Decision Support System for Sustainability Assessment of Power Generation Technologies - Efficient Decision Support Systems: Practice and Challenges from Current to Future - page 519

3. Building the model for analysis of environmental factors in a
multiple criteria decision support system
An important aspect in any analysis of alternative decisions is selection of suitable
evaluation criteria, and indicators for quantitative and qualitative assessment. It is also
important to build systems of criteria that define alternatives best. A multiple criteria task,
therefore, involves research of environmental factors, as well as identification of the most
important factors that affect activities or decisions. Lately, multiple criteria evaluation
methods are also widely used in sustainability assessments. In the energy sector, decisions
are made at three levels: decisions related to development scenarios in the energy sector or
strategic priorities of national energy development (macro level); decisions that reconcile the
sector's role in the national economy, the processes within the sector, the effect of the
processes on the environment and the legal environment that regulates the sector (meso
level); and decisions on the choice of specific technologies for energy production or
implementation of specific energy projects (micro level). The analysis of alternative
decisions made at these different levels demands for relevant criteria for the assessment of
such alternatives, as well as for indicators to be used in quantitative and qualitative
evaluation of the alternatives. Problems involving multiple criteria highly depend on the
compiled decision-making model.
3.1 Analysis of environmental factors and stakeholders
Expert methods are used in environmental research to determine the factors of various
levels, as well as systems and subsystems of their defining indicators, which provide a
thorough description of the activities related to the sector in question. The following
components of the developed model for analysis of environmental factors make the biggest
impact on its effectiveness and performance:
 macro, meso and microenvironment with the defining factors;
 groups taking part in the decision-making process and their chances to influence the
decision.
Macroenvironment Factors. This factors define the level of national or industrial performance.
Besides, macrolevel factors affect the development degree of separate industries. The
performance of energy companies vastly depends on the integrated effect of macrolevel
variable factors, such as national economic, political and cultural development, international
and political commitments, agreements, legal acts and strategies, the market, the tax system,
conditions in the loan market, inflation, dependence on natural resources and raw materials,
etc. The changes in the performance of the industry in question—decreasing or increasing
demand for energy resources—depend on the integrated effect of macrolevel factors.
PESTEL ( Political Forces , Economical Forces , Socio-Cultural Forces , Technological Forces,
Environmental Forces, Legal Forces ) is the most suitable tool for the research of
macroenvironment in energy sector. This analysis covers the main aspects of
macroenvironment, namely political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological aspects,
and, most importantly, it also includes the environmental and legal aspects. This analytic
technique is widely used in practical applications, for instance, analysing the necessity to
change the efficiency of energy consumption in Chinese regions, at the same time
considering the impact of environmental factors—the links between a variety of political,
economic, social, technological, environmental factors aspects and legal acts, as well as the
main factors (Shilei & Yong, 2009). The analysis of macroenvironment must include a