Review of parameters used to assess the quality of the indoor environment in Green Building certification schemes for offices and hotels

Fourteen Green Building (GB) certification schemes were reviewed to examine the parameters they used to assess indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Ninety different parameters were identified. They were classified into four major IEQ components defining the thermal, acoustic and visual environments, and indoor air quality (IAQ).

For the thermal environment, the most commonly used parameters were PMV, PPD, room operative temperature, room air temperature, room air relative humidity, and air speed. For the acoustic environment, the most commonly used parameters were ambient noise and reverberation time. For the visual environment, the most commonly used parameters were illuminance level, daylight factor, and spatial daylight autonomy.

For IAQ, the most commonly used parameters were ventilation rate (outdoor air supply rate), TVOC, formaldehyde, CO2, CO, PM10, PM2.5, ozone, benzene, and radon. Credits are used to rate the importance of different parameters for the overall level of IEQ in the reviewed schemes. Using these credits and the figures published in peer-reviewed papers, it was found out that the average contribution of the thermal, acoustic, luminous environment and air quality parameters to the overall IEQ rating of a building was respectively 27%, 17%, 22%, and 34%.

The present work can be regarded as a reference for selecting parameters that are commonly used to characterize IEQ.