The purpose of the ASCOT tool is to assist the user in evaluating and thereby optimise the economical costs of a building renovation project in relation to sustainable development issues.
The tool is designed to take into consideration:
- All investment and operation costs over the total lifetime of the building;
- The savings from the investments with respect to sustainable issues (energy, water, waste) over the total life span of the building
- The reduced environmental impact from the energy savings
- The social or environmental and other external costs incurred by the project (not included in the first prototype but an option that can be added at a later stage)
The ASCOT model allows a comparison between a traditional (reference) building renovation and different sustainable concepts for the renovation of the building. This comparison will take into account usage savings during the total lifetime of the building and the frequency of future replacing of building components and systems. The tool is primarily intended for use in the early stage of the design process. It can be used for both new constructions and renovation projects.
The ASCOT tool can be used to define sustainability categories and to classify buildings according to these categories based on the calculated reduced environmental impacts.
The ASCOT tool is characterised by a simple structure that is very flexible to future changes and upgrading. Its use and results are easy to understand - enabling a steep learning curve.
The ASCOT tool will be continuously developed – the intention is to cover all countries of Europe. This means that it will be possible to introduce new climates and to adjust energy prices and building component prices to local conditions.
Ascot tool can be downloaded from Cenergias homepage.
