Review of Life-Cycle Approaches Coupled with Data Envelopment Analysis: Launching the CFP + DEA Method for Energy Policy Making

Table 2

Strengths and weaknesses of implementing the CFP + DEA method.

Aspect	Rating	Justification
Strengths
Consistency	+	Independency of operational inputs
Quantification	++	This method allows the quantification of the minimisation of operational inputs to attain target efficiency levels
Benchmarking	++	Useful mechanism to determine target environmental improvements for industries and governments
Revision of reference values	+	Environmental benchmarking to recalculate pollutant reference values
Communication	++	Advantages of communicating to stakeholders and general public as compared to LCA + DEA methods due to broader appeal of CFP
Interpretation	+	Reduced complexity as compared to the LCA + DEA methods for knowledge transfer and decision making
Weaknesses
Factors influencing inefficiency	−−	Lack of identification of the underlying factors of inefficiency
Economic costs	−−	The method does not provide a direct quantification of the costs derived from optimisation procedures
Dependency on sample size	−	The number of DMUs condition the amount of operational items (inputs and outputs) that can be included in the DEA matrix

“++” = major strength; “+” = minor strength; “−” = minor constraint; “−−” = major constraint.