Changing ventilation rates in U.S. offices: Implications for health, work performance, energy, and associated economics

Fisk, William J.; Black, Destin; Brunner, Gregory

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.07.001

Cited by 105 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…A research study on the quantitative benefits of an increased air ventilation rate in offices across the U.S. supports the argument. The study reports the yearly economic benefit of US$13 billion by increasing minimum ventilation rates from 8 to 10 l/s per person and US$38 billion by increasing ventilation rates from 8 to 15 l/s per person on a U.S wide scale (Fisk et al, 2012). These benefits reflect an appreciation of better occupant performance and productivity due to better air quality.…”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

“… Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation (Vernon and Bedford, 1926, Fanger, 1988, Fisk et al, 2012)  Thermal Comfort (Fanger, 1970, De Dear et al, 1997, Tanabe et al, 2007, Djongyang et al, 2010, Lan et al, 2011)  Lighting and Daylighting (Hopkinson et al, 1966, Alrubaih et al, 2013, L Edwards, 2000, Sivaji et al, 2013)  Noise and Acoustics (Sundstrom et al, 1994, Banbury and Berry, 2005, Mui and Wong, 2006)  Office Layout (Brill et al, 1985, Laing et al, 1998, CABE, 2005, Haynes, 2009)  Biophilia and Views (Heerwagen and Orians, 1984, Grinde and Patil, 2009, Heerwagen, 2009, Bright, 2012)  Look and Feel (Mahnke, 1996, Kwallek et al, 1988, Ou et al, 2004 Building Council, 2014)  Location and Amenities (Duffy et al, 1992, Gordon-Larsen et al, 2009, World Green Building Council, 2014 These eight factors have significant interactions and crossover between them. Daylighting has direct interaction with thermal state of an office.…”

Section: Green Buildings and Occupant Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Horr

Arif

Kaushik

et al. 2016

Building and Environment

630

369

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The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature to draw an understanding of the relationship between indoor environmental quality and occupant productivity in an office environment. The study reviews over 300 papers from 67 journals, conference articles and books focusing on indoor environment, occupant comfort, productivity and green buildings. It limits its focus to the physical aspects of an office environment. The literature outlines eight Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) factors that influence occupant productivity in an office environment. It also discusses different physical parameters under each of the IEQ factors. It proposes a conceptual model of different factors affecting occupant productivity. The study also presents a review of the data collection methods utilised by the research studies that aim to investigate the relationship between IEQ and occupant productivity. The study presents a comprehensive discussion and analysis of different IEQ factors that affect occupant productivity. The paper provides a concise starting point for future researchers interested in the area of indoor environmental quality. Keywords: occupant productivity, workplace satisfaction, indoor environment quality, occupant comfortPaper type: Literature review IntroductionHumans spend most of their time indoors, and the majority of the world's population lives in urban areas and work in an office environment (ASHRAE, 1993). There has been a significant global shift in the economy from the manufacturing sector towards the service and knowledge-based sectors which operate in indoor office environments (Haynes, 2008b, World Green Building Council, 2014. Hence, it is becoming important to understand the indoor office environment and the effect it has on occupant productivity. An office environment has a high level of influence on its occupants' productivity (Leaman and Bordass, 1999, Frontczak et al., 2012, Roelofsen, 2002, Mawson, 2002, Van der Voordt, 2004. Past studies on sustainable buildings postulate that green design strategies and technologies enhance the indoor workplace environment. Such strategies/technologies enable the creation of an environment which favours occupants' comfort and performance in both newly built and retrofitted buildings (Romm and Browning, 1994). The majority of the building stock that will exist in 2050 has already been built (2009). Thus, there is a need to investigate the quality of the indoor workplace environment and its relationship to occupant productivity. This paper establishes the state-of-the-art on environmental factors that influence occupant productivity in the office environment. It also highlights and discusses various occupant productivity measurement methods used in indoor environment research studies. This research will help construction industry professionals improve the designs that allow better operation of office buildings along with improving the productivity of the occupants. BackgroundThe research on the direct and indirect effects of indoor environ...

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mentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Green Buildings and Occupant Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Horr

Arif

Kaushik

et al. 2016

Building and Environment

630

369

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most indoor VOCs originate indoors from sources such as building materials, furnishings, cleaning agents, and consumer products (7)(8)(9). Since worker productivity decreases are correlated with low ventilation rates (10,11), it is plausible that VOCs have impacts of economic as well as medical importance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Indoor-Biofilter Growth and Exposure to Airborne Chemicals Drive Similar Changes in Plant Root Bacterial Communities

Russell

Chau

et al. 2014

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Due to the long durations spent inside by many humans, indoor air quality has become a growing concern. Biofiltration has emerged as a potential mechanism to clean indoor air of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are typically found at concentrations higher indoors than outdoors. Root-associated microbes are thought to drive the functioning of plant-based biofilters, or biowalls, converting VOCs into biomass, energy, and carbon dioxide, but little is known about the root microbial communities of such artificially grown plants, how or whether they differ from those of plants grown in soil, and whether any changes in composition are driven by VOCs. In this study, we investigated how bacterial communities on biofilter plant roots change over time and in response to VOC exposure. Through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, we compared root bacterial communities from soil-grown plants with those from two biowalls, while also comparing communities from roots exposed to clean versus VOC-laden air in a laboratory biofiltration system. The results showed differences in bacterial communities between soilgrown and biowall-grown plants and between bacterial communities from plant roots exposed to clean air and those from VOCexposed plant roots. Both biowall-grown and VOC-exposed roots harbored enriched levels of bacteria from the genus Hyphomicrobium. Given their known capacities to break down aromatic and halogenated compounds, we hypothesize that these bacteria are important VOC degraders. While different strains of Hyphomicrobium proliferated in the two studied biowalls and our lab experiment, strains were shared across plant species, suggesting that a wide range of ornamental houseplants harbor similar microbes of potential use in living biofilters.

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“…Building function, defined as a controlled environment for a given purpose, is of paramount importance for most organisations and is therefore a priority for building managers. In office environments, comfortable working conditions, quantifiable in terms of dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity, airflow rates, and other measures, dramatically influence occupant productivity [24][25][26]. Other pivotal variables affect lighting and thermal comfort; these include average window luminance, maximum window luminance, background luminance, and transmitted vertical solar radiation at the window [27].…”

Section: Holistic Performance Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Scenario modelling: A holistic environmental and energy management method for building operation optimisation

O’Donnell

Keane

Morrissey

et al. 2013

Energy and Buildings

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Building managers have specific duties and certain outputs that are required of them. Without the necessary data, information, tools, and time, they are unable to adequately meet their organisational goals. Scenario modelling enables explicit and unambiguous coupling of building functions with other pivotal aspects of building operation in a method that specifically considers the education and technical expertise of building managers. This new method captures, transforms, and communicates the complex interdependencies of environmental and energy management in buildings through an easily navigable, holistic, and reproducible checking mechanism that compares actual performance with predicted performance and completes the "plan-docheck-act" cycle for building managers. Most important, the structured nature of this method caters to the diverse profile of building managers, making it applicable for widespread deployment. This paper demonstrates the benefit of using the new method by examining its application to a performance analysis of two existing buildings.

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Changing ventilation rates in U.S. offices: Implications for health, work performance, energy, and associated economics

Cited by 105 publications

References 14 publications

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

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

Indoor-Biofilter Growth and Exposure to Airborne Chemicals Drive Similar Changes in Plant Root Bacterial Communities

Scenario modelling: A holistic environmental and energy management method for building operation optimisation

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