Analysis Of A Complete Project
When the team analyzes credits or solutions, there are many synergies that should be reviewed. Many credits and solutions on LEED projects are directly related to other elements within the project. These opportunities provide the team to really accelerate the benefit curves for projects and reduce the life-cycle paybacks of many items.

Figure 8.8
---SKYLIGHTS & FLOORPLATE
Cumulative cash flow EQ Credit 8.1: daylight and views—
Figure 8.8
---SKYLIGHTS & FLOORPLATE
Cumulative cash flow EQ Credit 8.1: daylight and views—
LEED CREDIT |
LEED CREDIT | ||
SOLUTION #1 |
SOLUTION #2 NORTH | ||
INTERIOR AND |
FACING SKYLIGHTS | ||
NON-LEED |
EXTERIOR LIGHT |
AND FLOOR PLATE | |
BUILDING |
SHELVES |
RECONFIGURATION | |
Soft Cost |
None |
Additional daylight |
Additional daylight |
Impacts |
modeling $10,000 |
modeling $20,000 | |
Hard Cost |
None |
1. Exterior daylighting |
1. North facing skylights and |
Impacts |
shelves $80,000 |
light wells $120,000 | |
2. Interior daylighting |
2. Floorplate reconfiguration | ||
shelves $60,000 |
with additional exterior | ||
3. Reduced |
skin $120,000 | ||
lighting density |
3. Reduced lighting | ||
savings $40,000 |
density savings $60,000 | ||
Life-Cycle |
None |
1. Energy cost reduction |
1. Energy cost reduction |
Benefits |
$15,000/year |
$15,000/year | |
2. Productivity/retention/ |
2. Productivity/ | ||
absenteeism |
retention/absenteeism | ||
enhancement |
enhancement | ||
$100,000/year |
$100,000/year |
TABLE 8.10 EVA BENEFITS | |||
CATEGORY/CREDIT |
PLANET |
PROFIT |
PEOPLE |
SUSTAINABLE SITES | |||
Stormwater Design |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Heat Island Effect |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
WATER EFFICIENCY | |||
Water Efficiency Landscaping |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Water Use Reduction |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
ENERGY & ATMOSPHERE | |||
Optimize Energy Performance |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
On-Site Renewable Technologies |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY | |||
Construction IAQ Management |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Daylight & Views—Daylight |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
When the team finds credits that align with the owner's Triple Bottom Line Goals, then they can evaluate the level of certification to which the project will aspire. The life-cycle benefits of building green depend a great deal on the inflation of the operational cost factors. Operational costs such as energy, water, and maintenance are trending higher each year. Some operational costs are increasing fast, some as high as 10 percent or more per year. When analyzing the life-cycle benefits of building green, these factors should be taken into account.
We will now evaluate a complete example LEED project. We have evaluated all four levels of certification to produce this data. Soft and hard costs have been calculated just as in the previous examples. Also, life-cycle benefits were calculated for all four levels of certification, for an analysis period of 10 years. The impact of inflation (above nominal rates of 3 percent) on the benefits was also evaluated and is shown for a 0 percent (Fig. 8.9) and 5 percent rate (Fig. 8.10). These examples highlight the importance of factoring in the inflation rates for operational costs when evaluating green building options, since many green building measures involve adding costs upfront to receive a stream of benefits later (such as savings in energy and water costs).
In Table 8.11, you can see the net benefits increase at each higher level of certification. Ironically, the Silver and Gold certification levels yield a faster payoff than just plain Certified, breaking even in the second year. Even the Platinum certified building in this analysis breaks even in the third year, without assuming any inflation of energy or water costs, for example.
- Figure 8.9 LEED sample project cumulative cash flow (0% benefit inflation).

Figure 8.10 LEED sample project cumulative cash flow (5% benefit inflation).
Paul Shahriari, GreenMind Inc.
Figure 8.10 LEED sample project cumulative cash flow (5% benefit inflation).
Paul Shahriari, GreenMind Inc.
LENGTH OF ANALYSIS |
CERTIFIED |
SILVER |
GOLD |
PLATINUM |
Year 0 |
$70,500.00 |
$100,500.00 |
$145,500.00 |
$215,500.00 |
Year 1 |
$36,250.00 |
$40,250.00 |
$72,250.00 |
$132.250.00 |
Year 2 |
$2,000.00 |
$20,000.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$49,000.00 |
Year 3 |
$32,250.00 |
$80,250.00 |
$74,250.00 |
$34,250.00 |
Year 4 |
$66,500.00 |
$140,500.00 |
$147,500.00 |
$117,500.00 |
Year 5 |
$100,750.00 |
$200,750.00 |
$220,750.00 |
$200,750.00 |
Year 6 |
$135,000.00 |
$261,000.00 |
$294,000.00 |
$284,000.00 |
Year 7 |
$169,250.00 |
$321,250.00 |
$367,250.00 |
$367,250.00 |
Year 8 |
$203,500.00 |
$381,500.00 |
$440,500.00 |
$450,500.00 |
Year 9 |
$237,750.00 |
$441,750.00 |
$513,750.00 |
$533,750.00 |
Year 10 |
$272,000.00 |
$502,000.00 |
$587,000.00 |
$617,000.00 |
TABLE 8.12 CUMULATIVE CASH FLOW TABLE — 5% INFLATION ON BENEFITS (ENERGY COSTS, WATER COSTS, OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE, AND SO ON)
LENGTH
TABLE 8.12 CUMULATIVE CASH FLOW TABLE — 5% INFLATION ON BENEFITS (ENERGY COSTS, WATER COSTS, OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE, AND SO ON)
LENGTH
OF ANALYSIS |
CERTIFIED |
SILVER |
GOLD |
PLATINUM |
0 |
$70,500.00 |
$100,500.00 |
$145,500.00 |
$215,500.00 |
1 |
$36,250.00 |
$40,250.00 |
$72,250.00 |
$132,250.00 |
2 |
$287.50 |
$23,012.50 |
$4,662.50 |
$44,837.50 |
3 |
$37,473.13 |
$89,438.13 |
$85,420.83 |
$46,945.63 |
4 |
$77,121.78 |
$159,185.03 |
$170,216.66 |
$143,317.91 |
5 |
$118,752.87 |
$232,419.28 |
$259,252.49 |
$244,508.80 |
6 |
$162,465.51 |
$309,315.25 |
$352,740.11 |
$350,759.24 |
7 |
$208,363.79 |
$390,056.01 |
$450,902.12 |
$462,422.20 |
8 |
$256,556.98 |
$474,833.81 |
$553,972.23 |
$79,463.31 |
9 |
$307,159.83 |
$563,850.50 |
$662,195.84 |
$702,461.48 |
10 |
$360,292.82 |
$658,318.03 |
$775,830.63 |
$831,609.55 |
When we assume an increase of 5 percent annually on the benefits side, the breakeven years stay the same, but the Gold project, for example, has 30 percent greater benefits over the 10-year planning horizon (Table 8.12). For an institution or large corporation that has a long-term owner-operator perspective, assessing costs and benefits over a 10-year planning horizon is not unusual. When the benefits are known or can be estimated easily, then the issue is not "should we do this," but "how are we going to pay for it?" In other words, the decisions are financial and not economic in nature, because the economic value is quite clear.

Renewable Energy 101
Renewable energy is energy that is generated from sunlight, rain, tides, geothermal heat and wind. These sources are naturally and constantly replenished, which is why they are deemed as renewable. The usage of renewable energy sources is very important when considering the sustainability of the existing energy usage of the world. While there is currently an abundance of non-renewable energy sources, such as nuclear fuels, these energy sources are depleting. In addition to being a non-renewable supply, the non-renewable energy sources release emissions into the air, which has an adverse effect on the environment.
Post a comment