- Author
- Lippiatt, B. C.
- Title
- Selecting Cost-Effective Green Building Products: BEES Approach.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
- Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 125, No. 6, November/December 1999
- Distribution
- 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.