Value Landscape Engineering: Identifying Costs, Water Use, Labor, and Impacts to Support Landscape Choice†

  1. David E. Rosenberg1,
  2. Kelly Kopp2,
  3. Heidi A. Kratsch2,
  4. Larry Rupp2,
  5. Paul Johnson2,
  6. Roger Kjelgren2

Article first published online: 30 MAR 2011

DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00530.x

Issue

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Volume 47, Issue 3, pages 635–649, June 2011

Additional Information

How to Cite

Rosenberg, D. E., Kopp, K., Kratsch, H. A., Rupp, L., Johnson, P. and Kjelgren, R. (2011), Value Landscape Engineering: Identifying Costs, Water Use, Labor, and Impacts to Support Landscape Choice. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 47: 635–649. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00530.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Respectively, Assistant Professor (Rosenberg), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University, 4110 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322-4110

  2. 2

    Associate Professor, Formerly Assistant Professor, Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor (Kopp, Kratsch, Rupp, Johnson, and Kjelgren), Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, Utah State University, 4820 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322-4820; and Assistant Professor (Kratsch), University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, 5305 Mill St., Reno, Nevada 89502

*(E-Mail/Rosenberg: david.rosenberg@usu.edu).

  1. †

    Paper No. JAWRA-10-0020-P of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA). Discussions are open until six months from print publication.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 1 JUN 2011
  2. Article first published online: 30 MAR 2011
  3. Received February 17, 2010; accepted January 21, 2011.

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Keywords:

  • outdoor water use;
  • required labor;
  • fertilizer use;
  • pesticide use;
  • fuel use;
  • energy use;
  • CO2 emissions;
  • particulate emissions;
  • landscape choice;
  • spreadsheet model;
  • value engineering

Rosenberg, David E., Kelly Kopp, Heidi A. Kratsch, Larry Rupp, Paul Johnson, and Roger Kjelgren, 2011. Value Landscape Engineering: Identifying Costs, Water Use, Labor, and Impacts to Support Landscape Choice. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(3):635-649. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00530.x

Abstract:  We present a spreadsheet model that identifies the costs, water, labor, fertilizer, pesticides, fuel, energy, carbon emissions, and particulates required of and generated by a user-specified residential or commercial landscape over its economic life. This life includes site preparation, materials purchase, installation, annual maintenance and replacing landscape features that wear out or die. Users provide a variety of site-descriptive information and the model queries an extensive database of landscape data to calculate costs, required inputs, and impacts. We verified model results against observations of water, labor, fertilizer, and fuel use over eight years at three landscapes in the Salt Lake City, Utah metropolitan region. We use the model to show tradeoffs in costs and required inputs for a predominately cool-season turfgrass landscape typical for Salt Lake City and other high desert, intermountain western United States cities and potential modifications to that typical landscape. Results highlight strategies water conservation programs can use to encourage property owners to install and adopt water-conserving landscape features and practices. Residential and commercial landscapers, landscape architects, contractors, and property owners can also model current and proposed landscapes and use results to identify a low-cost, low-input landscape that achieves their client’s or their own goals and values.

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