Alessandro Marangoni
Papers # 2012 Barcelona
keywords : water, total cost of ownership, installation costs, Italy, Germany This paper is based on a research done on behalf of ECVM by Althesys Strategic Consultants about the competitiveness of some PVC products (window profiles, pipes, flooring) applying the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) methodology. The TCO approach evaluates the lifetime costs of acquiring, operating, maintaining and recycling (or disposing) a product. In the case of pipes, the TCO takes into account the costs associated to the lifespan of the investment : buying, transport & installation, use, maintenance, dismantling/disposal. The study considers the drinking water and sewerage networks in Germany and in Italy. The conclusions show that the TCO of plastics pipes is lower than for pipes made of other materials for all the applications considered. For mains, plastics are cheaper than iron, both in Italy (from -13% to 21%) and in Germany (from -5% to -15%). Also for sewer plastics save money : in Italy up to -39%; in Germany : up to -42%.
