Title: Reading and Audio-Visual Assignments
Course: WGF 106 DEVELOPMENT > Section: Content

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Sub-Title | Protocols for Effective Building Occupant Communication… Leading To Occupant Survey(s)
Content
Human behavior and interaction with the building space plays a critical component in achieving holistic sustainability. Desired gains in energy efficiency can only be achieved and sustained if the occupants and system are working in tandem.

Occupant Behavior on Energy Efficiency

Occupant behavior plays a critical role in achieving the designed energy efficiency of lighting systems. Energy modeling accuracies can often vary by 10-40 percent, due in part to the effect occupants have on the space itself.

- Training: Training is important to ensure occupants know how the lighting technologies function, how they are related, and how to optimize their use for energy savings and personal comfort. Occupants should be trained how to optimize daylighting to avoid over shading windows or inefficiently arranging flexible furniture. Overriding automatic controls should be done so with proper understanding of implications.
- Awareness: Providing informative placards, disseminating electricity sub-metering data over time, performing occupant comfort and system understanding surveys, and creating ongoing energy optimization incentives are all ways to maintain lighting upgrade goals throughout the building occupancy.

Occupant Behavior on HVAC Efficiency

Human behavior and interaction with the building space plays a critical component in achieving holistic sustainability. Desired gains in energy efficiency can only be achieved and sustained if the occupants and HVAC systems are working in tandem.

Occupants have one main concern when it comes to HVAC: comfort. When a space is uncomfortable, you will often see building occupants bringing in the own space heaters, humidifiers, fans and other equipment that adds to the overall building energy load. These devices are a form of system “controllability,” but not the type that is best for energy efficiency. Occupants can also impact HVAC systems by leaving equipment on unnecessarily, creating extra waste heat. Strategies to reduce the loss of conditioned air, like revolving doors, are often bypassed. Operable windows are often left open when outdoor conditions are unfavorable. To improve the effect of occupants on HVAC systems, consider the following strategies improve comfort and add convenience:

- Employ zoning strategies that give control over the thermostat to many.
- Specify raised floor systems with individual, adjustable air vents.
- Establish an easy way for occupants to request temperature or humidity changes to facility managers. In response to occupant requests, the maintenance staff may have overridden building control settings in a way that was intended to be temporary. Check these settings regularly to ensure that comfort and energy are both preserved.
- Set up electronic alerts as to when opening windows is recommended. Establish a “floor walk” routine to make sure that operable windows are closed during unfavorable conditions.

Comfort

Comfortable workers are more likely to be productive and engaged with their work than those who struggle to work in spaces that create barriers and stresses. With ever increasing needs to be mindful of the environment when designing spaces, GSA is developing practices that support both sustainability and worker comfort.

Occupant Comfort

Workspaces should be designed to provide an optimum level of thermal comfort for the occupants. Occupant comfort should be based on ASHRAE Standard 55.

Occupant Control

Workspaces should be designed to allow for occupant control over lighting (light switches, occupant or daylight sensors with override capability, etc.) and thermal comfort (operable windows, individual thermostats, and underfloor air diffusers).

Occupant Sensor/Automatic Lighting Control

Occupant sensors and automatic lighting controls can save energy by turning lights off when occupants are not present or when enough daylight is present to light the space. These controls can also help occupants take advantage of the benefits of natural light.
Content Link/Upload | So let’s understand the dynamics of an occupant IEQ survey… The following link/upload is a demonstration for Center for the Built Environment – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: CBE Occupant Satisfaction Demo Selection http://www.cbesurvey.org/survey/demos2010/
Content
Get Feedback from Building Occupants

Occupant surveys are an invaluable source of information for improving the performance of buildings. Surveys allow you to objectively gauge which building services and design features are or are not working, and helps to prioritize the steps needed to improve occupant satisfaction and workplace productivity.

Easy and Powerful

The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) has developed a cost-effective, web-based survey that takes approximately ten minutes to complete. The survey is intuitive and streamlined, preserves the confidentiality of respondents, and controls access in order to maintain data integrity.

Improved Decision Making

As soon as the survey is completed, reports are immediately available from a password protected website, and can be printed or downloaded. These easy to understand reports will help you:

- Evaluate the effectiveness of building service providers

- Justify facility expenditures to management
- Assess the effectiveness of improvements
- Stay aware of the occupants' perceptions of the building
- Enhance communication between corporate real estate, facility operators, and building occupants
Link/Upload
Human Impacts on Facility Energy Conservation – Sustainable Facilities Tool                                                http://sftool.gov/explore/green-building/section/49/ieq/human-impact

http://sftool.gov/explore/green-building/section/37/lighting/human-impact

http://sftool.gov/explore/green-building/section/45/hvac/human-impact

http://sftool.gov/explore/green-building/section/41/water/human-impact

http://sftool.gov/explore/green-building/section/71/solid-waste/human-impact

Managing Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Leads to Green and Healthy Schools http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/pdf/r6_hseat_flyer_042312.pdf

Indoor Environmental Quality Survey http://www.cbe.berkeley.edu/research/survey.htm

Indoor Environmental Quality Survey Information Packet http://www.cbe.berkeley.edu/research/pdf_files/SurveyInfoPacket2014.pdf

HVAC Checklist (long form) – NIOSH http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/hvaclong.pdf

HVAC Checklist (short form) – NIOSH http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/hvacshrt.pdf
Attributions
Image courtesy of Sustainable Facilities Tool – U.S. General Services Administration

Content courtesy of Sustainable Facility Tool – U.S. General Services Administration,

and

Center for the Built Environment – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory