Analysis of the Life Cycle Cost of the Power Plants Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process Method

China has experienced fascinating economic growth trajectory with huge energy consumption resulting therefrom over the past two decades. Meanwhile, the environmental problem and sustainable development view has been increasingly attracting emphasis by the Chinese policy makers. The aim of this thesis is to find sustainable policy equilibrium to satisfy the economic, environmental, and social demand. In this paper, the authors properly develop the external environmental cost into the whole life cycle cost (LCC) for the electric power generation, and make preliminary analysis and research of the LCC of four power generation pattern through analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. The results suggest that the environmental cost plays an important role in the economy analysis of the electric power generation, which may affect significantly the energy policy in the future.