Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Indoor Environmental Risk Factors for Occupant Symptoms in 100U.S. Office Buildings: Summary of Three Analyses from the EPA BASEStudy

Conference ·
OSTI ID:877688

This paper summarizes three analyses of data on building-related environmental factors and occupant symptoms collected from 100 representative large U.S. office buildings. Using multivariate logistic regression models, we found increased occupant symptoms associated with a number of building-related factors, including lower ventilation rates even at the current guideline levels, lack of scheduled cleaning for air-conditioning drain pans and cooling coils, poor condition of cooling coils, poorly maintained humidification systems, and lower outdoor air intake height. Some expected relationships were not found, and several findings were opposite of expected. Although requiring replication, these findings suggest preventive actions to reduce occupant symptoms in office buildings.

Research Organization:
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE. Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency andRenewable Energy. Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for TechnologyDevelopment. Office of the Building Technologies Program; USEnvironmental Protection Agency Agreements DW89939365-01-0 andDW89921695-01-1
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
877688
Report Number(s):
LBNL--59659; BnR: 400408000
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English