change, there has been more intention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality targets. However, as one essential element for human well-being, residential heating remains a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The complex, interdependent, and sometimes contradictory nature of factors influencing residential heating choices makes it a difficult problem to address. Multiple actors with different goals and priorities further complicate the decision-making process. Moreover, given the current energy crisis, selecting an appropriate heating system for residential areas has become even more crucial. Therefore, there is a need for decision support tools that can consider multi-dimensional factors and heating alternatives, which usually have a long-term impact involved in residential heating choices.First and foremost, my biggest thanks to my supervisors, Yang and Olof, who opened this journey to me after several rounds of interviews. Your patience, insight, and willingness to share your knowledge and expertise have been invaluable to me as I have navigated the challenges of conducting research and writing my thesis. Your constructive feedback has helped me to develop my critical thinking and writing skills, and your mentorship has helped me to become a more confident and capable researcher. I am particularly grateful for the time and effort you have invested in me. To my co-supervisor Xiufeng, who is also the data platform and visualization expert in our project, thank you for making the decision support tool I researched online, bringing in new perspectives, sharing coding packages, and recommending papers and conferences.I am deeply grateful to our project, FlexSUS, and to everyone who co-worked on it and made this research possible. Special thanks to Claire, who led this project and unified us along the way. I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends, both within and outside Environmental Technology and Management. To Axel, an amazing co-author, opponent, and previous PhD student leader, I sincerely thank you for all your invaluable support and continuous comments along the way. Sara and Wisdom, our former and current unit leaders, thanks for your valuable comments and exceptional leadership and care for each of us. Marianna, thank you for your warm welcome, helpful suggestions, and tour on my first campus visit. Kristina and Katrin, thank you for bringing all the support and joy to our PhD student group. Xiaoxuan and Pan, our visiting scholars, thanks for your new insight, comments, and cooperation.