Occupant productivity and office indoor environment quality: A review of the literature

https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/128203252/filestore_1_.pdf

Ten questions concerning green buildings and indoor air quality

A review of operating performance in green buildings: Energy use, indoor environmental quality and occupant satisfaction

What is a green building? A large amount of definitions and green rating tools prove that an exact definition is still a point of discussion. To research the differences between green rating tools, four different buildings are assessed with: EPN, BREEAM, LEED, GreenCalc+ and EcoQuantum. These tools are national and international commonly used to assess (green) buildings. A residential-, office-, sports- and school building are assessed. Each of these buildings consisted of a general and a green variant. The general variant represents the current state. And in the green variant measures are taken to make the building more energy efficient and sustainable. The assessments show large differences between the evaluation results. The same building does not fulfil the requirements of a green building according to one tool, while another tool rates the building very "green". The improvement between the general and green variant also show large differences. Based on the same input values, the office building is only 12% improved according to EPN and 45% according to LEED. The differences are mainly caused by the environmental aspects taken into account. EPN considers only the energy performance. GreenCalc+ takes also material and water aspects into account, while LEED and BREEAM assess an even larger amount of building aspects. Even if the type and amount of building aspects correspond, differentiation in appreciation of these aspects causes other end results.

/pdf/what-is-a-green-building-423eoydfpa.pdf

What is a green building

Green building certification systems aim at improving the design and operation of buildings. However, few detailed studies have investigated whether green rating leads to higher occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ). This research builds on previous work to address this. Based on the analysis of a subset of the Center for the Built Environment Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality survey database featuring 11,243 responses from 93 LEED-rated office buildings, we explored the relationships between the points earned in the IEQ category and the satisfaction expressed by occupants with the qualities of their indoor environment. We found that the achievement of a specific IEQ credit did not substantively increase satisfaction with the corresponding IEQ factor, while the rating level, and the product and version under which certification had been awarded, did not affect workplace satisfaction. There could be several reasons for this lack of relationships, some of which are outside the control of designers and beyond the scope of rating systems based primarily on design intent. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges and priorities that building professionals, researchers, and green building certification systems need to consider for moving us towards more comfortable, higher performing, and healthier green-rated buildings.

https://tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09613218.2018.1383715

Indoor environmental quality and occupant satisfaction in green-certified buildings

The Building and Construction Authority Green Mark Scheme in Singapore encourages better indoor environmental quality for healthier workplaces for occupants. However, studies have shown that green buildings do not necessary ensure better indoor environmental quality. This case study aimed to compare the prevalence of sick building syndrome symptoms and sick leave in a Green Mark Platinum and a non-Green Mark-certified building. Thirty-two employees from the Green Mark Platinum building and 33 employees from the non-Green Mark-rated building were surveyed to investigate their perceptions of the indoor environmental quality and prevalence of sick building syndrome experienced. Information concerning the offices and absenteeism of staff was collected as well. Compared to the Green Mark Platinum-certified building, the non-Green Mark-certified building was more leaky and had a higher air change rate (between 2.5 to 3 times higher), was about 1°C cooler, and had a lower illuminance level. The statistical analy...

Indoor environmental quality, occupant perception, prevalence of sick building syndrome symptoms, and sick leave in a Green Mark Platinum-rated versus a non-Green Mark-rated building: A case study

Yan Fen Tan

Papers

Indoor environmental quality, occupant perception, prevalence of sick building syndrome symptoms, and sick leave in a Green Mark Platinum-rated versus a non-Green Mark-rated building: A case study