102nd Meeting of the EURO Working Group in Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding

Integrating MCDA and Immersive Spatial Visualization for sustainability assessment of energy technologies

Not scheduled

20m

Siemens Auditorium (HIT E 51) (ETH Zürich)

Discussion Paper

Speaker

Janeth Carolina Godoy (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS))

Description

This study presents a pilot workshop to test an integrated approach that combines Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), sustainability assessment (SA), with immersive spatial visualization. The goal of this approach is to support stakeholders’ integration in MCDA SA by introducing the spatial context and thereby foster more active discussions and informed decisions. A workshop for preference elicitation was held at the Sustainable Futures Lab (SFL) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology with 27 international students from different academic backgrounds. The SFL is provided with an immersive virtual environment called the “Cube” which support participatory projects through the use of data, simulation, visualization, and interaction, allowing participants to virtually visit different locations and infrastructure. The Helmholtz MCDA Tool (HELDA) and its plug-in for online surveys were used to support preference elicitation (weights) to eight sustainability criteria. The participants were introduced to MCDA sustainability assessment, and a case study of large-scale energy storage technologies facilities in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Afterwards, a series of individual preference elicitation were conducted in three stages: i) at the beginning of the workshop, ii) after entering the “Cube” to explore the spatial context of potential technology sites, and iii) after group work using the deck of cards method to reach consensus on the criteria weights. The results show that after virtually visiting the potential technology sites, participants changed how they prioritized the criteria. They gave e.g. more importance to technological maturity (TRL) and land use, and less importance to efficiency, lifetime, levelized cost of storage (LCOS), critical raw materials use, CO₂ footprint, and visual impact compared to the initial preference elicitation. This study lays the groundwork for future research on how immersive experiences can alter the decision-making process based on purely abstract thinking, and support the active participation of e.g. local communities and experts in real-world processes.