FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATING INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPACTS INTO LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENTS OF BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REL ATED PRODUCTS

Products used during construction and operation of a building can contribute to Indoor Air Quality(IAQ)problems that affect occupants’well-being.However,IAQ is conventionally not addressed in the life cycle assessments(LCAs)of buildings and building related products even though IAQ leads to one of the areas of protection under LCA-human health impacts.In this study,we proposed an overall framework for integrating IAQ into LCA using the standard steps of LCA.The framework focused on IAQ and LCA modeling from two categories of building related products:i)passive products that realize their function through initial installation and have long-term decayed emissions,and ii)active equipment that realize their function and cause emissions through daily operation.Dynamic and static life cycle inventory modeling approaches were proposed for passive products and active equipment,respectively.An indoor intake fraction equation and USEtox model effect factors were incorporated into the life cycle impact assessment.Three hypothetical examples were presented to illustrate the calculation procedure of the framework.We concluded that it was feasible to integrate IAQ into building related LCA studies.Development of IAQ related impact assessment methodologies can improve upon the limitations of this study.Further studies need to be carried out to compare the health impacts from IAQ related sources to other life cycle stages of building related products.

HOW DO GREEN BUILDINGS COMMUNICATE GREEN DESIGN TO BUILDING USERS?A SURVEY STUDY OF A LEED-CERTIFIED BUILDING

Studies investigating the benefits of green buildings can be approached by the affor-dance theory-the perceived properties of a thing that determine how it could pos-sibly be used.This study focuses on the sustainable communication and education that a green building should provide.By applying the affordance theory,we examined whether a LEED-certified university campus building effectively communicates green design and sustainability to its users and if so,then how?We employed a question-naire survey targeting campus users of a LEED-certified building by examining their awareness of the building’s LEED status and perception of green design elements at multiple spatial scales,as well as their general knowledge on green building topics.We collected 177 questionnaires,of which 153 were qualified for statistical analysis.The results suggested that the building itself can afford to promote awareness among users,but cannot afford to educate users on general green building knowledge.We found that building users perceived green design at different spatial scales,preferring either product or space-related design.Our results indicate that future design should continue promoting the use of educational signage,which was found to be the most effective communicator of sustainability.The communication of green design to users with different spatial preferences remains a future research focus.Further studies on the innovative use of green building design as effective communicators are needed to promote sustainability education among the building users.