Benefits and Costs of Research: A Case Study of Cybernetic Building Systems.
Benefits and Costs of Research: A Case Study of
Cybernetic Building Systems.
(2075 K)
Chapman, R. E.
NISTIR 6303; 167 p. March 1999.
Keywords:
BACnet; benefit cost analysis; building economics;
cybernetic building systems; economic analysis; energy
conservation; fire panels; fire safety; impact
evaluation; life cycle costing; sensors; research
impacts; resource allocation
Abstract:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) is improving its resource allocation process by
doing "microstudies" of its research impacts on society.
This report is one of a series of microstudies prepared
by NIST's Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL).
This report focuses on a critical analysis of the
economic impacts of past, ongoing, and planned BFRL
research for developing and deploying cybernetic
building systems (CBSs) in office buildings. Building
systems targeted for incorporation into CBS products and
services include energy management, fire and security,
fault detection and diagnostics, the real-time purchase
of electricity, and the aggregation of building stock
for multi-facility operations. A CBS is defined as a
multi-system configuration that is able to communicate
information and control functions simultaneously and
seamlessly at multiple levels. Pressure to increase
building systems performance and reduce costs has
created a potential market for CBS products and
services. BFRL is collaborating with industry on the
development of CBS products and services and is
providing a forum for conducting interoperability
testing. This case study of BFRL's CBS-related
research, development, and deployment effort illustrates
how to apply in practice a seiies of standardized
methods to evaluate and compare the economic impacts of
alternative research investments. It is presented in
sufficient detail to understand the basis for the
economic impact assessment and to reproduce the results.
It is based on past, ongoing, and planned research
efforts. Thus, it includes CBS-related investment costs
that have already occurred along with estimates of
future investment costs and cost savings due to the us'e
of CBS products and services. The results of this study
demonstrate that the use of CBS products and services
will generate substantial cost savings to the owners,
managers, and occupants of office buildings across the
natibn. The present value of cost savings nationwide
expected from the use of CBS products and services in
office buildings exceeds $1.1 billion ($1,176 million in
1997 dollars). Furthermore, because of BFRL's role as a
facilitator and developer of key CBS enabling
technologies, CBS products and services are expected to
become available commercially in 2003. Without BFRL's
participation, the commercial introduction of CBS
products and services would likely be delayed until
2010. Consequently, potential cost savings accruing to
the owners, managers, and occupants of office buildings
over the period 2003 until 2010 would have been
foregone. These cost savings are $90.7 million in 1997
dollars. These cost savings measure the return on BFRL's
CBS-related investment costs of approximately $11.5
million.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899