ISEC 08


BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS: ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS TO ANALYZE COST, LEED CREDITS, AND CARBON NEUTRALITY

RYAN DOCZY, YASSIR ABDELRAZIG


Abstract

For building owners, there are several factors that must be considered when considering whether or not a building has achieved its goals. One such problem building owners facing during a project’s design phase is the creation of a proper balance between reducing immediate costs and increasing the sustainability of a building. Due to the implications these decisions will have on buildings’ owners and occupants, owners need to have decision support tools to be able to assist them in determining how well a building will meet their goals and preferences. The model described by this paper utilizes the Analytical Hierarchy Process and Multiple Attribute Utility Theorem to compare a project’s competing alternatives in terms of their ability to meet the project’s LEED, carbon neutral/Net-Zero, and cost/benefit goals. Utilizing a combination of user preferences and data on an alternative’s anticipated costs and level of sustainability, a score will be generated that allows the user to determine how well the alternative comes to meeting the project’s overall goal. This process will be applied for a case study library building to determine the alternative that best meets the project’s overall goal. The model’s results and validity are discussed.

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