Research | Landscape Performance Series
Benefits Toolkit
The Landscape Performance Series Benefits Toolkit is a searchable collection of online tools and calculators to estimate landscape performance.
The tools can be used to estimate specific landscape benefits for completed projects when actual measurements are not available, or they can be used in the design phase to compare projected benefits among various options. Many tools also allow the user to compare life-cycle costs for conventional and sustainable design features.
Know of additional tools to calculate landscape performance benefits? Help build the database by sending your suggestions to lps@lafoundation.org.
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GBRL Green Roof Energy Calculator (v 2.0)
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, Portland State University, University of Toronto
2010This calculator compares the annual energy performance of a building with a green roof to the same building with either a conventional dark roof or a highly-reflective white roof. The results are based on simulations run for new construction (ASHRAE 90.1-2004) apartment or office buildings and use typical weather data for 100 major cities in the U.S. and Canada. Inputs include nearest major city, total roof area, percent green roof cover, growing media depth, and leaf area index of plants. With version 2.0, users can now specify whether construction is new or older and whether the green roof is irrigated or not. The calculator uses default utility rates for each city, or the user can enter his own. Results are the electrical, gas, and energy cost savings for a green roof compared to a dark roof and a white roof. Additional outputs with version 2.0 include heat exchange between the roof and the urban environment and an estimate of the annual roof water balance, including net runoff.
http://greenbuilding.pdx.edu/GR_CALC_v2/grcalc_v2.php#retain
Green Values National Stormwater Management Calculator
Center for Neighborhood Technology
2009This online tool compares predevelopment, conventional development, and development with Green Stormwater BMPs for a single site. Results include changes in total runoff volume, pervious area, and life cycle costs. Inputs include: site size, predevelopment land cover, post development land cover, and parameters for Green Stormwater BMPs. Default values can be used where information is not available. The calculator uses zipcode to determine average annual rainfall. This tool can also be used to find a combination of BMPs that will meet a particular runoff reduction goal.
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Landscape Performance Series
Founding Partner
Pam Emerson said:
the link to this tool did not work ;^(
Landscape Architecture Foundation said:
The tool has been upgraded from v 1.1 to v 2.0 -- we fixed the link and updated the description. Note that the new version has some added functionality. From Dr. Sailor at Portland State:
What is new in version 2?
* user can now specify new or older construction for both commercial and residential buildings
* user can specify whether the green roof is irrigated or not
* model output for sensible and latent heat exchange between the roof and the urban environment is now given
* the model now outputs an estimate of the annual roof water balance.