Multicriteria analysis of the performance in the use of electrical energy in the UNA: An approach based on AHP

Currently, energy efficiency, alternative sources and rational use of energy are widely used concepts to achieve process profitability, electricity bill reduction, security of supply and mitigation of environmental costs, being useful for all final consumption sectors of a country. The main objective of this work is to perform an analysis of the electric energy management of the Faculties of the National University of Asuncion (UNA). It is proposed to use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to analyze and rank those faculties that have a better performance in the management of resources related to energy consumption. The criteria chosen for the AHP evaluation were the characteristics of consumption, the level of losses, the efficiency of the Significant Energy Uses, the economic, the quality of management and the environmental. For the analysis, 8 alternatives were initially considered, which are represented by the faculties located at the headquarters. The results show that the best alternative under the criteria analyzed, being considered with the same level of importance, is represented by the Faculty of Chemical Sciences. A sensitivity analysis of the AHP results to changes in the importance of the criteria was also performed, obtaining a distribution of yields similar to the first scenario considered, which confirms the current performance trends of the facilities analyzed. Finally, with the results obtained, an Energy Benchmarking was also proposed, in order to know the levels of effort that each academic unit needs to make to move towards a performance standard in electric energy management.