All too often, those engaged in examining options for “greening” a new or existing building are constrained in a stove-piped cost analysis which (in a very simplified fashion) goes something along these lines:

• How much more will it cost to build?
• And, how fast will energy and other operating cost (water usage/sewers, maintenance) savings pay for those additional costs?

This typical analytical structure is mistaken on multiple levels. For example, with a truly holistic systems-of-systems process “going green” can actually drove down the initial costs (or remain at levelized cost) because, for example, better insulated and sealed building envelopes enable smaller heating and cooling systems. Thus, the better insulation might increase capital costs while procuring a smaller HVAC system cuts them.

Source: The Green Economy Post

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