Life cycle cost analysis on three high-performance glazing systems for an office building in New Cairo, Egypt

ABSTRACT

In the hot desert climate zones, the energy consumption of fully glazed office buildings is too high due to the heavy cooling loads. This problem forced architects to use the High-Performance Glazing Systems (HPGSs) which reduce the solar heat gain and save energy. Despite the high initial cost, the HPGSs are supposed to be economically feasible in the long term. This study investigates and compares the economic feasibility of three HPGSs for an office building in New Cairo. In terms of life cycle cost (LCC), the Low-E, Electrochromic, and Photovoltaic glazing systems are compared to the Clear Double-Glazing as a conventional system. Furthermore, the three economic indicators; Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Payback Period (PBP) are analysed. In conclusion, the Low-E Glazing System has the lowest LCC because of the low disposal cost. Moreover, the Low-E glazing has the highest NPV, IRR, and the shortest PBP (15 years). Due to the high initial and maintenance costs, the Photovoltaic Glazing System has a higher LCC. The Electrochromic Glazing System is not economically feasible due to the highest LCC, the lowest NPV, the lowest IRR, and the longest PBP which exceeds 30 years.

KEYWORDS:

• High-performance glazing systems
• hot desert climate
• life cycle costing
• office buildings

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to thank the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and Egypt–Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) for purchasing the required software to conduct this work. The authors would like to thank the cooperating glazing system companies for the appreciated support by information and technical reports that helped in completing this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).