- The June 5, 2000 cover of Business Week featured an article entitled IS YOUR OFFICE KILLING YOU? The dangers of sick buildings, which detailed both the health and liability risks of unhealthy buildings.
- Far too infrequently the media reports multi-million dollar court judgements for cases resulting from unhealthy working conditions. Many more are settled our of court.
- 95% of complaints referred to CIGNA are SBS related - about comfort rather than illness -- 5% of complaints are building-related illnesses, more likely to generate a valid workers' compensation claim.
|
| |
What causes SBS? |
- High temperature or excessive variations in temperature during the day
- Very low or high humidity
- chemical pollutants from building materials and furnishings
- Dust particles and fibers in the atmosphere
- Air conditioning
- Glare or flicker in lighting
- Low level of user control over ventilation, heating and lighting
- Poor maintenance of building services and poor standards of repair
- Office cleaning services
|
| |
What's the solution to SBS? |
A number of High Performance Building strategies can make buildings healthy, comfortable and productive:
- daylighting
- properly commissioned and maintained HVAC systems
- narrow floor plans to optimize natural daylight
- high benefit lighting upgrades
- under floor air distribution and displacement ventilation
- occupant control of heat, light and air
- operable windows and mixed mode HVAC
|
These strategies make good financial sense too. Looking at the annual operating expenses of commercial space, the largest item is salaries. A 1% savings in salaries from reduced absenteeism and increased worker productivity is equal to $2.00/s.f./year, greater than O&M or energy costs. |
 |
| |
Case Studies |
| |
lowered VOCs in Atlanta -- less absenteeism |
A large accounting firm moved into eight floors of a new office tower in 1991... The firm's major focus, however, was on IAQ. To achieve this, the company selected consultant Environmental Design International (EDI) of Atlanta to help with the tenant fit-out. |
The HVAC system has advanced filtration and good ventilation rates. EDI "commissioned" the space to ensure that it would perform as designed, set performance standards for cleaning and pest control, and monitored for air quality... They found that the portion they had worked on had 50 to 70 percent lower concentrations of various volatileorganic compounds. A year after occupying the space, the accounting firm reported the individual absenteeism was 6 to 10 percent less than it had been in its previous building. |
Building Design & Construction, April 1997, pg. 52 |
| |
lower absenteeism at ING Bank, Amsterdam |
A new 538,000 s.f. office building is an irregular S-curve ground plan of ten slanting towers with gardens and courtyards over parking and service areas and restaurants and meeting rooms for 2,400 employees lining an internal street connecting the towers. |  |
|
Features are narrow floor plates for daylight access, light shelf louvers in top third of windows, atriums, task lighting with limited overhead fixtures, double glazing, precast concrete interior mass insulated from brick veneer, cogeneration, and heat recovery from elevator motors and computer rooms. There are no conventional compression chillers. The building relies on thermal storage, mechanical and natural ventilation (windows) and back-up absorption cooling powered by co-generation system's
hot water. |  |
|
The old office building used 422,801 BTU/ square foot, the new green building uses 35,246 BTU / square foot annually. An adjacent bank constructed at the same time as the NMB Bank uses five times as much energy and had the same construction costs. |
Comfort and energy benefits achieved: - absenteeism 15% lower than in old building, due to more comfortable working conditions
- $700,000 cost of energy systems, with $2,600,000 annual energy savings per year
|
GREENING THE BUILDING AND THE BOTTOM LINE: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design By: Joseph J. Romm and William D. Browning |
| |
great working environment at Miller SQA Building |
 |
Holland, Michigan: William McDonough + Partners, Architect |
Tree key design concepts were: - Occupant comfort, health, and communication;
- The integration of the exterior landscape; and
- Maximum use of daylighting
Features of the building include:- crescent-shaped structure follows contours of the site
- planted areas inside and out along daylit interior "street"
- wetland processes and purifies the building stormwater
- passively heated and cooled -- state-of-the-art ventilation
- 18 month construction -- $49 per square foot.
|  |
|
Indoor environmental quality and operations benefits achieved were:- worker effectiveness rose from 98.54% to 99.53%
- work quality rose from 98.97% to 99.23
- annual energy savings in excess of $35,000
- the natural gas costs decreased by 7%
- water and sewer costs down 65%
- electrical costs down by 18%
It has also been reported that a number of Miller SQA employees who left for other, better paying employment returned because of the comfortable, healthy work environment. |
But in the end, question is not, 'How do we use nature to serve our interests' It's 'How can we use humans to serve nature's interest?' Now, as a designer, I find that question really interesting. |
William McDonough |
|
| www.usgbc.org/programs/index.htm |
| |
individual employee control of work station environment at West Bend Mutual Insurance Headquarters |
 |
West Bend, Wisconsin: Zimmerman Design Group |
A new 150,000 square foot building for 500 employees, completed in 1991 was constructed for $90/s.f. where market averages were $125/s.f. The building has energy efficient lighting, better windows and shell insulation, and efficient HVAC system. 92% of workstations are on the perimeter. |
370 workstations are equipped with ERW's (Environmentally Responsive Workstations) which provide individual control over temperature, air flow, lighting and white nose. Air supply is provided through a raised floor system, allowing displacement ventilation to reduce HVAC requirements. |
Compared to their old building, West Bend found these results: - thermal condition complaints dropped from 40 per day (at a documented cost of $25 per call plus $300 in maintenance) to two per week
- early estimate of 16% productivity increase with 4-6% increase attributed to ERW's for an annual savings of approximately $500,000
- 40% reduction in energy costs with an annual savings of $126,000
A key ingredient in successful design of this project was involvement of office personnel in decisions made and in "field testing" the ERWs. |
After occupancy, attempts to study productivity changes when ERW's were disabled resulted in employee threats to leave work and not return until the ERW's were again functioning. |
GREENING THE BUILDING AND THE BOTTOM LINE: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design By: Joseph J. Romm and William D. Browning |
|
|
| |
absenteeism dropped at Verifone -- productivity up |
 |
Costa Mesa, CA
Croxton Collaborative -- Architects |
In 1992, employees formed a Performance Improvement Team that convinced management to pay added up-front costs for a healthier building by demonstrating an energy savings payback of 4.5 years. |
The project was an upgrade of a 76,000 square foot building that included a series of roof skylights, energy efficient air handlers, natural gas fired cooling system, high performance windows, 60% more insulation than code and
occupancy sensors. On sunny days, workers use only natural daylight and small task lights. |
 |
Cost was $39 per square foot. These are the results Verifone found: - absenteeism dropped 40% due to improved comfort
- productivity increased 5%,
reducing payback time to under one year -- a 100% ROI - 50% energy savings
|
That isn't news to VeriFone, which has made healthy workplaces a top priority since the early 1990s. And while this program is the rare instance in which our tools have been largely low-tech, I believe it has done more to boost productivity than all the bandwidth in the world. |
William R. Pape, cofounder of VeriFone, Inc |
|
This project succeeded because of open dialogue between staff, management and architect in developing a clear statement of project goals. |
Building Design & Construction, April, 1997, pg.51; J. J. Romm, Cool Companies -- How the Best Businesses Boost Profits and Productivity by Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 1999, Island Press, Washington, D.C. & Covelo, CA, referenced by The Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency, August 1999, J. Wise, Eco·Integrations, from Pape, Willian (1998) Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise, Technology, #2, pg 25 |
