Borgert, A.E.; Ghisi, E. The Impact of the Water Tariff on the Economic Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting for Use in Residential Buildings. Water2024, 16, 1058.
Borgert, A.E.; Ghisi, E. The Impact of the Water Tariff on the Economic Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting for Use in Residential Buildings. Water 2024, 16, 1058.
Borgert, A.E.; Ghisi, E. The Impact of the Water Tariff on the Economic Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting for Use in Residential Buildings. Water2024, 16, 1058.
Borgert, A.E.; Ghisi, E. The Impact of the Water Tariff on the Economic Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting for Use in Residential Buildings. Water 2024, 16, 1058.
Abstract
This study aims to analyse the technical viability and economic feasibility of rainwater harvesting systems for single and multifamily residential buildings in the city of Florianópolis, Brazil. Simulations were conducted for representative buildings in the city under different water usage scenarios and system designs, in a total of 36 simulation scenarios. An economic analysis was performed for four scenarios over a twenty-year period. Both initial and operational costs were considered and net present value, internal rate of return and payback used as feasibility indicators. Almost all of the cases simulated were technically viable for the group of houses, and up to 78.9% for flats. As for the economic analysis, for houses, between 60.1% and 74.8% of the cases were economically feasible, achieving a discounted payback period ranging from 6.2 to 8.6 years. For flats, between 57.8% and 64.2% of the cases were economically feasible, achieving a discounted payback period ranging from 4.8 to 5.6 years. As the water tariff in the city underwent changes recently, the former and current tariff formats were compared. The current tariff format provides more economic benefits for saving potable water, and leads to a higher net present value and a shorter discounted payback period.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
