Indoor Environmental Quality

Personalized Environmental Control Systems (PECS) with the functions of heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, and acoustics have the advantage of controlling the localized environment at occupant’s workstation by their preference instead of conditioning an entire space. This improves personal comfort, health of the occupants, and energy efficiency of the entire heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system substantially. Some of the major advantages and limitations of PECS are summarized. 

Personalized Environmental Control Systems (PECS) have advantages of controlling the localized environment at occupants’ workstation by their preference instead of conditioning an entire room. A new IEA EBC Annex (Annex 87 - Energy and Indoor Environmental Quality Performance of Personalised Environmental Control Systems) has recently started to establish design criteria and operation guidelines for PECS and to quantify their benefits. This topical session will provide an introduction to the objective/scope, activities, and intended outputs of the annex. 

The present paper describes an experimental test to identify the possible influences that the presence of plant species may have on the environmental quality of indoor spaces. For this purpose, a selection of houseplants with high air purification capacities was made based on existing literature (Sansevieria, Poto, Spathiphyllum, Ficus Benjamina, Kentia and Areca). Two adjacent rooms within an experimental building were used as test cells. The two rooms have similar characteristics. One room was occupied with the plants and the other was left empty.

Current HVAC control systems assume occupant-related information, i.e., preferences, occupancy and behaviour. Furthermore, occupants often have limited control over the indoor environment in non-residential buildings. As a result, occupants are often dissatisfied with the indoor environmental quality (IEQ). This study works towards defining a novel occupant-centric control (OCC) framework which integrates occupants’ feedback regarding their satisfaction with the IEQ. This study collected both occupant satisfaction assessments via surveys and IEQ measurement data in various case studies.

This study aims to assess the indoor thermal and environmental quality of low-income households in New South Wales, Australia. It adds evidence-based findings on the performance of residential buildings and contributes to improving the indoor environmental quality of social housing. The research presented in this paper involved subjective and objective evaluation of indoor air and environmental quality.

This workshop session will consist of a series of presentations by members of the Board for the Indoor Environmental Quality – Global Alliance (IEQ-GA). The AIVC is one of the founding members of the IEG-GA, and its representatives have participated in the formation of the Global Alliance as well as active members in planning for the next stage of its development. The Alliance is expected to be an independent international NGO whose members are public or non-profit entities that are involved with advancing knowledge on common indoor environmental quality issues.

As one of the founding partners of the IEQ-GA, the networking with other organisations within the global alliance is for AIVC very important.  
Whereas AIVC has primary a focus on good indoor air quality (by using ventilation) and good thermal comfort during warm periods (by using intensive ventilation), it is clear that an overall approach to indoor environmental quality is important.  

In these three presentations, we review the origins and history of the Indoor Environmental Quality Global Alliance, AIVC’s view of the potential value of IEQ-GA, and directions it is taking and may take over the next decade. 

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is generally taken to encompass four main factors: indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal conditions, visual quality, and acoustical quality. Although there is an implicit concern for safety, the predominant metrics all four in standards for design of buildings are based on perceived quality or comfort.

Through history; a large body of research has found a relationship between the IEQ and the recovery of patients in healthcare facilities. IEQ factors include natural ventilation, daylighting, acoustics, materials off gassing, etc... This research is to identify the guidelines to healthy daylighting in hospital buildings. Research methods include grounded theory finding through intensive literature review and analysis of successful international examples.