The increased demand for biofuels is expected to put additional strain on the available agricultural resources while at the same time causing environmental degradation. Hence, new energy policies need to be formulated and implemented in order to meet global energy needs while reducing the impact of biofuels farming and production. This research focuses on proving a decision support system which can aid the formulation of policies for the sustainable biofuel production. The system seeks to address policy formulation that requires reconciliation of the qualitative aspects of decision making (such as stakeholder’s viewpoints) with quantitative data, which often may be imprecise. To allow this, based on: Fuzzy logic and Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) in the form of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Using these concepts, three software functionalities, “Options vs. Fuzzy Criteria Matrix”, “Analytical Hierarchy Process” and “Fuzzy AHP” were developed. These were added within the framework of pre-existing base software, Compendium (developed by the Open University, UK). A number of case study based models have been investigated using the software. These models made use of data from the Philippines and India in order to pinpoint suitable land and crop options for these countries. The models based on AHP and Fuzzy AHP were very successful in identifying suitable crop options for India by capturing both the stakeholder viewpoints and quantitative data. The software functionalities are very effective in scenario planning and selection of policies that would be beneficial in achieving a desired future scenario. The models further revealed that the newly developed software correctly identified many of the important issues in a consistent manner.

Decision making study has been the multi-disciplinary research involving operations researchers, management scientists, statisticians, mathematical psychologists and economists as well as others. This study aims to investigate the theory and methodology of decision making research and apply them to different contexts in real cases. The study has reviewed the literature of Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), Evidential Reasoning (ER) approach, Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) movement, Social Judgment Theory (SJT), and Adaptive Toolbox (AT) program. On the basis of these literatures, two methods, Evidence-based Trade-Off (EBTO) and Judgment Analysis with Heuristic Modelling (JA-HM), have been proposed and developed to accomplish decision making problems under different conditions. In the EBTO method, we propose a novel framework to aid people s decision making under uncertainty and imprecise goal. Under the framework, the imprecise goal is objectively modelled through an analytical structure, and is independent of the task requirement; the task requirement is specified by the trade-off strategy among criteria of the analytical structure through an importance weighting process, and is subject to the requirement change of a particular decision making task; the evidence available, that could contribute to the evaluation of general performance of the decision alternatives, are formulated with belief structures which are capable of capturing various format of uncertainties that arise from the absence of data, incomplete information and subjective judgments. The EBTO method was further applied in a case study of Soldier system decision making. The application has demonstrated that EBTO, as a tool, is able to provide a holistic analysis regarding the requirements of Soldier missions, the physical conditions of Soldiers, and the capability of their equipment and weapon systems, which is critical in domain. By drawing the cross-disciplinary literature from NDM and AT, the JA-HM extended the traditional Judgment Analysis (JA) method, through a number of novel methodological procedures, to account for the unique features of decision making tasks under extreme time pressure and dynamic shifting situations. These novel methodological procedures include, the notion of decision point to deconstruct the dynamic shifting situations in a way that decision problem could be identified and formulated; the classification of routine and non-routine problems, and associated data alignment process to enable meaningful decision data analysis across different decision makers (DMs); the notion of composite cue to account for the DMs iterative process of information perception and comprehension in dynamic task environment; the application of computational models of heuristics to account for the time constraints and process dynamics of DMs decision making process; and the application of cross-validation process to enable the methodological principle of competitive testing of decision models. The JA-HM was further applied in a case study of fire emergency decision making. The application has been the first behavioural test of the validity of the computational models of heuristics, in predicting the DMs decision making during fire emergency response. It has also been the first behavioural test of the validity of the non-compensatory heuristics in predicting the DMs decisions on ranking task. The findings identified extend the literature of AT and NDM, and have implications for the fire emergency decision making.

Oil companies in Alberta, Canada, invested $32 billion on new oil sands projects in 2013. Despite the size of this investment, there is a demonstrable deficiency in the uniformity and understanding of environmental legislation requirements that manifest into increased project compliance risks. This descriptive study developed 2 prioritized lists of environmental regulatory compliance risks and mitigation strategies and used multi-criteria decision theory for its theoretical framework. Information from compiled lists of environmental compliance risks and mitigation strategies was used to generate a specialized pairwise survey, which was piloted by 5 subject matter experts (SMEs). The survey was validated by a sample of 16 SMEs, after which the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to rank a total of 33 compliance risks and 12 mitigation strategy criteria. A key finding was that the AHP is a suitable tool for ranking of compliance risks and mitigation strategies. Several working hypotheses were also tested regarding how SMEs prioritized 1 compliance risk or mitigation strategy compared to another. The AHP showed that regulatory compliance, company reputation, environmental compliance, and economics ranked the highest and that a multi criteria mitigation strategy for environmental compliance ranked the highest. The study results will inform Alberta oil sands industry leaders about the ranking and utility of specific compliance risks and mitigations strategies, enabling them to focus on actions that will generate legislative and public trust. Oil sands leaders implementing a risk management program using the risks and mitigation strategies identified in this study will contribute to environmental conservation, economic growth, and positive social change.

New Zealand faces a range of food safety hazards. Microbial hazards alone were estimated to cause over 2,000 years of lost healthy life in 2011 (Cressey, 2012) and $62m in medical costs and lost productivity in 2009 (Gadiel & Abelson, 2010). Chemical hazards are thought to be well managed through existing controls (Vannoort & Thomson, 2009) whereas microbial hazards are considered harder to control, primarily due to their ability to reproduce along the food production chain. Microbial hazards are thought to cause the majority of acute foodborne gastroenteritis. This research reviewed food safety literature and official documentation, and conducted 55 interviews, mostly with food safety experts from different stakeholder groups, to examine the food safety decision-making environment in New Zealand. This research explores the concept of the ‘stakeholder’ in the context of food safety decision-making and proposes an inclusive ‘stakeholder’ definition as any group which is able to affect, or be affected by, the decision-making process. Utilising this definition, and guided by interviews, New Zealand stakeholders in food safety decision-making were identified and classified as follows: •Regulators •Public health authorities •Food safety scientists/academics •Consumers •Māori •Food Businesses (further classified as): o Farmers o Processors o Food retailers o Exporters Interviews with stakeholders from these groups highlighted twelve criteria as being relevant to multiple groups during food safety intervention evaluation: •Effectiveness •Financial cost •Market Access •Consumer Perceptions •Ease of Implementation •Quality or Suitability •Quality of Science •Equity of Costs •Equity of Benefits •Workplace Safety •Cultural Impact •Animal Welfare There are a number of different ways to measure or assess performance on these criteria. Some are able to be quantitatively measured, while others may require the use of value judgements. This thesis used the Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) metric for quantifying effectiveness during the testing of different MCDA models. This thesis reviews the MCDA process and the food safety specific MCDA literature. There are different ways of conducting MCDA. In particular, there are a large number of models available for the aggregation phase; the process of converting model inputs, in the form of criteria scores and weights, into model recommendations. This thesis has described and reviewed the main classes of model. The literature review and interview process guided the construction and testing of three classes of MCDA model; the Weighted Sum, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and PROMETHEE models. These models were selected due to their having different characteristics and degrees of complexity, as well as their popularity in the food safety and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) literature. Models were tested on the problem of selecting the most appropriate intervention to address the historic Campylobacter in poultry problem in New Zealand during the mid-2000s. Experimentation was conducted on these models to explore how different configurations utilise data and produce model outputs. This experimentation included: •Varying the format of input data •Exploring the effects of including/excluding criteria •Methods for sensitivity analysis •Exploring how data inputs and outputs can be elicited and presented using visual tools • Creating and using hybrid MCDA models The results of this testing are a key output of this thesis and provide insight into how such models might be used in food safety decision-making. The conclusions reached throughout this research phase can be classified into one of two broad groups: •Those relating to MCDA as a holistic process/methodology for decision-making •Those relating to the specific models and mathematical procedures for generating numerical inputs and outputs This thesis demonstrates that food-safety decision-making is a true multi-criteria, multi-stakeholder problem. The different stakeholders in food-safety decision-making do not always agree on the value and importance of the attributes used to evaluate competing intervention schemes. MCDA is well suited to cope with such complexity as it provides a structured methodology for the systematic and explicit identification, recording and aggregation of qualitative and quantitative information, gathered from a number of different sources, with the output able to serve as a basis for decision-making. The MCDA models studied in this thesis range from models that are simple and quick to construct and use, to more time consuming models with sophisticated algorithms. The type of model used for MCDA, the way these models are configured and the way inputs are generated or elicited can have a significant impact on the results of an analysis. This thesis has identified a number of key methodological considerations for those looking to employ one of the many available MCDA models. These considerations include: •Whether a model can accommodate the type and format of input data •The desired degree of compensation between criteria (i.e. full, partial or no compensation) •Whether the goal of an analysis is the identification of a ‘best’ option(s), or the facilitation of discussion, and communication of data •The degree of transparency required from a model and whether an easily understood audit trail is desired/required •The desired output of a model (e.g. complete or partial ranking). This thesis has also identified a number of practical considerations when selecting which model to use in food safety decision-making. These include: •The amount of time and energy required of stakeholders in the generation of data inputs (elicitation burden) •The degree of training required for participants •How data inputs are to be elicited and aggregated in different group decision-making environments •The availability of MCDA software for assisting an analysis Considering the above points will assist users in selecting a suitable MCDA model that meets their requirements and constraints. This thesis provides original and practical knowledge to assist groups or individuals looking to employ MCDA in the context of food-safety intervention decision-making. This research could also serve as a guide for those looking to evaluate a different selection of MCDA models.

Because of the increasing demand for the provision of energy worldwide and the numerous damages caused by a major use of fossil sources, the contribution of renewable energies has been increasing significantly in the global energy mix with the aim at moving towards a more sustainable development. In this context, this work aims at the development of a general methodology for designing PV systems based on ecodesign principles and taking into account simultaneously both techno-economic and environmental considerations. In order to evaluate the environmental performance of PV systems, an environmental assessment technique was used based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The environmental model was successfully coupled with the design stage model of a PV grid-connected system (PVGCS). The PVGCS design model was then developed involving the estimation of solar radiation received in a specific geographic location, the calculation of the annual energy generated from the solar radiation received, the characteristics of the different components and the evaluation of the techno-economic criteria through Energy PayBack Time (EPBT) and PayBack Time (PBT). The performance model was then embedded in an outer multi-objective genetic algorithm optimization loop based on a variant of NSGA-II. A set of Pareto solutions was generated representing the optimal trade-off between the objectives considered in the analysis. A multi-variable statistical method (i.e., Principal Componet Analysis, PCA) was then applied to detect and omit redundant objectives that could be left out of the analysis without disturbing the main features of the solution space. Finally, a decision-making tool based on M-TOPSIS was used to select the alternative that provided a better compromise among all the objective functions that have been investigated. The results showed that while the PV modules based on c-Si have a better performance in energy generation, the environmental aspect is what makes them fall to the last positions. TF PV modules present the best trade-off in all scenarios under consideration. A special attention was paid to recycling process of PV module even if there is not yet enough information currently available for all the technologies evaluated. The main cause of this lack of information is the lifetime of PV modules. The data relative to the recycling processes for m-Si and CdTe PV technologies were introduced in the optimization procedure for ecodesign. By considering energy production and EPBT as optimization criteria into a bi-objective optimization cases, the importance of the benefits of PV modules end-of-life management was confirmed. An economic study of the recycling strategy must be investigated in order to have a more comprehensive view for decision making.

Submitted by JOSÉ LEONARDO DA SILVEIRA GUIMARÃES null (leonardo.guimaraes@urca.br) on 2017-09-04T20:28:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 guimaraes_jls_dr_guara.pdf: 2321230 bytes, checksum: fd38370b008eaec1ea7a082c44f8612e (MD5) / Rejected by LUIZA DE MENEZES ROMANETTO (luizamenezes@reitoria.unesp.br), reason: Solicitado pelo autor. on 2017-09-05T16:19:18Z (GMT) / Submitted by JOSÉ LEONARDO DA SILVEIRA GUIMARÃES null (leonardo.guimaraes@urca.br) on 2017-09-05T18:29:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 guimaraes_jls_dr_guara.pdf: 2322731 bytes, checksum: fb47e22a03ec4c94224c6fc3d772a1e5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-09-06T15:24:17Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 guimaraes_jls_dr_guara.pdf: 2322731 bytes, checksum: fb47e22a03ec4c94224c6fc3d772a1e5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-06T15:24:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 guimaraes_jls_dr_guara.pdf: 2322731 bytes, checksum: fb47e22a03ec4c94224c6fc3d772a1e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Aspectos econômicos, legais, ambientais e sociais tornam a Logística Reversa (LR) um assunto de destaque nos meios empresarial e acadêmico, considerando que sua função é a gestão dos processos de retorno de materiais, para tornar viável o reaproveitamento ou destino final adequado. Tendo em vista a movimentação de materiais existente nas redes logísticas existentes em clusters industriais, verifica-se na literatura a falta de estudos específicos referentes às operações de retorno associadas à LR. Por outro lado, os clusters industriais possuem reconhecida importância para economias regionais, por meio do fortalecimento de pequenas e médias empresas. Neste sentido, este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar as atividades relacionadas à LR no cluster industrial calçadista de Juazeiro do Norte - CE, buscando identificar particularidades estruturais e gerenciais. Essas particularidades estão relacionadas a diversos fatores, e, além dos já citados, também são determinantes o tipo de produto e seus materiais constituintes, relações com stakeholders, tecnologia entre outros. O estudo foi desenvolvido por meio de pesquisa exploratória utilizando o método de estudo de caso, incluindo entrevistas e observações diretas. A análise foi feita utilizando um modelo de tomada de decisão multicritério que aplica o Analytic Network Process (ANP) e o Balanced Scorecard (BSC) para avaliar aspectos gerenciais estratégicos da LR. Utilizando-se a teoria da compatibilidade para quantificar o nível de similaridade entre vetores de decisão, os resultados obtidos foram comparados com respeito às diferenças entre unidades de estudo, assim como em relação aos dados mais gerais da indústria brasileira. Como resultados, identificou-se que as atividades da LR no cluster em foco são fortemente influenciadas pelas características do produto, por aspectos relacionados às aglomerações produtivas, no que se refere à economia e competitividade, assim como às diferenças existentes na gestão das empresas. / Economic, legal, environmental and social aspects turn Reverse Logistics (RL) an important subject in business and academic circles, considering that its function is managing processes of return of materials, to make feasible the reutilization or proper disposal. Taking into account the flow of materials in supply chain existing in industrial clusters, it is verified lack of specific studies regarding return operations associated with LR. On the other hand, industrial clusters are very important for regional economies, through strengthening of small and medium enterprises. In this sense, this work aims to evaluate the activities related to RL in the footwear industrial cluster of Juazeiro do Norte city, Ceará state, seeking to identify structural and managerial particularities. These particularities are related to several factors, and, in addition to those already mentioned, are also determinants the type of product and its constituent materials, relations with stakeholders, technology, and others. The study was developed through exploratory research using the case study method, including interviews and direct observations. In the analysis, was used a multicriteria decision-making model that applies the Analytic Network Process (ANP) and the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to evaluate strategic managerial aspects of LR. Using the theory of compatibility to quantify the level of similarity between decision vectors, the results obtained were compared with respect to the differences between study units, as well as in relation to the more general data of the Brazilian industry. As a result, it was identified that the activities of LR in the cluster in focus are strongly influenced by the characteristics of the product, aspects related to productive agglomerations respect to economy and competitiveness, as well as differences in management of the companies.

Submitted by Emanuel Varela Cardoso (emanuel.varela@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-09-28T17:01:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAEL GOMES DA COSTA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGDesign) 2018.pdf: 84255489 bytes, checksum: 479f455d64078fda5e0424d97cb8bfe3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-28T17:01:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAEL GOMES DA COSTA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGDesign) 2018.pdf: 84255489 bytes, checksum: 479f455d64078fda5e0424d97cb8bfe3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-31 / Em face de transformações socioeconómicas apresentadas nas últimas décadas, mais precisamente pós-Guerra Fria, o papel do designer tem sido debatido. Fenómenos relacionados a Globalização, como a desglobalização e glocalização, tem pressionado ao exercício do designer uma abordagem mais responsável, que atenda aos anseios sociais contemporâneos, sobretudo de respeito a diversidade cultural (BONFIM, 1990). Portanto em meio a estas novas demandas, frente ao processo projetual de novos produtos, este estudo visa qualificar e promover o debate relacionado ao processo de tomada de decisão voltado ao desenvolvimento de objetos que venham a atender estas novas prerrogativas identitárias e simbólicas. Considerando o benefício de como impor e expor localidade a estes em seu processo de desenvolvimento, ou seja, estabelecer parâmetros para a análise do apelo identitário por parte de seu projetista, na escolha de protótipos que mais se adequem aos atributos identitários pré-estabelecidos. Contando com o plausível meio de auxílio, uma vez que o mesmo se traduz em um conjunto de métodos e técnicas perduráveis de subsídio a tomada de decisão com maior respaldado, a área de Apoio Multicritério à Decisão. Quanto à metodologia utilizada, realizou-se uma pesquisa de caráter exploratório, descritivo e quali-quantitativo (mista), utilizando-se de caso único e decisivo, com múltiplas unidades de análise, como principal meio de validação do modelo multicritério de análise identitária, estabelecido. Os resultados obtidos evidenciaram a operacionalização positiva do modelo multicritério de análise identitária de produtos com atributos locais, viabilizada pela exploração bibliográfica referente a tríade "design x cultura x identidade local" atrelada a abordagem multicritério de apoio a decisão. / In the face of socioeconomic transformations presented in the last decades, more precisely post-Cold War, the role of the designer has been debated. Globalizationrelated phenomena, such as de-globalization and glocalization, have pushed the designer's approach to a more responsible approach that meets contemporary social concerns, especially respect for cultural diversity (BONFIM, 1990). Therefore, in the midst of these new demands, in the face of the design process of new products, this study aims to qualify and promote the debate related to the decision-making process focused on the development of objects that will meet these new identity and symbolic prerogatives. Considering the benefit of how to impose and expose locality to them in their development process, that is, to establish parameters for the analysis of the identity appeal by their designer, in the choice of prototypes that best fit the preestablished identity attributes. Counting on the plausible means of aid, since it translates into a set of enduring methods and techniques for grant decision making with greater support, the area of Multicriteria Support to Decision. As for the methodology used, a research was exploratory, descriptive and quali-quantitative (mixed), using a single and decisive case, with multiple units of analysis, as the main means of validation of the multicriteria model of identity analysis, established. The results obtained evidenced the positive operation of the multicriteria model of identity analysis of products with local attributes, made possible by the bibliographic exploration referring to the triad "design x culture x local identity", linked to the multicriteria approach to decision support.

The real estate selection process might be regarded as a typical Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem. With current literature concentrating predominantly on institutional investment decision making, additional effort should be directed towards studying inexperienced homebuyers who want to buy a property in which to live. In this context, authors have described the decision environment as a complex decision process with restricted access to property data, high financial burdens partially due to the illiquid nature of the investment, the unfamiliarity with the decision task and low transparency in information aggregation. Consequently, this situation could benefit from a more structured approach that assists homebuyers in their actions. In order to guide the decision making process and provide a suitable support mechanism, it is necessary to first structure the problem and extract the required information. A thorough literature review shows that little guidance is available for MCDM problem structuring. Consequently, this research first proposes an MCDM problem-structuring framework to decompose complex problems into smaller parts. Foremost, the application is intended for high-involvement consumer products and services. This framework is derived from MCDM and methodology literature, where the former provides the elements that need to be defined in any MCDM problem situation, and the latter suggests suitable data collection and analysis methods to obtain the information. As a result, the first contribution to existing literature is the introduction of an MCDM problem-structuring framework, which consists of a carefully designed sequential exploratory mixed method procedure. Next, following the proposed structure, the real estate selection problem in Majorca (Spain) is defined. Whilst providing the inherent problem elements and establishing a comprehensive list of evaluation criteria to assess luxury properties, the fieldwork also offers behavioural insights, contributing and supplementing existing real estate research. In particular, major misunderstandings and false assumptions during real estate agent and client interactions are observed, stressing the need to optimise communication and targeting strategies. On the basis of the relevant real estate evaluation criteria, a dataset of alternative houses is created and subsequently rated by prospective luxury-homebuyers. This provides the basis for the third research focus, the construction of a decision support model for real estate selection. In accordance to the problem features and model requirements, the Evidential Reasoning (ER) rule is identified to offer a powerful and transparent evidence aggregation process, with the potential to have a superior performance than other methods in addressing the selection decision. Due to the ER rule’s short history (2013), application studies in general are practically non-existing and unprecedented in the real estate domain. Therefore, the use of a modified ER model can provide the real estate literature with a prescriptive multi-criteria decision support mechanism, whilst simultaneously offering an application study for the MCDM community and other relevant decision analysis domains. In closing, modelling a real problem using the ER rule highlights the method’s advantages and might in turn increase awareness, leading to more applications.

<p dir="ltr">Conservation conflicts, commonly defined as “situations that occur when two or more parties with strongly held opinions clash over conservation objectives, and when one party is perceived to assert its interests at the expense of another” (Redpath et al., 2013) are expected within the realm of public land management. Conservation conflicts have been an increasing issue worldwide as the consumption of natural resources can directly oppose conservation efforts. Quantitative and qualitative approaches have been adopted in similar studies to mitigate or resolve conservation conflicts. This thesis focuses on a 2017 conflict over logging in Yellowwood State Forest in Indiana. The Social Multi-Criteria Evaluation (SMCE) framework was applied in this thesis to examine economic, ecological, and recreational criteria from multiple stakeholders' perspectives and understand how a retrospective assessment can contribute to improved conflict resolution. The study follows four steps: conducting an institutional analysis, defining criteria and potential alternative scenarios, generating an impact matrix through surveys and interviews, and aggregating results for cross-scenario comparison. The design of these steps attempts to engage stakeholders in the decision-making process and increase transparency. The ranking results reveal a clear preference for the “Shelterwood Cuts” alternative, indicating that different actions may have been a better solution. Although the methodology alone cannot make decisions, it can aid the decision-maker in creating a solution to a conservation conflict by providing guidance and bringing attention to the aspects of a conflict that require change.</p>

Sweden has a great potential for offshore wind energy production. As technology develops and policies change, construction of offshore wind farms in the country is likely to increase. The presented methodology is to apply MCDM and AHP methods in a GIS to produce an evaluation map of potential sites for offshore wind energy production.  The aim of this thesis was to determine what data is relevant and needed to translate Swedish and international standards and regulations regarding offshore wind farm siting into one or more layers of GIS data within the exclusive economic zone of Sweden. Furthermore the locations of the existing Areas of National Interests for offshore wind energy production have been evaluated using the evaluation map. The evaluation map has been obtained using several exclusionary criteria and buffer distances as well as four evaluation criteria. In addition, the results of this study have been used to calculate a potential net annual energy production for offshore wind energy in Sweden. The analysis considers some of the social, technical and environmental constraints present in offshore wind farm siting. The exclusion, buffer and evaluation criteria were determined in the initial literature review of previous studies on the topic. Datasets were collected from several different open online resources and Swedish government agencies, the analysis was performed using the QGIS software. To assess the results, the resulting evaluation map has been classified into four different categories: poor, average, good and excellent. The analysis shows that it is possible to translate Swedish and international standards into one layer of GIS data. Furthermore the results of this study show that 52% of the defined Areas of National Interest for offshore wind energy production should not be considered for wind farm siting according to the exclusion constraints, additionally only 19% of the Areas of National Interest for offshore wind energy production are classified as good or excellent. In contrast, 20.3% of the entire study area is deemed to be suitable for offshore wind farm siting, out of which 62.7% is classified as good or excellent. The potential net annual energy production has been estimated to be 56.1 TWh annually within the Areas of National Interest for offshore wind energy production and 915.3 TWh annually within the entire study area. / Sverige har en stor potential för produktion av havsbaserad vindkraft. När teknologin utvecklas och de politiska förutsättningar förändras, kommer konstruktionen av havsbaserad vindkraft i landet troligtvis öka. Den presenterade metodologin går ut på att använda MCDM och AHP metoder i ett GIS för att producera en utvärderingskarta för potentiella platser att producera havsbaserad vindenergi.  Målet med den här studien har varit att ta reda på vilken data som krävs och är relevant för att överföra svensk samt internationell standard och regler kring placeringen av havsbaserad vindkraft till ett eller flera lager av GIS data inom Sveriges exklusiva ekonomiska zon. Vidare har de existerande riksintressena för havsbaserad vindkraft utvärderats med hjälp av utvärderingskartan. Denna karta har blivit framtagen med hjälp av flertalet buffertzoner samt exkluderings- och fyra stycken utvärderingskriterier. Slutligen har studiens resultat används för att beräkna en potentiell årlig energiproduktion för offshore vindkraft i Sverige. Studien beaktar några av de sociala, tekniska och miljömässiga begränsningar som finns för havsbaserad vindenergi. Buffertzonerna samt exkluderings- och utvärderingskriterierna har bestämts med hjälp av en inledande litteraturstudie av tidigare forskning på ämnet. Den datan som använts i analysen har inhämtats från flera olika öppna onlineresurser samt från svenska myndigheter. Den efterföljande analysen har genomförts med hjälp av programmet QGIS. För att möjliggöra en kvantifiering av resultaten har utvärderings kartan omklassificerats till fyra olika kategorier: “poor”, “average”, “good” samt “excellent”. Studien visar att det är möjligt att överföra svensk samt internationell standard och regler till ett lager av GIS data. Resultatet visar att att enbart 48% av arean inom de definierade riksintressena för havsbaserad vindkraft bör beaktas vid allokering av havsbaserad vindenergi, enligt de begränsningar som definierats i denna studie. Vidare påvisar resultatet att enbart 19% av arean inom de utpekade riksintressena för vindkraft kan klassificeras som “good” eller “excellent”. Samtidigt påvisar studien att 20.3% av studieområdet bedöms som lämpligt för allokering av havsbaserad vindkraft, av dessa lämpliga områden klassificeras 62.7% som “good” och “excellent”. Den potentiella årliga energiproduktionen uppskattas till 56.1 TWh inom riksintressena för havsbaserad vindkraft samt till 915.3 TWh inom hela studieområdet.