Modified Approach Multi-Criteria Decision Making Using Goal Programming to Evaluate Renewable Energy Alternatives

With the continuous rise in prices in fossil fuels, companies and cities in the United States have been looking at ways to decrease their reliance on traditional energy production methods and looking more at the viability of alternative energy sources. This paper uses the goal programming and AHP multi-criteria decision making methods to aid in the selection of an optimal energy portfolio or mixture when faced with multiple alternatives and multiple criteria. The selection process can be difficult with both objective and subjective data that needs to be considered, especially for a municipality. AHP is perfect for quantifying subjective information. In this paper the AHP weights are used in the goal programming model to objectively determine the best solution with regards to job creation, CO2 emissions, and cost.