Selecting Cost-Effective Green Building Products: BEES Approach.
Selecting Cost-Effective Green Building Products: BEES
Approach.
(1106 K)
Lippiatt, B. C.
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management,
Vol. 125, No. 6, 448-455, November/December 1999.
Available from:
For more information about BEES visit the BEES Web Page:
http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html
Keywords:
building construction; building materials; cost
effectiveness
Abstract:
The Building for Environmental and Economic
Sustainability (BEES) tool implements a rational,
systematic technique for selecting cost-effective green
building products. The technique is based on consensus
standards and designed to be practical, flexible, and
transparent. The Windows-based decision support
software, aimed at designers, builders, and product
manufacturers, includes actual environmental and
economic performance data for 24 building products
across a range of functional applications. BEES measures
the environmental performance of building products using
the environmental life-cycle assessment approach
specified in the latest versions of IS0 14000 draft
standards. The approach is based on the belief that all
stages in the life of a product generate environmental
impacts and must be analyzed. The stages include raw
material acquisition, manufacture, transportation,
installation, use, and waste management. Economic
performance is measured using the ASTM standard
life-cycle cost method. The technique includes the costs
over a given study period of initial investment,
replacement, operation, maintenance and repair, and
disposal. Environmental and economic performance are
combined into an overall performance measure using the
ASTM standard for multiattribute decision analysis.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899