EXTENSION SCHOOL - ENVR E119C High Performance Buildings for Health, Comfort, and Sustainability Spring 2016

Version update: February 25, 2016

Course Description

In recent years, high performance green buildings have gone from fringe to main stream. Organizations and municipalities around the world have started requiring elements of green building on new construction and major renovations, green materials and equipment are abundant in the marketplace, energy disclosure ordinances are being adopted, and green building rating systems and standards are becoming part of the popular vernacular. Commitments made at COP 21 in Paris ensure this trend will continue over the next decade or more. We still have a long way to go and there is lots of room for improvement in the way we design, build and operate our buildings, but there is definite movement in the right direction.

While there is increasing support for “green building”, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions receive the bulk of the attention. There are many reasons for this: energy savings are relatively straight forward to quantify and verify, energy savings are easily translated into financial savings and returns on investment, global climate change is disproportionately affected by the built environment, etc. Energy efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions are extremely important, but “green building” is an umbrella term that incorporates best practice and aspirational building design, construction and operations strategies that are good for both the planet and people. This class will exclusively look at the impact of the built environment on people and demonstrate how green buildings can improve occupants’ health, comfort, and productivity.

This course attempts to answer two questions:

1. What makes a building healthy, comfortable and productive for its occupants? 2. How can we influence design, construction and operations to ensure healthy, comfortable and productive buildings?

Students will learn about occupants’ interaction with light, color, sound, temperature and humidity, toxins and contaminants, plants and nature, food and water, etc. We’ll review the most recent research in these areas and identify where additional research is needed. We’ll also go through relevant green building standards, codes and rating systems and discuss their applicability, strengths, and weaknesses. Students will be introduced to design principles and state of the art tools for the design of healthy, comfortable and productive facilities. Case studies will demonstrate strategies to improve the occupant experience in office buildings, hospitals, schools and residential buildings. Students will leave the class with an understanding of these complex issues and be able to comfortably discuss setting goals and evaluating performance related to the occupant experience.

Harvard Instructor

Nathan Gauthier, LEED Fellow, Partner, EA Buildings: [email protected]

Teaching Fellows

Marcus Hazelwood, LEED AP, Energy Analyst, Green Building Services, HUCS: [email protected] Michael Swenson, LEED AP, Project Manager, Green Building Services, HUCS: [email protected]

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Guest Lecturers (confirmed)

Paula Buick, MBA, LEED AP, Director Healthcare and Health Sciences Planning – Payette Robin Dodson, SD, Research Scientist - Silent Spring Institute Jose Guillermo (Memo) Cedeño Laurent, SD, Program Leader for Energy Efficiency and Carbon Mitigation Technologies, Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment Steven Lockley, PhD, Associate Professor, Sleep Medicine Institute – Crista Martin, MFA, Director for Strategic Initiatives & Communications - Harvard University Dining Services Thomas J. McGraw, LEED AP, Senior Consultant - Acentech (acoustic consulting firm) John D. Spengler, PhD, Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation - HSPH Nada Tarkhan, Master of Design in Energy and Environment student - Harvard Graduate School of Design

Class Logistics

Class Days: Thursdays Class Times: 7:40 to 9:40 PM EST / EDT (UTC -5:00 until March 13, then UTC -4:00) Location: 1 Story Street, Cambridge, MA; Room 302 Course Tuition: Non-credit or undergraduate credit $1,350, Graduate credit $2,400 Course Website: https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/8259

Course Schedule

Additional information will be provided in subsequent drafts. Order of the syllabus, specific topics, and guest lecturers are subject to change.

Date Topic Guest 1/28 001 - Introductions 2/4 002 - WELL Standard 2/11 003 - Ventilation & Thermal Comfort 2/18 004 - Light: Artificial and Natural Dr. Steve Lockley, HMS 2/25 005 - Productivity Dr. Jack Spengler, HSPH 3/3 006 - Acoustics Tom McGraw, Acentech 3/10 007 - Nature, Health, and the Built Environment Paula Buick, Payette Health Care Facilities 3/17 SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS 3/24 008 - Diet and Exercise Crista Martin, HUDS Ergonomics 3/31 009 - Chemicals and Pollutants Dr. Robin Dodson, SSI 4/7 010 - IAQ Modeling Dr. Memo Laurent, HCHGE 4/14 011 - Daylight Modeling Nada Tarkhan, GSD 4/21 012 - Specifications, Submittals and Commissioning 4/28 013 - Post Occupancy Evaluations & Value Dr. Memo Laurent, HCHGE Proposition 5/5 014 - Social Equity, Review and Make Up 5/12 015 - Final Presentations (Grad Students Only)

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Course Reading

There is no text book for this class. Readings will be assigned for each class. All readings will be available on the course website.

Readings include:

 Allen, J. G., MacNaughton, P., Satish, U., Santanam, S., Vallarino, J., & Spengler, J. D. 2015. Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments. Environmental Health Perspectives.  American Society of Interior Designers. 1999. Recruiting and Retaining Qualified Employees -- By Design.  Bernstein, Harvey M. et. al. 2014. The Drive Toward Healthier Buildings: The Market Drivers and Impact of Building Design and Construction on Occupant Health, Well-Being and Productivity. McGraw Hill Construction.  Heschong Mahone Group. 2003. Windows and Offices: a Study of Worker Performance and the Indoor Environment (Technical Report). California Energy Commission.  Delos Living LLC. 2015. WELL Building Standard®, v1. International Well Building Institute.  Manandhar, M., & Buick, P. 2012. Hospital, Heal Thyself, Clamor is hazardous to your health. Designers have the Rx., ArchitectureBoston  Spengler, J., & Africa, J. K. 2014. The Natural Environments Initiative: Illustrative Review and Workshop Statement. Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard School of Public Health.  Terrapin Bright Green. 2012. The Economics of Biophilia: Why designing with nature in mind makes financial sense.  World Green Building Council. 2014. Health, Wellbeing, and Productivity in Offices, the next chapter for green buildings, Key Findings.

Assignments

Further details on these assignments will be posted on the Canvas website under ‘Assignments’, after they are discussed in class. All assignments must be submitted to the course Dropbox (under the applicable Assignment) on Canvas. Assignments will not be accepted via email. Assignments are due by 5:30 pm Eastern Standard Time on the day they are due (see course schedule for due dates).

Late Policy: Assignments submitted after the due date will receive a 10% penalty for each date of late submission, unless prior arrangements are made with your Teaching Fellow. Assignments will not be accepted after one week late.

Assignment 1: Video Introduction – Please upload a one to two minute video introduction of yourself (name, location, etc.) highlighting an indoor space you enjoy. This space can be your home, an office, the library, favorite coffee shop, etc. You must note three specific reasons you like the space as one specific thing you would to see like changed if you could. Please submit your introduction to the CANVAS site before the start of class on February 4.

Assignment 2: WELL Building Standard® – Select an office space you have access to and evaluate it against 10 WELL features (5 Preconditions and 5 Optimizations). Indicate whether the space complies with the feature or not. For each feature with which it does comply, describe how the space would have to be changed to comply with the WELL feature requirements. This assignment should only be 1 or 2 pages and is due before the start of class on February 11.

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Assignment 3: Contaminant and Pollutant Inventory – For the space you selected in Assignment 1 or 2, conduct an inventory of products and materials that might contribute to organic chemicals being released. Identify at least 10 specific materials or products and the chemical of concern to occupant health. For each of the materials or products, research an alternative that would be preferred. Indicate where you got all information (chemicals of concern and alternatives). Your inventory is due April 7.

Assignment 4: Daylight or IAQ Modeling – Select one of the two modeling exercises below. Both provide model files for a building space and ask you to run the files to determine the results. Both modeling techniques will be demonstrated in class by a guest lecturer with an additional session provided by the teaching fellows to help answer any questions related to installing and running the programs. Assignments will be due on April 21.

Option 1: IAQ Modeling Use the CONTAM file provided to you in class to model the concentration of PM2.5 due to the smoking of a cigarette in the living room. Consider that a cigarette emits 1.3 mg of particulate matter and lasts about 10 minutes. Answer the following questions: 1. What is the cigarette contaminant concentration at 9am in the living room? 2. What is the daily average cigarette contaminant concentration in the living room? 3. What is the daily average concentration in the living room with a filter of removal efficiency of 20% on the HVAC system?

Option 2: Daylight Modeling We will provide three Rhino / DIVA files showing essentially the same space with different fenestration options. Students will simulate the three models and share their results. Answer the following questions: 1. What are the relevant daylight simulation results for each of the spaces? 2. Which space do you feel does the worst job of utilizing natural daylight (and why)? 3. Which space do you feel does the best job of utilizing natural daylight (and why)?

Assignment 5: Post Occupancy Evaluation – Select an indoor space (same as assignment 1 or 2 or a new space) and identify 3 qualities that you would like to evaluate. Create a survey an anonymous survey that could be distributed to occupants to collect data used to evaluate those 3 qualities and allow you to recommend specific improvements if necessary (will likely require more than 3 questions). Include a short narrative describing who would receive the survey, how it would be administered, and what you would do with the results to determine if changes would be recommended. Assignments will be due on April 28.

Final Project: Comfortable, Healthy, Productive Space Case Study – Select a commercial or institutional building to assess. You are to prepare a case study (project profile) describing attributes that make it comfortable, healthy, and productive for occupants. Your case study should include analysis of the building’s impacts on humans in multiple categories (5 for undergraduate, 7 for graduate). Categories would generally be the topics covered in our classes (acoustics, lighting, biophilia, etc.) or the concepts in the WELL standard. For each of these impact categories, you should identify at least 2 positive design or operations strategies and 1 opportunity for improvement. Describe these strategies in your case study and indicate the potential benefit to occupants, citing a published resource for each benefit. Include a general introduction to the building, a summary concluding your profile, at least 2 photos, and at least 2 quotes from actual occupants or others familiar with the space (cannot be from you). Graduate students must also prepare a brief (7 minutes of talk plus 3 minutes for questions) Power Point presentation sharing the project profile with the class. All project profiles are due May 12. Graduate students will present their projects on May 12.

Quizzes: Throughout Semester (Graduate Students Only) – Most lectures will include a reading assignment related to the week’s topic. There will be a small number of short quizzes related to these readings assigned to graduate students only. All students are encouraged to read the week’s readings.

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Online Discussion: Throughout Semester – Most lectures will include a reading assignment related to the week’s topic. There will often be a discussion question posed to the class a week ahead of time and students will be asked to contribute to the topic on the course’s CANVAS site. Credit will be given for participation to those who pose something thoughtful to each week’s discussion.

Assignment Grading System

Undergraduate Graduate Assignment 1 – Intro Videos 5 5 Assignment 2 – WELL Standard 15 15 Assignment 3 – Contaminant Inventory 15 15 Assignment 4 – Modeling 15 15 Assignment 5 – Post Occupancy Eval 15 10 Final Projects 20 25 Quizzes - 10 Class Discussion 15 5 TOTAL 100 100

Academic Integrity

Many of the course assignments involve writing. Please review ’s statement on Academic Integrity: http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2009-10/policies/responsible.jsp#integrity. Be very careful to cite all references and photos and ensure that your work is original work. Work must be properly cited following Harvard’s guide “Writing with Sources” (http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k24101&pageid=icb.page145319) and “Writing with Internet Sources (http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic229960.files/Writing_with_Internet_Sources.pdf).

Harvard Extension Writing Center in Grossman Library offers writing tutorials and writing feedback for both local and distance students. More info: http://www.extension.harvard.edu/resources/writing-center

You are responsible for understanding Harvard Extension School policies on academic integrity (www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/student-conduct/academic-integrity) and how to use sources responsibly. Not knowing the rules, misunderstanding the rules, running out of time, submitting "the wrong draft", or being overwhelmed with multiple demands are not acceptable excuses. There are no excuses for failure to uphold academic integrity. To support your learning about academic citation rules, please visit the Harvard Extension School Tips to Avoid Plagiarism (www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/tips-avoid-plagiarism), where you'll find links to the Harvard Guide to Using Sources and two, free, online 15-minute tutorials to test your knowledge of academic citation policy. The tutorials are anonymous open-learning tools

Disability Services

The Extension School is committed to providing an accessible academic community. The Disability Services Office offers a variety of accommodations and services to students with documented disabilities. Please visit www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/disability-services-accessibility for more information.

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