Author(s)

C.-D. Yue & T.-Y. Chao

Abstract

The increasingly evident dangers of global warming and limited availability of fossil fuels are forcing the international community to actively exploit clean energy sources. The decision support system established in this study integrates potential evaluations, cost analyses, legal incentives, and analysis of returns on investments with the aid of a geographic information system (GIS). This system can provide insights for policymakers into the location and extent of the potentials, for lawmakers into whether the current legal incentives are sufficient to encourage private investment, and for investors into whether investments in exploiting local renewable energy sources are economically feasible. This tool may help facilitate the decision making process for exploiting renewable energy sources. Keywords: wind energy, decision support system, geographic information system. 1 Introduction The development of renewable energy is an important strategy in the fight against global warming. The IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) and many authors have called for increased use of clean energy sources in order to reduce global CO2 emissions [1–5], and provide a self-sufficient domestic energy supply [6].

Keywords

wind energy, decision support system, geographic information system.