productivity

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is generally taken to encompass four main factors: indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal conditions, visual quality, and acoustical quality. Although there is an implicit concern for safety, the predominant metrics all four in standards for design of buildings are based on perceived quality or comfort.

Indoor temperature and humidity conditions as well as CO2 and airborne mould concentrations were measured in four manor schools in the Estonian cold climate. Based on these measurements, the influence of the indoor climate on the performance of schoolwork was assessed. The indoor environmental quality in manor schools turned out to be quite poor due to the inadequate performance of ventilation and heating systems. Intermittent stove heating was found to secure the minimum temperature in general but in winter thermal comfort was not always guaranteed.

As compared to mixing ventilation systems, the personalized ventilation system (PV) can help to create a healthy and comfortable working environment with a simultaneous reduction of energy consumption. This latter aspect should be of particular significance for employers and investors who bear responsibility for office space conditions. The parameter which is of paramount interest for this group of people is productivity as it translates into a company’s revenue.

To promote the effort for energy conservation, it is also important to estimate the indoor environmentalquality (IEQ) from the aspect of office workers productivity. In this paper, a field survey in a call-centerwas explained with the main result relating the indoor air temperature and the performance of thecommunicators. Then, an example of economical effect of changing the preset temperature of theair-conditioning system in summer was estimated based on the findings from the field survey.

It is difficult to evaluate the effect of indoor environmental quality on productivity by measuring only taskperformance. In this study, the monitoring of cerebral blood flow during task by Near InfraredSpectroscopy is introduced as one of the objective evaluation methods of workers human responsethat are factors affecting task performance.

This paper reports the effects of air quality and thermal environment on motivation and performance forstudents. The psychological condition of subjects can strongly influence their performance for learning.In this paper, the motivation for learning is evaluated by using a questionnaire as a self-assessmentform. According to the previous research, motivation for learning becomes biased when the learningperformance of the student is measured.

Assumptions of productivity costs related to the outdoor supply airflow rate and indoor temperature canbe made based on a number of recent studies. A life cycle cost (LCC) computer program for indoorclimate systems based on Swedish conditions was developed and used to compare and optimizedifferent indoor climate systems. A productivity cost related to the outdoor supply airflow rate and theindoor temperature according to the recent studies was assumed.

The paper evaluates the potential work performance benefits of increased ventilation. We analysed the literature relating work performance with ventilation rate and employed statistical analyses. The studies included in the review assessed performance of various tasks in laboratory experiments and measured performance at work in real buildings. Almost all studies found increases in performance with higher ventilation rates. The studies indicated typically a 1-3 % improvement in average performance per 10 L/sperson increase in outdoor air ventilation rate.

The main findings from the Probe occupant surveys are assessed. The emphasis is on the consequences for strategic thinking on how best to design and manage buildings to improve conditions for occupants and users, taking examples from the Probe studies. Comfort, health and productivity of occupants are positively associated statistically; and all are easily undermined by chronic, low-level problems.

Productivity is one of the most important factors affecting the overall performance of any organization. Productivity is defined as the ratio output divided by the input used to produce the output. The output refers to products and services produced by an organization (2). Increased attention has been paid to the relationship between the work environment and productivity in the 1990s. Laboratory and field studies show that the air quality and thermal conditions at work may have a notable impact on the performance of the occupants, and consequently on labor productivity (1,3,4).