This paper describes a study of the relationships between indoor environmental factors and individual work performance in a call center. The productivity benefits of ventilation rates appeared small, for the worker performance, only high temperature had a statistically significant negative impact on productivity. But it appears that the degree of understaffing and shift length have an impact on productivity too.
In this study the concept of ‘adaptive behaviour’ is extended to look at the effects of personal adjustments and regulator control changes provided in offices. It is evident from experience as described in the adaptive approach, that clothing can play an
Hybrid ventilation is one promising approach to reduce energy consumption in office buildings. On the one hand, a minimum air change rate is supplied to the rooms, even if the windows are closed. On the other hand, the energy demand for ventilation can be reduced if natural forces (wind and buoyancy driven air flow) are used to ventilate the building. The user behaviour has an important but often unknown influence on the thermal building performance and the indoor climate. Thus, an accurate user model should be used in designing hybrid ventilation.
This paper gives the results of a field study in Danish office spaces with displacement ventilation systems. Draught was identified as a serious problem. Half of the 227 occupants were not satisfied with indoor air quality. Occupants counteract draught discomfort in blocking air supply diffusers or asking the maintenance staff to increase the supply air temperature. So a very careful design for displacement ventilation is required in order to perform satisfactorily in practice.
The possible links between the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS) and personal. occupational and environmental factors were studied in a random sample of the population between the ages of 20 and 65 in three districts in middle Sweden. Those persons whose mother smoked or who were brought up in urban areas more commonly reported SBS symptoms. Other variables which were related to SBS symptoms were current urban residency, fresh paint, and preschool children in the home.
Describes a study conducted to determine whether indoor air pollution factors affected respiratory function and symptoms in 1357 non-smoking Caucasian children. The authors conducted interviews to find out about: exposure to pets and to gases, vapours and dusts from hobbies; the use of gas stoves; fireplaces, air conditioners and humidifiers; type of heating systems; and the number of residents, the number of smokers in the home.
Forty seven residential buildings were monitored for indoor acid aerosol, nitric acid and ammonia concentrations over a summer in State College, Pennsylvania. Questionnaires were also distributed for information on occupant behaviour. The paper discusses the relationship between ammonia and concentrations of aerosol strong acidity and HNO3 in the buildings. The indoor outdoor relationship was also analysed. High indoor NH3 levels were found and low acid levels. Mass balance models that included an NH3 neutralisation term were found to predict indoor acid concentrations reasonably well.
States that natural ventilation systems do not sometimes perform well in conditions of high wind and/or low external temperature. Occupants shut down the system to prevent draughts. In contract, in warm summer weather the lack of air movement is a problem. Hybrid ventilation helps mitigate some of these problems. The paper outlines problems in connection with hybrid systems and indicates solutions for them. Gives examples of hybrid system, some in use and some under construction.
An investigation was carried out in a multi-family building in New Jersey, USA of eight apartments, including resident interviews about air conditioner usage. Energy consumption for cooling varied widely across similar apartments, due to occupants' diverse beliefs about machine operation and economic considerations. 75% of residents did not use the thermostats, preferring to switch the system on and off according to comfort needs. Concludes that the problem is not lack of user education, but rather poor user-friendliness of air conditioner controls.
The most important indoor particle sources in the four single family homes studied were found to be cooking, cleaning and the movement of people. The sources contributed significantly to indoor concentration and to altered indoor particle size distributions. Air exchange rates ranged between 0.12 and 24.3 ach and impacted on indoor particle levels and size distributions.
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