Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Energy resource allocation incorporating qualitative and quantitative criteria: An integrated model using goal programming and AHP
    (01-01-1995)
    Ramanathan, R.
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    Energy resource allocation presents a multi-criteria decision making problem with the criteria being quantitative and/or qualitative. Solving such a problem requires an integrated approach. In this paper, an integrated model using goal programming and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been developed for energy resource allocation. It incorporates nine quantitative and three qualitative criteria. The model has been applied to the household sector of Madras, India. A detailed sensitivity analysis has also been carried out. Three additional scenarios have been developed. Use of the model suggested: natural gas, fuelwood and solar thermal for cooking; biogas and electricity generated from fuelwood for water pumping; and all decentralized electricity generation technologies for lighting and operating household appliances. Grid electricity was perferred only for lighting. © 1995.
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    Group preference aggregation methods employed in AHP: An evaluation and an intrinsic process for deriving members' weightages
    (08-12-1994)
    Ramanathan, R.
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    The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the popular and powerful techniques for decision making. A detailed survey of the literature has revealed that there exists no formal evaluation of the group preference aggregation methods currently employed in AHP. This paper provides such an evaluation using well established social choice axioms, which govern the process of combining individual opinions to obtain a single group opinion. The Geometric Mean Method (GMM) and the Weighted Arithmetic Mean Method (WAMM) are the two methods evaluated. It is shown, using counter-examples, that the GMM does not always satisfy the Pareto optimality axiom, which is one of the prominent and widely accepted social choice axioms. This finding is significant as the GMM has been the most commonly used method in AHP for combining individual opinions to form a group opinion. The other method, viz. WAMM has satisfied all the axioms, except the 'independence of irrelevant alternatives' axiom. In order to use the WAMM, one has to find the weightages (importance) to be assigned to the members of the group. This is often a difficult task, especially so if the group is large as in the case of public policy decisions and when judgements are elicited through the use of questionnaires. These situations need an objective method to derive members' weightages but only a few studies are available in the literature to address such a situation. We propose a simple and intuitively appealing eigenvector based method to intrinsically determine the weightages for group members using their own subjective opinions. The superiority of the proposed method over the previous methods is brought out in the paper. © 1994.
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    A multiobjective programming approach to energy resource allocation problems
    (01-01-1993)
    Ramanathan, R.
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    The optimal allocation of energy resources to various energy end uses is an important strategy for bridging the energy supply and demand gap in India. It has been recognized that the allocation should be guided by multiple criteria. A multiobjective programming model for such an allocation process is presented in the paper. The normative model has been applied for the households sector of Madras city. The model is solved using non pre‐emptive goal programming. Variations in the original model have been made to build alternative scenarios. The results of the original model and the alternative scenarios indicate that the use of solar thermal energy, natural gas, LPG, fuelwood, kerosene and lignite should be promoted for cooking, and the use of grid electricity and diesel, should be promoted for meeting water pumping demands. They favour the use of electricity generated from diesel for lighting, and the use of solar photovoltaics for meeting the electricity demands of household appliances. The results also indicate that grid electricity and electricity generated from fuelwood should be promoted to meet the demands of all the four household end uses, and point to the need for more research into solar photovoltaics, which may become competitive for meeting household demands in the future. Copyright © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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    A multi-objective evaluation of decentralized electricity generation options available to urban households
    (01-01-1994)
    Ramanathan, R.
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    In this paper, five different electricity generation options have been evaluated using nine objectives representing the energy, economic and environment systems. Scenario development and a detailed sensitivity analysis have also been performed. The analyses indicate that, while decentralized electricity generation from PV and diesel can be readily encouraged for households, grid electricity and electricity from fuel wood gasification can be encouraged only after the efficiency of electricity generation is improved. The results also indicate that the use of electricity generated from biogas engines has to be discouraged as an electricity generation option. © 1994.
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    A multi-objective analysis of cooking-energy alternatives
    (01-01-1994)
    Ramanathan, R.
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    Fifteen cooking energy sources have been evaluated using nine objectives representing the energy-economy-environmental system. Scenario development and a sensitivity analysis have also been performed. While lignite, LPG, natural gas, biogas, solar thermal, and decentralized electricity generation from fuelwood gasification are preferred, the use of kerosene and fuelwood requires efficiency improvements of cook stoves. Coal, soft coke, charcoal, photovoltaics, grid electricity, and electricity generated from biogas or diesel have not been preferred due to either high costs or low efficiencies. © 1994.
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    Using AHP for resource allocation problems
    (19-01-1995)
    Ramanathan, R.
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    AHP has been used for solving multi-criteria resource allocation problems by converting them into equivalent single objective, maximization-type LP problems. At least two approaches can be identified for such applications. In the first approach, the AHP priorities are used as coefficients in the objective function of the LP format, and in the second approach, the benefit-cost ratios are used as the coefficients. This paper evaluates the two approaches. It is shown here that both the approaches are suitable if the criteria (used in the AHP model) are sought to be maximized. However, they are shown to be inappropriate if the criteria are sought to be minimized. A new, simple approach is suggested for the latter case and an extension has been proposed to tackle problems with mixed criteria. The implications of the study on other preference elicitation methods have also been pointed out. © 1995.
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    A multiobjective evaluation of energy alternatives for water pumping in urban households
    (01-01-1995)
    Ramanathan, R.
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    In this article, seven different energy resources that can be used for water pumping in urban households have been evaluated using 12 objectives representing the energy, economic, and environmental systems. Of the 12 objectives, nine are quantifiable ones, while the remaining three are nonquantifiable. To handle such a mixture of objectives, an integrated model using goal programming and analytic hierarchy process has been employed. A detailed sensitivity analysis has also been performed. The analyses indicate that while biogas and electricity generated from fuelwood gasification rank to be the best of the seven energy resources, photovoltaic electricity requires some reduction in its operating cost and/or increase in the electricity generation efficiency. Diesel and electricity generated from biogas or diesel do not provide any scope to be the preferred resources. An additional scenario has revealed that the nonpreference of grid electricity is due to high environmental emissions. © 1995 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.