Comfort

1. Comfort

2. Buildings are designed for people • People are trying to accomplish a task • Raising a family • Running an office • Manufacturing a product • The building needs to keep people comfortable, efficient, healthy and safe as they try to accomplish their task

3. Green Design Seeks to create a building that keeps the occupants comfortable while at the same time minimizing negative environmental impacts Thermal comfort Visual comfort Air quality Acoustic comfort

4. Thermal Comfort • Ensure that the occupant is not too hot and not too cold • Temperature, humidity, airflow and radiant sources stay within an acceptable range • One of the biggest energy uses in the building • Also is critical to the happiness as well as the productivity of the user • Often airflow and radiant temp are overlooked • Leads to higher energy use and occupant dissatisfaction

5. Thermal Comfort Right level of mixture temperature, humidity, radiant temperature and air speed Right level depends on what level of activity, how occupants are, and what clothes they wear Suns heat to warm rooms, wind or ceiling fans to cool. Keep surrounding surfaces correct temperature with good insulation

6. Visual Comfort • Ensuring that people have enough light for their activities • Right quality and balance/good views • Good lighting helps with happy and productive environments • Natural light is much better for this than electric • Good views/sight lines help with a sense of well being and control over the environment

7. Lighting Well distributed, not too dim but not too strong Minimal energy use Often measured by the amount falling on a surface (illuminance) or the amount of light reflecting off a surface (luminance) Objective measures, but people experiences are much more subjective (comfortable, glare) As much natural light as possible, humans are hard-wired to like it and it saves energy

8. Lighting • Daylighting strategies • Clerestory windows • Light shelves • Skylights • When artificial lights are needed, use efficient fluorescents or LEDs, preferably with daylightingdimming controls • Good controls can automatically balance natural and artificial lighting, most have occupancy sensors

9. Air Quality Clean, fresh and circulated air are used effectively in the space Too stale or polluted air makes people uncomfortable, unproductive, unhappy, and sick Fresh air keeps people alert, productive, healthy and happy

10. Air Quality • Fresh air requires certain percentage of outside air circulating into the space • Clean air requires pollutant and pathogen levels below a certain level • Have high ventilation rates • Natural ventilation: operable windows or active HVAC fans/ducts • Filter air, flushing the space with fresh air from outside and not contaminating it with impurities

11. Acoustic Comfort • Right level and quality of noise to use the space as intended • People are more productive and happy when they’re not distracted from noises from outside or surrounding spaces/occupants • Subjective measure, but control • Decibel level, reverberation time, and sound reflection and damping properties • Create barriers and sound breaks • Optimize room size and shape to reduce echoes/reverberation • Acoustic tiles on ceilings and walls to dampen sound