Applying Multi-attribute Utility Theory to Decision Making in Environmental Planning: A Case Study of the Electric Utility in Korea

This paper applies the multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) to obtaining value judgments concerning the significance of environmental impacts to achieve integration of environmental concerns at an early stage of planning, using the electric utility of Korea as a specific case study. An environmental multi-attribute index is constructed as a multi-attribute utility function, based on value judgments provided by a group of experts related to electric utility and a decision maker from Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). The societal values are derived from examining trade-offs between environmentalindex and money. The implications of the results for KEPCO are also discussed. We found that the work and results can provide valuable insights and decision opportunities for major decision making in environmental planning facing KEPCO.     

Multiattribute Utility Analysis as a Framework for Public Participation in Siting a Hazardous Waste Management Facility

This paper describes a public participation exercise in which stakeholders used an approach based on multiattribute utility analysis to select a site for a hazardous waste management facility. The key to success was the ability to separate and address two types of judgments inherent in environmental decisions—technical judgments regarding the likely consequences of alternative choices and value judgments regarding the importance or seriousness of those consequences. The approach enabled technical specialists to communicate the essential technical considerations and allowed stakeholders to establish the value judgments for the decision. Although rarely used in public participation, the multiattribute utility approach appears to provide a useful framework for the collaborative resolution of complex environmental decision problems.     

DECISION ANALYSIS FOR THE RIVER WALK EXPANSION IN SAN ANTONIO,TEXAS1

ABSTRACT: The San Antonio River Walk is considered a unique tourist attraction as well as an urban rejuvenation catalyst for San Antonio, Texas. This utilization of the mile-long horseshoe bend in the downtown area of San Antonio is as successful and imaginative as can be found in the United States. Testimony is very strong from San Antonio voters and outside visitors of the great social and economic value of the River Walk. This overwhelming success has led to plans for expansion of the present River Walk. The River Walk expansion decision should not be evaluated merely on a benefit-cost ratio. It has become the recommendation of the Water Resources Council that intangible attributes such as recreational values and social impacts should be considered as well as tangible attributes such as cost. This prevailing attitude has highlighted the application of decision analysis techniques with multiattribute utility ratings. Decision analysis is a systematic solution procedure which can be used to crystallize a complicated decision problem into manageable subproblems by ranking the decision alternatives in accordance with cardinal utility values attached to their consequences. Recent advances in multiattribute utility theory allow a decision maker to weigh utility assessment over tangible and intangible attributes according to their relative importance. This insures that the intangible attributes will receive due consideration in the final decision-making.     

Group utility indifference and resource management decision making

Natural resource managers often rely on the advice of specialists to aid decision making. However, disagreement among these specialists about the relative value of particular management objectives or the risks associated with implementing certain management strategies may complicate the decision effort. Multiattribute utility analysis can facilitate decision making by indicating how attributes of a problem are weighed by individual specialists. This information can then be used to outline bands of potential problem solutions that are acceptable to the advising group and may allow management to further its own objectives (possibly increased efficiency).An example is presented that relates to fire management planning efforts on national forests. Multiattribute utility functions developed from a survey of fire management professionals are used to identify utility-maximizing fire management strategies based on each strategy's level of economic efficiency and risk. Bands of utility-indifferent potential solutions are outlined based on measures of group consensus. It is pointed out that a subset of these would further management's goal (increased efficiency) without significantly altering the value assigned to the risk attribute by the specialists. Finally, the robustness of the technique is discussed with particular reference to environmental management problems and the role that proxy information often plays in decision making.     

Fusing strategic risk and futures methods to inform long-term strategic planning: case of water utilities

Risks and futures methods have complementary strengths as tools for managing strategic decisions under uncertainty. When combined, these tools increase organisational competency to evaluate and manage long-term risks, improving the flexibility and agility of the organisation to deal with gross uncertainties. Here, we set out a framework to guide the assessment of strategic risks for long-term business planning, based on its application at Portugal’s largest water utility, Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres. Our approach extends strategic risk assessment by incorporating scenario planning—a futures approach used to help the utility move beyond single point forecast of risks to focus on critical dimensions of uncertainty that are fundamental to the resilience of corporate objectives and their vulnerability to external pressures. We demonstrate how we combine two complementary approaches—risk and futures—and use them to assess (i) how a set of baseline strategic risks for a water utility evolves under alternative futures, (ii) the aggregate corporate-level risk exposure, and (iii) the process and responses needed to manage multiple, interdependent strategic risks. The framework offers a corporate approach to evolving strategic risks and improves a utility’s (i) knowledge of uncertainties, (ii) ability to assess the impacts of external developments over long time horizons and the consequences of actions and (iii) degree of flexibility to adapt to possible future challenges. The framework supports risk managers in their long-term strategic planning, through the appraisal and management of multiple, interdependent long-term strategic risks and can be replicated in other organisational contexts to bridge operational and corporate perspectives of enterprise risk.

     

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Options in the Canadian Agricultural Sector

This article presents a methodological framework for strategic environmental assessment (SEA) application. The overall objective is to demonstrate SEA as a systematic and structured policy, plan, and program (PPP) decision support tool. In order to accomplish this objective, a stakeholder-based SEA application to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy options in Canadian agriculture is presented. Using a mail-out impact assessment exercise, agricultural producers and nonproducers from across the Canadian prairie region were asked to evaluate five competing GHG mitigation options against 13 valued environmental components (VECs). Data were analyzed using multi-criteria and exploratory analytical techniques. The results suggest considerable variation in perceived impacts and GHG mitigation policy preferences, suggesting that a blanket policy approach to GHG mitigation will create gainers and losers based on soil type and associate cropping and on-farm management practices. It is possible to identify a series of regional greenhouse gas mitigation programs that are robust, socially meaningful, and operationally relevant to both agricultural producers and policy decision makers. The assessment demonstrates the ability of SEA to address, in an operational sense, environmental problems that are characterized by conflicting interests and competing objectives and alternatives. A structured and systematic SEA methodology provides the necessary decision support framework for the consideration of impacts, and allows for PPPs to be assessed based on a much broader set of properties, objectives, criteria, and constraints whereas maintaining rigor and accountability in the assessment process.     

USING VALUES IN PLANNING WASTEWATER FACILITIES FOR METROPOLITAN SEATTLE1

ABSTRACT: This paper uses the fundamental values of decision makers to guide a long-term wastewater planning process at Seattle Metro, a major utility district. Multiattribute value assessment is used to elicit the objectives of several elected officials and other key decision makers. The results are structured into a fundamental objectives hierarchy and a means-ends objectives network. A set of measures to indicate the performance of planning alternatives in terms of the fundamental objectives is developed. Preliminary value tradeoffs between objectives are elicited from several elected officials. The results of these steps are useful for many aspects of long-term planning: facilitating communication about values and priorities; designing attractive alternatives that are more likely to serve stakeholder interests; identifying information needed to evaluate alternatives; clarifying the relative importance of information about different impacts; providing a basis for quantitative evaluation of the alternatives with multiple objective analysis; and focusing attention on key tradeoffs that will affect the choice of alternatives.     

Spatial Targeting of Agri-Environmental Measures: Cost-Effectiveness and Distributional Consequences

Agri-environmental measures are payments to farmers to reduce environmental risks or to preserve cultivated landscapes. These measures are codified in European Union regulations. Poor spatial targeting is one of the major causes of low cost-effectiveness in agri-environmental measures. Existing studies on spatial targeting focus primarily on selected individual measures; hence, they do not allow for conclusions at the program level, where the planning and implementing of decisions on a number of different measures has to be made. In this study, we analyzed the impacts of two spatial targeting options (targeting of erosion-reducing measures on erosion vulnerable areas; targeting of grassland extensification on N-pollution vulnerable areas) on the cost-effectiveness of the single measures and the entire agri-environmental program of the federal state of Brandenburg in Germany. The methodological steps included an analysis of empirical data on land use and program participation, an expert-based environmental impact assessment and a spatial allocation procedure based on linear programming. The environmental impact assessment delivered goal-specific index values for each measures-land parcel combination expressing the suitability of the measures for contributing to four regionally relevant program objectives. The cost-effectiveness of the measures and the program were calculated by putting budgetary costs in relation to the achieved environmental index sum. The calculated cost-effectiveness of the program in 2006 was 89.6% of the simulated optimal cost-effectiveness. The spatial targeting of erosion-reducing measures on erosion vulnerable areas caused an increase in the cost-effectiveness at the measures level and almost no changes at the program level. The spatial targeting of grassland extensification on N-pollution vulnerable areas, despite also improving the cost-effectiveness of this measure, had negative effects on the cost-effectiveness of the program.     

Environmental indicators for communication of life cycle impact assessment results and their applications

Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is performed to quantitatively evaluate all environmental impacts from products, systems, processes and services. However, LCIA does not always provide valuable information for choosing among alternatives with different specifications, functionalities and lifetimes. The objectives of this study are (1) to propose environmental indicators to evaluate environmental efficiency and value qualitatively and quantitatively on the basis of analogies to financial and economic indicators, and (2) to present the application of the indicators. Incremental evaluation using a reference is employed to obtain the environmental indicators. The environmental efficiency indicators are conceptually based on the ratios of reduced environmental burdens returned to environmental burdens required: environmental return on investment, environmental payback period and environmental internal rate of return. The environmental value indicator is the sum of all reduced and required environmental burdens: i.e., environmental net present value. All the environmental indicators can be used to compare and rank the environmental efficiencies or values of alternatives. The environmental efficiency indicators can be applied to a new environmental labeling. The concept of eco-efficiency labeling is developed by combining the environmental efficiency indicators with financial indicators. A case study is performed to illustrate the necessity and importance of the environmental indicators. These environmental indicators can help easily communicate LCIA results in the field of environmental management.     

Measuring Positive,Negative, and Null Impacts of Forest Disturbances: A Case Study Using Dwarf Mistletoe on Douglas Fir

Not all disease activity causes an impact. Not all impacts are negative. The aim of this study was to examine a method that could conceptually specify when impacts occur and that could quantify both negative and positive disease impacts. For this study, dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium douglasi) of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in southwestern Oregon was used as a case study. The method uses six variables for forest growth, mortality, and stand structure, and six categorical disease severity scores. The impact model displays stands as points in multidimensional scaling space, where relative position is determined by values of the six stand variables. Positions in this two-dimensional space change when stand characteristics change. Differences associated with disease severity could be traced as trajectories, and impact was quantified using the length and direction of these trajectories. This multivariate impact assessment method was contrasted to impact assessments based on single variables. Methods based on multiple variables offer a useful way of characterizing impact on multiple objectives. The model indicates that dwarf mistletoe has positive, negative, and neutral impacts and that these could be illustrated and quantified using this method.     

Value‐oriented impact assessment: the economics of a new approach to impact assessment

Environmental Impact Assessment has gained a prominent position as a tool to evaluate the environmental effects of economic activities. However, all approaches proposed so far use a burden‐oriented logic. They concentrate on the different environmental impacts in order to ascertain the overall environmental damage caused by economic activity. This paper argues that such a burden‐oriented view is (a) hampered by a series of methodological shortcomings which hinders its widespread use in practice; and (b) is analytically incomplete. The paper proposes a value‐oriented approach to impact assessment. For this purpose an economic analysis of the optimal use of environmental and social resources is conducted from both a burden‐oriented and a value‐oriented standpoint. The basic logic of a value‐oriented impact assessment is explained, as well as the resulting economic conditions for an optimal use of resources. In addition, it is shown that value‐ and burden‐oriented approaches are complementary to achieve optimality. Finally, the paper discusses the conditions under which the use of burden‐ or value‐oriented impact assessments is appropriate, respectively.     

Quantifying and Evaluating Ecosystem Health: A Case Study from Moreton Bay, Australia

As part of the program monitoring the ecosystem health of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, we developed a means for assessing ecosystem health that allows quantitative evaluation and spatial representations of the assessments. The management objectives for achieving ecosystem health were grouped into ecosystem objectives, water quality objectives, and human health objectives. For the first two groups, aspects of the ecosystem (e.g., trophic status) were identified, and an indicator was chosen for each aspect. Reference values for each indicator were derived from management objectives and compared with the mapped survey values. Subregions for which the indicator statistic was equal to or better than the assigned reference value are referred to as “compliant zones.” High-resolution surface maps were created from spatial predictions on a fine hexagonal grid for each of the indicators. Eight reporting subregions were established based on the depth and predicted residence times of the water. Within each reporting subregion, the proportion that was compliant was calculated. These results then were averaged to create an integrated ecosystem health index. The ratings by a team of ecosystem experts and the calculated ecosystem health indices had good correspondence, providing assurance that the approach was internally consistent, and that the management objectives covered the relevant biologic issues for the region. This method of calculating and mapping ecosystem health, relating it directly to management objectives, may have widespread applicability for ecosystem assessment.     

Design for environment: A new framework for strategic decisions

For most of its history of environmental protection, U.S. policy has concentrated on a pollution control strategy based on single medium emissions: air, water, or land. Efforts to mitigate environmental impacts to one medium often resulted in greater impacts to others. While much environmental improvement has occurred via this system over the last quarter-century, it is generally recognized that alternative strategies which address environmental impacts across all media in an integrated manner will be necessary for continued improvement. Increasingly, regulatory strategies that result in only passive compliance will be insufficient to meet these demands. This article demonstrates why new strategies which encourage proactive behavior are necessary. A new framework for making strategic decisions—design for environment—concerning the relation between our actions and environment is necessary to ensure a sustainable future.     

AHP based life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework: a case study of six storey wood frame and concrete frame buildings in Vancouver

Construction and building industry is in dire need for developing sustainability assessment frameworks that can evaluate and integrate related environmental and socioeconomic impacts. This paper discusses an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based sustainability evaluation framework for mid-rise residential buildings based on a broad range of environmental and socioeconomic criteria. A cradle to grave life cycle assessment technique was applied to identify, classify, and assess triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability performance indicators of buildings. Then, the AHP was applied to aggregate the impacts into a unified sustainability index. The framework is demonstrated through a case study to investigate two six storey structural systems (i.e. concrete and wood) in Vancouver, Canada. The results of this paper show that the environmental performance of a building in Canada, even in regions with milder weather such as Vancouver, is highly dependent on service life energy, rather than structural materials.     

Strategic environmental assessment in China: motivations, politics, and effectiveness

This paper examines how strategic environmental assessment has been practiced at the national level in China through 2005 and why it has been practiced in the manner observed. Based on literature reviews and interviews carried out in 2005 and 2006, we find that bureaucratic politics between environmental and nonenvironmental ministries has limited the legislation and implementation of strategic environmental assessment to environmental assessment (EA) for a set of government plans defined in the 2003 Environmental Impact Assessment Law. Interviewees from environmental and nonenvironmental ministries and key research institutes have reported that few planning EAs have been performed at the sectoral level. Nonenvironmental ministries have either evaded the 2003 Environmental Impact Assessment Law and have not undertaken required planning EA or have organized planning EA on their own without participation by the State Environmental Protection Administration. The rising tension between the environmental and nonenvironmental ministries has limited the role of planning EA as a participatory decision-making tool. In addition to bureaucratic politics, we find that weak public participation and underemphasis on social analysis in planning EA may have further compromised the utility of planning EA.     

The Consideration of Sustainability Aspects in Transport Infrastructure Related Policies,Plans and Programmes: A Comparative Analysis of North West England,Noord-Holland and Brandenburg-Berlin

This paper is based on research conducted in 1997 and 1998 at the EIA Centre, University of Manchester. It examines the extent to which transport infrastructure related policies, plans and programmes (PPPs) in the three EU regions of North West England, the provincie (administrativeregion) of Noord-Hollandand the engerer Verflechtungsraum (EVR, planning region) of Brandenburg-Berlinconsider (environmental) sustainability issues in the form of objectives, targets and related options/measures for action. Furthermore, the role strategic environmental assessment (SEA) appears to play in this context is elaborated. The analytical framework for comparison is based on the sustainable development strategy of the European Commission, the Fifth Action Programme (Commission of the European Communities, 1993).     

INTEGRATED MODELING FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT: MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES AND SPATIAL EFFECTS1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents an optimization framework for prioritizing sites for wetlands restoration on a watershed or landscape scale. The framework is designed for analyzing the potential environmental impacts of alternative management strategies while accounting for economic constraints, thereby aiding decision makers in explicitly considering multiple management objectives. The modeling strategy consists of two phases. First, relationships between the configuration of land use types in a watershed and valued ecosystem services are specified mathematically. Second, those functions are incorporated into a spatial optimization model that allows comparisons of the expected environmental impacts and economic costs of management strategies that change the configuration of land use in the watershed. By way of a stylized example, this paper develops the general structure of the framework, presents simulation results based on two production functions for ecosystem services, and discusses the potential utility of the methodology for watershed management.     

Natural environmental impact assessment: A rational approach

A method is presented which combines environmental indices and estimates of inputs from various land uses to aid in environmental impact assessments. Unweighted pair/group cluster analyses are used to obtain relationships between easily observable environmental indices, such as vegetation types, soils, and geology, based on their mutual recurrence. These relationships are shown by using an ordination technique which shows the nature of complex impacts on a natural system. Results are used to develop anenvironmental effects sequence diagram based on known scientific and engineering principles and observed natural relationships. The diagram may be used in conjunction with land use data to estimate the possible magnitude of impacts on the pre-existing system which may result from such land use. Several examples are developed which quantify inputs from various land uses and which compare them with environmental inputs including point source and non-point source liquid and atmospheric emmissions, land modifications, and resource consumption. Known average values are used and a separate comparison is made in describing the vast differences between the project phases of construction versus longterm operation. A hypothetical environmental impact assessment is given for a small residential development in Chambers County, Texas, U.S. of A.     

Development of a Methodology for Strategic Environmental Assessment: Application to the Assessment of Golf Course Installation Policy in Taiwan

Some countries, including Taiwan, have adopted strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to assess and modify proposed policies, plans, and programs (PPPs) in the planning phase for pursuing sustainable development. However, there were only some sketchy steps focusing on policy assessment in the system of Taiwan. This study aims to develop a methodology for SEA in Taiwan to enhance the effectiveness associated with PPPs. The proposed methodology comprises an SEA procedure involving PPP management and assessment in various phases, a sustainable assessment framework, and an SEA management system. The SEA procedure is devised based on the theoretical considerations by systems thinking and the regulative requirements in Taiwan. The positive and negative impacts on ecology, society, and economy are simultaneously considered in the planning (including policy generation and evaluation), implementation, and control phases of the procedure. This study used the analytic hierarchy process, Delphi technique, and systems analysis to develop a sustainable assessment framework. An SEA management system was built based on geographic information system software to process spatial, attribute, and satellite image data during the assessment procedure. The proposed methodology was applied in the SEA of golf course installation policy in 2001 as a case study, which was the first SEA in Taiwan. Most of the 82 existing golf courses in 2001 were installed on slope lands and caused a serious ecological impact. Assessment results indicated that 15 future golf courses installed on marginal lands (including buffer zones, remedied lands, and wastelands) were acceptable because the comprehensive environmental (ecological, social, and economic) assessment value was better based on environmental characteristics and management regulations of Taiwan. The SEA procedure in the planning phase for this policy was completed but the implementation phase of this policy was not begun because the related legislation procedure could not be arranged due to a few senators’ resistance. A self-review of the control phase was carried out in 2006 using this methodology. Installation permits for 12 courses on slope lands were terminated after 2001 and then 27 future courses could be installed on marginal lands. The assessment value of this policy using the data on ecological, social, and economic conditions from 2006 was higher than that using the data from 2001. The analytical results illustrate that the proposed methodology can be used to effectively and efficiently assist the related authorities for SEA.     

Sustainable construction--the role of environmental assessment tools

Construction has been accused of causing environmental problems ranging from excessive consumption of global resources both in terms of construction and building operation to the pollution of the surrounding environment, and research on green building design and using building materials to minimise environmental impact is already underway. However, relying on the design of a project to achieve the goal of sustainable development, or to minimise impacts through appropriate management on site, is not sufficient to handle the current problem. The aim for sustainability assessment goes even further than at the design stage of a project to consider its importance at an early stage, before any detailed design or even before a commitment is made to go ahead with a development. However, little or no concern has been given to the importance of selecting more environmentally friendly designs during the project appraisal stage; the stage when environmental matters are best incorporated. The main objectives of this paper are to examine the development, role and limitations of current environmental building assessment methods in ascertaining building sustainability used in different countries which leads to discuss the concept of developing a. sustainability model for project appraisal based on a multi-dimensional approach, that will allow alternatives to be ranked is discussed in detail in the paper.