Chalmers Conferences, LCM 2013

USE OF MULTI CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS TO SUPPORT LIFE CYCLE SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE AVAILABLE METHODS
Marco Cinelli, Stuart R. Coles, Kerry Kirwan

Last modified: 2014-09-11

Abstract


Main multi criteria decision analysis methods (i.e. MAUT, AHP, ELECTRE and PROMETHEE) were assessed with 10 criteria considered pivotal in sustainability assessments, from life cycle perspective and thresholds use to uncertainty management. It resulted that MAUT and AHP are fairly simple to use and have good software support, but can only uphold a weak sustainability perspective. Concerning ELECTRE and PROMETHEE, they can enforce strong sustainability concept, deal well with thresholds, support dynamic results re-evaluation, but suffer from rank reversal and are quite complex. Overall, the analysis has indicated that multi criteria decision analysis methods are appropriate for supporting life cycle sustainability assessment.

Keywords


multi-criteria-decision-analysis; sustainability assessment; data integration

References


Antunes, P., Santos, R., Videira, N., Colaco, F., Szanto, R., Dobos, E. R., . . . Vari, A. (2012). Approaches to integration in sustainability assessment of technologies PROSUITE project.

Belton, V., & Stewart, T. J. (2002). Multiple criteria decision analysis; an integrated approach: Kluwer Academic Publisher.

Benoit, V., & Rousseaux, P. (2003). Aid for aggregating the impacts in life cycle assessment. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 8(2), 74-82. doi: 10.1065/lca2002.12.104

Buchholz, T., Rametsteiner, E., Volk, T. A., & Luzadis, V. A. (2009). Multi Criteria Analysis for bioenergy systems assessments. Energy Policy, 37(2), 484-495. doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2008.09.054

Cinelli, M., Coles, S. R., Jørgensen, A., Zamagni, A., Fernando, C., & Kirwan, K. (2013). Workshop on life cycle sustainability assessment: the state of the art and research needs—November 26, 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. doi: 10.1007/s11367-013-0573-5

De Montis, A., De Toro, P., Droste-Franke, B., Omann, I., & Stagl, S. (2000). Criteria for quality assessment of MCDA methods. Paper presented at the 3rd Biennial Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, Vienna. http://www.wu.ac.at/project/esee2000/PapersPDF/H298.pdf

De Montis, A., De Toro, P., Droste-Franke, B., Omann, I., & Stagl, S. (2005). Assessing the quality of different MCDA methods. In M. Getzner, C. Spash & S. Stagl (Eds.), Alternatives for Environmental Valuation (pp. 99-133): Routledge.

Gasparatos, A., & Scolobig, A. (2012). Choosing the most appropriate sustainability assessment tool. Ecological Economics, 80, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.05.005

Munda, G. (2005). Multi criteria decision analysis and sustainable development In J. Figueira, S. Greco & M. Ehrgott (Eds.), Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of the Art Surveys (pp. 953-986). New York: Springer.

Munda, G. (2008). The Issue of Consistency: Basic Discrete Multi-Criteria "Methods" Social Multi-Criteria Evaluation for a Sustainable Economy (pp. 85-109). Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Polatidis, H., Haralambopoulos, D. A., Munda, G., & Vreeker, R. (2006). Selecting an Appropriate Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Technique for Renewable Energy Planning. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy, 1(2), 181-193. doi: 10.1080/009083190881607

Raju, K. S., & Pillai, C. R. S. (1999). Multicriterion decision making in performance evaluation of an irrigation system. European Journal of Operational Research, 3(1), 479–488.

Rowley, H. V., Peters, G. M., Lundie, S., & Moore, S. J. (2012). Aggregating sustainability indicators: beyond the weighted sum. Journal of Environmental Management, 111, 24-33. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.05.004

Sala, S., Farioli, F., & Zamagni, A. (2012). Life cycle sustainability assessment in the context of sustainability science progress (part 2). The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. doi: 10.1007/s11367-012-0509-5

Teghem, J., Delhaye, C., & Kunsch, P. L. (1989). AN INTERACTIVE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (IDSS) FOR MULTICRITERIA DECISION AID. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 12(10-11), 1311-1320. doi: 10.1016/0895-7177(89)90370-1

Zamagni, A., Buttol, P., Buonamici, R., Masoni, P., Guine'e, J. B., Huppes, G., . . . Rydberg, T. (2009). Blue Paper on Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis; Deliverable 20 of the CALCAS project.


Full Text: PDF