Developing an Environmentally Sound Selection Method for Heating Appliances Using Ecolabeling, an Analytic Hierarchy Process, and Cost-Benefit Analysis: a Heat Pump Case Study

This article presents an assessment of heating appliances prepared on the basis of the multi-criteria evaluation method known as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The authors propose a new way of designing the hierarchy of criteria utilizing the concept of sustainable development and the criteria originating from ecolabeling programs. An evaluation of real heat pumps is presented as a case study. The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the same heat pumps is also conducted using the AHP method to calculate the integrated benefit of each heat pump while the cost was calculated using the Net Present Value indicator. Both methods of analysis yielded very similar results.