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Owing to the unpredictable nature of disasters, it is of great importance to determine the work that needs to be done in case of a disaster. The most vital component of such studies is the development and examination of post-disaster search and rescue activities and treatment facilities. One of the most important issues to be considered while performing these operations is reaching the disaster victims in the minimum time, and planning disaster logistics in the most efficient manner possible. In this chapter, the problem of planning debris scanning activities with unmanned aerial vehicles after an earthquake and transporting the injured people to hospital using ambulances in the minimum time is discussed and mathematical models are developed to solve the problem. The ambulance routing problem and the mathematical model to be used as a solution to the problem are discussed for the first time in the literature. The developed model was tested on the problem sets created by considering the data of the province under investigation. Analysis results showed that the developed model can reach optimal solutions in small and medium sized problems, and as the size of the problem increases, it does not reach the optimal solution in a short time, but it can produce appropriate solutions.

The use of fuel in the transport sector is increasing day-to-day owing to the increase in vehicle population. Owing to the economic and environmental benefits, biofuel has received significant attention in recent years as a potential substitute for fossil-based fuels. Diverse resources for making biofuel from renewable oils are utilized across the whole world owing to their availability and range from plant-based oils to animal fats. As a renewable fuel, biofuel is generated from these biomass sources to make gaseous fuels, such as methane and hydrogen, and liquid fuels, such as biodiesel, ethanol, and methanol. This chapter compares the different forms of the alternatives to fuel present in the transport sector from vegetable-source oil esters, such as cottonseed, rapeseed, safflower, soybean, sunflower, tallow, palm, and so forth, with regard to the indispensable parameters demonstrated in the content of this paper. The quantitative assessment modeling utilized in this chapter provides decision-makers with equipment that can be utilized in important planned decision-making stages on fuel strategy topics in the next few years. The implemented modeling provides quantitative results that can aid decision-making exercises. Based on the computational analysis, palm is reported to be the optimal energy source that meets all the criteria determined within the context of this research. On the other hand, rapeseed is ranked worst among the other alternatives investigated.

The performance effect of construction on energy conservation substantially depends upon application of correct materials and energy saving methodologies. A sizable financial impact is accomplished through insulated walls. The criteria explaining the present wall insulating material options may have different values. Furthermore, they may alter in different aspects, i.e. higher values of certain criteria show a preferable status, while for others they denote an inferior status. In this framework, a variant of compromise is needed, which can be situated through multi-criteria assessment methodologies. To diminish the effect of different methodologies on computational results, few diverse techniques can be considered, with descriptions of the mean predicted values. Thus, drawbacks of certain multi-criteria assessment techniques could be compensated through others. A hybrid methodology through the combination of individual techniques will be accurate if there is a relationship between the values determined through diverse methodologies. In this study, the most efficient insulation material used at external walls is selected by using PSI-CRITIC based CoCoSo Method. The analytical results are important both from financial and engineering point of views as the applied methodology is commercially viable and practically implementable. Precise and up-to-date material properties are derived from the leading companies in the sector.

Agricultural activities provide one of the main sources of living in many regions of the world. Such products play significant roles for the survival of living organisms. Farmers all around the world work towards reaching their economic goals through agricultural activities. By doing this, they invest both their capital and time. In some occasions, such investments end up with serious losses and planted products either grow in low levels or do not grow at all. In this study, in order to avoid such situations and guide the investors intelligently, a decision support system based on decision tree is developed. Related parameters in accordance with the climatic and geographic characteristics of the region are determined within this proposed system. Then, appropriate types of fruits are proposed to the users as the outcome of the system based on these parameters. By doing this, producing more efficient and profitable products is aimed.

Automotive industry has been using diesel and gasoline for a long time. But along with the variable oil prices, declining oil supplies drive people to obtain alternative fuel sources. Sustainable fuel options could change the consumption of electricity, resulting in less emission levels, less carbon, and a greater fuel supply. In general, it is a difficult task for decision-makers to find the best feasible fuel among multiple choices for the logistics industry due to the complex task of considering different performance attributes and the lack of available knowledge. As the companies strive toward cutting their supply chain costs further down and responding to the increasing pressure of “greening” their supply chains, search for more sustainable energy sources continues to draw attention. The right choice of the most feasible fuel alternative for the automotive industry will, however, effectively alleviate severe environmental problems and energy overconsumption during transportation. This study compares various types of available options for plant oil-based fuel, such as castor, coconut, corn, cotton-seed, etc., in relation to the critical characteristics described within the scope of this study. The quantitative evaluation model used in this study provides decision-makers with a tool to be used during significant strategic decision-making phases on fuel policy issues. The applied model offers quantitative conclusions that can help improve decision-making success.

Warehouses link suppliers and customers throughout the entire supply chain. The location of the warehouse has a significant impact on the logistics process. Even though all other warehouse activities are successful, if the product dispatched from the warehouse fails to meet the customer needs in time, the company may face with the risk of losing customers. This affects the performance of the whole supply chain therefore the choice of warehouse location is an important decision problem. This problem is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem since it involves many criteria and alternatives in the selection process. This study proposes an integrated grey MCDM model including grey preference selection index (GPSI) and grey proximity indexed value (GPIV) to determine the most appropriate warehouse location for a supermarket. This study aims to make three contributions to the literature. PSI and PIV methods combined with grey theory will be introduced for the first time in the literature. In addition, GPSI and GPIV methods will be combined and used to select the best warehouse location. In this study, the performances of five warehouse location alternatives were assessed with twelve criteria. Location 4 is found as the best alternative in GPIV. The GPIV results were compared with other grey MCDM methods, and it was found that GPIV method is reliable. It has been determined from the sensitivity analysis that the change in criteria weights causes a change in the ranking of the locations therefore GPIV method was found to be sensitive to the change in criteria weights.

Turkey has a great potential in terms of renewable energy sources. Particularly, this potential comes to the fore in solar energy. Compared to the rest of Europe and other countries worldwide, Turkey has a very large level of annual sunshine period. One of the main elements used to produce electricity from solar energy in solar farms is solar cells. They produce direct current by converting the solar radiation directly onto the solar energy. In order to increase the power output, several solar cells are connected to each other in parallel or in series and mounted on a surface. This structure is called the solar cell module or photovoltaic module. If necessary, these modules can be connected to each other in series or parallel, to create a series of photovoltaic. For high efficiency photovoltaic cycle, it is necessary to improve the structural and electrical properties of the material to optimize the forbidden energy range and to use the most appropriate combination in the choice of the heterocline. In addition, the fact that the selected material can be produced economically at large scale is one of the conditions and it is desired that the sensitivity to the environment is considered during the use of this material. There are many types of solar cells in the market. Recently, 3rd generation solar cells from different materials have taken their place in the market. In a photovoltaic cell, the key operating parameters are efficiency, area, fill factor, and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. This study’s aim is determining the photovoltaic performance and comparing the solar cells fabricated in different types according to key operating parameters.

Electricity generation from wind energy has the potential to contribute positively to energy production in an economic way as a result of technological developments. Wind farms, where wind energy is converted into electrical energy, are preferred because there is no other expense except for initial costs and maintenance costs and there is no raw material cost. The wind turbine converts the available air flow into electrical energy. Since the plants that generate electricity by wind power do not cover much space and do not emit harmful gas to the atmosphere, they have no negative effect on the atmosphere. Therefore, it also benefits the protection of the ecological balance. Since the parts of the wind farms can be used as recycling during their maintenance, they do not have any waste and have no significant impact on the environment which is harmful to the environment. In this study, potential of a specific province in terms of wind energy and capability of electrical energy that can be obtained from wind energy potential to meet energy demand in the province has been investigated For this purpose; With the data obtained from the General Directorate of State Meteorology, the wind energy potential was analyzed for this province using the WASP (Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program) simulation program. In the simulation program, hourly wind speeds and wind data obtained from the latitude and longitude of the province through meteorological stations for the province were loaded as input to the program. As a result, wind power that can support electrical energy and turbine systems that can activate this potential have been identified. This study supported renewable energy power generation of a specific location and hence the aim is to create awareness about contributions than can economically provide energy to the whole country.

Tuff stones originating from Koyke stone or Isparta volcanic stones have a soft feature (due to high porosity) which can retain natural moisture content when first excavated and their surfaces can be formed. These stones, which have been used in wall claddings since ancient times, have become more and more stable and gradually survive for thousands of years. They also have been used in the covering of the walls of mosques and churches in Isparta Province; have survived for 2000 years and without being affected by atmospheric conditions. Physical-mechanical properties of Isparta region tuffs do not comply with normal marble and natural stone standards because some of the time-dependent properties of these stones change positively. In addition, in the heat insulation tests where the village stone is kept, it has been reported that these stones are in the standards that can contribute to the thermal insulation. In these studies, it is stated that buildings have a chemical and physical structure that can contribute to reducing the cooling and heating costs. In the first step of this study, general properties and usage areas such as physical, chemical, mechanical and thermal properties of Koyke stone were investigated. Then, in order to determine its contribution to the energy, ecology and economy (3E), analysis of the effect of the use of Koyke stone together with the different wall materials which are frequently applied in today’s buildings as the outer wall cladding material in the climate conditions of Isparta city is conducted. For the analysis, ANSYS package program was used. In this study, as an alternative to fossil based materials, the benefits of using natural materials in people’s habitats as well as in all areas of industry are evaluated in terms of both health and energy-ecology-economics.

Energy security, volatile petroleum prices, source depletion issues and global climate change have driven countries to consider adding alternative and renewable energy options to their conventional energy sources. The use of vegetable oil-based biofuel as an option instead of diesel is important for development of sustainable and eco-friendly energy sources. The fatty acid composition of biodiesel manufactured from diverse plant resources and their properties are different. The aim of the present paper is to select the most feasible vegetable oil as biodiesel by using Analytical Hierarchy Process technique, one of the multi-criteria decision making methods based on priority estimation model. Among vegetable oil species, the problem of selecting the most feasible vegetable oil is evaluated, using numerous criteria related to their properties. This article highlights a novel insight into assessment of the feasible vegetable oil-based biodiesels for the decision makers such as research and development engineers and engine manufacturers to empower the green revolution to obtain the emission norms and fuel economy. The quantitative results indicate that the Corn with a global priority of 0.0636 is the option that contributes the most to the goal of selection the best plant oil that satisfies all the criteria selected. On the other hand, Palm and Pumpkin are the vegetable oil alternatives that are ranked last with equal priority values of 0.0337.

The traditional energy source–related problems bring out the sustainable energy sources’ utilization. Limited amount of resources as well as ecological issues play a significant role in the choice of sustainable energy sources. Yet nowadays, rather than ecological requirements, renewable energy use has become increasingly significant on account of these strategies utilized by advanced nations to supply their power needs. Consequently, over the past two decades, all the countries have been aiming to raise the sustainable power’s share among other power generation methodologies to attain power independence.

The structures renovation’s economical impact generally relies on the devices and energy-saving methods’ application. By wall insulation, great economical impact is accomplished. In this regard, it is even greater than changing the windows. The wall insulation option resolutions of structures vary in the materials utilized, labor force spending, and other ways. The renovation’s cost based on the resolutions applied. The criteria describing the existing wall isolation options may have diverse values. Additionally, they may differ in diverse instructions, i.e., a greater value of some criteria represents a preferable situation, while for others they signify a worse state. By means of multicriteria assessment methodologies, a reconciliation variable is needed, which can be obtained in this environment. To decrease the impact of diverse methodologies on computational conclusions, it can be proposed to evaluate the phenomenon (or object) thought by a few diverse methodologies, with the detection of the average forecast value. Thus, the several special multicriteria assessment methodologies’ disadvantages could be replaced by the others’ benefits. In recent years, thermal insulation materials’ many styles are present in the market. The calculations made in this study by AHP multicriteria assessment methodology allowed us to determine the most effective insulation material option out of ten used alternatives commercial insulation materials. In the second stage, the most assessable natural alternative insulation material among ten different uncommercial-natural insulation materials is analyzed with the same methodology.

Utilization of renewable energy resources is gradually increasing in developing countries as well as the developed ones. Although the use of these resources is becoming increasingly important to meet energy demands, efficient use of limited resources requires planning and in-depth analysis beforehand. Correspondingly, in recent years, countries have started to work on increasing the share of renewable energy among other energy-production methods to ensure energy independence. In this study, in order to design PV system for maximum efficiency under certain climatic conditions, a comparative analysis of solar energy potential for two cities in certain climatic conditions is conducted. Based on the calculations, the values of the indicators show that potential for photovoltaic systems in both cities correspond to expected levels. The study aims to determine the most efficient solar panel by utilizing the real solar radiation values obtained for the photovoltaic system design.