Relevant bibliographies by topics / Sustainable buildings – United States – Cost effectiveness

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Academic literature on the topic 'Sustainable buildings – United States – Cost effectiveness'

Author: Grafiati
Published: 4 June 2021
Last updated: 18 February 2022

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Journal articles on the topic "Sustainable buildings – United States – Cost effectiveness"

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Harris, Debra D. "Return on investment of a LEED platinum hospital: the influence of healthcare facility environments on healthcare employees and organizational effectiveness." Journal of Hospital Administration 3, no. 6 (September 17, 2014): 37. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/jha.v3n6p37.

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Objective: The purpose of this research study was to link hospital environments to the quality of care and the associated cost of care by examining the relationship among hospital environments and healthcare employee engagement, turnover, illness and injury. Methods: This study used a multi-method research design and quantitative analysis of data sets from participating hospitals. Data included employee survey responses and human resource employee data provided by the hospital system. All statistical tests used an alpha level of .05. The analysis of the survey and human resource employee data tested for significant differences among employees at the participating hospitals; and used correlations and regression analysis to determine the direction and strength of the relationships where significant differences were evident. Results: Results from the survey indicated that perceptions of the built environment affect employee engagement and health and well-being up to 14%. Turnover and injury reductions were significant and resulted in substantial cost differences; $2.17M cost reduction based on the facility replaced and annual cost avoidance of $2.24M when compared to the two newer hospitals that were not Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the quality of the hospital environment has social, environmental, and cost implications that aligns with the intention of sustainable design as defined by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Developing a built environment that supports productivity, efficiency, safety, and engagement contributes to the prosperity of the healthcare organization.
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Abdallah, Moatassem, Khaled El-Rayes, and Liang Liu. "Optimizing the selection of sustainability measures to minimize life-cycle cost of existing buildings." Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering 43, no. 2 (February 2016): 151–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2015-0179.

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Buildings have significant impacts on the environment and economy as they were reported by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 2009 to account for 40% of the global energy consumption. Building owners are increasingly seeking to integrate sustainability and green measures in their buildings to minimize energy and water consumption as well as life-cycle cost. Due to the large number of feasiblecombinations of sustainability measures, decision makers are often faced with a challenging task that requires them to identify an optimal set of upgrade measures to minimize the building life-cycle cost. This paper presents a model for optimizing the selection of building upgrade measures to minimize the life-cycle cost of existing buildings while complying with owner-specified requirements for building operational performance and budget constraints. The optimization model accounts for initial upgrade cost, operational cost and saving, escalation in utility costs, maintenance cost, replacement cost, and salvage value of building fixtures and equipment, and renewable energy systems. A case study of a rest area building in the state of Illinois in the United States was analyzed to illustrate the unique capabilities of the developed optimization model. The main findings of this analysis illustrate the capabilities of the model in identifying optimal building upgrade measures to achieve the highest savings of building life-cycle cost within a user-specified upgrade budget; and generating practical and detailed recommendations on replacing building fixtures and equipment and installing renewable energy systems.
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Murane, D. M. "Model Standards and Techniques for Control of Radon in New Buildings." Radiation Protection Dosimetry 56, no. 1-4 (December 1, 1994): 5–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a082410.

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Abstract In response to a requirement in the Indoor Radon Abatement Act of 1988, The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been developing 'Model Standards and Techniques for Control of Radon in New Buildings'. A draft of the Model Standards was developed in close co-operation with the building industry and disseminated for public comment in April 1993. A final Standard will be published by the end of 1993. This paper describes the recommended construction techniques and implementation procedures contained in the draft. Use of the recommended standards and techniques is linked to the potential for elevated radon levels that is predicted for different geographical areas of the United States. The paper emphasises the cost-effectiveness of building-in-radon-resistance in new homes, and highlights the use of construction techniques that many builders already use as standard building practice.
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Fogarassy, Csaba, and Balint Horvath. "Climate policy cost-benefit model application for successful Central European building retrofitting programs—A Hungarian case study." International Journal of Engineering Business Management 9 (January 1, 2017): 184797901771757. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1847979017717574.

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In general, European Union Member States attribute great importance to the building sector in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions as part of their climate policy strategies. The present study is aimed at studying what happens if decision-makers do not take any prominent measures to ensure that the building sector realizes more efficient performance. The current European tendencies indicate that the most common approach is to attempt to renovate the existing building stock. However, this is not always the best solution. In Central and Eastern European countries, such as Hungary, the greatest problem encountered in renovations is the outdated heating and electricity supply of the old buildings. Many experts are convinced that these buildings should be demolished now and replaced with new ones in order to achieve more effective performance. This study, besides the environmental matters presents a climate policy-related economic evaluation which strengthens the latter opinion. The purpose of this novel cost effectiveness analysis is to examine the long-term viability of these two approaches (retrofitting strategy vs. the building of new houses) from the aspect of both environmental conformity (climate friendliness) and sustainable economics between 2020 and 2030.
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Chen, Qiushi, Nitin Jain, Turgay Ayer, William G. Wierda, Christopher R. Flowers, Susan M. O’Brien, Michael J. Keating, Hagop M. Kantarjian, and Jagpreet Chhatwal. "Economic Burden of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in the Era of Oral Targeted Therapies in the United States." Journal of Clinical Oncology 35, no. 2 (January 10, 2017): 166–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2016.68.2856.

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Purpose Oral targeted therapies represent a significant advance for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); however, their high cost has raised concerns about affordability and the economic impact on society. Our objective was to project the future prevalence and cost burden of CLL in the era of oral targeted therapies in the United States. Methods We developed a simulation model that evaluated the evolving management of CLL from 2011 to 2025: chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) as the standard of care before 2014, oral targeted therapies for patients with del(17p) and relapsed CLL from 2014, and for first-line treatment from 2016 onward. A comparator scenario also was simulated where CIT remained the standard of care throughout. Disease progression and survival parameters for each therapy were based on published clinical trials. Results The number of people living with CLL in the United States is projected to increase from 128,000 in 2011 to 199,000 by 2025 (55% increase) due to improved survival; meanwhile, the annual cost of CLL management will increase from $0.74 billion to $5.13 billion (590% increase). The per-patient lifetime cost of CLL treatment will increase from $147,000 to $604,000 (310% increase) as oral targeted therapies become the first-line treatment. For patients enrolled in Medicare, the corresponding total out-of-pocket cost will increase from $9,200 to $57,000 (520% increase). Compared with the CIT scenario, oral targeted therapies resulted in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $189,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. Conclusion The increased benefit and cost of oral targeted therapies is projected to enhance CLL survivorship but can impose a substantial financial burden on both patients and payers. More sustainable pricing strategies for targeted therapies are needed to avoid financial toxicity to patients.
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Gu, Hongmei, Shaobo Liang, and Richard Bergman. "Comparison of Building Construction and Life-Cycle Cost for a High-Rise Mass Timber Building with its Concrete Alternative." Forest Products Journal 70, no. 4 (November 1, 2020): 482–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.13073/fpj-d-20-00052.

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Abstract Mass timber building materials such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) have captured attention in mid- to high-rise building designs because of their potential environmental benefits. The recently updated multistory building code also enables greater utilization of these wood building materials. The cost-effectiveness of mass timber buildings is also undergoing substantial analysis. Given the relatively new presence of CLT in United States, high front-end construction costs are expected. This study presents the life-cycle cost (LCC) for a 12-story, 8,360-m2 mass timber building to be built in Portland, Oregon. The goal was to assess its total life-cycle cost (TLCC) relative to a functionally equivalent reinforced-concrete building design using our in-house-developed LCC tool. Based on commercial construction cost data from the RSMeans database, a mass timber building design is estimated to have 26 percent higher front-end costs than its concrete alternative. Front-end construction costs dominated the TLCC for both buildings. However, a decrease of 2.4 percent TLCC relative to concrete building was observed because of the estimated longer lifespan and higher end-of-life salvage value for the mass timber building. The end-of-life savings from demolition cost or salvage values in mass timber building could offset some initial construction costs. There are minimal historical construction cost data and lack of operational cost data for mass timber buildings; therefore, more studies and data are needed to make the generalization of these results. However, a solid methodology for mass timber building LCC was developed and applied to demonstrate several cost scenarios for mass timber building benefits or disadvantages.
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İndelen, Cenk, Yeşim Uygun Kızmaz, Ahmet Kar, Aryeh Shander, and Kaan Kırali. "The cost of one unit blood transfusion components and cost-effectiveness analysis results of transfusion improvement program." Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 29, no. 2 (April 26, 2021): 150–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2021.20886.

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Background: This study aims to analyze the cost of the entire transfusion process in Turkey including evaluation of the cost of transfusion from the perspective of hospital management and determination of savings achieved with the transfusion improvement program. Methods: Invoices, labor, material costs were calculated with micro-costing method, while general production expenses were calculated with gross costing method between January 2018 and December 2019. Unit costs for each blood product were calculated separately by collecting unit acquisition costs, material costs, labor costs, and general production expenses and, then, distributed into six different blood products as follows: erythrocyte suspension, fresh frozen plasma, pooled platelet, apheresis platelet, cryoprecipitate, fresh whole blood. The total costs for 2018 and 2019 were calculated and the savings achieved were estimated. The Turkish Lira was converted into the United States Dollar ($) currency using the purchasing power parity. Results: In 2018/2019, the blood component transfusion cost was $240.90/251.18 for erythrocyte suspension, $120.00/128.67 for fresh frozen plasma, $313.50/322.19 for pooled platelet, $314.24/325.73 for apheresis platelet, $104.95/113.99 for cryoprecipitate, and $189.91/209.09 for fresh whole blood. The total transfusion cost was $6,224,208.33 in 2108 and $5,308,148.43 in 2019. As a result of the transfusion improvement program launched in 2019, the amount of blood components decreased by 23.24%, compared to the previous year, and a saving of $916,059.9 was achieved. Conclusion: The transfusion is a burden for both the hospital management systems and the country's economy. To accurately calculate and manage this economic burden is important for sustainable healthcare services.
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Hsieh, Hui-Ching, Viona Claresta, and Thi Bui. "Green Building, Cost of Equity Capital and Corporate Governance: Evidence from US Real Estate Investment Trusts." Sustainability 12, no. 9 (May 2, 2020): 3680. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12093680.

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Distinct from the existing literature, which mainly focuses on the impacts of green building practices on the owners’ benefits, this paper examines capital market participants’ perceptions of green building, specifically, the cost of equity capital. The study uses data regarding the United States Real Estate Investment Trusts (US REITs) from 2000 to 2016, employing a panel regression analysis and adopting a Price Earnings Growth (PEG) ratio model for the cost of equity capital estimation. We find a negative relationship between green building certification and the cost of equity capital. Our results encourage REITs to participate in green building certification and aim for higher green building rankings. In addition, we examine whether corporate governance could affect the intensity of green building practices in REITs. It is found that corporate governance practices implemented to align shareholders’ and managers’ interests, such as higher institutional holdings and a less dispersed ownership structure, positively impact firms’ resource allocation for green initiatives. The results suggest there could be mutual benefits for both economic profits and sustainable buildings.
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Keeton, Jeffrey M. "The Road to Platinum: Using the USGBC's LEED-EB® Green Building Rating System to Retrofit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 10 Park Place Office Building." Journal of Green Building 5, no. 2 (May 1, 2010): 55–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.3992/jgb.5.2.55.

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According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), buildings account for a significant amount of environmental degradation. The building sector is the number one producer of global CO2 emissions in the U.S., followed by the transportation and industrial sectors.1 (See Figure 1 for the environmental impact of all U.S. buildings.) The concept of green buildings represents a major paradigm shift in the architectural, construction, and engineering fields. As society increasingly switches its appreciation of buildings from merely size and aesthetics toward environmental stewardship and efficiency, the USGBC's LEED Green Building Rating System has become increasingly popular to follow. Since its inception in 2000, the LEED system has been promoting and monitoring green building practices throughout the United States. With a four-tiered rating scheme including LEED Certified, LEED Silver, LEED Gold, and LEED Platinum, the system currently has 35,000 projects already on their way toward certification.2 In particular, the LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) system looks to retrofit existing buildings into those that are more sustainable, efficient, and environmentally friendly. Doing so significantly reduces the demand for new resources, as construction managers can recycle and reuse building materials and incorporate them into new designs. This truly is the definition of green building and is the way of the future. By implementing green building practices, many of the adverse environmental impacts of buildings can be dramatically reduced, often for only a one to two percent initial cost premium over the price of conventional construction practice.3 Several environmental benefits of green buildings include improving air and water quality, conserving natural resources, and becoming more energy efficient. Sudies have shown that green buildings, compared to normal buildings, can reduce energy use by 24–50 percent, CO2 emissions by 33–39 percent, water use by 40 percent, and solid waste by 70 percent.4 (See Figure 2 for the impact of green commercial buildings compared to the average commercial building.) In fact, if half of all new construction within the U.S. were built to match these percentages, it would be the equivalent of taking more than one million cars off of the road every year.5 Economic benefits include reducing operating costs, improving employee productivity and satisfaction, and optimizing economic performance over the life cycle of the structure.6 Additionally, health and community benefits include enhancing occupant comfort and health, and contributing to an overall positive environmentally-conscious reputation.7 Furthermore, Taryn Holowka states, “people in green buildings have 40-60 percent fewer incidents of colds, flu, and asthma; patients in green hospitals are discharged as much as two and a half days earlier; and kids in green schools increase their test scores by as much as 18 percent.”8 The U.S. EPA's Region 10 Park Place office building in Seattle was built in 1970. Its owner, Washington Holdings, and building manager, Wright Runstad & Company, have been encouraged by the EPA to use innovative energy conservation design, water conservation, waste reduction, stormwater management, and other strategies to make the structure more sustainable. Following the EPA's Green Building Strategy, which states that the EPA aims to strengthen the foundations of green building and raise public awareness of building-related impacts and opportunities, the Park Place building has become only the fifteenth LEED-EB Platinum building in the world, and one of the most impressive nearly-forty-year-old buildings in the entire United States. By using the LEED-EB Platinum green building rating system, the Park Place building management team has been able to successfully lower the building's energy consumption rate, improve its water efficiency, and make many other beneficial changes—all of which demonstrate just how effective the LEED system is at producing higher performance buildings.
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Hu, Ming. "ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVE ENERGY RETROFIT STRATEGIES AND RELATED IMPACT ON INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY." Journal of Green Building 12, no. 2 (March 2017): 38–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.3992/1943-4618.12.2.38.

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1.0. INTRODUCTION In the United States, K–12 school buildings spend more than $8 billion each year on energy—more than they spend on computers and textbooks combined [1]. Most occupied older buildings demonstrate poor operational performance—for instance, more than 30 percent of schools were built before 1960, and 53 percent of public schools need to spend money on repairs, renovations, and modernization to ensure that the schools' onsite buildings are in good overall condition. And among public schools with permanent buildings, the environmental factors in the permanent buildings have been rated as unsatisfactory or very unsatisfactory in 5 to 17 percent of them [2]. Indoor environment quality (IEQ) is one of the core issues addressed in the majority of sustainable building certification and design guidelines. Children spend a significant amount of time indoors in a school environment. And poor IEA can lead to sickness and absenteeism from school and eventually cause a decrease in student performance [3]. Different building types and their IEQ characteristics can be partly attributed to building age and construction materials. [4] Improving the energy performance of school buildings could result in the direct benefit of reduced utility costs and improving the indoor quality could improve the students' learning environment. Research also suggests that aging school facilities and inefficient equipment have a detrimental effect on academic performance that can be reversed when schools are upgraded. [5] Several studies have linked better lighting, thermal comfort, and air quality to higher test scores. [6, 7, 8] Another benefit of improving the energy efficiency of education buildings is the potential increase in market value through recognition of green building practice and labeling, such as that of a LEED or net zero energy building. In addition, because of their educational function, high-performance or energy-efficient buildings are particularly valuable for institution clients and local government. More and more high-performance buildings, net zero energy buildings, and positive energy buildings serve as living laboratories for educational purposes. Currently, educational/institutional buildings represent the largest portion of NZE (net zero energy) projects. Educational buildings comprise 36 percent of net zero buildings according to a 2014 National New Building Institute report. Of the 58 net zero energy educational buildings, 32 are used for kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12), 21 for higher education, and 5 for general education. [9] Finally, because educational buildings account for the third largest amount of building floor space in the United States, super energy-efficient educational buildings could provide other societal and economic benefits beyond the direct energy cost savings for three reasons: 1) educational buildings offer high visibility that can influence community members and the next generation of citizens, 2) success stories of the use of public funds that returns lower operating costs and healthier student learning environments provide documentation that can be used by others, and 3) this sector offers national and regional forums and associations to facilitate the transfer of best design and operational practices.
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Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Sustainable buildings – United States – Cost effectiveness"

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Antonopoulos, Chrissi Argyro. "Diffusion of Energy Efficient Technology in Commercial Buildings: An Analysis of the Commercial Building Partnerships Program." PDXScholar, 2013. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1532.

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This study presents findings from survey and interview data investigating replication of green building measures by Commercial Building Partnership (CBP) partners that worked directly with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL partnered directly with 12 organizations on new and retrofit construction projects, which represented approximately 28 percent of the entire U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) CBP program. Through a feedback survey mechanism, along with personal interviews, quantitative and qualitative data were gathered relating to replication efforts by each organization. These data were analyzed to provide insight into two primary research areas: 1) CBP partners' replication efforts of green building approaches used in the CBP project to the rest of the organization's building portfolio, and, 2) the market potential for technology diffusion into the total U.S. commercial building stock, as a direct result of the CBP program. The first area of this research focused specifically on replication efforts underway or planned by each CBP program participant. The second area of this research develops a diffusion of innovations model to analyze potential broad market impacts of the CBP program on the commercial building industry in the United States. Findings from this study provided insight into motivations and objectives CBP partners had for program participation. Factors that impact replication include motivation, organizational structure and objectives firms have for implementation of energy efficient technologies. Comparing these factors between different CBP partners revealed patterns in motivation for constructing energy efficient buildings, along with better insight into market trends for green building practices. The optimized approach to the CBP program allows partners to develop green building parameters that fit the specific uses of their building, resulting in greater motivation for replication. In addition, the diffusion model developed for this analysis indicates that this method of market prediction may be used to adequately capture cumulative construction metrics for a whole-building analysis as opposed to individual energy efficiency measures used in green building.
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Osborne, John Kimball. "The costs of not using green design in the USAF would using green building design have resulted in life cycle cost savings? /." Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio : Air Force Institute of Technology, 2007. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA469170.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Air Force Institute of Technology, 2007.
AFIT/GCS/ENV/07-M8. "March 2007." Title from title page of PDF file ; viewed: Nov. 28, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-50).
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Books on the topic "Sustainable buildings – United States – Cost effectiveness"

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United States. General Services Administration. U.S. General Services Administration: Time-out and review : final report. [Washington, D.C.?]: The Administration, 1994.

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U.S. General Services Administration: Time-out and review : final report. [Washington, D.C.?]: The Administration, 1994.

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United States. General Services Administration. U.S. General Services Administration: Time-out and review : final report. [Washington, D.C.?]: The Administration, 1994.

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Administration, United States General Services. U.S. General Services Administration: Time-out and review : final report. [Washington, D.C.?]: The Administration, 1994.

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United States. General Services Administration. U.S. General Services Administration: Time-out and review : final report. [Washington, D.C.?]: The Administration, 1994.

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United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security. Federal asset management: Eliminating waste by disposing of unneeded federal real property : hearing before the Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, of the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session, June 9, 2011. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2012.

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Federal asset management: Eliminating waste by disposing of unneeded federal real property : hearing before the Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, of the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session, June 9, 2011. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2012.

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Office, General Accounting. Federal facilities: Agencies slow to define the scope and cost of hazardous waste site cleanups : report to the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Committee on Public Works and Transportation, House of Representatives. Washington, D.C: U.S. General Accounting Office, 1994.

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Office, General Accounting. United Nations: Planning for headquarters renovation is reasonable, United States needs to decide whether to support work : report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate. Washington, D.C. (P.0. Box 37050 Washington 20013): U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001.

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Office, General Accounting. United Nations: Personnel compensation and pension issues : report to Congressional requesters. Washington, D.C: The Office, 1987.

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Conference papers on the topic "Sustainable buildings – United States – Cost effectiveness"

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Doiphode, Ganesh, Hamidreza Najafi, and Mariana Migliori Favaretto. "Energy Efficiency in K-12 Schools: A Case Study in Florida." In ASME 2020 14th International Conference on Energy Sustainability. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/es2020-1632.

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Abstract Buildings are one of the largest energy consumers in the United States. K-12 schools are responsible for nearly 8% of energy consumption by commercial buildings which is equivalent to 1.44% of total annual energy consumption in the country. Understanding the baseline energy consumption of the schools as well as identifying effective energy efficiency measures (EEMs) that result in significant energy savings without compromising occupant’s comfort in a given climate condition are essential factors in moving towards a sustainable future. In a collaboration between Florida Institute of Technology and Brevard Public Schools, three schools are identified for a test study in Melbourne, FL, representing the humid subtropical climate. Energy audit is conducted for these schools and monthly utility bill data as well as background information, end-user’s data and their associated operating schedules are obtained. A detailed analysis is performed on the utility bill data and energy consumption by each end-user is estimated. Several EEMs are considered and evaluated to achieve an improved energy efficiency for the schools. The implementation cost of each EEM and the associated simple payback period is also determined. A study is also conducted to explore possibility of using solar power to cover 50% of energy requirements of each school and the cost and payback period of the project are evaluated. The results of this paper provide insights regarding prioritizing energy efficiency projects in K-12 schools in humid subtropical climates and particularly the state of Florida and help with decision making regarding investment in on-site power generation using solar energy.
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Schicker, Philippe C., Dustin Spayde, and Heejin Cho. "Design and Feasibility Study of Biomass-Driven Combined Heat and Power Systems for Rural Communities." In ASME 2021 15th International Conference on Energy Sustainability collocated with the ASME 2021 Heat Transfer Summer Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/es2021-62057.

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Abstract Meeting energy demands at crucial times can often be jeopardized by unreliable power supply from the grid. Local, on-site power generation, such as combined heat and power (CHP) systems, may safeguard against grid fluctuations and outages. CHP systems can provide more reliable and resilient energy supply to buildings and communities while it can also provide energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable solutions compared to centralized power systems. With a recent increased focus on biomass as an alternative fuel source, biomass driven CHP systems have been recognized as a potential technology to bring increased efficiency of fuel utilization and environmentally sustainable solutions. Biomass as an energy source is already created through agricultural and forestry byproducts and may thus be efficient and convenient to be transported to remote rural communities. This paper presents a design and feasibility analysis of biomass (primarily wood pellets)-driven CHP systems for a rural community in the United States. A particular focus was set on rural Mississippi to investigate possible grid independent applications; however, this analysis can be scaled to rural communities across America. The viability of wood pellets (WP) as a suitable fuel source is explored by comparing it to a conventional grid-connected system. To measure viability, three performance parameters — operational cost (OC), primary energy consumption (PEC), and carbon dioxide emission (CDE) — are considered in the analysis. The results demonstrate that under the right conditions wood pellet-fueled CHP systems create economic and environmental advantages over traditional systems. The main factors in increasing the viability of bCHP systems are the appropriate sizing and operational strategies of system and the purchase price of biomass with respect to the price traditional fuels.
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Doiphode, Ganesh, and Hamidreza Najafi. "A Machine Learning Based Approach for Energy Consumption Forecasting in K-12 Schools." In ASME 2020 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/imece2020-24128.

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Abstract Energy costs are the second highest operational expense for K-12 schools in the United States. Improving energy efficiency and moving towards sustainable school buildings not only result in substantial cost savings and reduction of environmental emissions, but also provides an opportunity to enhance students’ awareness regarding energy, environment, and sustainability. Effective tools and techniques that provide thorough understanding of energy consumption in school buildings are valuable to school districts by helping them with prioritizing energy efficiency projects. In the present paper, a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network model is developed for estimating monthly energy consumption of K-12 schools in Brevard County, Florida. The inputs to the network are considered as number of occupants, days of operation per months, building’s area, average monthly outdoor dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity, as well as the month’s number and the output from the network is monthly energy consumption. Various network topologies are considered and tested to achieve the optimal configuration for the network. The selected network is successfully trained using three years of energy consumption data for 25 schools in Brevard County, FL (high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools). The results showed that the developed neural network model is capable of accurate estimation of monthly energy consumption of schools. The network tested and validated using the data from schools which were not included in the training dataset and the errors between the known values and estimated values for monthly energy consumptions are evaluated and discussed. Although the current study covers one particular school district (Brevard county) in a given climate zone (2a-hot and humid), the developed approach can be extended to incorporate various climate zones and serve as an effective tool for school energy conservation managers. The end user may obtain a clear idea of the energy consumption of the school building and how it compares against other buildings within the same category and climate zone, with minimum input data required.
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