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In our review the trend of increasing stakeholder involvement can be underlined. 17 out of 34 articles showed a direct involvement of stakeholders in the respective case study or a tool that is built for a future participation of stakeholders. As an example the ARTEMIS project can be given (Kowalski08, Omann08; Madlener07): In a national case study representatives of different interest groups and energy experts evaluated energy scenarios. Two workshops and 25 interviews for the purpose of scenario development and for the deliberation of criteria and weights were conducted. 3.4. Real world application: The criteria real world application were not analysed with the first reviews done by Huang et al. and Pohekar et al.. Kowalski et al. offer that information in their review without going into a detailed discussion. In our review it can be seen that most of the case studies published are real world applications according to our definition that the decision process could be applied to the corresponding region and the results could be implemented. 28 out of 35 articles are showing real world applications. The remaining “not real world case studies” are either mere comparison of technologies such as (Afghan04) or (Zhou07) or approaches, which are still on a more abstract level but under preparation for a future real world case study as (Buchholz 07). However, the fact that nearly all articles publish real world case studies does not show that the decision process was realized. There are just a few articles, which clearly mention that the alternatives identified by the MCDA process were actually implemented. The case study by Ben Salah et al. is presenting a tool that decides whether a domestic apparatus should be connected either to the electrical grid or to a photovoltaic panel (BenSalah08). This tool decides and implements the decision automatically so that implementation is always a necessary consequence. Further the above introduced local case study within the ARTEMIS project in Austria showed recommendations, which the communities planned to implement after the MCDA decision process was accomplished (Kowalski08, Omann08; Madlener07). Most of the case studies provide recommendations or decision tools for politics or for local energy utilities without giving evidence of an actual realization. Another indication for the real world potential of MCDA is the involvement of companies compared to a mere research environment. Many case studies integrate companies for interviews or workshops (e.g. Neves08) but there are no companies clearly mentioned that ordered the MCDA decision process. However, case studies such as (Wijayatunga06) indicate a jointly conduction with companies. In this case the Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association was involved for an evaluation of strategies to overcome barriers for cleaner production technologies. Compared to that the publication by Hobbs and Meyer in the year 2000 “Energy Decisions and the environment: A guide to the use of multicriteria methods” offers several case studies that were conducted at companies such as Canadian and American Utilities (Hobbs00). Therefore, it is quite possible that there are further real world case studies that are ordered and conducted by companies but have not been published in the scientific literature. Also the company that sells the software of the MCDA method AHP “expert choice” publishes a list of
eference projects on their website including 7 utilities 4 . In order to find out how widespread MCDA applications are further research is necessary. 3.5. Ex-post Evaluation: In the “Manifesto for the New MCDA Era” published by Bouyssou, Pirlot, Tsoukias and Vincke in 1993 more ex-post analysis of the MCDA applications was claimed (Bouyssou93). For the field of energy there are overview studies published by e.g. Polatidis et al. in 2004 giving a review of methods and suitability recommendations for corresponding applications (Polatidis04). However, lessons learned from applications as requested in the abovementioned manifest are not available in the literature we reviewed. There are only three case studies providing a discussion of results and challenges faced during the process. Especially Nigim et al. give a more detailed feedback on the method chosen, problems encountered during the process and recommendations to solve the issues (Nigim04). The literature reviewed mainly emphasises the advantages of MCDA for energy applications especially its ability to deal with their complex and multidimensional character. However, usually risks of such a process are not mentioned in the articles. Questions addressing for instance the effort of data acquisition for a comprehensive evaluation are not discussed. An ex-post analysis documenting lessons learned from the case study and providing a kind of manual for future applications would help to learn from each other and thus increasing the real world potential of MCDA. Again the guide published by Hobbs and Meyer is an exception. The case studies presented are discussed and reviewed very detailed so that the reader can learn for future applications (Hobbs00). 4. CONCLUSION For sustainable development within energy supply energy systems have to be looked at from different disciplines as to incorporate all the consequences brought along with their implementation. As energy issues are usually complex, dynamic, dealing with uncertainty and different stakeholders there is a need for new decision tools. MCDA has been applied manifold for decisions in energy management already. These decision tools are able to incorporate different perspectives of stakeholders, they account for quantitative as well as qualitative criteria and they separate objective and subjective aspects of a decision problem. Since the 1960s many applications using MCDA-methods for energy issues have been published. Reviews done before cover the literature comprehensively until 2003. In this paper a review of journal articles published between 2004 and 2008 is presented. In order to learn about trends and real world potential of MCDA for energy application the analysis looks at the criteria “type of energy system”, “method applied”, “participation of stakeholders”, “real world application” and “ex-port analysis”. A trend of increasing energy applications for MCDA can be found. Also there is a strong focus on renewable energy systems. Especially the literature of the last two years shows that participation of stakeholders becomes more important. According to our definition most of the studies are real world applications i.e. the results could be implemented in a certain region. Unfortunately there is just little evidence that they are also implemented. The case 4 Compare http://www.expertchoice.com/
Page 1 and 2: Application of multi-criteria analy
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