Productivity, Energy, and Economics in Modern Offices

To promote the effort for energy conservation, it is also important to estimate the indoorenvironmental quality (IEQ) from the aspect of office workers productivity. A conceptualdiagram for the evaluation of the effect of IEQ on productivity was proposed. The resultsfrom subjective experiments of short term showed that human responses, such as fatigue,cerebral blood flow, sensation to the environment and SBS symptoms, were important for theevaluation of productivity. The results from a subjective experiment of long term exposurerevealed the relationship that performance decreased with the increase in the level of fatigue.The results from another subjective experiment showed that the subjects performed well whenthey were satisfied with the IEQ. A survey in call-center showed the decline in performancein warmer environment. Economical and global environmental impacts from the modificationof cooling temperature settings in office were also discussed.