Life Cycle Costing Research Papers (original) (raw)

It is well-known that the existing building stock is responsible for non-renewable resource depletion, energy and material consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Life cycle analysis (LCA) procedures have thus been developed, in recent years, to assess the environmental impact of construction and operational phases through the entire building life cycle. Furthermore, the economic, environmental, and social consequences of recent natural disasters have encouraged the additional integration of hazard-induced impacts into common LCA procedures for buildings. Buildings are however expected to provide the population with safe living and working conditions, even when hit by different types of hazards during their service life, such as earthquakes. Hence, next-generation LCA procedures should include not only hazard-induced impacts, but also the contribution of potential retrofitting strategies that may alter the structural and energy performances of buildings throughout their rem...

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- Business, Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment, Life Cycle Costing

Written from a professional practitioner‟s perspective, this paper examines the extent to which the approach and examples identified in the context of European Union (EU) procurement rules by projects such as “Innovation Through Sustainable Public Procurement ” (published as “Smart SPP”) might be applicable in other jurisdictions to support its aspiration to provide a globally applicable model of best practice for procuring the innovative technologies required for sustainable development and improved environmental performance. It considers the outcome and recommendations of Smart SPP as a means of engaging with small and medium-sized enterprise and with universities and technical institutions to stimulate research and to enable the commercialization of new technology. It identifies elements of India‟s Public Procurement Bill that would allow adoption of those best practice recommendations to ensure that the legislation, once in force, would have the capacity to move beyond its initi...

- by Malcolm Dowden
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- Procurement, Evaluation, Training, Life Cycle Costing
- by Mehmet GÜNLÜK, PhD and +1
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- Life Cycle Costing, Olive Oil, Cost Analysis

Initial investment of money for a project plays a vital role in the success of any infrastructure project, higher the investment higher the risks and hence decision making in pre-investment phase is critical. The investment decision on an infrastructure project is complex and it should consider not only the initial service of the project that makes the public good but also its service required throughout its life span to make the investment available to the public. Investment decision should also consider the analysis of various alternate designs or methods to select a method which is more beneficial and efficient to complete the project successfully. Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) model is often used to compare two or more alternatives to decide which alternate is economical and beneficial to be chosen. LCCA is a tool which provides a detailed account of total costs in a project including every short-term costs and long term costs the project is associated with such as procurement of materials, construction, management, installation, operation, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation and replacement, demolition and landscaping of the same. Either banks of a waterbody can be connected by two alternatives, by bridge or by immersed tube tunnel. The ability of a project to provide service over time can be predicted by its maintenance. LCCA has proven to create savings in projects by helping the decision makers to identify the most beneficial and cost effective project between alternates. In this paper LCCA is done for Pamban bridge which is an existing sea bridge at Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu with a proposal of construction of Immersed Tube Tunnel (ITT) as an alternate for the Pamban Sea Bridge.

- by Priyanth Gnanasekaran
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- Life Cycle Costing

This paper addresses the viability analysis of using a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system to supply part of the cooling requirements in an office building located in a city with temperate climate.The analysis includes the technical and economic feasibility, as well as the greenhouse gases emission reduction achieved by implementing this technology. The building used in this study has an annual electricity consumption of 2.7 GWh and a cooling space of 18000 m 2. The proposed system consists on the installation of a GSHP to complement the existent HVAC system. Total initial cost for this particular project implementation is around 1,193,000 MXN with an IRR on equity of 20%, a payback period of less than 8 years and a NPV of almost 4 million MXN. Moreover, annual savings were calculated to be over 2 million MXN with a Benefit-Cost ratio of 6.11. The cost of electricity has the greatest impact on the estimation of the NPV according to the risk analysis. Other benefits of implementing this system also include an annual greenhouse gas emission reduction of almost 61 tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to savings of more than 26,000 litres of gasoline that would not be consumed.

- by Luis Rojas-Solórzano and +1
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- Life Cycle Costing, Mexico, Ground source heat pumps, Retscreen

Today built heritage conservation should consider constantly changing needs of users. In particular, recent problems related to the economic crisis and to environmental pollution make issues related to consumption reduction and environmental impact particularly important.
Even if historical buildings have many sustainable features in terms of embodied energy and land consumption, they don’t perfectly meet current standards and impose many restraints from a constructive and typological/functional point of view.
In recent years a new approach to preservation has been derived from the theory of “care of monuments” by Ruskin: a preventive and constant maintenance, interpreted as less destructive and cheaper intervention and management of the continual becoming. Besides a lifecycle approach leads to reconsider management and to rethink the intervention putting in place a balance between positive and negative contributions in the long term.
The LCA mantra “from cradle to grave” is usually applied to new products taking into account all components, from the extraction/production of raw materials to the disposal of constructive elements. Since the main goal of historical buildings' conservation is to shift to infinity their dismissal time, this study aims to lay the foundations for an innovative approach for sustainability assessment of existing buildings that should consider the resources savings and doesn’t set a time limit for the building’s life.
The paper focuses on “minor” built heritage, the most exposed to abandonment and decay.

- by Emanuele Zamperini and +1
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- Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Historic Preservation, Sustainable Development

BS 8544 provides an overview of the use of life cycle costing of maintenance during occupation of buildings. It links with ISO 15686 and other UK guidance on maintenance. It provides standardised rules, guidance on data capture and... more

Awareness and significance of sustainable development (SD) has been growing around the world for the last few decades. Sustainable construction is now considered a way for the construction industry to contribute to this larger effort. It is clear why the construction industry must respond accordingly and focus its attention on developing more sustainable buildings - not least because of its huge size, the vast amount of resources it consumes and its major impact on the built and natural environments. This research work therefore aims to examine the concept of sustainability, investigate the costs related to producing sustainable buildings and the relationship that exists between these costs. A review of the literature showed that the concept of sustainability is broad but the economic, social and environmental aspects, which are inextricably linked, remain the three fundamental pillars of sustainability. Initial construction cost (IC), cost-in-use (CIU) and carbon cost (CC) were rev...

- by Valentina Rognoli
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- Engineering, Design, Life Cycle Costing, Environmental Sustainability
- by Douglas Gransberg
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- Life Cycle Costing

The Construction Durability Database by Building LifePlans defines over 3,000 durability rankings for building components commonly used in social housing in the UK. As well as service lives, failure mode effect and criticality analysis... more

- by Kathryn Bourke
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- Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing, Fmeca, Durability of Building Materials

Green roofs and walls are increasingly being incorporated in urban centers to enhance visual appeal and livability. However, holistic evaluations, that quantify environmental, social as well as financial implications of these measures, are limited, let alone those that use a long term perspective. At the same time, the discussion tends to revolve around the perceived benefits rather than the established or quantified.
This paper, using a holistic evaluation of a project that received Singapore Skyrise Greenery Platinum award in 2011, argues that the strength of the case for adopting or incentivising green strategies in high-rise buildings in the city state is negative from a resource and cost footprint perspective. Assessment methods to quantify social values of the greenery strategies in buildings, such as therapeutic and biophilic benefits, are currently non-existent as the established evaluation methods such as life cycle assessment focus on the production stages rather than the use phase.
While the results reported here stem mainly from the inherited building characteristics, incorporating these greenery strategies at the early design stages and the careful system design can reduce the burden.

This paper assesses the technical, economic and environmental impact for the implementation of a small-scale anaerobic digestion system in an animal farm located in the Republic of Kazakhstan. All data for manure availability and local energy consumption was obtained from the model farm " Buranbayev Company " which is located in Uralsk, Kazakhstan. A Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system based on a reciprocating engine and heat recovery system was considered as the technology to operate with the biogas generated through a mesophilic anaerobic biodigester exporting power to the grid, which is currently the source of power and heating in the farm. The techno-economic study includes Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) and Entrepreneurship Development Fund " DAMU " loan subsidy, which are current governmental incentives in Kazakhstan. The small size farm biodigester is fed with manure from around 600 heads of cattle and runs a 100 kW genset unit. Results of the analysis demonstrate that DAMU subsidy positively influences the financial outcome of the project leading to an IRR of 38.3% on the equity investment. The model developed here may be easily used in the future by other local farmers in order to assess the economic and technical advantages of own power generation and its sales to the grid.

- by Luis Rojas-Solórzano and +1
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- Life Cycle Costing, Clean energy technologies, Farm Waste Management, Biodigester

Activity-based costing provides a more accurate method of product/service costing, leading to more accurate pricing decisions. It increases understanding of overheads and cost drivers; and makes costly and non-value adding activities more visible, allowing managers to reduce or eliminate them. ABC enables effective challenge of operating costs to find better ways of allocating and eliminating overheads. It also enables improved product and customer profitability analysis. It supports performance management techniques such as continuous improvement and scorecards. It is because; the company should implement ABC rather than traditional costing system.

- by Tahsin Nazim
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- Asset Pricing, Research Methodology, Manufacturing, ABC

Current Hyperconsumerism Society have been causing drastic environmental reper-cussions, most of which designers are responsible for and they should attempt to solve adopting such promising approaches as “designing new production–consumption sys-tems”. In the research here presented, alternative sustainable relationship between in-dividuals and objects has been studied to prolong artefacts lifespan through the redis-covery of the affective tie for environmental gains. The study aims to give new value to what is addressed as “imperfect”, as potential traces of the vitality of objects, reinforc-ing an emotional linking. To the purpose a wide survey has been carried out investigat-ing cultural traditions first, and then an original analytical exercise has been carried out to identify potential “imperfect” features for sustainable design approach. On the basis of almost 100 significant (semi-)industrial objects, 4 main design approaches have been identified: Standard Unique, Time and use signs, Breakage followed by fixing, Breakage followed by a new function.

- by Giuseppe Salvia and +1
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- Design, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Life Cycle Costing, Environmental Sustainability

Esta investigación se centra en determinar las particularidades del Análisis del Ciclo de Vida (ACV de sus siglas en español ó LCA de sus siglas en inglés) al caso concreto del sector vitivinícola de La Rioja, así como en aportar una metodología para su aplicación y unos resultados que permitan hacer un análisis del impacto real de dicho sector. El planteamiento es analizar bajo la metodología del ACV el proceso de producción de vino desde el cultivo de la vid hasta que la botella llega a la mesa del consumidor y la gestión de estos residuos. La responsabilidad ambiental del productor debe abarcar todo el ciclo de vida del producto, puesto que de lo contrario se corre el riesgo de traspasar impactos de un proceso al siguiente.
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- by Jorge Luis Garcia
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- Life Cycle Costing, Wine, Life Cycle Management
- by Nalanie Mithraratne and +1
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- Life Cycle Costing, Eco-Roof, Straw Bale, Cordwood
- by Kathryn Bourke
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- Life Cycle Costing, Maintenance, Buildings

During the last decade, sustainable construction has emerged within the UK as a subject of policy, research and innovation. In practice, however, the demand for sustainable construction is still low. Further, the promotion of sustainable construction faces several challenges, for example, from an economic point of view: there is a poor understanding of economic benefits to be derived, while the high capital costs and low market value, comparing with conventional building, creates a dilemma for stakeholders. Many UK developers are concerned that the implementation of a green agenda will result in increased risks, higher capital costs and even difficulties in obtaining financial support. Life cycle costing is an effective methodology, which illustrates the long-term value of sustainability, but is limited with regard to short- term financial return. The lack of accurate information relating to the cost and value of sustainable construction means that clients are unable to make informed decisions concerning sustainability.
This paper reviews the literature on sustainable construction and is divided into four sections: principles of sustainable construction, benefits of sustainable construction, challenges of sustainable construction and the limitations of life cycle costing. The results of this research show that the business benefits have been made and can be illustrated by many pioneer projects in the UK. However, the misperception of higher capital cost and the lack of awareness of market value are still significant barriers to the implement and demand for sustainable construction. It is critical, therefore, to establish the economic performance of sustainable construction in order to motivate stakeholders to consider methods of sustainable construction.

- by David J Lowe
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- Decision Making, Life Cycle Costing, Sustainable Construction, Business Benefits

The recognition of the humans, vehicles or any other objects in the outdoor environment, such as roads, streets, pedestrian ways, car parking and public parks, is only possible with illumination after dark. The outdoor lighting consumes significant amounts of electricity. The best short-term payout period for reduction in energy consumption is implementation of energy efficiency solutions. A shift from traditional illumination technology to the advanced lighting solutions has the ability for significant energy savings. The main focus of this study is to find out the most suitable, environmentally friendly and " green " solution(s) to fulfill the outdoor lighting requirements. It includes ecological impact assessment of commonly available lighting technologies for outdoor illumination, such as high pressure sodium, compact fluorescent and light emitting diode, by using Sustainable Process Index methodology. The effects of different alternative energy resources and the impacts of geographical locations due to variations in energy provision system (i.e. energy mix) are also considered in this study. The obtained results show that Sustainable Process Index ranges from 258 km 2 to 7760 km 2 and carbon footprint from 930 t CO 2 eq. to 48,496 t CO 2 eq. to fulfill lighting requirement for 100,000 h of lighting. These results are compared with Sustainable Process Index and Carbon Footprint caused by high pressure sodium and light emitting diode luminaires providing electricity from Saudi Arabian electricity network.

In today’s globalized world, with always increasing competition between firms, it is ever more essential to use resources in an optimal way. Still today, when deciding about the acquisitions of a new asset, it is widespread to concentrate only or mostly on the initial procurements cost, be it a singles product or a system. The principle of life cycle costing (LCC) offers a more comprehensive and transparent view of the overall costs related to the purchase and operation of assets, as it considers all expenses incurred through the entire life cycle, from the initial investment, though ownership and operation to eventual disposal.

- by M. Azmat
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- Life Cycle Costing, LCC

During the past three decades, cost estimation systems have experienced some major technological innovations and paradigm shifts both in industry and academic research. There are numerous papers available reporting on research findings and the techniques used in cost estimation. This paper presents a review of current academic work and an evaluation of the available commercial cost estimation systems. However, there are few publications available covering current research and commercial applications, in particular in the area of cost estimation in product development. The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with an understanding of cost estimation techniques from the perspective of the past and present, their applications and commercial practice to support the product development processes.

- by Wai M Cheung
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- Life Cycle Costing

Wind energy has the potential to be a strong contributor to a more sustainable future.
Globally it is a major player in the market and is expected to become more in
uential in
the future. In South Africa the potential exists and major development is under way. A
modern wind turbine has a horizontal axis orientation, three rotor blades, active pitch
and face into the wind using yaw control. It has a steel monopole tower between 60m and
80m high with a reinforced concrete foundation. However, this design presents various
problems for structural integrity, manufacturing and viability at heights above 80m.
These constraints has led to a movement towards steel-concrete hybrid and full concrete
towers. Such designs present an alternative and possibly more optimal solution for tower
heights over 100 m.
This hypothesis was tested for South African conditions. Steel and prestressed concrete
tower designs were acquired for a 3MW reference wind turbine with 100m hub height.
Towers were loaded according to local conditions and the structural soundness thereof
was tested and proved. Structural parameters were optimized and material mass and
volume were determined for each. A cost estimation and sensitivity analysis was performed
for the following life-cycle phases: manufacture, construction and installation;
transport; and disposal and recycling.
Margins of cost between the tower designs were low enough for all three to be considered
competitive alternatives at 100m in height. The cast-in-place prestressed concrete
design was estimated to be the most a ordable solution. However, its high sensitivity to
variation in erection cost causes uncertainty and a higher nancial risk. Furthermore,
the steel tower was the most viable for low steel prices and high erection costs. For a
larger foundation size it still remained a competitive alternative to the concrete towers.
Overall the prestressed precast design was the most expensive. However, for high erection
costs it was more a ordable than the cast-in-place tower. For disposal and recycling
the steel solution was a much more favourable nancial alternative to the concrete design.
However, salvage income does not contribute a signi cant gain compared to overall
cost.

In little more than a century, electricity has become indispensable as our major energy carrier, both in industry and in everyday life. With the energy transition towards a low carbon economy, electricity’s role will continue to grow. At... more

- by Hans De Keulenaer and +2
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- Electrical Engineering, Recycling, Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing

The literature usually depicts circular economy as a path to embrace
sustainability into economic systems. Shifting from a linear to a circular
economy leads to environmental and social benefits. However, despite a
growing attention from academia, policymakers and businesses, circular
economy implementation projects are still scarce. One of the reasons is that circular economy scenarios may be challenging from an economic perspective. In order to spur a transition towards circular economy, new methods to support the assessment of economic, environmental and social impacts of circular economy scenarios are needed. This paper presents a systemic framework to support a simplified evaluation of circular economy scenarios. The framework, developed specifically for durable goods, is applied to the washing machine industry, thanks to a case study. The application results show how the framework adoption may contribute to reduce the uncertainties that are often an obstacle to the transition towards circular economy

Setelah menyelesaikan bab ini, Anda akan dapat: 1. Jelaskan pendekatan biaya total siklus hidup untuk pengelolaan biaya produk 2. Jelaskan target biaya. 3. Hitunglah biaya target. 4. Hitung waktu impas untuk proyek pengembangan produk baru. 5. Pilih ukuran non finansial untuk proses pengembangan produk. 6. Identifikasi masalah biaya lingkungan. Chemco Internasional Marais Young baru saja ditunjuk sebagai pengendali bahan kimia khusus perusahaan setelah melayani beberapa tahun sebagai manajer senior manufaktur divisi. Meski penampilannya sangat bagus di divisi itu, dia terus berjuang dengan lingkup sempit manajemen perusahaan sistem akuntansi. Sistem ini hanya berfokus pada penetapan biaya pembuatan proses ke produk dan tidak memberikan wawasan tentang premanufaktur dan biaya pasca manufaktur, seperti biaya pengembangan produk dan membuang limbah beracun dari proses produksi dan bahan kimia bekas yang telah dikembalikan oleh pelanggan. Persaingan dalam bahan kimia industri telah meningkat secara dramatis, dan Marais tahu bahwa ia perlu mengerti total biaya selama seluruh siklus hidup produk perusahaan. Dia telah mendengar bahwa beberapa perusahaan di industri ini telah mengadopsi sebuah Pendekatan yang diimpor dari Jepang disebut target costing, yang membantu para insinyur menurunkan biaya produk selama tahap desain dan pengembangan. Di Selain itu, beragam produk yang dihasilkan oleh perusahaan berbeda bahaya dan toksisitas yang terkait dengannya. Dengan biaya lingkungan Kepatuhan meningkat dengan cepat, Marais ingin melacak keamanan, take-back, daur ulang, dan biaya pembuangan ke produk individual dengan cara yang sama seperti itu Biaya berbasis aktivitas sekarang memungkinkan penelusuran biaya produksi ke produk individual, dan biaya MSDA ke pelanggan individual. Dia percaya sistem penetapan biaya yang lebih baik akan membantu manajer perusahaan dan insinyur produk dan proses membuat keputusan yang lebih baik tentang bagaimana merancang, memproduksi, mendaur ulang, dan membuang produk selama seluruh siklus hidup mereka. MANAGING PRODUCTS OVER THEIR LIFE CYCLE Dalam beberapa bab terakhir, kami berfokus pada pengukuran dan peningkatan produk, pelanggan, dan kinerja proses. Perusahaan, bagaimanapun, seharusnya tidak hanya meningkatkan profitabilitas dari produk yang ada tapi juga menciptakan produk dan layanan baru. Sukses Inovasi mendorong akuisisi dan pertumbuhan pelanggan, peningkatan margin, dan pelanggan loyalitas. Tanpa inovasi, keunggulan perusahaan di pasar pada akhirnya ditiru, memaksanya untuk bersaing hanya dengan harga untuk produk dan layanan komoditas.

- by Azizah Hasna
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- Management, Accounting, Life Cycle Costing, Life Cycle Management

Life cycle costing is basically an estimation of the future costs of assets. In the construction sector, it is used to measure the quantity of whole buildings, systems, or building components and materials costs and observing the happened all the way through the life cycle. In 1973, after the energy crisis with increased awareness of energy, there was a strong interest in the life cycle costing method. However, there exist no systematic analyses on LCC applications in the construction sector. The purpose of this article is to gather most recent developments about LCC and also to discuss LCC uses and potential benefits in the construction sector.

The generic total economic cost of an industrial steam boiler over the service life of the boiler in relation to initial cost and discounted future expenditures was investigated. The present value method of life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) was used to analyse the yearly and compounded cycle cost; annually and compounded future fuel cost of an industrial steam boiler from the initial investment cost, generating cost per annum and disposal cost. For a steam boiler utilizing 754 kg/hr of low pour fuel oil (LPFO) in an estimated operating period of 4,186 hr/yr, the generating and operating costs per annum were obtained as 13,019,355.00 /yr (85,344.84 yr S / /) and 15,623.226.00 /yr (102,413.81 yr S / /) respectively. Inflation rate of fuel cost was responsible for the break-even period in the life cycle cost of steam boiler operation. The LCCA methodology presented in this study is a veritable tool for economic and managerial planning and implementation for sustainable use of industrial boilers.

- by Idehai Ohijeagbon
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- Life Cycle Costing

This article aims to present the general aspects about
the award criteria used in tenders in the EU, highlighting the most
economically advantageous tender and the best price/quality ratio
calculated using the life-cycle costing method. The issue is important
for purposes of compared law, showing that there is a significant
difference in the award criteria prevailing in the European Union and
Brazil. While the UE emphasizes the criteria leading to the selection
of proposals with better quality, here it favors the criterion of the
lowest price. However, the enactment of Law nº 12.462/2011, which
instituted the Differentiated Regime of Public Procurement - RDC
brought significant innovations to the national legislation regarding
the judgment criteria representing a step towards the principles and
methods used for public procurement in the EU European.

The human knowledge of a specific domain is dissipated either in books and journals or exists in the minds of few human experts. Expert system technology, which is of late becoming an important tool, uses the power of the human brain to store knowledge electronically so that information regarding decision-making can easily be accessed at anywhere and at any time. More often than not most decisions in the industry are based on just subjective decisions. But since each project is different from the other, there is the need to integrate heuristic approach in other to arrive at better decisions. Therefore the system, ESCONPROCS (Expert system for construction procurement selection) which is an expert system tool was developed based on extensive literature review of the available procurement systems as well as clients' priorities and other external factors that influence the selection of an appropriate procurement system. An expert survey was conducted and their responses were used to provide a recommendation for the rules. The system, ESCONPROCS is developed to assist decision-maker (client) reaches a more informed decision on procurement system selection and contracting.

Purpose. There has been a growing consciousness of the significance of considering the costs of buildings and of developing financial methods to evaluate the life cycle costs (LCC) of buildings in use. Before any decision to invest capital in a building project or existing infrastructure is taken, it is essential that all corporate occupants and stakeholders in the policymaking practice are fully aware of the risks that are inherent as any LCC estimate will always involve a degree of risk exposure. Design/methodology/approach. Questionnaire survey to 120 construction professionals was used to gauge the current level of awareness, usage and advocated benefits of risk assessment methods in LCC. The questionnaire comprised three main sections each exploring different parts of the research question. Findings. The key findings of the statistical analysis indicated that there is a low awareness and usage of risk assessment methods and four factors were the most advocated benefits of its application to corporate occupiers and decision makers. This study fills the gap in the existing knowledge by addressing concerns over risk assessment to improve the confidence in LCC. Research limitations/implications. Although the data used in this paper was from professionally qualified members of either the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the British Institute for Facilities Management (BIFM), the research is limited in some ways in that it does not cover all the professionals in the construction industry. Nevertheless, all the professionals who responded to the questionnaire have up-to-date level of awareness of risk assessment methods in life cycle costing. Practical implications. As a result of growing awareness of whole life costing among corporate occupants and facilities managers in contemporary building projects, precise assessment of cost is a challenging undertaking as it consists of some measure of risk with regards to the running and maintenance costs during the entire life of the buildings. Thus, the existence of considerable improbability and doubt regarding cost and time evidence of an LCC study would have mind blowing implications on final results and consequently have minute bearing on subsequent decisions made by corporate occupiers. Social implications. Value for money for construction products and its facilities should not be viewed only in terms of costs to design and construction. Rather, it is vital for corporate occupants and society in general to consider other key variables such as operations, maintenance, renovation, replacement, and end of life costs. Originality/value. This paper contributes with new outlooks aimed at assessing the current level of awareness, usage and advocated benefits of risk assessment methods in LCC and adds to the limited empirical studies on risk assessment to corporate occupants and decision makers. Keywords: corporate occupants / life cycle costing / real estate and risk assessment

- by Olufolahan Oduyemi PhD, MBA, PMP, MRICS and +1
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- Real Estate, Life Cycle Costing, Risk assessment, SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS
- by sabina khan
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- Finance, Accounting, Life Cycle Costing

Featured Application: The application of LCA to NMAM has the potential to guide decision-makers on the selection of pavement modification additives to realize the benefits of using nanomaterials in pavements while avoiding potential environmental risks.
Abstract: To combat the rutting effect and other distresses in asphalt concrete pavement, certain modifiers and additives have been developed to modify the asphalt mixture to improve its performance. Although few additives exist, nanomaterials have recently attracted significant attention from the pavement industry. Several experimental studies have shown that the use of nanomaterials to modify asphalt binder results in an improved oxidative aging property, increased resistance to the rutting effect, and improves the rheological properties of the asphalt mixture. However, despite the numerous benefits of using nanomaterials in asphalt binders and materials, there are various uncertainties regarding the environmental impacts of nano-modified asphalt mixtures (NMAM). Therefore, this study assessed a Nano-Silica-Modified Asphalt Mixtures in terms of materials production emissions through the Life Cycle Assessment methodology (LCA), and the results were compared to a conventional asphalt mixture to understand the impact contribution of nano-silica in asphalt mixtures. To be able to compare the relative significance of each impact category, the normalized score for each impact category was calculated using the impact scores and the normalization factors. The results showed that NMAM had a global warming potential of 7.44563 × 10 3 kg CO 2-Eq per functional unit (FU) compared to 7.41900 × 10 3 kg CO 2-Eq per functional unit of the conventional asphalt mixture. The application of LCA to NMAM has the potential to guide decision-makers on the selection of pavement modification additives to realize the benefits of using nanomaterials in pavements while avoiding potential environmental risks.

– This research paper dealt with Pavement Condition Index (PCI), deterioration of roads, effect of Cellulose Oil Palm Fiber (COPF) modified bitumen binder and complex shear modulus (G*). The PCI is an indicator of the condition of roads, and the value of PCI ranges from 0 to 100. Based on this value, road managers/authorities are able to decide one of the rehabilitation strategies for maintenance of the roads in managing pavements aiming with the lowest life cycle cost (LCC). Rutting deformation and fatigue cracking are the two most common distresses of roads and highways. Bitumen binder used in road construction due to its viscoelastic properties and this property of neat bitumen is inadequate to tackle the rutting deformation and fatigue cracking for the heavier axle loads. COPF is one of the bitumen modifiers used in highway industry to eradicate the deterioration of roads. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of various COPF content on the rheological properties of 80-100 penetration grade bitumen. The COPF was blended in ratio of 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0% by weight of bitumen binder. The 0.4 to 0.6% COPF content showed better complex shear modulus (G*) values in all aging conditions and test temperatures considered. The maximum temperature, beyond which rutting deformation will occur, is 640C for modified 80-100 un-aged and short term aging binder. This study concludes to modify bitumen binder with COPF up-to the required viscoelastic values to arrest the deterioration of roads.

- by Moetaz Elsergany
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- Life Cycle Costing
- by Douglas Gransberg
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- Life Cycle Costing, Pavement Engineering

With the advancement in building designs, materials and technologies, nowadays it is not so much a technical challenge to
develop net-zero energy houses; rather it is more of an economic challenge to develop such houses within certain environmental limits. The
concept of green building is not new. Today’s green building movement is mostly fueled by the urgent need to reverse the course of the
deterioration of the natural environment. However, human activities associated with the built environment have long been focused on other
interests such as profit and comfort than the intricate impact of building processes, materials and technologies on the natural environment.
With environmental concerns as another dimension of constraints on the built environment, significant changes will happen to
building designs and construction processes. Such changes are the consequence of reconciliation of the existing paradigm focusing mostly
on cost or profit and the new paradigm with environmental concerns. Thus, will reducing cost and environmental impacts always at odds
with each other? What are the strategies to align the two objectives, when they are in conflict? Answers to those questions will help
researchers and practitioners develop a better understanding on green building.
This paper discusses a pilot study on a net-zero energy house. The house, called “Future House USA” located in Beijing China, is
developed by a team of faculty at Florida International University in collaboration with industry partners, the Future House Real Estate, Inc.
in China and the Learn Green Foundation in the USA. The house contains many green house features such as solar panels, a geothermal
system and a highly insulated building envelop.
The study uses existing life cycle assessment/costing (LCA/LCC) tools to perform an analysis on the house and demonstrated the
feasibility of activity-based environmental impact accounting for a construction project. The activity-based environmental impact
accounting provides a base for studying the relationship between time, cost and environmental impacts.

The selection process of material for slab construction must be well guided to ensure an effective and efficient slab. While numerous alternatives can be selected, some materials remain the dominant choice in the Nigerian construction industry. The usage of Concrete is now competing with eco-friendly materials such as Polystyrene and Hollow clay pot. This study researches into the life cycle cost of the three materials to determine the material with the lowest life cycle cost. It also assesses the environmental impacts posed by the production of the materials to the society. Cost data were retrieved from Design documents, Documented Bid Records, Bills of Quantities, Current documented prices, Maintenance schedules, and Slab Performance Models. Environmental Impact Assessment, structured interview, and Questionnaires were the collection instruments used to obtain assessment data. The analysis involved NPV discounting, Shadow pricing techniques, Sensitivity analysis, Descriptive statistics and Mean item scoring. The research discovered that although Concrete poses less cost on the slab users, Hollow clay pot slab possesses the lowest life cycle cost and differs from Polystyrene with a very close margin of less than 10%. Major environmental impacts posed by the production of the materials were air pollution, badlands due to excessive mining, gas flaring, and environmental waste. The study then recommends that Hollow clay pot and Polystyrene serve as a better alternative for the commonly used Concrete and should, therefore, be adopted for slab construction.