Green buildings bring worker benefits
26th October 2016
USA: Workers in green-certified buildings have higher cognitive functions, fewer sick building symptoms and higher sleep-quality scores, according to a new study.
Researchers at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and SUNY Upstate Medical University studied 109 workers at 10 buildings in five cities across the US. They found 26% higher cognitive function test scores for office workers in a simulated green building environment with enhanced ventilation compared to a conventional building environment.
Among the findings, participants had 73% higher crisis response scores; 44% higher applied activity level scores, which reflect ability to gear decision-making toward overall goals; 38% higher focused activity level scores, which reflect capacity to pay attention to tasks at hand; 31% higher strategy scores
In addition to these statistically significant findings, the study also found that employees reported 30% fewer sick building symptoms and had 6% higher sleep quality scores compared to those working in high-performing buildings that were not green-certified, indicating that benefits of green buildings may extend beyond the workday.
“Certified green buildings not only deliver environmental benefits, they can have positive impacts on the productivity and thinking of the people in those buildings. That’s a powerful combination that can accelerate the green building movement globally,” said John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer, at Carrier’s owner, United Technologies.
Based on their latest findings, the research team believes a holistic approach is needed. “We’re advocating for what we call Buildingomics – a new approach that examines the totality of factors in the building-related environment,” said Dr Joseph Allen, Assistant Professor of Exposure Assessment Science at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, director of the healthy buildings programme at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Chan School, and principal investigator for the study.
“Through Buildingomics’ multi-disciplinary approach, we aim to better understand the factors that influence health in buildings and unlock the ability to optimize buildings for improved cognitive function and health,” said Dr. Allen.
The full report – The Impact of Working in a Green Certified Building on Cognitive Function and Health – will be made available at www.CHGEHarvard.org/COGfxStudy.
