Development of a Multi-Criteria Analysis Decision-Support Tool for the Sustainability of Forest Biomass Heating Projects in Quebec

Raphaël Dias Brandao, Evelyne Thiffault () and Annie Levasseur
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Raphaël Dias Brandao: Département de Génie de La Construction, École de Technologie Supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame West, Montréal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada
Evelyne Thiffault: Département des Sciences du bois et de la Forêt, Faculté de Foresterie, de Géographie et de Géomatique, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Annie Levasseur: Département de Génie de La Construction, École de Technologie Supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame West, Montréal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-20

Abstract: Residual forest biomass for heating is an alternative to fossil fuels that is in line with global greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Even if the opportunities and the benefits of such projects may be important, one should not neglect the barriers and potential impacts of these projects regarding their sustainability. The decision support tool developed and presented in this paper will help guide and support public decision makers in selecting the best project and improving its sustainability. A reliable and relevant weighting method is determined, based on the use of the Analytic Hierarchical Process multi-criteria decision analysis method, allowing the integration of stakeholders and the consideration of their views and opinions. This choice, combined with the privileged use of quantifiable qualitative data, allows the use of the tool in a preliminary phase of the project development and enables the evaluation of the project and its sustainability from a social acceptability perspective. The tool was applied to two fictional scenarios to demonstrate its ability to guide decision making and to highlight the differentiation of weights and scenarios through both weighting and evaluation methods.

Keywords: decision-support tool; multicriteria decision making (MCDM); analytic hierarchy process (AHP); forest bioenergy; sustainability indicators; comparative scenario analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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