PERCEPTION AND SATISFACTION OF THERMAL COMFORT AND THERMAL ASSOCIATED SBS SYMPTOMS IN GREEN MARK PLATINUM AND NON-GREEN MARK OFFICE BUILDINGS

Abstract

There have been mixed reviews on thermal comfort in green and conventional buildings. The objectives of this study are to determine the perception and satisfaction of thermal comfort, as well as prevalence of thermal associated SBS symptoms in two of Singapore’s Green Mark Platinum and two non-Green Mark office buildings. It is hypothesized in relation to the aim of this study that the Green Mark Platinum office buildings will perform better from a thermal comfort perspective. Questionnaires and field measurements were conducted to cross analyze subjective and objective results. This study found that a GM Platinum building has lesser prevalence of stuffy nose (p<0.05), irritated throat (p<0.05) and sleepiness (p<0.05) symptoms than a non-Green Mark building and is likely due to human physiological responses to warmth and humidity. Between the two non-Green Mark buildings, one was found to have lesser prevalence of difficulty to concentrate (p<0.05) symptom. Additionally, occupants in the GM Platinum buildings had better perception of air temperature and higher thermal satisfaction level than the non-green office buildings. However, there was no statistically significant difference in perceived air movement and humidity and perceived importance of thermal comfort between the two groups of buildings. It is concluded that Green Mark Platinum buildings perform better than non-Green Mark buildings in some aspects of perception and satisfaction of thermal comfort but this is not affirmative due to limitations like bias responses, hence the findings cannot be generalized to the whole spectrum of green and non-green buildings in Singapore.