The development of a methodology for a tool for rapid assessment of indoor environment quality in office buildings in the UK

This thesis describes a methodology for the development of a novel tool for rapid assessment of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) in office buildings in the UK. The tool uses design, measured, calculated and surveyed data as input for IEQ calculations. The development of such a tool has become a nece...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ncube, Matiwaza
Published: University of Nottingham 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.559546
Description
Summary:This thesis describes a methodology for the development of a novel tool for rapid assessment of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) in office buildings in the UK. The tool uses design, measured, calculated and surveyed data as input for IEQ calculations. The development of such a tool has become a necessity especially in the developed world where legally binding targets for Green House Gas (GHG) emissions have been agreed and where buildings are required by law to display energy performance certification. The novelty of this tool is that it addresses the need to present an indoor environment performance rating that can be presented alongside energy performance certification since the energy performance of office buildings depends significantly on the criteria used for the indoor environment. The tool, called the IEQAT (Indoor Environment Quality Assessment Tool), is based on the IEQ model which was developed from literature review. The IEQ model is based on the IEQ index which was derived from contributing factors or sub indices that include Thermal Comfort, Indoor Air quality (IAQ), Acoustic Comfort and Lighting. The model was tested by studying the responses of occupants of three office buildings in the UK. Their subjective responses which were collected via a questionnaire were compared against model simulation results which were calculated using physical measurements of IEQ variables such as air temperature, illuminance (lux), background noise levels (dBA), relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration (ppm), and air velocity. By fitting a multivariate regression model to questionnaire data, a weighted ranking of parameters affecting IEQ was produced and new provisional weightings for the IEQ model, which is more relevant to the UK situation, were derived.