eVALUator is an easy-to-use Windows™-based program that calculates the lifecycle benefits of investments that improve building design. It analyzes the financial benefits from buildings that reduce energy cost, raise employee productivity, and enhance tenant satisfaction.

The software wizard guides users through each step. It provides building owners, developers, tenants, architects, engineers, and facility managers with the financial information necessary to make sound decisions about building improvements. An eVALUator economic analysis provides users with more informed decisions than just using simple payback calculations.

Download eVALUator

System requirements:

eVALUator 4.0
PC Platform, Windows XP
200MHz or faster processor
64 MB of RAM
7 MB Self-extracting executable file

Download eVALUator
(download .exe file and click to self extract)

Other Features:

Program Wizard
Online help utility
Auto-generated Reports

eVALUator Outputs and Inputs

An eVALUator financial analysis considers the following factors over the life of a project:

• financing costs
• tax implications
• energy costs
• replacement costs and intervals
• operation and maintenance costs
• opportunity costs for money (discount rates)
• the impact of inflation
• non-energy benefits (such as improved occupant productivity and tenant retention)

Outputs:

eVALUator produces a set of bottom-line economic parameters as well as a year-by-year cash flow analysis. This includes:

• net present value of lifecycle costs and savings
• savings-to-investment ratio
• adjusted internal rate of return

Additional parameters of interest to developers and lenders include:

• net cash flow (first-year, and average over the life of the project)
• annual gross profit
• annual net income
• project value

Inputs:

The program's data-entry screens are easy to use. Each data point has a default value, which can be customized to fit the financial profile of each user. Once default values are defined, additional data entry is limited to a few key parameters. Program inputs include traditional life-cycle economic parameters such as:

• energy costs and savings
• capital costs
• discount rate
• inflation rates for energy, operations and maintenance, and general purchases
• financing rates
• loan terms
• period of analysis
• repair and replacement costs
• annual operations and maintenance costs

Other input parameters available to owners, developers, and financiers include:

• productivity improvement rate
• salary costs
• time on market
• capitalization rate
• average lease rate
• average occupancy

What’s wrong with simple payback analysis?

This traditional method focuses only on how quickly an investment can be recovered, rather than on the investment’s long-term profitability. This method typically ignores all costs and savings that occur after payback is reached. It does not differentiate between project alternatives that would offer different lengths of service, nor does it weigh the future stream of savings against the initial investment cost.

Consequently, decisions based on simple payback tend to undervalue the benefits of improved building design. In contrast, eVALUator allows building design teams to understand and capture all available benefits.