Description
Planning, operating, and policy making in the electric utility and natural gas sectors involves important trade-offs among economic, social, and environmental criteria. These trade-offs figure prominently in ongoing debates about how to meet growing energy demands and how to restructure the world’s power industry. Energy Decisions and the Environment: A Guide to the Use of Multicriteria Methods reviews practical tools for multicriteria (also called multiobjective) decision analysis that can be used to quantify trade-offs and contribute to more consistent, informed, and transparent decision making. These methods are designed to generate and effectively communicate information about trade-offs; to help people form, articulate, and apply value judgments in decision making; and to promote effective negotiation among stakeholders with competing interests. Energy Decisions and the Environment: A Guide to the Use of Multicriteria Methods includes explanations of a wide range of methods, tutorial applications that readers can duplicate, a detailed review of energy-environment applications, and three in-depth case studies. Acknowledgments. 1. Introduction. 2. The Application of MCDM Methods. 3. Screening and Tradeoff Analysis. 4. Scaling, Weighting, and Amalgamation. 5. Resolving Differences (Step 10). 6. An Illustrative Numerical Example. 7. A Review of MCDM Applications in Energy Planning and Policy. 8. MCDM at BC Hydro: The 1995 Electricity Plan. 9. Multi-Method MCDM at BC Gas. 10. An Experimental Comparison of MCDM Methods at Seattle City Light. 11. Closing Remarks. References. Index.
