Decision analysis in energy and environmental modeling: An update

The 1995 survey on decision analysis (DA) in energy and environmental modeling by [Huang et al. Decision analysis in energy and environmental modeling. Energy 1995; 20: 843–855] lists 95 publications. We updated the survey and found that the number of publications has almost tripled to 252. We also extended and refined this earlier survey by classifying the 252 studies by source of publication, DA method, application area, and several new attributes. Statistical analyses using hypothesis testing and a multiple attribute analysis on the suitability of different DA methods in each application area were conducted. It was found that the importance of multiple criteria decision-making methods and energy-related environmental studies has increased substantially since 1995. We also describe some new developments that have taken place since the last survey.