Buildings' Sustainability Analysis: Analytical Hierarchy Process to Analyze Cost, Leed Credits, and Carbon Neutrality Utilizing a Building Information Modeling Platform

• Other Authors: Doczy, Ryan (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Civil engineering; Environmental engineering
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-8767

For building owners, there are several factors that they must consider when thinking about whether or not a building has achieved the goals set up for it. With increases in energy prices, knowledge about the damage being done to our atmosphere by humanity, and an increased drive towards environmental stewardship, sustainability has become more and more of a priority for building owners. A problem that building owners face when designing a building is trying to create a proper balance between reducing immediate costs and increasing the "greenness" of a building. The construction industry's technological breakthroughs and growing experience constructing green buildings is causing even those without sustainable inclinations to have to consider the possibility of going green due to the perceived benefits. Owners now have to consider that while sustainable construction drives up the upfront costs of costs of buildings, it also reduces long term costs (e.g. utility bills) while also increasing potential benefits associated with building green (e.g. increasing worker productivity). Due to the implications that these decisions will have on the owner and the building's occupants, the owner needs to have a tool to be able to assist them in determining what building design alternatives are helping the owner achieve his or her goals. The objectives of this research consist of the following (1) develop a decision making tool that is a hybrid of the analytical hierarchy process and the multiple attribute utility theorem; (2) design the decision making tool to take user inputs and determine how close a project came to meeting its goals; (3) set up the model to allow the user to be able to compare alternatives and chose the one that best meets the cost, LEED, and net-zero/carbon neutral goals === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. === Spring Semester, 2014. === April 7, 2014. === Analytical Hierarchy Process, Carbon Neutrality, Leed, Multiple Attribute Utility Theorem, Net-Zero, Sustainability === Includes bibliographical references. === Yassir A. AbdelRazig, Professor Directing Thesis; John O. Sobanjo, Committee Member; Lisa Spainhour, Committee Member.