CRAVEzero Pinboard

CRAVEzero Pinboard

An interactive web-based structured framework to build effective low life cycle cost nearly zero energy buildings.  http://pinboard.cravezero.eu/

Figure : The CRAVEzero Pinboard – pinboard.cravezero.eu

The CRAVEzero pinboard is a structured framework organizing all required information and tools to build:

  • An effective low life cycle cost nZEB business model
  • Reliable life cycle cost databases with cost reduction potentials in processes
  • Technologies, methodologies, robust solutions and business models for low LCC nZEBs.

The outcomes of the CRAVEzero project have been collected and condensed into the so-called ‘pinboard’. The pinboard can be considered the backbone of CRAVEzero project, allowing changing the approach for the design and construction of new nZEBs through the solutions, ideas and tools developed. A brief overview of the pinboard’s main features is required to better understand the prototypical implementations carried out by project partners.


Figure: Pinboard landing page on CRAVEzero website (pinboard.cravezero.eu).

See the report about the ‘CRAVEzero pinboard’ for a complete description of the pinboard.


Figure : CRAVEzero method concerning the pinboard

All the steps mentioned in the CRAVEzero methodology have been translated into an interactive modular set of nine web-tools, free to use and modify on the CRAVEzero pinboard.

Business Model Canvas

A lean startup template for developing new or documenting your existing nZEB business models. The business model canvas is a tool which helps to understand a business model in a straightforward, structured way.

It offers the possibility to browse through existing business models or to create new ones. The business model repository collects 70+ existing nZEB business models, in which the life cycle phases are indicated. The information of each business model is displayed according to the Osterwalder Business Model Canvas structure: It is a visual chart with elements describing a company’s or product’s value proposition, infrastructure, customers and finances.

Within this canvas it is also possible to create a business model from scratch thanks to the Business Model Canvas creator.

Case-study dashboard – Frontrunner buildings

The idea of this interactive dashboard is to allow users of the pinboard to dig into the data and discover insights and look for optimal solutions based on the CRAVEzero case studies. The web-report is highly interactive and highly customizable. Within the dashboard, users can add and remove data, change visualization types, and apply filters to thousands of technical variants and life cycle costs.

Process Map

The Process Map is a process tool that enables the project team to integrate additional tasks and actions for achieving the nZEB standard into their own planning, construction and execution routine. It gives an initial overview of the complexity and the possibilities of influencing the planning and construction process to develop a nZEB. In the interactive process map, stakeholders can display individual “nZEB specific action items” (To Do’s) or see which tasks other project participants have, in order to achieve a nZEB. The whole process is divided into the following planning and construction steps: urban planning; planning; building construction; utilization; end-of-life. Also action items and bottlenecks can be displayed for the following stakeholders: owner/user; municipalities; integrated planning team; construction companies.

Life Cycle Tracker

CRAVEzero Life Cycle Tracker is an easy to customize electronic document that can be adapted to the specific needs of any practice, team or project. It organizes the process of briefing, designing, constructing, maintaining, operating and using building projects into several key stages. It gives details of the tasks and outputs required at each stage, which may vary or overlap to suit specific project requirements. It is a web tool and downloadable spreadsheet, containing customizable tables allowing easy creation of the project roles, design responsibility matrix and multidisciplinary schedules of services.

Life Cycle Management

CRAVEzero Life Process Management tool is an online tool which allows tracking and managing a nZEB project throughout the whole life cycle.

Life cycle cost tool

A tool for the life cycle cost calculation was developed and it is available in two versions: a complete version with all functionalities and freedom to customize and a reduced online version, which permits to do a preliminary LCC calculation.The data collection, within the tool, is organized following as a base reference the LCC structure introduced by the standard ISO 15686-5:2017. Furthermore, the source used to structure the construction costs is the European Code of Measurement, elaborated by the European Committee of the Construction Economists. Regarding the analysis of maintenance costs of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, this is based on standard values from EN 15459:2018, which provides yearly maintenance costs for each element, including operation, repair, and service, as a percentage of the initial construction cost. Lifespan for system replacement is also provided by the norm. According to the ISO 15686-5:2017 the LCC analysis, and it deals with the activities connected with the design, construction and operation of the building. End-of-life costs have not been implemented in the tool yet. The Whole Life Cost (WLC) includes also the non-construction cost (e.g. cost of land, enabling activities) and the needed fees for allowing the set-up of the building from the technical and administrative point of view.