Study On Building’s Life Cycle Cost Considering Environmental Cost

Construction industry has become one of the pillar industries of the national economy in China. By the end of2013, the area of existed buildings had reached47billion m2in China, and the new-built ones reached3.6billion m2per year. High-speed development of construction industry causes the large amount of energy and resources consumption. A great number of pollutants are released to the environment during the process of mining and manufacturing for building materials, leading to serious adverse effects on the environment. In order to achieve sustainable development in construction industry, direct costs and external environmental costs should be taken into consideration seriously in building’s life cycle. Research in external environmental costs is still far from adequate at home and abroad. Through the analysis and calculation on external environmental cost in building’s life cycle, this paper improves the methodology for generalized building’s life cycle cost, which brings theoretical and practical significance for achieving the economic sustainability of buildings.This paper supposed that generalized building’s life cycle cost consists of direct costs and environmental costs. When calculating environmental cost, this paper presents how to calculate the total pollution in building’s life cycle, according to the study on life cycle inventory of main building materials, fossil fuel and electricity. It will provide a basis for calculating external environmental costs caused by the pollutants. Based on the definition of environmental cost in Guideline for Chinese Environmental and Economic Accounting, environmental costs are divided into pollution abatement costs and environmental degradation costs. According to the methodology of life cycle assessment, environmental costs are calculated in different stages such as production, construction, operation and demolition, while the calculating model for environmental costs in building’s life cycle is presented. When calculating the direct costs, it is supposed that direct costs involved in the life cycle of building consist of preparation cost, design cost, construction cost, operating cost, small-scale maintenance costs, demolish cost and residual value, etc. Main indexes required in calculation are determined, and the calculating model for direct costs in building’s life cycle is presented. At last, this paper takes a residence building in Xiamen as a case study, calculates the environmental cost and direct costs in the building’s life cycle and compares proportions of costs in different life cycle stages. Some suggestions are put forward for improvement on the result.