Evaluation Of Indoor Environmental Quality Research Articles

Relationship between indoor environmental quality and guests’ comfort and satisfaction at green hotels: A comprehensive review

Abstract Recent studies have focused on different aspects of green management, practices, and green consumption in the hotel industry. However, there is a need to explore and better understand the association between indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and green hotel guest’s comfort. Therefore, it is essential to explore the effects of IEQ on the comfort and satisfaction of green hotel guests. This study conducts a comprehensive review of the effects of various IEQ parameters, including indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting, visual/view, acoustic comfort, building characteristics, decoration, and indoor greenery, on guest’s comfort and satisfaction in green hotels. Based on previous literature, it was also revealed that most current green building schemes lack of comprehensive evaluation of the performance of IEQ dimensions in green hotels. It was also observed that these IEQ parameters show a significant influence on the hotel guest’s comfort and satisfaction. Based on the findings of the literature review, a conceptual model was developed to represent the relationship between the IEQ parameters and guest’s comfort and satisfaction. The proposed conceptual model can be implemented by the hotel management for a comprehensive assessment of guests’ perceptions toward the IEQ in green hotels. The novelty of this study is based on its findings that establish a more effective IEQ evaluation method and serve as the reference scenario of IEQ, which can be a useful tool for both academician and practitioners and contribute to improving the indoor environmental performance of green hotels through highlighting the key IEQ parameters, which affect the comfort and satisfaction of hotel guests.

A MULTICRITERIA METHOD TO IDENTIFY AND RANK IEQ CRITICALITIES: MEASUREMENTS AND APPLICATIONS FOR AN EXISTING SCHOOL BUILDING

This study proposes a method to obtain a ranking of the critical issues related to Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)in existing school buildings . A multi-criteria method for a comprehensive evaluation of IEQ in school buildings is described and discussed. The method includes data collection, field measurements, and subjective investigations. The novelty of the study does not lie in the single stages of which the method is composed (for example in the phase involving field measurements, there are consolidated procedures in the technical and scientific literature to conduct them), but rather in the collection and rationalization of a complete and articulated assessment process that can guide the technicians and managers in the decision making. To show the whole proposed evaluation method, the case study of the university classrooms of the School of Engineering of Pisa was studied. From the application of the evaluation method to the case study, a rank of the IEQ critical issues observed and a rank of the most IEQ critical environments was therefore obtained. The study also focused on the impact of weighting schemes of the IEQ assessment results. Then the results of the case study were discussed by evaluating the impact of alternative weighing schemes present in the scientific literature. The discussion shows that to identify the most critical environmental factors, the choice of the weighting scheme is extremely important although the greatest weight does not always correspond to the most critical environmental factor. The presented results can interest not only technical personnel involved in IEQ assessments and interventions for its improvement, but also researchers investigating IEQ that intend to compare methodologies and weighting schemes.

Importance of indoor environmental quality surveys for evaluating renovation effects

Evaluating indoor environmental quality (IEQ) after renovations is crucial, as it notably impacts occupant satisfaction and productivity. Here, we aimed to analyze the differences in IEQ evaluation before and after the renovation of old heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment on one floor of a research institute building in Korea. To evaluate the renovation effect, sensor measurements and surveys were used to conduct both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The consistency and accuracy of the data were maintained by permitting the same occupants to assess IEQ before and after the renovation using an online survey system. Additionally, to verify the renovation effect, IEQ evaluations were also performed between renovated and not renovated floors during the same period. Statistical analysis revealed that HVAC renovation improved relative humidity and air quality among quantitative IEQ parameters and increased thermal comfort, total satisfaction, and productivity among occupants. The proposition suggests that showcasing enhanced IEQ will have a substantial impact on promoting widespread acceptance and adoption of building renovations. In particular, the analysis showed that surveys are a comprehensive and diverse method for learning about IEQ improvements after renovations.

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): A Comparison between TOPSIS- and PROMETHEE-Based Approaches for Indirect Eliciting of Category Weights.

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) has received a great deal of attention in recent years due to the relationship between worker comfort and productivity. Many academics have studied IEQ from both a building design and an IEQ assessment perspective. This latter line of research has mostly used direct eliciting to obtain weights assigned to IEQ categories such as thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, and indoor air quality. We found only one application of indirect eliciting in the literature. Such indirect eliciting operates without the need for imprecise direct weighing and requires only comfort evaluations, which is in line with the Industry 5.0 paradigm of individual, dynamic, and integrated IEQ evaluation. In this paper, we use a case study to compare the only indirect eliciting model already applied to IEQ, based on TOPSIS, to an indirect eliciting method based on PROMETHEE and to a classical direct eliciting method (AHP). The results demonstrate the superiority of indirect eliciting in reconstructing individual preferences related to perceived global comfort.

Analysis of Swedish school buildings’ energy performance certificates with focus on ventilation systems

Energy performance certificates are valuable sources of information about buildings. They are primarily used to assess the buildings’ energy performance, however the data included can also be used for building stock description or analysis from different perspectives. School buildings account for a substantial part of the Swedish public building stock and represent a great opportunity for implementation of energy saving strategies. To improve the energy efficiency, it is first important to analyse and understand the current energy use and identify the key factors responsible for most of the energy use. In Sweden, data used for EPC compilation are in most cases real measured data opposite to other European countries where EPC comprises calculated data practices. Therefore, the energy performance value provides a much more realistic representation of the building energy use. This study analyses certain aspects of school buildings’ energy performance using data available in EPCs, such as year of construction, floor area, heat supply systems and ventilation system. Comparison with data from some other European countries is also presented. The data which could be included in the certificate to extend the potential of EPC use in other areas, such as evaluation of indoor environmental quality, is also discussed.

Evaluation of indoor environmental quality, personal cumulative exposure dose, and aerosol transmission risk levels inside urban buses in Dalian, China.

The transmission of pollutants in buses has an important impact on personal exposure to airborne particles and spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in enclosed spaces. We conducted the following real-time field measurements inside buses: CO2, airborne particle concentration, temperature, and relative humidity data during peak and off-peak hours in spring and autumn. Correlation analysis was adopted to evaluate the dominant factors influencing CO2 and particle mass concentrations in the vehicle. The cumulative personal exposure dose to particulate matter and reproduction number were calculated for passengers on a one-way trip. The results showed the in-cabin CO2 concentrations, with 22.11% and 21.27% of the total time exceeding 1000ppm in spring and autumn respectively. In-cabin PM2.5 mass concentration exceeded 35μm/m3 by 57.35% and 86.42% in spring and autumn, respectively. CO2 concentration and the cumulative number of passengers were approximately linearly correlated in both seasons, with R value up to 0.896. The cumulative number of passengers had the most impact on PM2.5 mass concentration among tested parameters. The cumulative personal exposure dose to PM2.5 during a one-way trip in autumn was up to 43.13μg. The average reproductive number throughout the one-way trip was 0.26; it was 0.57 under the assumed extreme environment. The results of this study provide an important basic theoretical guidance for the optimization of ventilation system design and operation strategies aimed at reducing multi-pollutant integrated health exposure and airborne particle infection (such as SARS-CoV-2) risks.

Indoor environmental quality evaluation of smart/artificial intelligence techniques in buildings – a review

The built environment sector is responsible for around one-third of the world's final energy consumption. Smart technologies play an essential role in strengthening existing regulations and facilitating energy efficiency targets. Smart Buildings allow the response to the external conditions of buildings including grid and climatic conditions, and internal building needs such as user requirements achieved through real-time monitoring and real-time interaction which are resembled the smart buildings concept. The optimal management of occupant comfort plays a crucial role in the built environment since the occupant's productivity and health are highly influenced by Indoor Environmental Quality. This work explores the application of real-time monitoring and interaction to achieve optimal Indoor Environmental Quality, occupant comfort and energy savings in relation to smart buildings and smart technologies. To better address and indoor air quality issues, ventilation needs to become smarter. It is crucial to understand first the Key Performance Indicators of evaluating smart ventilation. In parallel, Artificial Intelligence techniques such as machine and deep learning have been increasingly and successfully applied to develop solutions for the built environment. Thus, this paper provides a review on the existing Key Performance Indicators that allows smart ventilation in smart buildings. Then, it reviews the existing literature on the machine and deep learning methods and software for assessing the smart ventilation. Finally, it shows the most recent technologies for performing experimental evaluation on the main indicators for smart ventilation. This work is expected to highlight the selection of the most optimal ventilation metrics, proper indicators, machine learning and deep learning models and measurement technologies to achieve excellent Indoor Environmental Quality and energy efficiency levels.

Energy consumption and indoor environmental quality evaluation of a cooperative housing nZEB in Mediterranean climate

A cooperative housing is a more democratic and affordable alternative that could contribute to ecological sustainability in local context. The paper evaluates the cooperative housing La Borda (Barcelona) from two points of view: energy consumption at building and household level and indoor environmental quality of six representative households. The evaluation aims to investigate how this housing alternative may contribute to reduce the energy impact of the building providing comfortable conditions to the users. A post-occupancy evaluation has been performed where energy consumption, environmental data and user perception have been gathered to make a qualitative and quantitate analysis. The paper wants to investigate how thermal comfort can be characterized in depth, analysing only air temperature, relative humidity and outdoor conditions. Furthermore, it has been paid especial attention to the overheating analysis and the impact of the relative humidity in the thermal comfort satisfaction of the occupants. The paper demonstrates that La Borda is a model that contributes to reduce the energy impact of the building, which can be related to some of the characteristics of the cooperative housings: sharing goods and resources; community support; training initiatives; strong involvement during the design of the project; and sustainable design of the building. The thermal comfort evaluation combines different tools (adaptive comfort model, Givoni psychometric chart, Heat Index and surveys) to achieve a good understanding of the thermal behaviour of households and comfort perception, achieving satisfactory results; However, some discrepancies have been found between the different indicators and qualitative perception of the users.

Post occupancy evaluation of indoor environmental quality of sports buildings at hot and humid climate from the perspective of exercisers

This study conducted a post occupancy evaluation (POE) of indoor environmental quality of five sports buildings in hot and humid climatic conditions. The objective was to investigate their indoor environmental quality in terms of public use. Objective environmental indicators like thermal environment, acoustic environment, light environment, and indoor air quality and 324 exercisers' valid responses to a subjective survey questionnaire were examined. The results found that air temperature and relative humidity in the sports buildings was high, with the average value of 31.6 °C and 68.5%, respectively. The exercisers found the thermal environment to be the least dissatisfying, with dissatisfaction rates of 22.6%, 21.9%, and 11.9% for temperature, air velocity, and relative humidity, respectively. Additionally, multiple linear regression indicated that thermal environment and the corresponding satisfaction were critical requirements affecting the indoor environmental quality. Moreover, the survey results of objective and subjective indicators were not simple linear correspondences but were affected by the interaction of indicators. Furthermore, the satisfaction values and range of objective indicators based on subjective satisfaction deviated from the relevant standards, primarily due to physical activities, sports building façade types, and regional climate. This study enhances knowledge about post occupancy evaluation of indoor environmental quality in naturally ventilated sports buildings. It could offer potent guidance to improve control and regulation of indoor environmental quality, thus contributing toward exercisers’ satisfaction and comfort.

Monitoring and Assessment of Indoor Environmental Conditions in Educational Building Using Building Information Modelling Methodology.

Managing indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a challenge in educational buildings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adequate indoor air quality is essential to ensure that indoor spaces are safe for students and teachers. In fact, poor IEQ can affect academic performance and student comfort. This study proposes a framework for integrating occupants' feedback into the building information modelling (BIM) methodology to assess indoor environmental conditions (thermal, acoustic and lighting) and the individual airborne virus transmission risk during teaching activities. The information contained in the parametric 3D BIM model and the algorithmic environment of Dynamo were used to develop the framework. The IEQ evaluation is based on sensor monitoring and a daily schedule, so the results show real problems of occupants' dissatisfaction. The output of the framework shows in which range the indoor environmental variables were (optimal, acceptable and unacceptable) and the probability of infection during each lecture class (whether or not 1% is exceeded). A case study was proposed to illustrate its application and validate it. The outcomes provide key information to support the decision-making process for managing IEQ and controlling individual airborne virus transmission risks. Long-term application could provide data that support the management of ventilation strategies and protocol redesign.

Occupational exposure and indoor environmental quality evaluation from operating multiple desktop 3D printers in an office environment within a library.

Occupational exposure and indoor environmental quality evaluation from operating multiple desktop 3D printers in an office environment within a library.

Commercial building indoor environmental quality models: A critical review

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) models merge various influencing IEQ factors into a single overall indicator. The outcome of the IEQ model is usually a numerical rating or score that provides an evaluative summary of the IEQ performance. Many publications have developed IEQ models from their field measurement and/or satisfaction survey results, however with distinct measurement protocols, IEQ weighting schemes and analytical methods. This paper presents a comprehensive review of 25 studies focusing on developing IEQ evaluation models in commercial buildings. Two IEQ measurement approaches (objective and subjective measurement), and three types of IEQ models—subjective-objective models, objective models and subjective models—are first differentiated. Five commonly used analytical methods (linear regression, non-linear regression, analytical hierarchy process, ensemble averaging method, and updated IEQ acceptance model) are discussed. The interaction effects between IEQ factors and relative contribution of them to the overall IEQ satisfaction are also assessed. Twenty-five studies are then mapped by data collection method, analytical method and number of survey responses. Five key criteria for developing quality IEQ models—number of IEQ factors included, spatial and temporal variability in physical measurement, analytical methods for model development, and the number of responses if subjective surveys are carried out—are proposed and discussed. A simple ranking and scoring system is propounded for evaluating the quality of the IEQ models developed in the reviewed studies. Results show that two studies achieved a total score equal to or higher than 80% of the total score, and 16 studies achieved a minimum of 60% of the total score. This tool can help researchers quickly assess the accuracy and reliability of IEQ models developed from diverse methods and make an informed decision.

IEQ assessment in free-running university classrooms

Investigation of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in various types of buildings has currently evolved into a rather intense research activity. IEQ refers to the acceptable levels of thermal, visual and acoustic comfort in addition to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). In the proposed work, a systematic measurement campaign in university classrooms in the Educational School of the University of Western Macedonia, Florina, Greece, is presented; the campaign was performed by the end of the Spring Semester, in free-running classrooms. Measurements include thermal comfort parameters, as well as IAQ ones, namely volatile organic compounds (VOCs), CO2 and NO2 concentration. Lighting and acoustic measurements are also performed, contributing to an integrated IEQ assessment. As far as thermal comfort is concerned, a questionnaire survey aims at providing insight into the validity of the examined comfort models, i.e., Fanger’s and adaptive one. CFD analysis, according to the DesignBuilder software, allows the investigation of spatial phenomena in terms of thermal comfort, as well as the evaluation of the effect of different scenarios regarding the degree of crowding in the classes and windows opening. All in all, the proposed analysis represents an integrated experimental and simulation approach, for the evaluation of IEQ of a demanding space.

Strengthening Taiwan’s Green Building Certification System from Aspects of Productivity and Energy Costs to Provide a Healthier Workplace

This study estimates the relationship between poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and the increasing labor costs in green buildings in Taiwan. Specifically, poor performance of IEQ including HVAC, lighting, and indoor air quality, influences the health and well-being of occupants and leads to worse productivity, ultimately causing increased personnel cost. In Taiwan’s green building certification (GBC) system, the energy-savings category is mandatory while the IEQ category is only optional. It means that certified building cases may not reach the expected level in IEQ. Thus, this study reviews the thermal environment, indoor air quality (IAQ), and illumination performances of IEQ-certified and non-IEQ-certified buildings in 20 green buildings. Building energy and IEQ simulations were conducted to analyze the relationships between indoor comfort, energy cost, and personnel cost in green buildings. The results show that IEQ-certified green buildings averagely perform better than non-IEQ-certified ones in the aspects of IEQ and building costs. Besides, 3 of 13 non-IEQ-certified green buildings undertake extremely high additional expenditure for the poor IEQ. The results correspond to some previous findings that green-certified buildings do not necessarily guarantee good building performance. This study further inspects the pros and cons of Taiwan’s GBC system and proposes recommendations against its insufficient IEQ evaluation category. As the trade-off of energy-saving benefits with health and well-being in green buildings has always been a concern, this study aims to stimulate more quantitative research and promote a more comprehensive green building certification system in Taiwan.

Indoor Environmental Quality Evaluation Strategy as an Upgrade (Renovation) Measure in a Historic Building Located in the Mediterranean Zone (Athens, Greece)

The assessment of indoor environmental quality in historic buildings converted to museums is a significant tool in deep energy renovation processes, as it provides insights for the microclimatic conditions in the interiors of the building where vast numbers of visitors walk every year and where artifacts that are vulnerable to pollution are exhibited. In this work, aiming to contribute to the development of an energy retrofitting protocol applied in the Mediterranean region (HAPPEN MedZeb protocol) for museums hosted in historic buildings by providing useful data, an experimental campaign to evaluate the indoor environmental quality of a museum housed in a historic building located in Athens took place from February 2019 to April 2021 and was divided into two periods. The findings revealed high concentrations of volatile organic compounds as well as poor thermal comfort levels since the sensors recorded low acceptable percentages of T values within the limits from 7 to 33% for the entire experimental period. Based on the findings, recommendations for retrofitting interventions are made.

Condition assessment model of building indoor environment: a case study on educational buildings

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop a condition assessment (CA) model for a building's indoor 21 environments and to improve the building's asset management process.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is based on dividing the building into spaces, which are the principal evaluated elements based on the building's indoor environmental quality (IEQ). An evaluation scheme was prepared for the identified factors and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique was used to calculate the relative weight of each space inside the building as well as the contribution of each IEQ factors (IEQFs) in the overall environmental condition of each space inside the building. The multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) was then applied to assess the environmental conditions of the building as a whole and its spaces. An educational building in Canada was evaluated using the developed model.FindingsEach space type was found to have its own IEQFs weights, which confirms the hypothesis that the importance and allocation of each IEQF are dependent on the function and tasks carried out in each space. A similar indoor environmental assessment score was calculated using the developed model and the building CA conducted by the facility management team; “89%” was calculated, using K-mean clustering, for the physical and environmental conditions.Originality/valueIEQ affects occupants' assessment of their quality of life (QOL). Despite the existence of IEQ evaluation models that correlate the building's IEQ and the occupants' perceived indoor assessments, some limitations have led to the necessity of developing a comprehensive model that integrates all factors and their sub-criteria in an assessment scheme that converts all the indoor environmental factors into objective metrics.

Assessment of Indoor Environmental Quality in Budget Hotels Using Text-Mining Method: Case Study of Top Five Brands in China

Guests’ evaluation of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is important for identifying environment quality problems in hotels and improving service quality. This paper aims to identify IEQ problems in budget hotels in China and improve them. Specifically, 2.06 million online reviews of budget hotels were used to assess IEQ issues in China’s budget hotels in four areas: acoustic environment, luminous environment, indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal environment. The influences of the season, region and type of customers on the IEQ evaluation were also explored, and the main causes of IEQ problems were also identified. The research results show that the IEQ complaint rates of budget hotels are relatively high. In particular, complaints about the acoustic environment are more common. Differences in seasons and climate zones have significant effects on complaints about the acoustic environment, thermal environment and IAQ. Different types of customers have different concerns about hotel IEQ, among which solo travelers and traveling couples have higher requirements for IEQ. The occurrence of IEQ problems significantly reduces a hotel’s online rating, with IAQ and the thermal environment having the greatest impacts, but the causal factors that trigger IEQ problems are relatively concentrated. The findings of this paper can provide a reference for assessing IEQ problems in hotel buildings and guide hotel managers to adopt targeted IEQ improvement programs to promote sustainable development in the hotel industry.

Necessary Conditions for Multi-Domain Indoor Environmental Quality Standards

A discussion of sustainability in architecture cannot be meaningfully carried out without the inclusion of most buildings’ central purpose, namely the provision of indoor environments that are accommodating of occupants’ needs and requirements. To this end, building designers and operators are expected to demonstrate compliance with codes and standards pertaining to indoor environmental quality (IEQ). However, the majority of conventional IEQ standards, codes, and guidelines have a single-domain character, in that they address IEQ in terms of a number of isolated domains (i.e., thermal, visual, acoustic, air quality). In this context, the present contribution explores the current state of multi-domain IEQ evaluation approaches and the necessary conditions for their further development and application. Toward this end, a number of common building rating schemes were selected and analyzed in detail. The results of this assessment imply the necessity of both short-term improvements of the existing schemes in terms of the transparency and plausibility of the applied point allocation and weighting strategies and the fundamental need for a deeper empirically grounded understanding of the nature of occupants’ perception of and behavior in the built environments.

Post-occupancy evaluation of indoor environmental quality in ten nonresidential buildings in Chongqing, China

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is an essential element of sustainable building performance. To advance knowledge of indoor environmental quality in Chinese nonresidential buildings, this study conducted post-occupancy evaluation (POE) in varied use areas within schools, hospitals, offices, hotels and shopping malls through environmental measurements and occupant surveys in 10 buildings over four seasons in Chongqing, China. Measured thermal conditions were more frequently within comfort standards in winter than in summer according to the predicted mean vote – predicted percentage dissatisfied model; but the model did not reliably predict thermal satisfaction. There was insufficient illuminance in 28% of studied areas and high illuminance in shopping malls led to complaints about glare. Sound pressure exceeded the Chinese guideline in all buildings with shopping malls having significantly higher levels than other buildings. CO2 was generally below the Chinese national guideline of 1000 ppm; the two percent of measurements that exceeded the guideline occurred in classrooms, hospital wards and underground supermarkets. Formaldehyde did not exceed the limit level of 0.1 mg/m3 in any space. Most of the buildings did not provide effective protection from outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and infiltration from outdoors was the main factor for exceeding health-based guidelines indoors. Shopping malls had lower IEQ satisfaction than offices, schools and hospitals. Sound was the factor with the lowest satisfaction level among the four principal environmental factors. Overall, this study demonstrates value of POE on identifying deficiencies in indoor environment and provides a reference for assessment of IEQ in nonresidential buildings.

Review of Indoor Environmental Quality Evaluation Index Based on Regional Climate Connected Green Building

This article will review and analyses the indoor environment quality indicators in the existing green building rating system, both foreign and Chinese green building standards. Based on the relevance of ‘human climate architecture’, the indoor environment quality indicators which are intuitively perceivable, health related and connected to regions and climates will be sorted out, to establish the foundation for further indoor environmental quality index classification research.