Energy planning with decision-making tools : Experiences from an energy-planning project

This article presents the evaluation of a pilot project where four decision-making tools are applied in a municipal energy planning process in a Swedish municipality. The tested tools are a citizens’ panel, a combination of external scenarios and backcasting, and life cycle assessment and qualitative checklists for environmental assessment. The presented results are based on two focus group discussions with the participants from the project: one with the municipal workgroup and one with the researchers that were responsible for the application of the decision-making tools. The results show that energy planning is a process of learning and dialogue, and workshop methodology was found to be favourable for open dialogue. This test also shows that public involvement can contribute substantially to the visionary work and suggestions of actions and strategies. Another conclusion is that energy planning needs to be iterative, even in the scoping. This test also shows that there is a need for simplified tools that include environmental assessment and broad system boundaries in local energy planning.In the list of papers is the title of the article: Energy Planning with Novel Planning Tools - Experiences from an Energy Planning Project This is an electronic version of an article published in: Jenny Stenlund Nilsson Ivner, Energy planning with decision-making tools: Experiences from an energy-planning project, 2009, Local Environment, (14), 9, 833-850. Local Environment is available online at informaworldTM: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549830903160613 Copyright: Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.asp