Road show on LCC for commercial buildings and lighting - OPET Sweden

Summary
A series of seminars - a 'road show' - was arranged in 1999 in seven places, with a total of 190 participants from 39 different municipalities. The aim of the road show was to motivate customer groups and to discuss financial matters, especially concerning the financing of rehabilitation projects. In addition, energy and environmental aspects of energy efficiency were presented. After completing each of the seminars, new innovative financial means (financial instruments in municipalities) were identified.

A tool generating the best life cycle cost (LCC) options was developed. The tool is now available on the Internet and is being used by municipalities in their evaluation on rehabilitation projects concerning lighting. A number of problems faced by municipalities in realizing projects through the method have been brought up. As an aid for the municipalities, a brochure has been developed and distributed.

End-user area	New buildings Planning issues Refurbishment of buildings
Target audience	Local and regional authorities
Technical scope	Lighting

Context
This project demonstrates good practice by showing how to calculate profitability. One reason that energy efficiency projects are not carried out is that profitability is very seldom calculated. Another reason is that when calculations are done, the perspective is often very short. When the costs are compared over the whole life cycle (LCC – life cycle costs) energy efficiency measures are often the best alternative. Energy and money are saved at the same time.

Objectives
The aim was to educate people involved in the building sector to use LCC as a method of choosing between different alternatives in projects. When using LCC, more energy efficiency measures would be implemented. The strategy was to use a simple method for calculating life cycle costs (not to complicate things) in real projects. People seem to remember and learn better when applying new knowledge in their own projects.

Process
The end-users targeted were project managers in municipalities, hospitals and private companies. The branch organisations, lighting and electricity installers sector, were involved, to help in informing about LCC. Also, financial institutes were invited to help the end-users with financial matters.

An economist was engaged to explain the LCC method at the seminars. This gave the project a higher status in economical matters.

The LCC method was presented in a brochure, and the results were also presented at a fair in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Initially, the LCC method was developed only for lighting. Subsequently, it has also been used for ventilation, etc.

A lesson learned is not to complicate things! LCC can be presented as a very complicated method, or you can show people how to use it without having to understand everything that lies behind it.

Another lesson learned is that even project managers need guidance and encouragement at times. When acting differently from what they are used to, it encourages them when someone reminds them that this is the right way to do things.

Actions
- Initializing projects
- Seminar
- Other: 'Roadshow'

Financial resources and partners
The commercial buildings project had a total budget of € 14,549 during the period from 1/11/98 to 31/10/99. The European Commission and the Swedish Energy Agency, providing respectively 50%, financed the project. The cost of the lighting project was € 15,354 during the same period and was also jointly financed by the EC and the Swedish Energy Agency.

Results
Five financial institutions were contacted and six projects implemented. The true mark of success, apart from the technology implementation itself, is when there is a shift from pay-off to the LCC. method when considering the rehabilitation of lighting. Our estimation is that, out of 288 Swedish municipalities, about 75 have accepted the LCC method and brought it up on their agenda. In the municipality of Sundsvall, a LCC calculation showed that changing the armatures would substantially reduce their maintenance and running costs. As a result, 19,000 new street lighting armatures were installed.

Lessons learned and replication potential
The fruitful partnership with the branch organisations was one of the most positive aspects of the project.

One of the problems was that companies offering financial help for energy efficiency measures in Sweden were too few. Financial help could only be found within companies selling equipment, which is not always the best alternative.

A success factor is to help with concrete advice in real projects. Information is not enough to change the behaviour of people. If we were to help others in replicating this experience we would then emphasize guidance and encouragement in real life projects instead of seminars and brochures.