Sustainability and Capital Project Portfolios: Modeling the Emergent Properties of Total Cost of Ownership

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

CBET-0828779 Pearce Cost estimates for sustainable or "green" facilities in the public sector are presently developed just as those for traditional facilities would be, except a premium is often added to account for "sustainability costs". A scaleable, agent-based model (ABM) at the facility project-level will be developed and tested under the hypothesis that it will be able to more accurately predict the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a green facility at the earliest stages of concept development. The agent-based model will allow definition of both the social and engineering systems that characterize a facilities lifecycle. The project includes several partner public agencies with significant facility portfolios that wish to use policy measures (including additional investment) to increase both project sustainability and overall sustainability of their capital project portfolios in ways that make economic sense. The outcomes of this research are intended to further the goals of sustainability in public sector capital projects by providing a more comprehensive picture of the relationships between investment and outcomes. The project will impact research and undergraduate education at both Virginia Tech and Lafayette College, an undergraduate institution. In addition, the project will (a) target the recruitment of graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups to participate in this project; (b) create a sustainability game and kit underpinned by ABM for use in secondary math and science courses as well as at the undergraduate level.