BLCC — The Complete Guide: Life-Cycle Cost Analysis for Buildings and Systems
BLCC (Building Life-Cycle Cost) from NIST was built for the US Federal Energy Management Program and is a long-standing tool for the economic analysis of building investments. You compare two or more alternatives — say a standard versus a high-efficiency chiller — and see which is cheaper over the whole life of the system. Today it runs as a web application.
BLCC (Building Life-Cycle Cost)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) / U.S. DOE FEMP
NIST's life cycle cost (LCC) analysis tool for comparing building design alternatives, now a web application.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Life-cycle cost — first cost, operation, maintenance and replacements in present value.
- Net savings — the difference between alternatives over the study period.
- SIR — savings-to-investment ratio for ranking projects.
- Return and payback — adjusted internal rate of return plus simple and discounted payback.
- Public domain — free, no registration, open to use and redistribute.
A note for readers outside the US
Default values such as discount rates and energy price projections follow US federal rules. For a project in Israel or elsewhere, enter your own discount rate, electricity prices and costs, and the method itself is fully relevant. The web version is still labelled BETA, and the older Windows version has been retired.
Related tools
For choosing building products by environment and cost — BEES Online. For the economics of solar and storage systems — REopt. For the energy use that feeds the analysis — EnergyPlus.
BEES Online (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
NIST's online tool for choosing building products by environmental (LCA) and economic (life cycle cost) performance.
Get it from the vendor
REopt
National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL)
Online tool for the economics and optimal sizing of PV, wind, storage and CHP for a building, campus or microgrid.
Get it from the vendor
SAM — System Advisor Model
NREL
Technical and financial modelling of renewable energy systems — annual yield and payback.
Get it from the vendor
EnergyPlus
US Department of Energy
Annual building energy simulation — envelope, HVAC, thermal comfort and daylight. The US DOE engine.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
BLCC gives a clear, recognised framework for deciding between an option that is cheap to build and one that is cheap to run. With local inputs it is useful well beyond the US.