Page 239 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY QUESTIONS 215

PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE
StopWaste.org, Oakland, California
The 14,000-square-feet building serves as the headquarters for StopWaste.Org,
the Alameda County Waste Management Authority and the Alameda County
Source Reduction and Recycling Board operating as one public agency. Designed
to be 40 percent more efficient than a typical office building, a few of the sustain-
able features include a photovoltaic panel array; efficient heating, cooling, lighting,
and energy management systems; recycled and salvaged materials; and low-VOC
paints.*

Indoor Environmental Quality

Questions

Earlier, I pointed out how productivity and health concerns were tied up with
employee satisfaction with the working environment. Studies reveal that indoor
air quality and daylighting are two of the vital elements to introduce into any
high-performance building project. Incorporating key indoor environmental
quality features should be carefully considered during the design development
phase.

1 How much could our staff productivity increase with better daylighting?
With natural ventilation or 30 percent or more increased outside air? Have
we accounted for the benefits of higher productivity in our cost-benefit
model?
2 How could a daylighting model help us reduce energy use by optimizing the elec-
tric lighting design?
3 Are we considering the use of lighting controls that will allow a seamless blend
of daylighting (when available) and electric lighting?
4 Will at least 90 percent of the regularly occupied spaces have direct views to the
outdoors, through vision glazing (30 to 90 inches above the floor)?
5 Will there be a minimum 2 percent daylight factor for all regularly occupied
spaces or for at least 75 percent of such spaces?
6 Have we considered reducing the organization’s standard partition heights to
42 to 48 inches to accommodate views to the outdoors for everyone? How will
acoustic privacy be handled in that situation?

*Rumsey Engineers [online], http://www.rumseyengineers.com/green_featured_stopwaste.php, accessed April
2008.