Indoor air quality and sick building syndrome: Are green buildings better than conventional buildings?

• Published in: Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 30 - 32
• Main Authors: Gawande, Sonal, Tiwari, Rajnarayan, Narayanan, Prakash, Bhadri, Ashwin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.01.2020; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
• Subjects: Air conditioning; Air pollution; Air quality; Brief Communication; Consent; Employees; Energy efficient buildings; Environmental engineering; Green buildings; Green design; Health; Humidity; Indoor air quality; Pollutants; Production management; Sick building syndrome; Sustainable development; Time; Ventilation; India; Mumbai India; sick building syndrome; indoor air quality; Conventional buildings; green buildings
• ISSN: 0973-2284; 1998-3670
• DOI: 10.4103/ijoem.IJOEM_148_19

Indoor air quality (IAQ) influences human health, productivity and wellness. Green buildings are believed to have better IAQ. The 'sick building syndrome' (SBS) describes a set of nonspecific symptoms experienced by occupants due to time spent in a building with poor IAQ. Thus this study was undertaken to assess the IAQ in green buildings and compare it with that of conventional buildings. The prevalence of SBS in both types of buildings is also studied. In five pairs of green and conventional buildings measurements of comfort parameters (temperature & relative humidity) and indoor air pollutants using monitors was done. 148 employees which included 84 from green buildings and 64 from conventional buildings were surveyed for SBS using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The analysis was done using SPSS16 and included Mann Whitney for IAQ pollutant concentrations and Chi-square for the SBS prevalence. Similar indoor air quality was found in both types of buildings. The mean of temperature, CO2 and formaldehyde was statistically lower in green buildings. The SBS prevalence was found to be 38.1% in green buildings and 53.1% in conventional buildings. Thus to conclude the poorly maintained green building does not have any added advantage for occurrence of SBS.