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COMPARATIVE CALCULATION OF GLOBAL AND HEATING COSTS FOR NEARLY ZERO ENERGY SINGLE-FAMILY BUILDING

Staņislavs Gendelis

Abstract

Typically, during design stage of a single-family house, only initial costs are taken into account, which are also discussed with the customer and optimized with the aim of reducing them. Long-term calculations are usually not made. At the same time, the calculation of global costs to design, build and operate the building show the real difference in expenses while living in this house. In the case of nZEB building the global cost approach becomes especially useful because of the strict energy demand requirements and compulsory use of renewable energy sources. In this study, newly built nZEB single-family house is studied in detail using comparative global cost calculation methodology. The most popular in Latvia insulation materials (loose cellulose wool, mineral wool, EPS) and two external wall types are included in the research. The economic calculations for each variant are carried out, taking into account expected energy price increase, discount rate, maintenance and operating costs during the calculation period of 30 years. These calculations show the small influence of changes in initial costs during long operation period. At the same time, comparison of only heating costs depending on used heating system with different efficiencies and installation costs show that the energy price affects the optimum choice the most.

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