Data visualization for assessing the biofuel commercialization potential within the business intelligence framework

With the ever-increasing energy demand, triggered by the continued population growth and accelerated industrial revolution, renewable energy has emerged as the world's fastest-growing energy source. Renewable energy's popularity has grown because it is environmentally friendly and abundant in natural environments. Despite its enormous potential as a viable alternative to traditional (fossil fuel-based) energy sources, renewable energy has rarely been commercialized and utilized. Its lack of commercialization has something to do with a lack of evidence proving its eco- and cost-efficiency. With this in mind, this paper aims to assess the eco- and cost-efficiency of renewable energy such as algae-based biofuels using data visualization. It also intends to help increase public awareness and facilitate the commercialization of renewable energy such as biofuels. Through experiments, this paper found that the success of biofuel commercialization hinged on temperature, light intensity, and algae strain. Another important finding is that the low carbon footprint resulting from biofuel consumption may not directly contribute to the immediate revenue growth of a biofuel producing company, but it can foster a long-term positive image that will help attract more customers in the future with increased brand recognition. Furthermore, this paper evaluates the effectiveness, the level of user involvement, and the usability of two data visualization tools built upon the dashboard and the balanced scorecard. Based on the case study, this paper demonstrates how effective and useful the tools are in communicating the firm's strategic goals toward sustainability and thus provides easier practical guidelines for renewable energy development decisions. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.