04 Do green buildings have superior indoor environments?

04

Do Green Buildings have superior indoor environment?

Green building technology is one of the most trending topics all over the world which is been put forward to reduce the significant impact of the construction industry on the environment, society and economy. Although green buildings are the demand of today and have great impact on our environment and conserving our resources but it is the user whom should be benefitted the most. For this it is important to keep in mind the end product of green buildings. The aim of the research paper is to study about the indoor qualities of the green buildings with respect to certain design indicators that are to be considered important for healthy indoor environment. How these factors affect the comfort ability level of the tenants and how do green buildings cater to the indoor needs.

4.1 What is indoor environmental quality?

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) encompasses the conditions inside a building—air quality, lighting, thermal conditions, ergonomics—and their effects on occupants or residents. Strategies for addressing IEQ include those that protect human health, improve quality of life, and reduce stress and potential injuries. Better indoor environmental quality can enhance the lives of building occupants, increase the resale value of the building, and reduce liability for building

owners.

4.2 Why is this important for buildings?

Since the personnel costs of salaries and benefits typically surpass operating costs of an office building, strategies that improve occupants’ health and productivity over the long run can have a large return on investment. IEQ goals often focus on providing stimulating and comfortable environments for occupants and minimizing the risk of building-related health problems. (Prof.Apoorv V. Kotkar, 2017)

To make their buildings places where people feel good and perform well, project teams must balance selection of strategies that promote efficiency and conservation with those that address the needs of the occupants and promote well-being. Ideally, the chosen strategies should do both: the solutions that conserve energy, water and materials as well as contribute to a great indoor experience.

4.3 Indoor environment quality factors

Under the category of IEQ in the LEED checklist, IEQ comprises of indoor air quality (IAQ), including, environment tobacco smoke, Carbon dioxide monitoring indoor chemical and pollutant source, thermal comfort, and daylight and views. According to a study by Lev, among the other indoor environmental factors that must be considered are the quality of thermal, light, acoustic, privacy, security, and functional suitability.

Henceforth, IEQ generally encompasses factors such as:

Temperature,

Humidity, Ventilation,

Indoor air quality,

Day lighting and lighting quality, Thermal comfort and

Access to views.

4.4 Observations

Following are the observations made on how those factors important for healthy and comfortable environment are considered and treated in green buildings and what are the recommendations mainly focused on housing:

4.4.1 Ventilation

Whether via natural or mechanical means, Council recommends substantially exceeding minimum requirements for window opening sizes and air exchange rates. In homes, the most effective ventilation is achieved through natural cross ventilation. The ideal layout features open

able windows located in opposite walls, which creates a breeze path to let in fresh air and flush out stale air. Note that cross ventilation can be achieved through various façade openings, be it standard windows, operable skylights or even small solid doors. Also air change effectiveness is important to ensure good quality air. Carbon dioxide levels should be regularly controlled to ensure a healthy and productive work environment. Natural ventilation is also a great way to save energy and cater for individual’s differing comfort needs. Council recommends carefully considering all aspects of good indoor environment quality during a project’s early design stage. Experience shows that early design decisions make the greatest impact on future occupant’s wellbeing and only expensive technologies and product choices can recoup early mistakes.

4.4.2 Thermal comfort

Thermal comfort describes the temperature and humidity range in which humans feel comfortable. This range can fluctuate by many degrees and percentages, depending on activity levels, clothing, annual seasons and personal preferences. Environmentally sustainable housing provides thermal comfort levels with little reliance on mechanical heating and cooling systems.

This is commonly achieved through sensible orientation, good insulation, effective ventilation and flexible external shading. In order to respond to changing weather conditions throughout the year and different user patterns, occupants should be provided with sensible controls of both active and passive systems to ensure good thermal comfort.

4.4.3 Product choice

Many materials used in the fit-out and construction of homes contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) which pose serious health risks to building occupants. VOC’s are found in many common construction materials. However alternative low / no VOC products are available on the market including: paints, coatings, sealants, carpets and press wood products (e.g. cabinetry and furniture). Council recommends the early commitment to low / no VOC construction materials.

4.4.4 External views

The provision of long distance views and a visual connection to the outdoors commonly increases wellbeing for housing occupants. In residential buildings views can reduce eyestrain for computer workers and can provide a sense of connectivity. Due to statutory planning

provisions, the balance between sufficient external views and limiting the overlooking into neighboring properties needs to be carefully considered. Internal noise levels Excessive noise generated by neighbors, traffic and hard surfaces that reflect internal sounds (echo) can impact occupant’s amenity.

In order to ensure comfortable noise levels, Council recommends considering the inclusion of acoustic insulation to internal and external walls, double-glazing to windows, landscaping that buffers traffic noise and a good balance of internal hard and soft finishes.

4.4.5 Daylight

In order to achieve high quality daylight levels, Council recommends substantially exceeding minimum requirements for daylight. Good access to natural light is essential to occupant wellbeing. Daylight is vital for body functions, gives us a sense of time and place and connects us to our environment. Therefore, habitable rooms with ‘borrowed light’ should be avoided. Daylight is the combination of direct and indirect (reflected) sunlight.

Therefore, on an overcast day, south facing windows will receive just as much daylight as north facing windows. High level windows will throw daylight deep into rooms, that’s why they are particularly useful for deep floor plans. It is also worth noting that the provision of daylight in living and working spaces reduces energy consumption. This is due to a reduction in the use of air-conditioning, associated with the heat generated by artificial lighting. Also daylight has to be carefully balanced with possible glare as this strains our eyes.

4.4.6 Balancing Indoor Environment Qualities

Designing for a high indoor environment quality can be challenging as all criteria need to be addressed while some may even contradict each other. Windows in particular need to be carefully designed -they influence access to daylight and ventilation, create heat gains in summer and losses in winter and provide a visual and acoustic connection to our immediate environment. Another example is the choice of internal finishes. They not only impact on internal sound quality but also influence a room’s thermal comfort, light reflectivity and air quality. It is therefore important to understand and carefully balance individual design and product choices upon the benefits and disadvantage for different indoor environment quality criteria.

(Krogmann, 2015)

Therefore since these factors are well considered in green rated housing in comparison to conventional housing. Hence the main result is that the tenants in the green-rated building are more satisfied with the indoor environment than the tenants in the conventional building.

4.5 Conclusion

Well-being is an important factor in determining the quality of life of building occupants. As majority of people spent their life indoors, it is widely accepted that the indoor environmental is important for public health and well-being of occupants. Hence, it emerges the importance of facilitating high quality indoor environment within buildings. Consequently, many tools and concepts have been developed to determine criteria for healthy and comfortable buildings with high quality indoor environment. Green building concept has emerged as a new building philosophy in order to provide better and healthier indoor environment for building occupants. There are several assessment tools of green building concept can be applied in facilitating IEQ namely, GRIHA, LEED, BREEAM, CASBEE and Green Star etc.

What’s different in green buildings that lead to higher satisfaction with certain IEQ categories in comparison to non-green buildings? There are certain design decisions and operation practices that are generally known to affect IEQ and are commonly used in green buildings. These strategies include (but are not limited to):

improving ventilation, removing indoor pollutants,

using green materials, giving occupants personal control over operable windows task air-conditioning, or

under floor air distribution systems, employing daylight, and Reducing ambient light levels by using task lighting.