new ecology, inc. Greening Affordable Housing Workshop Edward F. Connelly President, New Ecology, Inc. Cambridge, MA Greening 201: Using Energy Modeling & Cost/Benefit Analysis To Guide Greening Decisions Greenbuild 2007 November 5,, 2007

new ecology, inc. New Ecology, Inc. Who we are What we do

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Looking for Ways to More Deeply Green

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Site Design

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Energy & Water

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Materials

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Recycling

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Health

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Durability

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Low Impact Development

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Already Built “Greener” Affordable Housing Paid Attention to: Location and Density

new ecology, inc. The Value of Location If we combine the energy used by a home and the energy used in the transportation getting to and from the home, we see that a green urban multifamily home consumes one quarter of the energy (62 million BTUs) used by a typical suburban home (250 million BTUs). So location and energy consumption are deeply causally related. Jonathan Rose, Developing Times Spring 2007

new ecology, inc. Environmental Building News Study Environmental Building News September 2007

new ecology, inc. Environmental Building News Study Environmental Building News September 2007

new ecology, inc. Environmental Building News Study Environmental Building News September 2007

new ecology, inc. Assumptions for Greening 201 Looking for Ways to More Deeply Green

new ecology, inc. The Barriers That Hold Us Back $ Fear Timing & the affordable housing financing maze Unclear on how to prioritize and make decisions Insufficient data on long term benefits

new ecology, inc. Tools To Overcome The Barriers No Cookie Cutter Approach Decisions depend upon: –Climate –Budget/Funding sources –Program –Local Contractors & Practices

new ecology, inc. Tools To Overcome The Barriers Integrated Design Energy Modeling Cost Benefit Analysis

new ecology, inc. Integrated Design Select Team Based Upon Objectives Early Stage Design Charrettes Work!

new ecology, inc. Integrated Design: Key Questions Be sure A/E team knows the project –Owner’s Program –Smoking –Who pays utilities-project goals –Health Status of Occupants –Maintenance team capabilities & experience –Mixed use issues

new ecology, inc. Integrated Design: Key Questions Ability to Tolerate (or Finance) First Cost Increases –Grants –Loans –Leases –Rebates

new ecology, inc. Financing Photovoltaics Tax Credits Depreciation Long Term Purchase Contracts

new ecology, inc. Using Cost Benefit Analysis 1.How We Measure Cost/Benefit 2.Measurable Aspects of Design 3.Project Examples

new ecology, inc. How We Measure Cost Benefit $20.00 on Cost of Greening ( as % of total construction costs w/o PV) Mean: 4.95% Median: 3.83% Range: -25% to 38.94% (11 of 16 cases under 5%)

new ecology, inc. How We Measure Cost/Benefit Compare life cycle costs of green building feature versus comparable feature  Total development costs  Operating costs (utilities, maintenance)  Replacement costs Net Present Value Consider first costs and life-cycle costs Inflates operating costs to account for inflation and cost increases Discounts future costs and savings to account for time value of money

new ecology, inc. How We Measure Cost/Benefit Need first costs and estimates of operational costs

new ecology, inc. How We Measure Cost/Benefit Sources of Data Contractor/Estimator Energy Model Project Experience/Maintenance Provider Vendors

new ecology, inc. How We Measure Cost/Benefit Discount Rate and Inflation Assumptions LISC Underwriting Standards: 4% inflation and 5% cost of money But, energy inflating at a rate faster than core CPI

new ecology, inc. How We Measure Cost/Benefit A Note on Assumptions Time frame Inflation and Cost of Money-Energy Inflation Borrowing additional funds to pay for green

new ecology, inc. Other Cost Benefit Measures ROI Simple Payback How We Measure Cost/Benefit

new ecology, inc.

Measurable Aspects of Design Energy and Water Reduced Maintenance Deferred Replacement Costs Transportation

new ecology, inc. Measurable Aspects of Design Difficult to Measure Health Non Project Environmental Benefits Community Benefits

new ecology, inc.

Project Examples – Lazarus House Cost Benefit Analysis From Lazarus House

new ecology, inc. Project Examples – Lazarus House Cost Less Rebate Annual Energy Saving Simple Pay- back Pay- back w/ Inflation 15 Yr NPV 15 Yr ROI 15 Yr Utility Savings $8250$7742$ Yrs Yrs $ %$10565 $9130$8547$ Yrs Yrs $ %$ ” Rigid 1” Plus Cellulose

new ecology, inc. Project Examples – Lazarus House LeakyModelTested What Ifvs Tested Natural Air Changes Per Hour Eff Leakage Area: si/100 sf shell HERS Score % Annual Usage-Heating Therms %

new ecology, inc. Lazarus House: 492 Therms Per Year 1.65 per therm = $ NPV 10 Years = $8431 Project Examples – Lazarus House

new ecology, inc. Project Examples – Chelsea Armory Energy Star Multi-Family Analysis

new ecology, inc. Project Examples – Chelsea Armory Energy Star Multi-Family Analysis See Excel File

new ecology, inc. Project Examples - 7 th Street Cambridge Heating System Analysis-Chelsea Armory

new ecology, inc. Project Examples - 7 th Street Cambridge

new ecology, inc. Project Examples - 7 th Street Cambridge

new ecology, inc. Project Examples - 7 th Street Cambridge Next Steps: Calculate savings from boiler size Concentrate on electrical load reduction 8834 kWh--$1695 Investigate solar PV and thermal Water heating 598 therms ~ heating load

new ecology, inc. Why Are The Case Studies Successful? Developed a vision of the project that combines programmatic purpose, building design and building performance. Expect and demand green and other project goals

new ecology, inc. Greening 201: Using Energy Modeling & Cost/Benefit Analysis To Guide Greening Decisions Edward F. Connelly President, New Ecology, Inc. Cambridge, MA x 22 Utile September 14, 2007