Educational building conditions and the health of users

In order to maintain a healthy learning environment, diagnosis and management of defects in the educational facility are paramount. The preliminary results of the ongoing research reported here seek to identify defects associated with educational buildings and their effects on the health of polytechnic students and staff in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey, including 34 defects based on a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was used to establish relationships with the health of polytechnic students and staff. Two hundred (200) respondents were randomly selected based on their schools (faculty) within Lagos State Polytechnic. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis of the collected data. The results of the study indicate that defects such as plumbing and dampness problems, cobwebs and dust, are prominent in the institution. Also the relationship between building conditions (defects) and health problems was established, with the predictors of the health problems. Based on the findings, it is important for designers and managers of facilities within tertiary institutions to develop and implement design and maintenance policies targeted at minimizing the likelihood of plumbing, dampness, electrical, cobweb and dust problems in educational buildings due to the health risks induced by the defects. It is evident that effective maintenance schedules and policies should be put in place to ensure that facilities are not left to decay before replacement

Risk Exposure to Particles – including Legionella pneumophila – emitted during Showering with Water-Saving Showers

The increase in legionellosis incidence in the general population in recent years calls for a better characterization of the sources of infection, such as showering. Water-efficient shower systems that use water atomization technology may emit slightly more inhalable bacteria-sized particles than traditional systems, which may increase the risk of users inhaling contaminants associated with these water droplets. To evaluate the risk, the number and mass of inhalable water droplets emitted by twelve showerheads—eight using water-atomization technology and four using continuous-flow technology— were monitored in a shower stall. The water-atomizing showers tested not only had lower flow rates, but also larger spray angles, less nozzles, and larger nozzle diameters than those of the continuous-flow showerheads. A difference in the behavior of inhalable water droplets between the two technologies was observed, both unobstructed or in the presence of a mannequin. The evaporation of inhalable water droplets emitted by the water-atomization showers favored a homogenous distribution in the shower stall. In the presence of the mannequin, the number and mass of inhalable droplets increased for the continuous-flow showerheads and decreased for the water-atomization showerheads. The water-atomization showerheads emitted less inhalable water mass than the continuous-flow showerheads did per unit of time; however, they generally emitted a slightly higher number of inhalable droplets—only one model performed as well as the continuous-flow showerheads in this regard. To specifically assess the aerosolisation rate of bacteria, in particular of the opportunistic water pathogen Legionella pneumophila, during showering controlled experiments were run with one atomization showerhead and one continuous-flow, first inside a glove box, second inside a shower stall. The bioaerosols were sampled with a Coriolis® air sampler and the total number of viable (cultivable and noncultivable) bacteria was determined by flow cytometry and culture. We found that the rate of viable and cultivable Legionella aerosolized from the water jet was similar between the two showerheads: the viable fraction represents 0.02% of the overall bacteria present in water, while the cultivable fraction corresponds to only 0.0005%. The two showerhead models emitted a similar ratio of airborne Legionella viable and cultivable per volume of water used. Similar results were obtained with naturally contaminated hoses tested in shower stall. Therefore, the risk of exposure to Legionella is not expected to increase significantly with the new generation of water-efficient showerheads

Key Indicators for a Sustainable Building within Hilti

Hilti is one of the world’s leaders in power tools, accessories, and services for the construction industry. It may not seem obvious, but the global share of buildings and construction industry energy demand ascends to 36% of all the global energy production, which makes it the sector with the highest energy consumption rate worldwide. It is worth mentioning that having this significant energy demand leads the building sector to a direct and indirect carbon footprint of 37% of all CO2 yearly global emissions [1]. Hence, it has become a focus of interest for Hilti’s corporate sustainability strategy to aim for more sustainable buildings within the organization’s assets. This study aims to define a set of Sustainability Performance Indicators (SPIs), for a better assessment of Hilti’s building portfolio, which will help to understand better what would be a sustainable building within Hilti and to define feasible targets from the selected SPIs thresholds aiming for a better implementation of improvement measures. In this thesis, a theoretical framework about Hilti’s sustainability strategy is introduced with an emphasis on the sustainability in buildings, current state problems are exposed, and research questions are presented. A methodology is followed to obtain a meaningful and impactful set of sustainability performance indicators, which will be then clustered, analyzed, and prioritized by relevance, feasibility, measurability, and area of application among others. The findings of the project will provide guidelines to help focus the attention on the most relevant areas of interest to improve existing facilities or to assist the construction of new sustainable facilities

Solar Shading Products and their effect on Overheating, Well-being, Productivity, and Sustainability in the UK Built Environment

Blinds and shutters have long been identified as effective methods of attenuating daylight, reducing glare, and managing the thermal gains and losses through the glazing in a building. Shading products can provide energy savings and alter the internal environment to improve occupant comfort. Changes in occupants’ perceptions of their comfort can have a subsequent effect on their perceived health, well-being, and actual productivity. Currently, the extent that differing shading products reduce internal temperature increase in UK homes is not well understood. Furthermore, the way shading products alter the internal environmental conditions overall and how these variations affect an occupant’s health, well-being, and productivity has not been fully investigated. If shading products are used to obtain the various performance benefits, they require occupants to operate (open and close) them effectively. More sophisticated shading products incorporate motors and sensors to improve the operation of such products. These systems require a large number of natural resources, so an assessment is needed to identify whether the operational energy savings provided from the use of shading products outweigh the environmental impact of the products themselves throughout their lifetime. To explore these gaps in research, three real-world, two laboratory, and one desktop study were conducted. Two of the real-world studies were carried out in domestic buildings (an apartment and a semi-detached house) and the third was conducted in a non-domestic office. Data was collected when the shading products were extended and retracted, and statistical analysis was used to compare the data. In the domestic studies, quantitative data were collected relating to the internal temperature conditions. In the non-domestic study, quantitative and qualitative data were collected relating to the changes in a broader range of internal environment conditions and the experiences of the occupants in open and closed blind conditions. This included investigating occupants’ perceptions of comfort, health, well-being, and their subjective and objective productivity. The domestic studies showed that when internal and external shading products were closed, there was a significant reduction in internal temperature increase when comparisons were made between a room with and without shading. Shading products mitigated overheating risk, suggesting that they can improve the thermal comfort of building occupants in warmer weather conditions in UK homes. Of the two system types tested, external shading was most effective. The non-domestic study results confirmed there are both positive and negative benefits to having shading products extended in warmer conditions. The objective productivity of occupants was both negatively and positively affected and this differed depending on the type of task or cognitive function being tested. The two laboratory-based studies investigated the acoustic performance of internal shading products which are conventionally installed in UK buildings. This investigated the impact they have on sound reverberation and the acoustic transmission of sound. Overall, the results showed internal shading products can reduce reverberant sound and how they are installed (specifically the distance from the window) affects the amount of reverberant sound absorbed. It also identified differing fabrics have different capabilities in reducing sound transmitted into buildings. However, further research is needed to quantify the impact of the transmissive properties of shading fabrics when installed in a real building. The desktop study involved a screening Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of an external automated Venetian blind, an internal motorised roller blind and an internal manually operated roller blind. The LCA incorporated the real-world semi-detached house previously investigated as part of the functional unit to carry out the LCA. The operational energy savings of the different types of shading products assessed were stepped as the energy saving potential of shading products varies depending on how they are used and operated. The comparative analysis of the three shading systems suggests the control strategy (automated, motorised, or manual) alters how much operational energy needs to be saved and how long the shading product must be installed for before it becomes environmentally neutral and then environmentally beneficial

Energy Efficiency and Indoor Environment Quality

This Special Issue addresses a topic of great relevance. In developed countries, there is a higher prevalence of people choosing to spend time indoors. Data show that the time a person spends at home ranges from 60% to 90% of the day, and 30% of that time is spent sleeping, though this varies depending on the individual. Taking into account these data, indoor residential environments have a direct influence on human health. Furthermore, in developing countries, significant levels of indoor pollution make housing unsafe, impacting the health of its inhabitants. Housing is therefore a key health factor for people all over the world: various parameters such as air quality, ventilation, hygrothermal comfort, lighting, physical environment, and building efficiency can contribute to healthy architecture; poor application of these parameters can result in conditions that negatively impact health

Exploring the relationship between the workplace environment, employee wellbeing, and productivity

The ‘healthy buildings’ movement has emerged in response to increasing recognition that many indoor environments, particularly office spaces, have a negative impact upon the wellbeing and productivity of the building users. However, the move towards healthier working environments is hampered by the fact that the academic workplace literature lacks a suitable theoretical framework for representing the complex and dynamic nature of the relationship between the employee and the workplace environment. Therefore, the major objective of this research project was to develop and validate a theoretical framework to represent the employee-workplace relationship. A programme of primary research conducted within industry followed the initial development of framework, further confirming its utility for both research and practice. First, a comprehensive multidisciplinary literature review was conducted, leading to the initial development of the novel conceptual framework to represent the ways in which employees are affected by, and act upon, their workplace environment. The Environmental Demands-Resources (ED-R) framework conceptualises the workplace environment as a composite of pathogenic demands (i.e., aspects of the workplace which cause strain and negatively affect employees) and salutogenic resources (i.e., aspects of the workplace which support employee motivation and engagement). A conceptual analysis of the multidisciplinary workplace literature confirms that these concepts are common across seemingly disparate strands of workplace research. Subsequently, a series of five primary research studies (culminating in six published outputs) was conducted. Two studies explored how requirements for the workplace are moderated by individual differences, finding that what constitutes an environmental demand or resource differs from employee to employee (e.g., noise-sensitive employees are less suited to open-plan offices). Two studies explored the use of environmental sensor data to identify environmental demands and predict employee discomfort, leading to the development of a methodology to combine objective building data with subjective human responses. Finally, one study explored the use of innovative biophilic design as a novel environmental resource, finding that a ‘regeneration pod’ more effectively facilitated recovery from work stress than an ordinary meeting room. This thesis presents the results of those studies in full. First, an introduction to the research topics is presented, followed by a description of the key theoretical constructs and a narrative review and conceptual analysis of the multidisciplinary workplace literature. Then, the six research articles comprising the main programme of primary research are summarised and discussed. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the research are considered, with a particular focus on the ways in which the research contributes to effective strategies for the creation and maintenance of workplace environments which better support the health, wellbeing, and productivity of their users

The health consequences of involuntary smoking : a report of the Surgeon General, 1986

This, the 1986 Report of the Surgeon General, is the U.S. Public Health Service's 18th in the health consequences of smoking series and the 5th issued during my tenure as Surgeon General. Previous Reports have documented the tremendous health burden to society from smoking, particularly cigarette smoking. The evidence establishing cigarette smoking as the single largest preventable cause of premature death and disability in the United States is overwhelming-totaling more than 50,000 studies from dozens of cultures. Smoking is now known to be causally related to a variety of cancers in addition to lung cancer; it is a cause of cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart disease, and is the major cause of chronic obstructive lung disease. It is estimated that smoking is responsible for well over 800,000 deaths annually in the United States, representing approximately 15 percent of all mortality. Thirty years ago, however, the scientific evidence linking smoking with early death and disability was more limited. By 1964, the year the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General issued the first report on smoking and health, a substantial body of evidence had accumulated upon which a judgment could be made that smoking was a cause of disease in active smokers. Subsequent reports over the last 20 years have expanded our understanding and knowledge about smoking behavior, the toxicity and carcinogenicity of tobacco smoke, and the specific disease risks resulting from exposure to this agent. This Report is the first issued since 1964 that identifies a chronic disease risk resulting from exposure to tobacco smoke for individuals other than smokers. It is now clear that disease risk due to the inhalation of tobacco smoke is not limited to the individual who is smoking, but can extend to those who inhale tobacco smoke emitted into the air. This Report represents a detailed review of the health effects resulting from nonsmoker exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). ETS is the combination of smoke emitted from a burning tobacco product between puffs (sidestream smoke) and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. The 1986 Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking, is a critical review of all the available scientific evidence pertaining to the health effects of ETS exposure on nonsmokers. The term "involuntary smoking" is used to note that such exposures often occur as an unavoidable consequence of being in close proximity to smokers.Includes bibliographical references and index.1986704

Thermal and indoor air quality effects on physiological responses, perception and performance of tropically acclimatized people

Ph.DNUS-DTU JOINT PH.D

Human Dimensions Of Building Performance: Sensing, Modeling, And Predicting Indoor Environmental Quality

The indoor environment critically affects occupant health and comfort, especially since humans spend most of the day indoors. Meanwhile, occupant activities, preferences, and behaviors may contribute to a significant amount of building energy consumption. The focus of environmental buildings shifted from automated systems to a paradigm of collective environmental design since the second half of the 20th century, emphasizing human dimensions in building performance, which allows occupants to participate as active/passive actuators and sensors. Concurrently, increased environmental awareness further spurred the green building movement intending to encourage more high-performance buildings. The question remains as to whether high-performance buildings are also healthy buildings. This dissertation aims to cast new light on how environmental design and building systems work for people as well as how building sensors and human senses work together to inform the organization and optimization of various performance targets such as sustainability, public health, and resiliency. Special attention is given to the non-visual environment attempting to facilitate human-in-the-loop of the building design and operation processes. In order to achieve this goal, environmental monitoring, data analysis, and human subject recruitments are developed to characterize the human dimension of building performance