Improved lighting, ventilation and heat control of office buildings can boost workers' productivity by thousands of dollars a year and reduce the sick building syndrome.
A new study revealed, that people who work in green buildings think better in the offices and sleep better when they get back home. The research indicated, that improved air in the building, which includes good ventilation and heat control as well as the lighting can significantly improve the workers' performance. The study also suggests that more subjective aspects, such as design and the beauty of the building can make workers more happier and productive.
The analysed group of workers included in this research was employed by the company, which has branches in five different US cities, where some of the buildings were green certified and the group was then compared to the employees that were working in non-green buildings.
The workers in the green buildings have scored over 25% higher in terms of assessing the ability to think and plan. "The tool assesses complex decision-making performance, which mimics the real-world decision making that all of us encounter every day in our normal work routine" said Joseph Allen, at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in the US. The sleep assessment of workers revealed, that those employees working in green offices had 6% higher sleep scores, which means that buildings can still impact people after the eight hours we spend at work. The study explained, that better sleep patterns of workers were through better lighting, with more daylight, that is in green buildings, which strengthens people's daily rhythms and promotes better sleep.
Furthermore, the green buildings have reported 30% lesser "sick building syndrome" symptoms such as respiratory and eye irritation, headaches and fatigue. This is due to improved ventilation and therefore lower levels of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted from the furniture and carpets.
Chief sustainability officer at United Technologies, John Mandyck, said: "People had surmised the benefits of green buildings but there hasn't been good science behind it. Now there is science behind the intuition."
