Analyzing the public opinion as a guide for renewable-energy status in Malaysia: a case study

The risk of fossil fuels escalating the discussion of renewable-energy sources (RES) for a cleaner environment coupled with campaigns to promote it. Therefore, the focus of this article is twofold. First, in this article, we propose a model to investigate the mediating role of awareness in the intention to accept RES. The study consists of a unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology and a set of four hypotheses. Second, an integrated MCDM method is applied based on the entropy TOPSIS to select the optimum RES alternative. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of the weight shows the robustness of the proposed integrated model and the public perception of RES is analyzed using sentiment analysis. As a part of a sufficient survey, data were collected from 300 plus people in an urban area of Malaysia and online global reports. The results indicate that awareness plays a mediating role leading to public opinions and performance expectancy for the acceptance of RES. Besides, the results reveal that biomass is the most appropriate clean energy source, having the highest score value assessed. The research in the field is lacking; however, utilizing public feedback and sentiments, the findings of this article will help effective policy and decision making.