Energy Decisions and the Environment ― A Guide to the Use of Multicriteria Methods

Tradeoffs among economic, social, and environmental criteria figure prominently in debates over how to meet growing energy demands and how to restructure the world's power sectors. As an alternative to translating all criteria into dollars, multicriteria decision-making methods (MCDM) are introduced for improving the quality of such difficult utility operations, planning, and policy decisions as determining where new generation facilities should be located, what investments should be made in pollution control, and priorities when a power system operates in emergency mode. Case studies illustrate applications of MCDM tools. Hobbes is at Johns Hopkins U. Meier is with International Development and Energy Associates. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)