On many of the treads I've read lately the cost of various options has been raised. This got me to thinking, does anyone have any links to research into the cost benift analysis of various products, materials and techniques?

Reason I ask is that sometime soon I intend to do my own new build but I'm finding it hard to establish the cost benefit of each build method and the relative greenness of each method (life cycle analysis?).

Now where is that piece of sting and my tape measure?

CBA is probably not the most appropriate method for a building as there are so many known unknowns.
But if you do go down that route then it is up to you to set the criteria bounds and the relationship between each component (very subjective).
Just taking a guess on what is supposed to happen in the next 40 years you will end up with an all electric, 3 story urban house, or a flat in a city centre with a bike rack.

That is possible, start with ICE from Bath for the embodied energy/CO2. Life of structure in years is a bit harder to guess at, but I think that most buildings have to last at least 60 years now without major work, so that is a good starting point.

Great idea Triassic, look forward to seeing what we come up with. It is not an easy topic with so many variables but still worth trying.

It's funny/sad how subjects like the NIBE fiasco hit the headlines and seem to interest many people yet this one, which to me is the most important subject, receives little attention. So to add my little bit from the perspective of a Housing Association (HA) and private self builder I am afraid I disagree stongly with SteamyT. CBA is very appropriate for buildings. In discussions with other HAs we rejected NIBE and the like because we could see many years ago after a little CBA that they would not work on our stock. I do agree with SteamyT that the important thing is to make your assessments of criteria bounds and then take best, average and worse cases for each model. At present for buildings going up or being refurbished in gas supplied areas, my assessment is that because of the low value we put on gas it makes no sense at all not to use it to the full. We insulate to very high levels and then heat with gas. The CBA comes in to convince financiers to put more cash up front to increase the insulation and hence reduce the life cycle costs of the building. Of course stick some PV on the roof as well to get the FIT. Off-gas; add thermal solar - but only after doing the calcs for your area and the going rate of supply and fit for the system. I have yet to see a CBA for a heat pump which makes it viable but happy to be proven wrong. Of course all this £ led.

You are right; been caught by the PV loss over the last build we have done. Will have an escape clause in any future contract on PV.