Economics
Economic parameters are defined in this section to allow for annual building utility cost and lifecycle cost analysis (LCCA) calculations. Based on the economics inputs entered, the program calculates financial measures such as simple payback, lifecycle payback, net present value, and internal rate of return.
In the utilities section, utility rates for the project alternative(s) are defined. Each project alternative can be set-up with unique utility rates. In the meters section, custom meters may be defined and demand limiting controls can be configured and enabled for electricity meters. In the lifecycle section, enter the life cycle cost parameters so that an analysis can be done to calculate present day values. Lastly, in the costs section, life cycle costs are added to the project alternative.
Life-cycle costing is often used with building energy simulation in order to justify energy efficiency upgrades. Many alterative building technologies that result in energy savings cost more initially, or may cost more to maintain, than traditional solutions. In order to justify selecting these energy saving technologies, it is essential to combine both initial and future costs in the decision process. Using life cycle costs provides a framework to combine initial costs and future costs into a single combined measure, called the “present value.” Present value is a metric that combines all costs and reduces (or discounts) those costs that occur in the future. Discounting future costs is based on the principal of the time value of money.
Utilities
This is where you can select the utility rates used in the project alternative. Often, a utility rate will represent a utility company that may supply more than one utility to your building, each denoted by a rate tariff in the utility rate. Multiple utility rates can be added to the project and meters can be assigned to the different utility rate tariffs by using the meter manager button, but only after custom meters have been enabled. See enable custom meters for details. If a utility rate does not exist in the utility rate library, create a new utility rate in the utility rates library.
A single utility rate library member can contain rate information for the following fuels:
● Electricity
● Natural Gas
● Water
● Propane
● Coal
● Diesel
● Gasoline
● Fuel Oil #1
● Fuel Oil #2
● District Heating
● District Cooling
● Other Fuel 1
● Other Fuel 2
If multiple utility rates have been added to the project alternative, meters are assigned to each rate tariff using the meter manager. For example, if two utility rates are added to the alternative and they both contain electricity utility rate tariffs, the building electricity meter could be assigned to one utility rate tariff and a custom meter could be assigned to another utility rate tariff.
Tree Structure
Here you can view utility rates added to the project alternative, the fuel types within the utility rates that have consumption in the model, as well as the meters assigned to them. Initially, the default utility rate, which is selected in the project defaults, appears on the utility rate tree. By default, all building meters are assigned to their corresponding utility rate tariffs. For example, the “Building Electricity” meter is assigned to the electricity rate tariff of the default utility rate and “Building Natural Gas” meter is assigned to the natural gas rate tariff of the default utility rate. When a utility rate includes a utility rate tariff that is not consumed in your project alternative, that utility rate tariff is not displayed in the tree.
For example: Assume a building model consumes only electricity and natural gas. When a utility rate with a tariff for water is added to this project alternative, water would not be displayed in the tree.
The workspace view is dependent upon the level selected within the tree. When the Utility Rate Structure is selected in the tree, the workspace displays a read only summary view of the Utility Rate Structure – the fuel types (tariffs) within the rate that are consumed within the building model are displayed, and if the rate type is Flat, the rate is also displayed for consumption and demand, where applicable. When the fuel type (tariff) is selected within the tree, the workspace displays details about the rate. Depending on the rate type, the rate may be modified from this screen. Changes made to the rate type here do not impact the utility rate structure contained in the library, they are project-specific.
Meters may not be selected within this section.
Meter Assignment Manager
When selecting the meter manager button, the meter manager pane appears to the right of the tree. It displays all meters that currently exist in the project alternative, including those assigned to other utility rates, if applicable. If there are any meters not assigned to a utility rate, these are displayed as “Unassigned Meters”. Meters that are assigned to other utilities are displayed as “Meters Assigned to Other Utilities”. This meter manager includes an add button next to each meter to assign a meter to a currently selected utility rate.
To add a meter to a utility rate, first select the utility rate or tariff in the tree on the left, then click the plus sign next to the meter to be assigned. Only meters with fuel types that correspond with the selected utility or tariff are displayed in the manager. For example, a natural gas meter cannot be assigned to a utility rate that does not contain a natural gas tariff. Therefore, natural gas meters are not displayed when an electricity tariff or utility rate that does not include natural gas is selected in the tree. When the tariff is selected, only meters of that fuel type will be available for assignment.
Add Utility Rate
When selecting “Add Utility Rate”, the ribbon above the workspace displays the utility rates available in the library. If there are multiple rates contained in a folder, the folder is displayed with a drop-down menu allowing you to select your utility rate. If the desired utility does not exist, create a new rate in the utility rates library.
Once you select a utility rate library, the workspace shows a summary of the rate tariffs within the selected utility rate. The summary screen is read-only and displays a summary of information in the utility rate. When the ribbon is shown and a utility rate is highlighted, all fuel types (tariffs) within the utility rate structures are displayed in the workspace, including those that are not consumed within the current building model.
Add Utility Rate Button
After selecting the utility rate to add to the project, select the “Add this Utility Rate” button the bottom of the screen. The utility rate is added to the tree along with an option to assign meters to the utility rate using the meter assignment manager.
No meters are initially assigned to this utility rate except when a building meter of a fuel type that didn’t exist in one of the previous fuel rates within the project. For example, if the default utility rate from project preferences did not include a tariff for electricity, and you add a rate to the project that includes an electric tariff, the default building meter is automatically assigned to the newly added rate.
Editing Rates
Editing of utility rates in the project is limited, since utility rates can be complex. Within a project, only the buy and sell rates are editable, and only when they are simple rates of type flat, stepped, or monthly. Examples of items that cannot be edited in the project include the rate type selection (e.g. flat, stepped, time of use, real time), the seasonal schedule, the time of use schedule, the billing cycle schedule, the incremental usage steps for stepped rates, and real time pricing.
Library reconciliation occurs at the time of project open. When a utility rate library member contains a seasonal calendar or time of use schedule that had been modified in the library, the program checks that the library member matches what is used in the project. When it does not, you will be prompted to reconcile the library item, as in other sections of the program.
It is important to note that during reconciliation, project editable fields in the utility rate (simple flat rate or monthly rate) are not reset to library values. You must re-select the utility rate from the library in order to replace project specific edits.
Rate Value
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Default: The Utility Rate Library provides this value
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Min & Max: -1,000,000 to 1,000,000
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: Default Currency Units per unit of measure ($/kWh; $/therm; $/kJ)
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To edit the cost value, select the fuel rate within the utility rate on the tree. You can change the rate(s) in the workspace area. When entering sell rates, enter the rate as a negative value so that it credits the utility costs for selling electricity back to the utility company.*
Input Considerations: When adding utility rates to the project, the fuel rates shown in the tree will only include fuels for meters that exist in the project alternative. Therefore, if a utility rate library member includes a gasoline fuel rate, but the project does not contain any gasoline end uses (which means there is no gasoline meter), the gasoline fuel rate from the utility rate library member will not appear in the project.
Meters
This section allows you to create custom meters and assign end uses to custom meters, as well as an opportunity to configure and enable demand limiting controls for electricity meters. The use of custom meters is to allow for the measurement of consumption for specific end uses in the building. There are many standard outputs that provide for categorization of end uses; custom meters enable you to measure specific end uses over the simulation period. The consumption and demand costs reported in the output reports are for the entire building, even if there are sub-meters in place.
When entering the Meters subsection, you will be prompted, “Custom Meters are not required to perform economic analysis. Would you like to create custom meters now or skip to the next section?”
If you have no need to sub-meter end uses in the project, select “Next Section” and the Life Cycle Parameters subsection will be entered. By default, all end uses are assigned to the default building meter for the corresponding fuel type. To create custom meters, select “Create Meters” and access will be granted to the Meters subsection. If there are no custom meters created within your project, this prompt will be displayed whenever the Meters subsection is entered.
Meters Tab
To view the end uses assigned to a meter, click the Meters tab in the tree view. By default, TRACE® 3D PLUS automatically creates a fuel meter for each fuel type that exists in the project alternative. By selecting a meter on the left tree, all end uses currently assigned to that meter are shown in the workspace. Once a custom meter has been created, end uses may be reassigned for sub-metering purposes.
To setup demand limiting, click the Demand Limit tab in the tree view.
Tree Structure
The tree structure displays the fuel types along with the utility rates and the meter(s) assigned to them. To modify the assignment of end uses to a meter, first click on the meter name on the tree. Then, click the meter manager button at the bottom of the tree. The assignment pane will be displayed, end uses are added to the meter by clicking the “+” symbol for the end use. The end uses assigned to the meter are not reflected in the tree. They will be displayed in the workspace as added to a particular meter.
Add New Meter bar
The meters section allows you to create custom (sub)-meters in the project (e.g. Lighting Electric Meter), which can then be assigned to a different utility rate or used only to sub-meter part of a building’s consumption.
The “Add Meter” bar at the top of the screen allows the creation of custom sub-meters for any utility type consumed in the building model. The only buttons that will be available correspond to the utilities consumed by the end uses within the project alternative. Custom meters cannot be created for District Heating or Cooling, including steam.
For example, if a project alternative consumes only electricity and natural gas, only the Electricity and Natural Gas add meter buttons are displayed in the bar. If there are more buttons than can fit on the screen, you may need to scroll to the right to see all the Add Meter Buttons. When a new meter is created that includes steam, the default name is “FuelType”, where “FuelType” is Electricity, Natural Gas, etc. Any subsequent meter is appended with “00n” where n is the number of custom meters than have been added to the project.
Disable Custom Meter Checkbox
When the Disable Custom Meter checkbox is unchecked, meters may be assigned to utility rates, enabling demand limiting to be configured. It also determines whether the output reports will contain information about custom meters. You may configure custom meters, but leave them as disabled if you don’t need to see the data. The configuration is preserved so you don’t have to recreate the meters, even if you don’t wish to see the data.
Workspace
The workspace in the meters section displays the end uses attached to individual meters. By default, all the end uses are assigned to the default building meters. For example, all the electricity loads (end uses) are assigned to the building electricity meter. When adding a new meter, no end uses will be assigned to it initially, but can be added on this screen.
Assigned to Utility Rate
This combo box allows you to assign meters to a utility rate from the Meters subsection without returning to the Utilities subsection. This is convenient when custom meters have been created to avoid going back to the Utilities subsection for meter assignment. The combo box displays only utility rates that contain rate tariffs for fuel meters by the selected meter. The combo box is not displayed when the selected meter is a custom meter and the Disable Custom Meter checkbox is checked. In other words, you may not assign a disabled meter to a utility rate.
Meter Manager
To assign end uses to a meter, click the Meter Manager Button in the Meters Tree. A pane will appear to the right of the tree containing all end uses in the project alternative. They are sorted into three tabs: Internal and Miscellaneous, System Equipment and Plant Equipment. To add an end use to a meter, select the meter in the tree on the right and click the plus (+) sign corresponding to the load to be assigned. The tree view is not updated with end uses as they are assigned – you can close the Meter Manager to view assigned end uses in the read-only workspace.
End uses within each category tab are sorted by the meter to which they are currently assigned. No end use can be unassigned without being reassigned to another meter, i.e.) there cannot be an end use that is not being metered. If a meter is deleted, and it previously had end uses assigned to it, those end uses will be reassigned to the default building meter. There is a tree structure followed within the Meter Manager. For example, all electric end uses within a room may be added to a meter by simply clicking on the "+" for the room. This applies to system and plant equipment as well.
If all end uses have been assigned to custom meters, then the default building meter may be deleted. At that point, if you delete a custom meter, the building meter is re-created and those end uses that were on the deleted custom meter are reassigned to the default building meter. In this case, the costs reported in the Economics Summary will still be reported based on the total building consumption and demand.
Internal and Miscellaneous
The end uses that are not part of the project alternative’s HVAC system. They include interior and exterior lighting, base utilities, and plug loads.
System Equipment
The end uses that are part of the airside system, including fans, coils, energy recovery devices, and controls.
Plant Equipment
The end uses that are part of the equipment used to generate heating or cooling within the project alternative. These include compressors and heat rejection equipment as well as hot or chilled water pumps and ancillary equipment and controls used for the plant equipment.
Search for End Use
There may be many end uses within your project alternative. You can search by the name of the end use that is to be assigned to the selected meter. The search results will include any end use from the category being searched with the searched out value somewhere in the name.
Demand Limit Tab
Demand limiting, or demand management, is a strategy for reducing a building’s demand for electricity only. Utility companies typically charge a monthly fee for “demand charges” that is based on the peak demand during a certain time period. Often the peak demand charge is set by one exceptional day that is much higher than the peak demand for an average day during the month. Therefore, to save utility costs, it is in the interest of building owners to find ways to manage the demand on peak days.*
The only loads that can be demand limited are lighting, exterior lighting and internal load electric equipment. Only end uses assigned to the meter will be available for demand limiting. As such, if the building meter is to be used to determine when to limit demand, then it must contain all end uses that are to be limited.
However, even if the building contains custom meters and end uses have been assigned, it’s implied that the demand limiting decision will be based on the demand of the entire building, not the delta between the building meter and the custom meters within the project. When demand limiting is based on a custom meter, that meter’s demand will be used to determine the point at which demand limiting occurs.
Demand limiting may not be configured for a meter that is not assigned to a rate tariff.
Tree Structure
The meters in the project are displayed in a tree, similar to the Meters Tab, however, only electricity meters can be demand limited, thus they are the only meter type shown in this tree. They are displayed based on the type of demand limiting that has been configured. The default priority is “ALL”, thus initially all electricity meters will be categorized under “Priority – ALL”.
Only meters may be selected from the tree.
Workspace
With a meter selected in the Demand Limit Tree, the workspace displays the end-uses assigned to the meter along with the demand limit target, schedule and priority.
Demand Limiting Checkbox
If this box is checked, demand limiting is enabled for the selected meter using the settings from the workspace area.
Target Demand Limit
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Default: 100
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Min & Max: 0 to 100,000,000
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Typical Range: 0 to 1,000
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Units: kW
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If demand limiting controls are to be used, enter the maximum total kW at which the demand limited end uses on that meter are allowed to operate.
Target Demand Schedule
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Default: Available 100%
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Min & Max: 20 to 100
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Typical Range: 0 to 100
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Units: %
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Select the schedule for specifying the utilization target demand limits. This schedule is a multiplier on the target demand limit. If different levels of demand management are required during various time periods throughout the day, they can be managed using this schedule. Typically the default schedule will be used.
Do not set this schedule to 0% during hours that demand limiting is not enabled, this will limit all demand for assigned end uses on the selected meter, as it signifies 0% of the Target Demand Limit. These schedules come from the Multipliers folder within the Schedules Library. Demand management is only applicable during peak periods, so if a tariff has no Time of Use periods, demand limiting is allowed during all hours of the day at the resultant value produced by the Target Demand Limit and the Target Demand Schedule and Availability combination.
Target Demand Availability
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Default: Available all year
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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Select the schedule that determines the time periods that demand limiting will take place. This is a binary schedule, hours with a value of ‘1’ mean that demand limiting is enabled. In hours where the value is zero mean that there will be no demand limiting of end uses based on the metered demand.
These schedules come from the Availability Managers folder within the Schedules Library.
Demand Priority
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Default: All
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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This field indicates what logic should be used to activate demand limiting on end uses configured as Demand Limiting Loads.
“All” activates demand limiting for all end uses to achieve the maximum demand reduction. “Sequential” treats the list of end uses as a sequential priority list, i.e., the first end use in the list is activated first, then the second, etc., until the demand falls below the limit.
Demand Limiting Loads
When the priority is “All”, the order in which the loads are added to demand limiting does not matter. However, when the demand priority is “Sequential”, the list order matters, so the loads are numbered (1,2,3,etc.). The loads should be ordered in the list, with those higher in the list being the first to be turned off.
As an example, when “All” is used, and the demand limit has been reached, all loads in that demand manager are limited. When “Sequential” is used, the loads are shut down in sequential order until the demand limit is no longer exceeded. The arrows are used to increase an end use’s demand limiting priority. Typically, nonessential end uses would be limited first, thus residing nearest the top of the list. An end use is moved to the right hand side of the workspace using the “-” symbols, denoting the end use will not be limited based on demand.
The search bar at the top of this section may be used to find an end use, when all or part of the name is known.
Available Loads for Demand Limiting
The available loads for demand limiting include electric exterior lights, electric interior lights, and electric internal load equipment. An end use is moved to the left hand side of the workspace using the “+” symbols. Only end uses assigned to the selected meter are displayed in this area. The search bar at the top of this section may be used to find an end use, when all or part of the name is known.
Consider the following example: A meter is required to reduce demand on hallway lights when the building meter exceeds 500kW between 8AM and noon, and to 400kW between the hours of noon and 5PM by turning them off sequentially, until the target is met. The selected meter in the tree is Building Electricity. Each of the hallway lights to be limited must be moved to the Demand Limiting Loads section on the left hand side of the workspace, and ordered as necessary.
The Target Demand Limit is set to 500 kW. The Target Demand Availability schedule should be configured such that from 8AM to 5PM the value is ’1’, for all other hours the value is zero. The Target Demand schedule should reflect that the value is 100 from hours 8AM to noon and 80 from the hours of noon to 5PM to reflect the 500kW and 400kW target limits.
Life Cycle Parameters
In this section, the life cycle cost parameters will be entered so that an analysis can be done to calculate present day values. Life cycle costing is used with building energy simulation in order to justify energy efficiency upgrades. Many alternative building technologies that result in energy savings cost more initially, or may cost more to maintain, than traditional solutions. Using life cycle costs provides a framework to combine initial costs and future costs into a single combined measure, called the “present value.” Present value is a metric that combines all costs and reduces (or discounts) those costs that occur in the future. Discounting future costs is based on the principal of the time value of money.
Also in this section you can define fuel price escalation along with fuel use adjustment multipliers to further define how prices and fuel use can change year to year. The two columns can be set for each fuel type defined in the alternative.
The lifecycle calculations are based on discounting the future values according to normal life-cycle costing techniques as described in NIST Handbook 135 “Life-Cycle Costing Manual for the Federal Energy Management Program.”
In order to make selections for Nominal Discount Rate and Inflation Rate, you will need to select Current Dollar under the Inflation Approach section.
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Input Considerations: Lifecycle parameters are common to all project alternatives and changes are automatically applied to all project alternatives, regardless of the active alternative at the time the changes are made.
Length of Study Period in Years
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Default: 25
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Min & Max: 0 to 100
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Typical Range: 0 to 25
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Units: Years
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Enter the number of years of the study period. It is the number of years that the study continues based on the start at the base date. Only integers may be used indicating whole years. According to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Handbook 135, the study period for an LCCA (life cycle cost analysis) is the time over which the costs and benefits related to a capital investment decision are of interest to the decision maker. Thus, the study period begins with the base date and includes both the planning and construction period and the relevant service period for the project.
Base Date
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Default: Current month and year
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: January 1990 to December 2100
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Units: N/A
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Select the month and year that is the beginning of study period, also known as the beginning of the base period. According to NIST 135, the base date is the point in time to which all project-related costs are discounted in a life cycle cost analysis. The base date is usually the first day of the study period for the project, which in turn is usually the date that the life cycle cost analysis is performed. In a constant dollar analysis, the base date usually defines the time reference for the constant dollars (e.g. 2015 constant dollars).
If the base date is set to the date that the life cycle cost analysis is performed, then the constant dollar basis for the analysis will be the current date, and the actual costs as of that date can be used without adjusting for general inflation.
Service Date
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Default: Current month and year
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: January 1990 to December 2100
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Units: N/A
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Enter the month that is the beginning of building occupancy. Energy costs are assumed to occur during the year following the service date. The service date must be the same or later than the Base Date.
Inflation Approach
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Default: Constant Dollar
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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This field is used to determine if the analysis should use constant dollars or current dollars which is related to how inflation is treated. The two options are:
● Constant Dollar
● Current Dollar
If Constant Dollar is selected, then the Real Discount Rate input is used and it excludes the rate of inflation. If Current Dollar is selected, then the Nominal Discount Rate input is used and it includes the rate of inflation.
According to the NIST Handbook 135: “The constant dollar approach has the advantage of avoiding the need to project future rates of inflation or deflation. The price of a good or service stated in constant dollars is not affected by the rate of general inflation. For example, if the price of a piece of equipment is $1,000 today and $1,050 at the end of a year in which prices, in general, have risen at an annual rate of 5 percent, the price stated in constant dollars is still $1,000; no inflation adjustment is necessary. In contrast, if cash flows are stated in current dollars, future amounts include general inflation, and an adjustment is necessary to convert the current-dollar estimate to its constant-dollar equivalent. This adjustment is important because constant- and current-dollar amounts must not be combined in an LCCA [life cycle cost analysis].*
For most analyses, using the Constant Dollar option will be easier since the effect of inflation may be ignored.
Real Discount Rate
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Default: 3%
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Min & Max: 0 to 100%
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Typical Range: 0 to 10%
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Units: %
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Enter the real discount rate as a percentage. This input is used when the Inflation Approach is Constant Dollar. The real discount rate reflects the interest rates needed to make current and future expenditures have comparable equivalent values when general inflation is ignored. When Inflation Approach is set to Current Dollar this input is ignored and not shown.
Nominal Discount Rate
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Default: 5%
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Min & Max: 0 to 100%
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Typical Range: 0 to 10%
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Units: %
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Enter the nominal discount rate as a percentage. This input is used when the Inflation Approach is Current Dollar. The real discount rate reflects the interest rates needed to make current and future expenditures have comparable equivalent values when general inflation is included. When Inflation Approach is set to Constant Dollar this input is ignored and not shown. The equation that links nominal and real discount rates is:
Inflation Rate
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Default: 2%
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Min & Max: 0 to 100%
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Typical Range: 0 to 10%
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Units: %
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Enter the rate of inflation for general goods and services as a percentage. This input is used when the Inflation Approach is Current Dollar.
Discounting Convention
Default: Beginning of Year
The field specifies whether discounting of future costs should be computed as occurring at the end of each year, the middle of each year, or the beginning of each year. The most common discounting convention uses the end of each year. Without a specific reason, the end of each year should be used. Some military projects may specifically require using the middle of each year. The year being used starts with the base year and month and repeats every full year. All costs assumed to occur during that duration are accumulated and shown as an expense either at the beginning, middle or end of the year. The options are:
● Beginning of Year
● Mid Year
● End of Year
Marginal Tax Rate
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Default: 0%
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Min & Max: 0 to 30%
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Typical Range: 0 to 100%
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Units: %
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Enter the overall marginal tax rate for the project costs. This does not include energy or water taxes. The single tax rate entered here is not intended to be a replacement of the complex calculations necessary to compute personal or corporate taxes; instead it is an approximation that may be used for a simple analysis assuming a constant tax rate is applied on all costs. The tax rate entered should be based on the marginal tax rate for the entity and not the average tax rate. Enter the tax rate results in present value calculations after taxes. Most analyses do not factor in the impact of taxes and assume that all options under consideration have roughly the same tax impact. Due to this, many times the tax rate can be left to default to zero and the present value results before taxes are used to make decisions. The value should be entered as a percentage
Depreciation Method
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Default: None
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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For an analysis that includes income tax impacts, this entry describes how capital costs are depreciated. According to IRS Publication 946 - How to Depreciate Property “Depreciation is an annual income tax deduction that allows you to recover the cost or other basis of certain property over the time you use the property. It is an allowance for Fair Market Value the wear and tear, deterioration, or obsolescence of the intangible property.” Details on which depreciation method to choose depends on the property being depreciated and IRS Publication 946 and a good accountant are the best sources of information in determining which depreciation method to choose. Only one depreciation method may be used for an analysis and is applied to all capital expenditures. Only analyses that include tax impacts need to select a depreciation method.
The options are:
● Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System-3year
● Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System-5year
● Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System-7year
● Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System-10year
● Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System-15year
● Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System-20year
● Straight Line-27year
● Straight Line-31year
● Straight Line-39year
● Straight Line-40year
● None
Depreciation allowances reduce the actual/nominal tax dollars paid by the owner. Thus, analyses using depreciation should be conducted in nominal dollars. For an analysis that does not include tax effects, “None” should be selected.
Price Escalation
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Default: 1
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Min & Max: 0 to 100
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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The escalation in price of the energy or water use for the first year expressed as a decimal. The values for this object may be found in the annual supplement to NIST Handbook 135 in Tables Ca-1 to Ca-5. According to the NIST 135 supplement, the values are “present projected fuel price indices for the four Census Regions and for the United States. These indices, when multiplied by annual energy costs computed at base-date prices provide estimates of future-year costs in constant base-date dollars. Constant-dollar cost estimates are needed when discounting is performed with a real discount rate (i.e., a rate that does not include general price inflation).” For no change enter 1.0. Select the fuel or water from the dropdown above the table.
Use Adjustment Multiplier
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Default: 1
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Min & Max: 0 to 100
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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Using this input, fuel or water use costs for future years may be adjusted. This should not be used for compensating for inflation but should only be used to increase the costs of energy or water based on assumed changes to the actual use of water or energy, such as due to changes in the future function of the building or the impact of future adjacent buildings on energy use. This object is not commonly used and should be used with caution. The adjustments begin at the start of the service period.
The multiplier to be applied to the end use cost for the first year in the service period. The total utility costs for the selected end use is multiplied by this value. For no change enter 1.0. Select the fuel or water from the dropdown above the table.
Costs
Costs are entered into a table which includes two columns. As they are added to the project alternative, they appear in the tree structure as well. Each cost is entered in the year in which it is incurred, and where multiple costs of either type are incurred in the same year, you must combine the cost values and should name the cost appropriately.
Tree Structure
The tree structure shows the costs that have been added to the projects. The costs are organized by investment costs and operation, maintenance and repair (OM&R) costs. The investment costs represent initial project expenses, equipment replacement costs, and salvage costs. The OM&R costs represent the operation, maintenance, and repair costs during the lifespan of the study.
Investment Cost Name
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Default: Construction
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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The name of the cost is entered in this field. The name describes the cost and must be unique within the alternative. The first cost defaults to "Construction" and as additional costs are added, they will default to “Construction00n”, where n is the count of new costs. Enter the cost in the row corresponding to the year in which the cost will be incurred.
Investment Cost Value
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Default: 0
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Min & Max: -1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: Comes from currency in user preferences
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Enter the non-recurring cost value. For construction and other capital costs the value entered is typically a positive value. For salvage costs, the value entered is typically a negative value which represents the money paid to the investor for the equipment at the end of the study period.
OM&R Cost Description
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Default: O, M & R
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Min & Max: N/A
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: N/A
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The name of the cost is entered in this field. The name describes the cost and must be unique within the alternative. The first costs defaults to O, M & R, and as additional costs are added, they will default to “O, M&R00n”, where n is the count of new costs. Enter the cost in the row corresponding to the year in which the cost will be incurred.
OM&R Cost Value
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Default: 0
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Min & Max: -1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000
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Typical Range: N/A
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Units: Comes from currency in user preferences
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Enter the cost in dollars (or the appropriate monetary unit) for the OM&R costs. Enter the cost for each time it occurs. For example, if the annual maintenance cost is $500, enter 500 here.