Living Building Financial Study

April 2009

A subsequent endeavor to the widely distributed ‘Packard Sustainability Matrix’, published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 1999, the Financial Study investigates the economic obstacles to creating Living Buildings, and determines how these vary based on building type and location.

The Cost Comparison Matrix is organized with the climate cities on the X axis and building types on the Y axis. Each cell of the matrix represents the characteristics of one specific variation and contains information about the building’s layout, form, energy use, water use, photovoltaic array size, cost per square foot, percent increase over the base building (as modified for the climate city), and anticipated payback period.

The Living Building Financial Study Report illustrates the assumptions and calculations made for each building type in each climate city and documents the process the study team undertook to arrive at the projected incremental cost.

Executive Summary

Cost Comparison Matrix

Living Building Financial Study Report

The full version of the Report is available to paid members of the Living Building Community.  If you are already a member and are signed in, download the document once you are redirected to the page within the Community. (Choose "Complete Report" once redirected)

Cascadia Green Building Council
SERA Architects
Skanska USA Building
New Buildings Institute
Interface Engineering

This Study was made possible by a generous grant from The Russell Family Foundation.