Legal Requirements Lists federal requirements related to the purchase of this item, including applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements

• FAR Subpart 23.2 Energy and Water Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• FAR Subpart 23.1 Sustainable Acquisition Policy

Life Cycle Cost Savings

Life Cycle Costing (LCC) aims to quantify the financial impact of a product over its entire life cycle to assist consumers in making decisions that will save them money over the long term.

An efficient product is cost effective when the utility costs saved over the life of the product exceed the additional upfront cost (if any) of the more efficient model. Energy Star considers both upfront costs and lifetime energy cost savings when setting required efficiency levels. Federal purchasers can assume that Energy Star-qualified products are life-cycle cost effective.

To calculate life cycle cost savings, explore these tools:

• For life cycling costing on specific brand-name products, visit SFTool Product Search by clicking the green box at the top of this page. Once you have created an account, add a product to a project and open the project. The tool displays energy cost savings, adjusting for local utility rates, operating conditions, and the purchase price.
• NREL’s Levelized Cost of Energy Calculator can help estimate the cost of electricity as an input for your lifecycle cost calculations, accounting for both cost escalation and discount rates.

Guiding Principles

Contributes to meeting The Guiding Principles for Sustainable Federal Buildings

• 2 - Optimize Energy Performance
• 3 - Protect and Conserve Water