Energy & Sustainability worked example

Sustainability Project Payback with project capital investment of 37,500 $: a worked example

This worked example runs the sustainability project payback numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: project capital investment of 37,500 $ instead of the typical 75,000 $. Estimate simple payback for a sustainability project from capital investment, annual savings, and recurring support cost.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Project capital investment: 37,500 $ (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 75,000)
  • Gross annual cost savings: 52,000 $ / yr (held at the documented default)
  • Annual support and verification cost: 8,000 $ / yr (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Net annual savings = gross annual cost savings - annual support and verification cost.
  • Sustainability project simple payback works out to 0.85 yr at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Net annual sustainability savings works out to 44,000 $ / yr at these inputs.
  • Project capital investment works out to 37,500 $ at these inputs.
  • Five-year net value after investment works out to 182,500 $ at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where project capital investment sits at 75,000 $ and the headline result is 1.7 yr, this scenario comes in 50% below the baseline at 0.85 yr.
  • Use it to rank competing efficiency projects, screen a proposal before deeper analysis, or set expectations with finance on when a retrofit turns cash-positive. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Sustainability project simple payback: 0.85 yr (headline result)
  • Net annual sustainability savings: 44,000 $ / yr
  • Project capital investment: 37,500 $
  • Five-year net value after investment: 182,500 $

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Sustainability Project Payback calculator, set project capital investment to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.