Green buildings and renewable energy application based on life cycle performance costing

Abstract

There is a clear need for more sustainable, more productive solutions within the built environment. However, at the moment, the initial investment costs for applying new renewable energy sources and solutions to green buildings with better indoor air quality are higher than for traditional solutions. Because there is often a fixation on primary investment costs, it is important to use life cycle costing models to show clients which alternative is ultimately the best choice. Unfortunately, currently there are no good and simple tools available to use in the early stage of the design process. A life cycle performance costing decision support tool was developed to assess conceptual design decision making. The tool shows the value of more sustainable, healthier, and more productive solutions over the long term and so stimulates the application of these solutions. Because investment costs are important but profits are even more so for organizations, performance/productivity was added as a key element to the Life cycle value costing approach. An example of a design project is presented to demonstrate the added value of comparing alternative solutions based on the life cycle value costing outcomes of different building service designs for green buildings and the application of renewable energy.