Assessment of biomass energy barriers towards sustainable development: Application of Pythagorean fuzzy AHP

Abstract

Biomass has the dual benefit of promoting economic expansion and protecting the environment. Sugarcane bagasse, animal manure, and kitchen waste are some of the sources of biomass waste that are abundant in Pakistan. However, achieving renewable energy goals while relying on Pakistani road plans is riddled with difficulties. In contrast, there is a significant research gap in examining the barriers to biomass energy development using the multiple‐criteria decision‐making technique. This study aims to fill a knowledge gap by applying the Pythagorean fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to the problem of how to overcome the barriers to expanding Pakistan's biomass power generation. The results reveal that the political and policies/institutions are the most noteworthy obstacle with a weight of 0.2281 and follow the economics and financial, meteorological, technology and infrastructure, and cultural and behavioural hurdles stand second to fifth places, respectively. In addition, the analyses demonstrate that political instability is the most important sub‐obstacle, possessing a global weight of 0.0471. According to the study's outcome, it is suggested that decision‐makers, stakeholders, and regulatory agencies coordinate their efforts to ensure the availability of appropriate incentives, boost feedstock supply, and offer locals training to speed up the Pakistan biomass industry's presently sluggish growth.