Building Life-Cycle Cost (BLCC) Programs

The Building Life-Cycle Cost Program BLCC 5.3-09 is a program developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to provide computational support for the analysis of capital investments in buildings. EERC 1.0-09b is a program to calculate an escalation rate for contract payments for financed projects when payments are based on projected annual energy cost savings. Handbook 135 (PDF 9.2 MB), the Life-Cycle Costing Manual for the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), explains in detail the principles of life-cycle cost analysis and integrates them with the FEMP criteria. The Annual Supplement to Handbook 135 (ASHB 135), Energy Price Indices and Discount Factors for Life-Cycle Cost Analysis, contains tables of present-value factors calculated with the same discount rates and energy price projections as are used in the computer programs. The documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

BLCC 5.3-09
For PCs only. Register and download.

BLCC5 is programmed in Java with an XML file format. The user's guide is part of the BLCC5 Help system. BLCC version 5.3-09 contains the following six modules:

FEMP Analysis, Energy Project for energy and water conservation and renewable energy projects under the FEMP rules based on 10 CFR 436;
Federal Analysis, Financed Project for federal projects financed through Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC) or Utility Energy Services Contracts (UESC) as authorized by Executive Order 13123 (6/99);
OMB Analysis, Projects subject to OMB Circular A-94 for non-energy, federal government construction projects, but not water resource projects;
MILCON Analysis, Energy Project for energy and water conservation and renewable energy projects in military construction;
MILCON Analysis, ECIP Project for energy and water conservation projects under the Energy Conservation Investment Program (ECIP); and
MILCON Analysis, Non-Energy Project for military construction designs that are not primarily intended for energy or water conservation.

BLCC 5.3 conducts economic analyses by evaluating the relative cost effectiveness of alternative buildings and building-related systems or components. Typically, BLCC is used to evaluate alternative designs that have higher initial costs but lower operating-related costs over the project life than the lowest-initial-cost design. It is especially useful for evaluating the costs and benefits of energy and water conservation and renewable energy projects. The life-cycle cost (LCC) of two or more alternative designs are computed and compared to determine which has the lowest LCC and is therefore more economical in the long run. BLCC also calculates comparative economic measures for alternative designs, including Net Savings, Savings-to-Investment Ratio, Adjusted Internal Rate of Return, and Years to Payback. The software can evaluate federal, state, and local government projects for both new and existing buildings. While BLCC is oriented toward building-related decisions, it can be used to evaluate alternative designs for almost any project type in which higher capital investment costs result in lower future operating-related costs.

EERC 1.0-09b
(EXE 7.3 MB)

The Energy Escalation Rate Calculator computes an average annual escalation rate for fuel prices from the annual energy price forecasts of the DOE Energy Information Administration. This rate can be used to escalate contract payments in Energy Savings Performance Contracts and Utility Energy Services Contracts when the payments are based on projected annual energy cost savings. The calculator prompts the user for information on project location, fuel usage, industry sector, and the beginning and end dates of the performance period. It then calculates the average rate of fuel price escalation over the duration of the performance period, weighted by the proportions of fuel types used in the project.

Energy Price Indices and Discount Factors
Energy Price Indices and Discount Factors for Life-Cycle Cost Analysis - 2009, Annual Supplement to Handbook 135 (PDF 342 KB)

The annually updated discount factors used in life-cycle cost analysis (and embedded in the software) are also available as printed tables in this publication. The factors are calculated with the latest FEMP discount factors and energy price escalation rates for U.S. Census regions, rate types and fuel types. Hard copies are obtainable on request from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Information Center at 1-877-337-3463.