GreenCycle
GreenCycle is a method for calculating the life cycle costs of outdoor facilities. The methodology, implementation and data collection was developed in a multi-year Swiss research project and is used today for the sustainable consideration of outdoor facilities.
history
In 2007 a research project started at the ZHAW ( Wädenswil , Switzerland) in cooperation with the company nateco and the dbg database company mbH Falkensee to develop a method to calculate the life cycle costs of outdoor facilities and to prepare them graphically and in tabular form so that they can be used as a basis for discussion across disciplines can be. Research funds were made available from Switzerland for this purpose. The interdisciplinary team was supported by the Swiss authority (KTI - Commission for Technology and Innovation) and by experts and professional associations.
The research project consisted of two parts:
In the first part, data on the life cycle costs of various materials and elements in the outdoor space were collated and evaluated. Qualities for maintenance were defined, which followed the best practice approach . The Swiss Catalog (KTI) was created as a result.
The second part of the research project comprised the creation of the database application GreenCycle (since 2016 dbg GreenCycle), which provides experts with the extensive data from the Swiss catalog for calculating life cycle costs.
Goal setting
The maintenance effort of an outdoor facility is heavily dependent on the built-in materials and their arrangement, sizes and expected uses. The aim of the life cycle cost calculation of outdoor facilities is therefore to show the costs for the construction as well as for the maintenance of the facilities before the construction of the facilities and to be able to plan accordingly. This is intended to replace short-term planning through to completion maintenance by long-term, sustainable one. The central topics are the optimization of the costs of the facility with regard to existing care resources and the maintenance of the quality of open spaces.
The life cycle in the GreenCycle
The focus of the calculation method in the GreenCycle is on the costs of outdoor facilities, which must be taken into account for the building owner and operator of the facilities. In contrast to life cycle costing, the life cycle cost calculation at GreenCycle begins with the installation of the material in the open space. The costs for planning the systems are not taken into account. The production costs of the material are partly reflected in the material costs.
The life cycle in the GreenCycle describes the entire phase of existence of a material, starting with manufacture through to dismantling. The life cycle is broken down into individual life phases. These are differentiated differently for each material. Hard surfaces or fixtures usually go through a production phase, a use phase and a dismantling phase. The life phases of vegetation, on the other hand, are much more differentiated and, in addition to the production and dismantling phase, also include development, youth, adult and age phases.
Calculation method
The life cycle costs in the GreenCycle are made up of the costs of the individual activities that are carried out on the surfaces or on the elements of the outdoor space. Every activity is recorded individually in every phase of life and per service level. The costs per activity are calculated per year. These result from the number of work processes (AG) per year, the time required per work process (AG) multiplied by the usual average wage, as well as the operating costs, material and external costs per work process (AG).
Cost calculation per year = number of clients x ((h per client x € / h) + BM € + material € + external €)
The annual effort determined is multiplied by the number of years for the respective duration of the life phase.
Costs per phase of life = annual effort x phase duration
The total of the costs incurred per life phase ultimately results in the life cycle costs for an element or material:
Life cycle costs (LZK) = costs of manufacturing phase + costs of maintenance phase + costs of dismantling phase
The calculation of the life cycle costs of an outdoor system includes the totality of the life cycle costs of the individual materials and elements, based on their respective sizes, lengths and numbers that are in the system:
LZK for ... years of an outdoor facility = (n1 x LZK material 1 x mass1) + (n2 x LZK material 2 x mass2) + ...
When calculating, it should be noted that the life cycle of outdoor facilities has a different lifespan than the materials it contains. The end of the life cycle of outdoor systems is not to be equated with the end of the service life, but is justified by over-planning or new construction of the entire system.
Software solution
In order to be able to calculate and evaluate these complex relationships between the life cycle costs of outdoor facilities, the dbg database company mbH developed the GreenCycle software of the same name in the second part of the research project in close cooperation with the ZHAW Wädenswil and the nateco company. With this, the life cycle costs of individual materials up to complex green spaces can be displayed, evaluated and compared. In the program, the objects (parks, squares, etc.) are divided into their individual materials (profiles), which in turn are structured and subdivided using schemes.
The life cycle costs can be evaluated and compared per cost or activity type, per activity, per life phase or as total costs per year at the level of the individual materials up to several objects. In addition, various external influencing factors that have a strong influence on life cycle costs are taken into account.
Databases
The GreenCycle software can manage several databases for life cycle cost calculation. After the pilot project in Switzerland, the collection of life cycle data was continued by several organizations and working groups and specific data catalogs were created.
Data collection catalog Switzerland (KTI)
The Swiss Catalog (KTI) emerged as the result of the 2009 research project. It was developed in close cooperation with the ZHAW Wädenswil, the Swiss authorities (CTI - Commission for Technology and Innovation) and by specialists and professional associations. This contains around 90 materials and horticultural elements (profiles). It was structurally revised in 2012 and is used in many places in Switzerland.
Data collection catalog Winterthur
Stadtgärtnerei Winterthur is a pilot user of GreenCycle. It developed a city-specific catalog based on the Swiss Catalog (KTI). In this, the frequencies and values for the individual activities were specially adapted to the conditions in the city and a cost accuracy of almost 95% was achieved in the calculations.
Today GreenCycle is an established process and an important component in Winterthur's green space management system.
Data collection catalog VSSG
The VSSG catalog was drawn up in 2010 and 2011 by the Association of Swiss Urban Gardeners and Horticultural Offices (VSSG) as part of the project "Costs, Value and Benefits of Public Greenery". To this end, the municipal garden centers and horticultural offices of Basel, Bern, Chur, Lucerne, Schaffhausen, Winterthur and Zurich formed a working group. Within one year, the maintenance costs of 28 different facilities (green streets, school buildings, parks, cemeteries) were recorded in detail. A total of 45 materials were developed.
The key figures were entered in the VSSG catalog and serve as the data basis for the calculations of the maintenance costs of public green spaces. The catalog is available to all members of the VSSG.
Data collection catalog dbg Germany catalog
In 2013, the dbg database company mbH began to build a Germany catalog based on the Swiss catalog (KTI). The data collection is based on current values from recalculations and the recording of operating data from various cities from all over Germany, which make the data available anonymously. In addition, the data is supported and evaluated through expert discussions and tips from practice. The stored activities correspond to the state of the art and take into account the applicable regulations of DIN standards, FLL guidelines as well as various recommendations, specifications and publications from various specialist groups. Through continuous data research, over 130 different materials could be stored in 3 service levels by 2018. The data structure corresponds to the object type catalog for outdoor facilities of the FLL, which is based on DIN 276 of the HOAI.
application
The life cycle cost calculation based on the GreenCycle model is used by public and private operators of outdoor facilities. Mainly these are the city gardening companies in Switzerland or the green space offices and own businesses in Germany as well as housing associations. Life cycle costs are increasingly being demanded as an important decision-maker, which means that landscape architecture offices also determine life cycle costs in the design phase.
The life cycle cost model is used in many service phases of the HOAI. The focus is on service phases 2 (preliminary design phase) and 3 (design phase). In addition, the life cycle cost calculation according to GreenCycle is used to assess competition entries and to analyze the current situation.
literature
- Alfred Niesel: Sustainability Management in Landscaping . Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-8252-4766-9 .
- Forschungsgesellschaft Landschaftsentwicklung Landschaftsbau e. V. (Ed.): Technical report on the sustainability of outdoor facilities . Bonn 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Background on greencycle.ch , accessed on August 27, 2018
- ↑ Ralf Semmler, Jana Schultze: The life cycle of outdoor facilities - planning, creating, maintaining, dismantling . Self-published, 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-053695-3 , SI
- ^ Ralf Semmler: Life cycle costs of plantings . In: GartenDesign. Edition: 03_2017, p. 37
- ↑ Jana Schultze: Life cycle costs of outdoor facilities as a basis for maintaining value . In: B_I galabau. Edition: 3 | 18, p. 54 f.
- ↑ Jana Schultze: Life cycle costs of outdoor facilities as a basis for maintaining value . In: B_I galabau. Edition: 3 | 18, p. 55 ff.