The Cost Effectiveness Index (CEI) proposed in this study was found to represent the net savings
of the life cycle costs and cost effectiveness for a green building better than LEED. LCA and LCCA
methods would be adopted for GBPAT to address these issues. Generally, LCCA methods have
proven to be a good approach to assess the financial impact for building construction. However,
formal techniques are limited to the evaluation of building performance with respect to
environmental and social responsibility.
GBPAT would provide the information that helps all participants, such as building owners,
building managers, building occupants, and society who are involved and impacted by building
performance. They have their own demands on the information of building performance, such
as affordable financial investment, expected financial benefits, lower environmental impacts,
and better indoor environment. The objectives of the second study were to:
• Develop a green building performance assessment tool (GBPAT) that embodies economic
feasibility based on an integrated LCA and LCCA method;
• Develop the expert system consisting of plug-in software and a user-friendly Graphic User
Interface (GUI) that allows easy of input data and information for a proposed building;
• Establish more accurate building performance index (BPI) and cost effectiveness index (CEI)
based on cost and financial benefits (B/C) analysis; and
• Provide essential economic assessment methods, such as net savings (NS), saving to
investment ratio (SIR), adjusted internal rate of return (AIRR) and expected payback period
for application of green features on buildings.