Prioritizing the Interrelationships of the Share of Renewable Energy Sources in Sustainable Development

Today, energy demand has increased as a result of population growth around the world. Due to the limited fossil energy resources and the problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary to pay more attention to renewable energy, because in this way, the goals of sustainable development can be achieved. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to properly evaluate the performance of renewable energy technologies and also to investigate the relationship between renewable energy, carbon dioxide emissions, and sustainable development in Iran and compare it with non-renewable energy. In order to rank renewable energy carriers and identify the best type of them for electricity generation in Iran, a multi-criteria decision model has been used. In this regard, by conducting library studies and collecting the opinions of experts, a set of criteria in the form of four technical, economic, social, and environmental dimensions has been determined. Then, using the VIKOR approach, renewable energies consisting of wind, hydropower, solar, biomass, and geothermal energies are discussed. Findings indicate a high priority of wind energy and solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass are in the next ranks. The results indicate that the effect of positive momentum on the share of renewable and non-renewable energy on sustainable development in Iran is positive.