EcoCost : an ecological evaluation system for building materials

\EcoCost\" is an ecologically-based evaluation system for building materials. The system assesses the reduction of biomass and biodiversity and the destruction of natural features caused by obtaining manufacturing distributing and using materials. The parameters of the EcoCost system include: pollutant output from industrial processes; land degradation caused by raw material collection; energy consumption and generation; pollution and land degradation due to transport; longevity of materials; resource scarcity; reusability and recyclability engendered in creating a material and getting it to a site. The system synthesises data from a wide range of sources to give quantitative consistent repeatable impact evaluations to the various parameters. In order to achieve a valid mathematical relationship between the disparate parameters of impact a scalar range related to a constant base entity for each factor is proposed. Choosing a scalar range for ecological impact between 0 (representing no impact) and 1 representing the maximum impact) allows for the required mathematical operations to be made. There is only one single constant which all the various factors of ecological evaluation share and that is the planetary ecosphere this is taken as the constant base entity. Each parameter is evaluated using these principal references. The system then determines an overall comparative EcoCost with a linking ecological impact evaluation algorithm."