Indoor environmental quality and occupant satisfaction in green-certified buildings

Green building certification systems aim at improving the design and operation of buildings. However, few detailed studies have investigated whether green rating leads to higher occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ). This research builds on previous work to address this. Based on the analysis of a subset of the Center for the Built Environment Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality survey database featuring 11,243 responses from 93 LEED-rated office buildings, we explored the relationships between the points earned in the IEQ category and the satisfaction expressed by occupants with the qualities of their indoor environment. We found that the achievement of a specific IEQ credit did not substantively increase satisfaction with the corresponding IEQ factor, while the rating level, and the product and version under which certification had been awarded, did not affect workplace satisfaction. There could be several reasons for this lack of relationships, some of which are outside the control of designers and beyond the scope of rating systems based primarily on design intent. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges and priorities that building professionals, researchers, and green building certification systems need to consider for moving us towards more comfortable, higher performing, and healthier green-rated buildings

Indoor environmental quality and occupant satisfaction in green-certified buildings

Green building certification systems aim at improving the design and operation of buildings. However, few detailed studies have investigated whether green rating leads to higher occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ). This research builds on previous work to address this. Based on the analysis of a subset of the Center for the Built Environment Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality survey database featuring 11,243 responses from 93 LEED-rated office buildings, we explored the relationships between the points earned in the IEQ category and the satisfaction expressed by occupants with the qualities of their indoor environment. We found that the achievement of a specific IEQ credit did not substantively increase satisfaction with the corresponding IEQ factor, while the rating level, and the product and version under which certification had been awarded, did not affect workplace satisfaction. There could be several reasons for this lack of relationships, some of which are outside the control of designers and beyond the scope of rating systems based primarily on design intent. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges and priorities that building professionals, researchers, and green building certification systems need to consider for moving us towards more comfortable, higher performing, and healthier green-rated buildings

Potencial de economia de energia elétrica através do uso da luz natural e da ventilação híbrida em edifícios comerciais em Florianópolis

O objetivo deste estudo é estimar o potencial de economia de energia elétrica com o uso da luz natural integrada ao sistema de iluminação artificial e a utilização da ventilação híbrida em edifícios comerciais localizados em Florianópolis, SC. O trabalho foi baseado em simulações computacionais nos programas EnergyPlus e Daysim. Foram simulados modelos de ambientes de edificações comerciais, com três geometrias, três dimensões de sala por geometria, dez áreas de janela por modelo e quatro orientações. Os modelos foram examinados por meio de quatro estudos de caso. No Caso 1 (referência), a edificação opera com sistemas de iluminação e de condicionamento artificiais; no Caso 2, ocorre a integração da iluminação natural com a artificial, com condicionamento artificial; já no Caso 3, utilizam-se a ventilação híbrida e a iluminação artificial; no Caso 4, adotam-se a iluminação natural integrada com a artificial e a ventilação híbrida. Os consumos de eletricidade do Caso 1 foram comparados com os demais casos. Assim, foi estimado o potencial de economia de energia elétrica gerado pelo uso da luz natural e ventilação híbrida. Conclui-se que a utilização da iluminação natural e da ventilação híbrida em edificações comerciais localizadas em Florianópolis apresenta potencial de economia de energia elétrica de até 64,9% e que essas estratégias podem ser utilizadas para aumentar a eficiência energética desse tipo de edificação

Human factors in the design of sustainable built environments

Scientific research provides convincing evidence that climate change is having significant impacts on many aspects of life. In the built-environment domain, regulatory requirements are pushing the challenges of environmental, economic, and social sustainability at the core of the professional agenda, although the aims of carbon reduction and energy conservation are frequently given a priority over occupants' comfort, well-being, and satisfaction. While most practitioners declare to embrace sustainability as a driver of their professional approach, a general lack of integrated creative and technical skills hinders the design of buildings centred on articulate and comprehensive sustainability goals, encompassing, other than energy criteria, also human-centred and ethical values founded on competent and informed consideration of the requirements of the site, the programme, and the occupants. Built environments are designed by humans to host a range of human activities. In response, this article aims to endorse a sustainable approach to design founded on the knowledge arising from scholarly and evidence-based research, exploring principles and criteria for the creation and operation of human habitats that can respond to energy and legislative demands, mitigate their environmental impacts, and adapt to new climate scenarios, while elevating the quality of experience and delight to those occupying them

The London Workshop on the Biogeography and Connectivity of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in survey and sampling expeditions to the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) abyssal plain, a vast area of the central Pacific that is currently being actively explored for deep-sea minerals (ISA, 2016). Critical to the development of evidence-based environmental policy in the CCZ are data on the biogeography and connectivity of species at a CCZ-regional level. The London Workshop on the Biogeography and Connectivity of the CCZ was convened to support the integration and synthesis of data from European Union (EU) CCZ projects, supported by the EU Managing Impacts of Deep-Sea Resource Exploitation (MIDAS) and EU Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans) projects. The London Workshop had three clear goals: (1) To explore, review and synthesise the latest molecular biogeography and connectivity data from across recent CCZ cruises from both contractor and academia-funded projects; (2) To develop complementary and collaborative institutional and program-based academic publication plans to avoid duplication of effort and ensure maximum collaborative impact; (3) To plan a joint synthetic data publication highlighting key results from a range of planned molecular biogeography/connectivity publications. 32 participants attended the workshop at the Natural History Museum in London from 10-12 May 2016. Presentations and discussions are summarised in this report covering (1) overviews of current CCZ environmental projects, (2) policy and industry perspectives, (3) synthesis of DNA taxonomy and biogeography studies, (4) summaries of the latest population genetic studies, (5) summaries of the latest broader morphological context, (6) an overview of publication and proposal plans to maximise collaborative opportunities and finally a series of workshop recommendations

Know Your Current Ih: Interaction with a Shunting Current Explains the Puzzling Effects of Its Pharmacological or Pathological Modulations

The non-specific, hyperpolarization activated, Ih current is particularly involved in epilepsy and it exhibits an excitatory or inhibitory action on synaptic integration in an apparently inconsistent way. It has been suggested that most of the inconsistencies could be reconciled invoking an indirect interaction with the M-type K+ current, another current involved in epilepsy. However, here we show that the original experiments, and the simplified model used to explain and support them, cannot explain in a conclusive way the puzzling Ih actions observed in different experimental preparations. Using a realistic model, we show instead how and why a shunting current, such as that carried by TASK-like channels, and dependent on Ih channel is able to explain virtually all experimental findings on Ih up- or down-regulation by modulators or pathological conditions. The model results suggest several experimentally testable predictions to characterize in more details this elusive and peculiar interaction, which may be of fundamental importance in the development of new treatments for all those pathological and cognitive dysfunctions caused, mediated, or affected by Ih

Augmenting Smart Buildings and Autonomous Vehicles with Wearable Thermal Technology

Smart buildings and autonomous vehicles are expected to see rapid growth and adoption in the coming decades. Americans spend over 90% of their lives in buildings or automobiles, meaning that 90% of their lives could be spent interfacing with intelligent environments. EMBR Labs has developed EMBR WaveTM, a wearable thermoelectric system, for introducing thermal sensation as a connected mode of interaction between smart environments and their occu-pants. In this paper we highlight applications of wearable thermal technology for passengers in autonomous vehicles and occupants of smart buildings. Initial find-ings, collected through partnerships with Draper and UC Berkeley, respectively, are presented that illustrate the potential for wearable thermal technology to im-prove the situational awareness of passengers in autonomous vehicles and im-prove personal comfort in smart buildings