An integrated approach for the selection of Best Available Techniques (BAT) for the industries in the greater Athens area using multi-objective combinatorial optimization G. Mavrotas a, ⁎ , E. Georgopoulou b , S. Mirasgedis b , Y. Sarafidis b , D. Lalas b,c , V. Hontou b , N. Gakis b a Laboratory of Industrial and Energy Economics, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zographou Campus, Athens 15780, Greece b Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, Lofos Nymfon, Thisio, Athens 11810, Greece c FACE 3 TS Ltd “Further Action on Environment Energy Economy Technology and Sustainability” Agiou Isidorou 1, 11471, Athens, Greece Received 26 July 2006; received in revised form 16 November 2006; accepted 3 January 2007 Available online 7 February 2007 Abstract Recognizing that the industrial sector is one of the major sources of environmental impacts, there is a strong effort towards “cleaner” production. In this context, the European Union strongly encourages the adaptation of Best Available Techniques (BATs) which practically constitute recommended techniques for each one of the steps in the manufacturing process (Directive 96/61 EC). In the current case study, we examine the industrial sector of the greater Athens area under the prism of BATs introduction. The aim of the analysis is to find the mixture of BATs for the entire industrial sector that satisfies as much as possible the economic criteria (expressed by the Net Present Value of the projects) and the environmental criteria (quantified by the emission reduction in major pollutants). The obtained multi-objective optimization problem is addressed using two methods: (1) goal programming and (2) generation of the Pareto optimal solutions using the ε-constraint method, followed by an interactive filtering procedure in order to select the most preferred Pareto optimal solution (BAT mixture). The computational tool for implementing these methods is also described and the results from the application in the industrial sector of the greater Athens area are presented. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Best Available Technique; Multi-objective optimization; Industry; Energy Energy Economics 29 (2007) 953 – 973 www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco ⁎ Corresponding author. Fax: +30 210 7723155. E-mail address: mavrotas@chemeng.ntua.gr (G. Mavrotas). 0140-9883/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2007.01.002