Building life cycle analysis : incorporating human factors

• Main Author: Anastasia Nissa Melina
• Other Authors: Yang En-Hua
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/63704
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Life cycle analysis for building sustainability assessment usually focuses on environmental and economic impacts of the building, but very rarely takes into account social impacts on the building occupants, especially during the operational stage. In this project, human factors are incorporated into life cycle analysis of buildings using a case study of two tutorial rooms in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Specifically, the study focuses on investigating the impacts of indoor air quality on wellbeing and performance of building occupants, and incorporates the results into social life cycle analysis of the building. Experiments were conducted with major indoor air elements, such as thermal comfort and CO2 concentration monitored closely as independent variables in the operational phase of building life cycle. The impacts of indoor air quality were then investigated by assigning subjective feeling questionnaires and behavioral tasks on 39 students to quantify wellbeing and performance. The measured indicators were Building Symptoms Index, number of days of sick leave, cost of sick leave, average scores, and rate of return of education. Finally, human impacts were compared against environmental impacts by also monitoring the energy consumption of the tutorial room. Based on the interpretation of results, setting an adequate indoor air quality as well as choosing the most suitable air conditioning system can have a significant impact on building occupants’ wellbeing and performance. It is shown that increasing energy consumption slightly by about 15% to modify the original design and create a better indoor air quality improves occupants’ wellbeing and performance almost dramatically, i.e. more than halving the number of days of sick leave and increasing the rate of return of education by more than 15%. Such simple decision and implementation have to be made with thorough evaluation to ensure a comfortable and conducive place for building occupants, as well as sustainability of the built environment.