Enhancing Productivity While Reducing Energy Use in Buildings

Indoor air quality (IAQ) and air temperature (T) have powerful effects on the efficiency with which work can be performed in schools and offices. Huge amounts of energy are used to keep these parameters constant at levels which represent a compromise between group average requirements for subjective comfort and energy conservation. Human requirements change with task requirements and from hour to hour, so the levels at which T & IAQ are maintained are at best a crude approximation to what would be the most efficient use of energy in buildings. Different individuals have very different requirements for health, comfort and efficient performance—the three ascending levels of the human criteria hierarchy. Symptoms of ill health and discomfort have powerful effects on the efficiency with which work can be performed in schools and offices, so even a narrow economic focus requires that indoor environmental effects at all three levels be considered.