Epidemic of Obesity?

Many green building approaches featuring natural ventilation may run counter to people’s comfort.

As a nation, America is threatened by an “epidemic of obesity,” in which people are 10 pounds heavier today than 10 years ago. What are the implications of this trend for green building design, wherein we’d like to expand the range of acceptable temperatures in an office space, to allow us to downsize HVAC equipment and use more approaches such as natural ventilation and operable windows. If people are uncomfortable in our buildings because they carry more “insulation” on their bodies, doesn’t this defeat our purposes in creating green buildings, namely, to increase productivity? In the next issue of www.igreenbuild.com IGreenBuild, due out October 30th, I discuss this trend and offer some practical solutions to get more energy efficient buildings AND more comfortable inhabitants. Sign up on the web site to receive the newsletter, and get my take on green building trends and issues twice a month.

Posted by on 10/24/2006 at 07:13 PM