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.

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Tradeoffs in Utility Operations, Planning, and Policy Decisions.- 1.2 How Can Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods Help?.- 1.3 Why Not Monetize All Criteria?.- 1.4 Scope of the Book.- 2 The Application of MCDM Methods.- 2.1 Attribute Selection and Definition (Step 1).- 2.2 Define Options (Step 2).- 2.3 Quantify Impacts (Step 3).- Annex 2.1 An Example of an MCDM Method for Evaluating Proposals.- Annex 2.2 Defining Attributes: Biodiversity in Sri Lanka.- Annex 2.1 An Example of an MCDM Method for Evaluating Proposals.- 3 Screening and Tradeoff Analysis.- 3.1 Screening (Step 4).- 3.2 Analyzing Tradeoff Plots (Step 5).- 3.3 Dominance Analysis (Step 6).- Annex 3.1 Generating Tradeoff Curves.- Annex 3.2 Other Tradeoff Display Methods.- Annex 3.3 Screening Resources at BC Hydro by Dominance Analysis.- Annex 3.4 Tradeoff analysis for the Three-Dimensional Case.- 4 Scaling, Weighting, and Amalgamation.- 4.1 Value Scaling (Step 7).- 4.2 Weighting Methods (Step 8).- 4.3 Amalgamation Methods (Step 9).- 5 Resolving Differences (Step 10).- 5.1 Resolving Differences Among Methods.- 5.2 Resolving Differences Among Individuals.- 6 An Illustrative Numerical Example.- 6.1 Exclusionary Screening (Step 4).- 6.2 Dominance Analysis (Step 6).- 6.3 Scaling, Weighting, and Amalgamation (Steps 7-9).- 6.4 Indifference Tradeoff Weighting (Step 8).- 6.5 AHP Weighting (Step 8).- 6.6 Goal Programming Amalgamation (Step 9).- 6.7 Single and Multiattribute Utility Functions (Steps 7-9).- 6.8 Amalgamation by ELECTRE (Step 9).- 6.9 Successive Elimination (Step 9).- 7 A Review of MCDM Applications in Energy Planning and Policy.- 7.1 MCDM Methods in Environmental Impact Assessment.- 7.2 MCDM Methods in Resource Bidding Systems.- 7.3 MCDM Methods in Transmission and DistributionSystem Planning.- 7.4 MCDM Methods in Supply Capacity Planning.- 7.5 MCDM Methods in Resource Planning.- 7.6 MCDM Applications in Generation System Operations.- 7.7 Using MCDM to Measure Corporate Environmental Performance.- 7.8 MCDM Methods in National Energy Policy.- 7.9 Power Sector Applications of MCDM Methods in Developing Countries.- 8 MCDM at BC Hydro: The 1995 Plan.- 8.1 Structuring the Process.- 8.2 Objectives and Attributes (Step 1).- 8.3 Defining the Alternatives (Step 2).- 8.4 Portfolio Analysis.- 8.5 Tradeoff Display (Step 5) and Evaluation of Portfolios (Steps 8,9).- 8.6 Getting to Consensus (Step 10).- 9 Multi-Method MCDM at BC Gas.- 9.1 Designing a Multi-method MCDM-Based Process.- 9.2 Using MCDM Methods to Screen DSM Programs.- 9.3 Application.- 9.4 Stakeholder Evaluation of the Process and Conclusion.- 10 MCDM Experiments at Seattle City Light.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Questions Addressed.- 10.3 Resource Planning at Seattle City Light.- 10.4 Results of Method Comparisons.- 10.5 Conclusions.- 11 Closing Remarks.- References.