IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i8p3494-d1634270.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harnessing High-Altitude Advantages: Sustainable Data Center Site Selection in Ski Resort Regions for Optimized Energy Efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Sinan Öztaş

    (Industrial Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Ataturk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey)

Abstract

Data centers are a part of the digital economy, but they are great contributors to energy use and carbon emissions. The site selection for data centers can, therefore, be an important tool in the optimization of energy efficiency and sustainability, especially in those areas where climatic and infrastructural factors can keep environmental impacts as low as possible. This study will evaluate seven possible sites for a data center in Turkey, focusing on high-altitude ski resorts with natural cooling advantages. In the paper, the research uses q-Rung Orthopair Fuzzy Numbers (q-ROFs) in combination with methods like Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR), taking environmental, technical, and socio-economic criteria into consideration, such as energy efficiency, disaster risk, infrastructure quality, and accessibility. To strengthen result reliability, a sensitivity analysis by varying the q parameter and a comprehensive study by performing different multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods were employed. Analysis revealed that Erciyes and Uludağ consistently ranked among the top alternatives across all methods and q values, indicating their robustness. The results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in supporting sustainable and high-altitude-aware site selection decisions. This research presents a holistic and Sustainable Site Selection framework for data centers; therefore, it provides actionable insights into stakeholders who balance operational efficiency with environmental responsibility. Future studies should subsequently delve into dynamic modeling and global applications to enhance the versatility of the framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Sinan Öztaş, 2025. "Harnessing High-Altitude Advantages: Sustainable Data Center Site Selection in Ski Resort Regions for Optimized Energy Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3494-:d:1634270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3494/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3494/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ertugrul Ayyildiz & Mirac Murat & Gul Imamoglu & Yildiz Kose, 2023. "A novel hybrid MCDM approach to evaluate universities based on student perspective," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(1), pages 55-86, January.
    2. Mladen Krstić & Snežana Tadić & Valerio Elia & Stefania Massari & Muhammad Umar Farooq, 2023. "Intermodal Terminal Subsystem Technology Selection Using Integrated Fuzzy MCDM Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Babak Daneshvar Rouyendegh & Şeyda Savalan, 2022. "An Integrated Fuzzy MCDM Hybrid Methodology to Analyze Agricultural Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-16, April.
    4. Siamak Kheybari & Mansoor Davoodi Monfared & Hadis Farazmand & Jafar Rezaei, 2020. "Sustainable Location Selection of Data Centers: Developing a Multi-Criteria Set-Covering Decision-Making Methodology," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(03), pages 741-773, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Snežana Tadić & Mladen Krstić & Ljubica Radovanović, 2024. "Assessing Strategies to Overcome Barriers for Drone Usage in Last-Mile Logistics: A Novel Hybrid Fuzzy MCDM Model," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-25, January.
    2. Kheybari, Siamak & Javdanmehr, Mahsa & Rezaie, Fariba Mahdi & Rezaei, Jafar, 2021. "Corn cultivation location selection for bioethanol production: An application of BWM and extended PROMETHEE II," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    3. Abdullah M. Barasin & Ammar Y. Alqahtani & Anas A. Makki, 2024. "Performance Evaluation of Retail Warehouses: A Combined MCDM Approach Using G-BWM and RATMI," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Siamak Kheybari & Mohammad Reza Mehrpour & Paul Bauer & Alessio Ishizaka, 2024. "How Can Risk-Averse and Risk-Taking Approaches be Considered in a Group Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Problem?," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 883-909, August.
    5. Vytautas Paulauskas & Ludmiła Filina-Dawidowicz & Viktoras Senčila & Donatas Paulauskas & Birutė Plačienė, 2024. "Theoretical Framework for Virtual Logistics Centers Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Kübra Akyol Özcan, 2023. "Sustainability Ranking of Turkish Universities with Different Weighting Approaches and the TOPSIS Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-24, August.
    7. Xiuguo Wu & Yibai Meng, 2022. "Evaluation and Selection of Cement Suppliers under the Background of New and Old Driving Energy Conversion in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Rūta Savickienė & Aistė Galnaitytė, 2024. "Unveiling Determinants of Successful Dairy Farm Performance from Dairy Exporting EU Countries," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, July.
    9. Sahin, Aleyna & Imamoglu, Gul & Murat, Mirac & Ayyildiz, Ertugrul, 2024. "A holistic decision-making approach to assessing service quality in higher education institutions," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3494-:d:1634270. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.