A MULTIOBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF ENERGY ALTERNATIVES FOR WATER PUMPING IN URBAN HOUSEHOLDS

In this article, seven different energy resources that can be used for water pumping in urban households have been evaluated rising 12 objec tives representing the energy, economic, and environmental systems. Of the 12 objectives, nine are quantifiable ones, while the remaining th ree are nonquantifiable. To handle such a mixture of objectives, an in tegrated model using goal programming and analytic hierarchy process h as been employed. A detailed sensitivity analysis has also been perfor med. The analyses indicate that while biogas and electricity generated from fuelwood gasification rank to be the best of the seven energy re sources, photovoltaic electricity requires some reduction in its opera ting cost and/or increase in the electricity generation efficiency. Di esel and electricity generated from biogas or diesel do not provide an y scope to be the preferred resources. An additional scenario has reve aled that the nonpreference of grid electricity is due to high environ mental emissions.