Since there will usually be a number of acceptable design alternatives for any project, cost/benefit analyses help you select the ones that have the best savings potential.

• Simple Payback Analysis
• Standardized Payback Equations
• Life-Cycle Cost Analysis
• Selecting the "Best" Alternatives
• Weighing Societal Impacts

Tools and calculators:

• International Performance Measure Measurement and Verification Protocol
• Rebuild America: Life-Cycle Cost Calculator
• BLCC Life-Cycle Software Tool
• FEMP Life-Cycle Cost Analysis

Depending on the aggressiveness of the design, experience has shown that it costs no more than 10% more to build high-performance buildings. Some high-performance buildings cost less to construct. Sometimes additional upfront costs can be justified because the investment will reduce operating costs through the life of the building. The added cost, if any, of system investment each year is compared to the cost of fuel saved each year. Total energy costs are, on average, about 50% less than those for conventionally designed buildings. In many cases, the right-sizing of mechanical systems through passive solar design offsets the costs for additional windows or controls.

 Keeping cool is not just a comfort issue.  Heatstroke can be deadly so it is important to provide some means of staying as cool as possible.

This can be a real issue when you are operating on emergency power.  Air conditioners use a tremendous amount of energy. 

In winter you can put on a coat to keep warm.  The coat works by retaining your body heat. You can also build a fire to generate heat.

But what can you do during a summer emergency to stay cool?

Well, think of a cool vest as a coat for summer.  Cool vests use advanced materials that undergo a phase change at comfortable temperatures. 

This phase change is similar to ice changing to water and absorbing a lot of heat in the process.  The difference is that new materials have been developed that undergo this change at a more comfortable and efficient temperature.

Cool vests are an efficient solution to the emergency cooling problem. Instead of cooling the air around you, the cool vest cools you!

 Cool vests that use ice or chemicals have been around for a long time.  They do increase the amount of work you can safely do on a hot day.

The problem is that they don't do much for your comfort level. Vests that use ice or colder chemicals are very uncomfortable and give a strange too hot/too cold at the same time feeling. Also, colder vests waste more energy by cooling the air around you more and your body less.  

The best cool vests I've found are from Glacier Tek. 

Glacier Tek cool vests are much more comfortable than other vests because they maintain a nice, comfortable 59°F. Most competitive products are from 32°F-40°F. 

In a jobsite environment, cool vests are very cost effective because they not only make you more comfortable they increase the amount of work you can do by over 30% when it is hot.