Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering

ISSN: 1346-7581 (Print) 1347-2852 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tabe20

Indoor Environmental Quality in LEED-Certified

Buildings in the U.S.

Young S. Lee & Suk-Kyung Kim

To cite this article: Young S. Lee & Suk-Kyung Kim (2008) Indoor Environmental Quality in
LEED-Certified Buildings in the U.S., Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 7:2,
293-300, DOI: 10.3130/jaabe.7.293

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.3130/jaabe.7.293

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Published online: 24 Oct 2018.

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 Indoor Environmental Quality in LEED-Certified Buildings in the U.S.

Young S. Lee*1 and Suk-Kyung Kim2

1
Assistant Professor, School of Planning, Design, & Construction, Michigan State University, USA
2
Assistant Professor, School of Planning, Design, & Construction, Michigan State University, USA

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of workplaces in
the LEED–certified buildings in the United States. LEED®, standing for the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design, is a U.S. national sustainable building benchmark as well as green building
rating system adopted nationally and internationally. The study compared seven IEQ criteria in relation
to occupant's satisfaction and performance between LEED-certified buildings and non-LEED-certified
buildings. The seven IEQ criteria included qualities of office layout, office furnishings, thermal comfort,
indoor air quality (IAQ), lighting, acoustics, and cleanliness and maintenance. The study found that LEED-
certified buildings showed higher occupant satisfaction with office furnishings quality, IAQ, and cleanliness
and maintenance quality than non-LEED-certified buildings. However, non-LEED-certified buildings
presented higher occupant satisfaction with office layout quality, lighting quality, and acoustic quality than
LEED-certified buildings. LEED-certified buildings had higher occupant performance in office furnishings
quality, thermal comfort quality, IAQ, and cleanliness and maintenance quality than non-LEED-certified
buildings. But non-LEED-certified buildings showed higher occupant performance in office layout quality,
lighting quality, and acoustic quality. The implementations of the study include emphasis on various issues of
IEQ in workplace design when complying with LEED and refinement of current LEED IEQ criteria.

Keywords: sustainable building design; LEED; IEQ; POE; workplace

1. Introduction voluntary, consensus-based green building standard

1.1 Background
The sustainable building movement in the U.S has
rapidly gained popularity by successfully transforming
building design, construction, and operation practice
towards environmentally responsible building practice
since 2000. This success is due in part to the growing
social awareness and concerns about the adverse
environmental impacts caused by built environment,
advances in sustainable building technologies and
materials, and strong leadership from the U.S. federal
government in the sustainable building movement
(USGBC, 2003).
The most significant contributor to the market
transformation towards sustainable building design
practice in the U.S. is the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED ® ) Green Building
Rating System™ developed by the U.S. Green
Building Council (USGBC) in 1998. LEED is a
*Contact Author: Young S. Lee, Assistant Professor,
Michigan State University
201C Human Ecology, East Lansing, MI, USA
Tel: +1-517-432-3242 Fax: +1-517-432-8108
E-mail: leeyou35@msu.edu
( Received April 8, 2008 ; accepted August 18, 2008 )
as well as rating system. LEED® currently became a
national benchmark for green buildings by providing
measurable performance criteria in a set of standards.
The ultimate goal of LEED standards is to improve the
quality of occupant's life through a sustainable built
environment (USGBC, 2007).
The majority of studies in the subject of sustainable
design, construction, and operation including LEED-
certified buildings have been focusing on conservation
and cost savings of energy, water, and natural
materials. But a simple truth that the success of a
sustainable building eventually relies on its indoor
environmental quality (IEQ) which directly affects
the quality of occupant's life is often forgotten in the
current sustainable building research.
There is a lack of comprehensive studies examining
whether the IEQ of sustainable buildings contributes
to occupant's life. Especially, little is known whether
the IEQ of LEED-certified buildings truly improves
occupant's satisfaction and performance more than
conventional buildings, despite the popularity of
LEED standards being adopted not only in the U.S
but also other countries. It is, thus, important to assess
whether LEED-certified buildings are truly successful
as sustainable buildings by examining the quality

Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering/November 2008/300 293

of indoor environment of LEED-certified buildings.
Finding the effects of the IEQ in workplaces of LEED-
certified buildings is especially crucial since many
building owners and organizations are pursuing a
LEED certification. Moreover, the interest in the LEED
certification system became global. Currently, many of
LEED-certified projects are located in Asia including
China, India, and Korea. Thus, occupant's assessment
of the LEED-certified buildings in the U.S. will
suggest future steps for implications to many countries
pursuing sustainable building design.
1.2 Purpose and Scope of Study
The primary purpose of the study was to evaluate
the effectiveness of IEQ in LEED-certified buildings
by comparing IEQ in relation to perceived occupant's
satisfaction and performance between the buildings
that are LEED certified and the building that are not
LEED-certified. Based on the evaluation, this study
aimed to provide suggestions for improving the IEQ
standards and future design implications for LEED-
certified buildings. The study focused on workplaces
as the commercial office was a building type where
LEED standards were most frequently applied as a
single building type (USGBC 2006). IEQ criteria were
evaluated with regard to occupant's satisfaction and
performance because these two issues are the most
important measures for the success of an organization.
The relationship between the two is expressed "holy
grail" in organizational behavioral and management
research (Landy, 1989).
Satisfaction was referred to the desirability judged
by subjects (Wright, Cropanzano, Denney, & Moline,
2002). The study measured it with perceived levels of
occupant's satisfaction with the IEQ. Performance was
referred to producing economic value or enabling work
to be done (PDK Consulting, 2005). Performance was
used instead of productivity since it is more appropriate
in the current workplace where the traditional measures
of inputs and outputs are not applicable to knowledge
workers (PDK Consulting, 2005). The study measured
it with perceived levels of occupant's task completion.
Measuring and comparing occupants' evaluation
on the IEQ between LEED-certified building and
buildings that are not LEED-certified can determine
the success of a sustainable building project compliant
with LEED as it affects occupants most directly.
The study is significant in that it identifies strengths
and weaknesses of the current sustainable building
practice compliant with LEED standards and suggests
implications for the future practice.
2. Literature Review
2.1 LEED and IEQ
LEED® is a consensus-based national green standard
as well as rating system developed by a coalition
of leaders in building industry in the U.S. called
USGBC in 1998. Creation of LEED® was a national
294 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008
commitment to achieve the market transformation
towards sustainable building practice in the U.S. LEED
is comprised of measurable design and construction
standards that provide built environment practitioners
with the guidelines for sustainable building design
practice. The five major key areas in LEED include
sustainable site development, water savings,
energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor
environmental quality. Its mission parallels the three
principles of sustainability: environmental, economic,
and human/society sustainability, intending to provide
better human habitats within the ecological system.
Since the first release of the LEED 1.0 pilot program
in 1998, LEED has rapidly grown, especially, during
the last six years. USGBC currently has over 14,000
organization members and 91,000 individual members.
LEED has been implemented across the U.S. and
41 countries including Canada, Brazil, Mexico,
and India (USGBC, 2008). There are a total of over
1,300 LEED-certified projects and 10,300 registered
projects in progress as of March 2008 (USGBC, 2008).
The contribution of LEED is significant in that it
successfully spurred public awareness and discourse
on the need of sustainable building practice, not to
mention a market transformation of the building
industry in the U.S.
While LEED has shown great impacts on the
sustainable building design movement, a major
criticism on the validity of LEED standards has been
raised. It is questionable whether LEED addresses the
right issues of sustainability when selecting criteria
in the five key areas. Lack of a scientific approach in
developing the criteria has been indicated by others
(Schendler & Udall, 2005; Scheuer & Keoleain, 2002).
This is true in the area of IEQ in LEED standards.
Mechanical engineering aspects of IEQ dominate
the requirements of the LEED IEQ even though the
issue of the quality of indoor environment is beyond
the mechanical engineering aspects. Encompassing
mechanical aspects, the meaning of IEQ addresses
a broad range of issues related to occupant comfort,
health, and safety, which includes functional space
layout, thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ)
lighting, acoustics, ergonomics, aesthetics, etc. In the
LEED IEQ area, normative requirements are referenced
to other environmental standards such as those of the
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-
Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in a prescriptive
manner (Marlin, 2003). But these requirements have
not been validated in terms of whether meeting these
requirements provides better occupant's satisfaction
and productivity than conventional buildings as LEED
promised.
2.2 Occupant Assessment of IEQ
Occupant assessment on the built environment is
necessary as a complementary assessment to ensure
the effectiveness of the indoor environment of LEED-
Young S. Lee
certified buildings (Gonchar, 2008; Heerwagen &
Zagreus, 2005; Marlin, 2003; Mendler, Odell, &
Lazarus, 2005; Mendler, Woolford, & Bannon, 2006).
Occupant assessment on the environment is typically
known as post-occupancy evaluation (POE) or facility
performance evaluation (FPE). The importance of this
type of assessment is emphasized as a key element in
the current sustainable building movement to assure the
quality of indoor environment of sustainable buildings.
This is mainly due to lack of available information
on how buildings that are designed and constructed
with sustainable building standards and guidelines
including LEED actually perform regarding occupant's
satisfaction and performance. Occupant assessment is
known as a more effective tool to evaluate the success
of designed environments in identifying weaknesses
and strengths of the current sustainable design practice
and enhancing future design practice (Marlin, 2003).
Many U.S. governmental organizations and global
design firms such as U.S. General Services and
Administration (GSA), Gensler, and Hellmuth, Obata,
and Kassabaum (HOK) have incorporated occupant's
assessment to measure the effectiveness of indoor
environment of their sustainable building projects,
workplace design in particular. Workplace has been
the majority of projects where LEED standards were
applied. Commercial office is a building type where
LEED standards are most frequently applied as a single
building type and profit corporation is the dominant
building owner type of LEED projects (USGBC,
2006). Currently, organizations and building owners
are interested in the evidence whether their workplaces
compliant with LEED standards provide higher
occupant's satisfaction and performance, and eventual
organizational performance.
Occupant assessment or POE is a systematic
evaluation of the effectiveness of design components
in built environment based on occupants' responses
to their environment (Preiser, Rabinowitz, & White,
1988). It was originally developed by social scientists
and spatial designers in environment and behavioral
research to understand the experience of building
occupants. It was mainly used as a tool to assess the
effects of the design components of work environment
on occupant's satisfaction by built environment design
professions. Its use is now expanded to measure
occupant's performance in workplaces due to the
difficulties in quantitatively measuring such an issue
(Kooymans & Haylock, 2006).
The most popular standardized occupant's assessment
instrument that measures occupant's satisfaction and
performance in workplace in the U.S. is the Occupant
Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Survey. It was
developed by the Center for the Built Environment
(CBE) at the University of California (UC), Berkeley
to measure the IEQ in workplaces with a perspective
of occupant's. While most occupant assessment
JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008
instruments are specialized to meet research agendas
rather than market needs, the CBE's instrument was the
first standardized web survey in the U.S. The Center's
database has compiled responses from nearly 40,000
occupants in over 250 office buildings in 2007 since
its first survey in 2000. The Survey measures occupant
satisfaction and performance in the seven core topics in
workplace including office layout, office furnishings,
thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting, acoustics,
and cleanliness and maintenance.
2.3 Research on the IEQ of LEED-certified
buildings
The majority of studies of occupant's assessment
on the IEQ of LEED-certified buildings are case
studies. A small number of studies focused on finding
general occupant's responses on the workplace IEQ of
LEED-certified buildings. Turner (2006) conducted a
study evaluating the IEQ of LEED-certified buildings
through occupant assessment in the Pacific Northwest
in the U.S. The study found with seven LEED-certified
office buildings that occupant satisfaction was negative
only in noise and occupant performance was positive
in lighting and IEQ. Lee (2007) conducted a study to
find the effectiveness of the IEQ in workplaces of 15
LEED-certified buildings with regard to occupant's
satisfaction and performance by using the CBE's
database. The study found that cleanliness and
maintenance quality and office furnishings quality
showed highest occupant satisfaction and performance,
while acoustic quality and thermal comfort quality
showed lowest satisfaction and performance.
The CBE itself conducted a study comparing
sustainable buildings including LEED-certified
buildings with conventional buildings in its database.
The findings indicated that sustainable buildings
had significantly higher ratings in indoor air quality,
thermal comfort, and general satisfaction with the
building. No difference was found in office layout,
lighting, and acoustics between these two groups
of buildings (CBE, 2005). The sustainable building
group in the study included the buildings compliant
with various sustainable building design guidelines
besides LEED. There is currently a lack of studies
that focus on the effectiveness of the IEQ of LEED-
certified buildings in comparison to conventional
buildings despite the exponential growth and broad
implementation of LEED.
3. Method
3.1 Data Collection and Instrument
The study used secondary data. It used the online
database of the Occupant Indoor Environmental
Quality (IEQ) Survey from the Center for the Built
Environment (CBE) at the UC, Berkeley. The Survey
has complied occupant's responses on IEQ criteria
regarding their satisfaction and performance in office
buildings since 2000. It was a web-based survey using
Young S. Lee 295
a self-assessment questionnaire.
According to the CBE, the questionnaire was
developed with a focus group from industry partners.
Then, it was tested and refined by the Survey Research
Center and the U.C, Berkeley by using a cognitive
interviewing method to ensure the instrument's
effectiveness (Eisenhower, 2000). The questionnaire
included a core survey section regarding occupant's
satisfaction and performance in seven IEQ criteria
as well as characteristics of their demographics and
personal workspaces. A survey notification was sent to
office workers via email with a link to the survey web
site and they voluntarily participated in the web-based
survey. A standardized query language (SQL) server
database was used to store and retrieve the survey. The
results of the survey for each organization or building
were summarized and reported using an automated
web-based tool with visual graphs for occupant ratings.
This study compared the seven IEQ criteria in
relation to occupant's satisfaction and performance
in the core survey of the CBE Occupant IEQ Survey
between buildings that are LEED certified and the ones
that are not. This was to determine the effectiveness of
indoor environment of LEED-certified buildings. The
study did not consider whether the buildings that are
not LEED-certified followed other sustainable building
design guidelines or failed to be LEED-certified since
the objective of the study was to find how effective the
indoor environment of LEED-certified buildings are in
relation to occupant's satisfaction and performance.
The seven IEQ criteria included qualities of office
layout, office furnishings, thermal comfort, indoor air,
lighting, acoustics, and cleaning and maintenance. IEQ
assessment in relation to occupant satisfaction asked
how satisfied workers were with each IEQ criterion.
For example, the question for the level of indoor
air quality was "How satisfied are you with the air
quality in your workspace?" A Likert-type scale was
used with seven choices from "very satisfied (+3)" to
"very dissatisfied (-3)" for IEQ questions in occupant
satisfaction.
IEQ assessment with regard to occupant performance
asked whether each IEQ criterion enhanced or
interfered with their ability to get the job done. An
example is "Does the lighting quality enhance or
interfere with your ability to get your job done?" A
semantic differential scale was used with seven choices
from "enhance (+3)" to "interfere (-3)" for occupant
Table 1. IEQ Criteria and Measurement
IEQ Criteria Satisfaction Measurement
Office Layout Quality
Office Furnishings Quality
Thermal Comfort Quality Likert-type scale.
Indoor Air Quality from very satisfied (+3)
Lighting Quality to very dissatisfied (-3)
Acoustics Quality
Cleanliness & Maintenance Quality
296 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008
performance.
Some criteria related to occupant's satisfaction
included more than one question in the questionnaire.
Office layout quality included available space for
individual work and storage, the level of visual
privacy, and easy interaction with co-workers. Office
furnishings measured the comfort of personal office
furnishings, adjustability of furniture, and colors and
textures of flooring, furniture and surface finishes.
Lighting quality included the amount of light in
personal workspace and the visual comfort of the
lighting such as glare, reflection, and contrast. Acoustic
quality measured noise level as well as sound privacy
in personal workspace. Cleanliness and maintenance
quality had three questions including cleanliness,
maintenance, and cleaning service.
All IEQ criteria regarding occupant's performance
asked one question each: whether each IEQ criterion
enhanced or interfered with their ability to get the job
done.
Table 1. presents the IEQ design criteria and
the measurement tool used in this study. When the
respondents were not satisfied with a criterion, the
reasons of dissatisfaction were asked in the follow-
up page to further investigate the problems in their
personal workspaces.
In addition to the responses for these core questions,
the information on the characteristics of respondents'
demographics and their workspaces were collected.
This was to compare the commonalities and differences
of occupants between two building groups and to help
explain the findings of the study. Questions for the
demographic characteristics of respondents included
duration at the current workspace, duration at the
workspace per day, type of work, age, and gender.
Questions for workspace characteristics of respondents
included location of personal workspace, direction of
closest windows to personal workspace, proximity
to a window within 15 feet to personal workspace,
and type of office. These questions were measured
by categorical scales. The questions are focused on
occupant's use of workspaces since the study intended
to compare the quality of work environment between
two groups. Table 2. shows questions and scales
used to gather information on the characteristics of
respondents' demographics and personal workspaces.
There were 15 LEED-certified buildings in the
database of the Center by March 2007 at the time of
Performance Measurement
Semantic differential scale.
from enhance (+3)
to interfere (-3)
Young S. Lee
Table 2. Demographics and Workspace Characteristics and Measurement
Demographic Information Measurement
Characteristics
Demographics

Duration at the current workspace Less than 3months (1); 4-6months (2); 7-12months (3); More than 1year (4)
Duration at the workspace per day 10 or less (1); 11-30 (2); More than 30 (3)
Administrative support (1); Technical (2); Professional (3);
Type of work
Managerial/supervisory (4); Other (5)
Age 30 or under (1); 31-50 (2); Over 50 (3)
Gender Female(1); Male(2)
Personal workspace location in building North(1); East(3); South(2); West(4); Core(5); Don't know (6)
Characteristics
Workspaces

Direction of Closest Window to Workspace North(1); East(3); South(2); West(4); No windows(5); Don't know (6)
Proximity to a Window within 15 feet Yes (1); No (2)
Enclosed private office (1); Enclosed shared office with other people (2); High-
Type of Office paneled cubicles about 5 feet or higher (3); Low-paneled cubicles below 5 feet
(4); Workspace in open office with no partitions (5); Other (6)

the study. The study compared between 15 LEED- similar distribution patterns in most questions between
certified buildings and the rest 200 non-LEED-certified LEED-certified buildings and non-LEED-certified
buildings. The total number of respondents was 3769 buildings.
in LEED-certified buildings and 36719 in non-LEED- The majority of the respondents in both LEED-
certified buildings. certified buildings and non-LEED-certified buildings
3.2 Analysis were between 31 to 50 years old, worked more than
The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics. one year for more than 30 hours per week in the
Descriptive statistics explained the occupant's current personal workspace, and had a professional
responses to the seven IEQ criteria and their job. However, there were more males in non-LEED-
background information with frequencies and central certified buildings (58%) than LEED-certified
tendencies. buildings (50%). Table 3. shows the characteristics of
A limitation of this study included unbalanced occupant's demographics between two building groups.
sample sizes between two groups. Even though the
Center's IEQ survey was the first successful nationally Table 3. Characteristics of Demographics Analysis Results
standardized survey in assessing occupant's responses Percentage (%)
to their workspaces, participations from LEED- Question Answer Non-
LEED
LEED
certified buildings in the survey just started at the time Female 50 58
of study. Thus, the number of LEED-certified buildings Gender
Male 50 42
participating in the survey was small. 30 or under 20 16
Another limitation was the use of aggregate data, Age 31-50 58 51
Over 50 27 33
which limited further advanced statistical analyses. Duration of Less than 3 months 14 9
Raw data was not accessible for the study due to employment 4-6 months 9 9
confidential issues with organizations who participated at the current 7-12 months 15 13
in the survey. General information regarding subject workspace More than 1 year 62 68
buildings such as buildings' geographic location, Duration of stay 10 hours or less 4 4
in the workspace 11-30 hours 21 14
size of buildings, or year of completion was thus not
in a typical week More than 30 hours 76 82
provided. Due to these reasons, descriptive analysis Administrative
methods were mainly employed. 20 25
support
Occupant's ratings on the IEQ criteria in relation to Technical 20 10
their satisfaction and performance were analyzed in a Type of work Professional 43 28
Managerial/
frequency distribution and translated to a percentage. A supervisory
25 24
mean score was calculated in each criterion to compare Other 10 8
central tendencies between two building groups.
For the demographic and workspace characteristics The characteristics of occupant's personal
questions, frequency distributions were analyzed and workspaces between two building groups showed
translated to percentages. similarities in the locations of personal workspace and
windows. The majority of respondents in both building
4. Findings and Discussions groups had personal workspaces on the north side in
4.1 Characteristics of Occupant's Demographics the building and had a window within 15 feet.
Findings on the demographic characteristics of The differences between two building groups are
respondents indicated that both building groups had shown in direction of closest windows to workspace
similar demographic characteristics. Responses on and office type. Most windows closest to personal
the demographic information of respondents showed workspaces in LEED-certified building were facing

JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Young S. Lee 297

north (31%) followed by south (24%) and west (19%). (0.95) than non-LEED-certified buildings. Non-
In non-LEED-certified buildings, most windows LEED- certified buildings had higher mean scores in
closest to personal workspaces faced both south (20%) office layout quality (0.53), lighting quality (0.85),
and east (20%) followed by north (19%) and west and acoustic quality (-0.31). Fig.1. and Fig.2. present
(17%). the mean scores in each IEQ criterion between two
The majority of respondents in LEED-certified building groups.
buildings occupied cubicles with higher partitions For both occupant satisfaction and performance,
of 5 feet or higher (59%) followed by cubicles with LEED-certified buildings showed higher mean scores
lower partitions lower than 5 feet (19%). However, in office furnishings quality, thermal comfort quality,
most respondents in non-LEED-certified building IAQ, and cleanliness and maintenance quality than
occupied enclosed private offices (65%) followed by non-LEED-certified buildings. Occupant satisfaction
enclosed shared offices (14%) and cubicles with higher with IAQ and cleanliness and maintenance were much
partitions with 5 feet or higher (14%). Table 4. presents higher in LEED-certified buildings than non-LEED-
the characteristics of occupant's personal workspaces certified buildings. It is inferred from these results
between two building groups. that LEED-certified buildings provide better IAQ than
non-LEED-certified buildings as this is one of the
Table 4. Characteristics of Workspaces Analysis Results
Percentage (%)
criteria that LEED standards pursue. In addition, the
Question Answer Non- LEED-certified buildings seem to be cleaner and better
LEED
LEED maintained than non-LEED-certified buildings. This
North 47 41 may be because these buildings are only several years
Personal East 4 31
workspace South 29 0
old as the LEED certification is a quite new system.
location in West 4 0
building Core 14 4
Don't know 2 24
North 31 19
Direction of the East 13 20
closest windows South 24 20
to personal West 19 17
workspace No windows 8 10
Don't know 5 13
Proximity to a Yes 59 62
window within
No 41 38
15'
Enclosed private
11 65
office
Enclosed but
5 14
shared
Cubicles with high
Type of personal 59 14
partitions
workspace
Cubicles with low
19 6
partitions -3: very dissatisfied, +3: very satisfied
Workspace in open
4 2 Fig.1. IEQ Satisfaction Comparison
office
Other 2 0

4.2 Occupant Satisfaction and Performance

The findings in the comparison of the IEQ between
two building groups showed that LEED-certified
buildings had higher mean scores in office furnishings
quality (1.0), thermal comfort quality (-0.14), IAQ
(0.96), and cleanliness and maintenance quality (1.03)
in relation to occupant satisfaction than non-LEED-
certified buildings. However, non-LEED-certified
buildings had higher mean scores in office layout
quality (0.89), lighting quality (1.1), and acoustic
quality (-0.33) with regard to occupant satisfaction
than LEED-certified buildings.
In terms of occupant performance, LEED-certified
buildings showed higher mean scores in office
furnishings quality (0.76), thermal comfort quality -3: interferes, +3: enhances
(0.02), IAQ (0.58), and cleanliness and maintenance Fig.2. IEQ Performance Comparison

298 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Young S. Lee

Non-LEED-certified buildings showed higher mean
scores in office layout quality, lighting quality, and
acoustics quality than LEED-certified buildings with
regard to both occupant satisfaction and performance.
In the follow-up questions, the main reason of
dissatisfaction with office layout in LEED-certified
buildings was identified to be related to the level of
visual privacy. Two most problematic areas in the level
of visual privacy were exposure to other people through
exterior windows (56%) and high density in a small
space (44%). Lighting quality seemed dissatisfactory in
LEED-certified buildings due to personal workspaces
being too dark (33%) and no provision of task lighting
(29%). Among the participants from the LEED-
certified buildings, 25% answered that there was not
enough daylight and another 25% answered there
was not enough electric lighting, which indicated that
overall there was not enough lighting in their personal
workspaces. Only 12% said that too much daylight
was problematic. Thus, improving lighting quality for
individual workspaces should be taken into account to
ameliorate issues of satisfaction and task performance
of office employees.
Acoustic quality was the most problematic IEQ
criterion in LEED-certified buildings. Mean scores
in acoustic quality in LEED-certified buildings
showed the lowest occupant satisfaction (-0.56) and
performance (-0.71). Dissatisfaction in acoustic quality
was caused by the failure to block the noises from
co-workers nearby. The follow-up questions showed
that the main reasons of dissatisfaction with acoustic
quality in LEED-certified buildings were, people
overhearing private conversations (62%), people
talking in neighboring areas (62%) and people talking
on the phone (56%).
In both LEED-certified buildings and non-LEED-
certified buildings, occupants showed overall low
satisfaction and performance levels for thermal
comfort. Even though the occupants' performance
level in LEED-certified buildings was higher than
in non-LEED-certified buildings, their satisfaction
and performance scores for thermal comfort were the
lowest among the seven IEQ criteria. The data from the
CBE did not provide enough information to explore
the reasons of low satisfaction in thermal comfort such
as buildings' geographic location, regional weather,
and timing of the survey. Future studies, thus, need
to include expanded information to suggest better
standards and design implications for the thermal
comfort quality.
5. Conclusions
This study assessed the IEQ of LEED-certified
buildings by comparing seven IEQ criteria in relation
to occupant's satisfaction and performance between
LEED-certified buildings and non-LEED-certified
buildings in the U.S. Below are the summary of
findings and implications of the study.
JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008
5.1 Summary of Findings
The study results showed that most demographic
and personal workspace characteristics of respondents
were similar between LEED-certified buildings and
non-LEED-certified buildings. The mean differences
in occupant's satisfaction and performance in these
two building groups may, thus, be attributed to the
differences in the physical environment.
In the comparison of the seven IEQ criteria between
two building groups, LEED-certified buildings
presented more positive occupant's evaluations in four
criteria including office furnishings quality, thermal
comfort quality, indoor air quality, and cleanliness
and maintenance quality. However, LEED-certified
buildings were rated lower in office layout quality,
lighting quality, and acoustic quality. The main
problems in these three IEQ criteria in the LEED-
certified building were identified as lack of visual
privacy, low illuminance in personal workspaces, and
lack of sound barriers to block co-workers' talks.
These three IEQ criteria that were the weaknesses
in the LEED-certified buildings are currently not
included in the LEED IEQ area, even though these are
crucial workplace design criteria to provide occupant's
satisfaction and performance. The study findings
suggest that a balanced approach that considers various
aspects of IEQ criteria is necessary when complying
with LEED to overcome the limitations of the current
LEED IEQ guidelines that focus only certain aspects
of indoor environment.
5.2 Implications
The study identified strengths and weaknesses of the
IEQ in the current workplace design of LEED-certified
buildings. This study will help built environment
professionals create strategies to improve the
weaknesses of indoor environments related to office
layout quality, lighting quality, and acoustic quality,
when complying with LEED-certified buildings.
Implications of this study include refining the
LEED IEQ criteria and conducting an occupant
assessment on their environment to ensure the quality
of indoor environments when complying with the
LEED standards. The lesson learned from the study
is that creating indoor environment that contributes
to the quality of occupant's life in workplace may be
more complex than just looking at it from only one
aspect of sustainability. An equal emphasis should be
given to various IEQ criteria in design process. This
is especially important when those IEQ criteria are
not included in the LEED IEQ category such as office
layout quality, lighting quality, and acoustic quality as
shown in the study when applying LEED standards.
The contribution of LEED to the current sustainable
building movement in the U.S. is tremendous.
The standards are constantly updated to reflect
shortcomings and to address new issues. This study
will help USGBC refine the current LEED IEQ criteria
and advance the level of sustainable building standards.
Young S. Lee 299
 Lastly, it is important to conduct an assessment
to evaluate the effectiveness of indoor environment
with building occupants when complying with
the current LEED standards. Building occupants
are the only source that can tell whether the built
environment works for them or not. As a future study, a
comprehensive occupant assessment of LEED-certified
buildings is necessary. There has been a criticism
on the current building professional's tendency of
high reliance on technology and their ignorance
on how occupants actually live and work inside
buildings (Leaman & Bordass, 2005). Likewise, the
comprehensive occupant assessment on the physical
indoor environment is a complementary evaluation to
the current IEQ assessment trend that mainly focuses
on mechanical aspects of IEQ to ensure the quality of
occupant's life.
15) Scheuer, C. W. & Keoleian, G. A. (2002). Evaluation of LEED
using life cycle assessment methods. A report prepared for the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
16) Turner, C. (2006). LEED building performance in the Cascadia
Region: A post occupancy evaluation report. Paper prepared for
the Cascadia Region Green Building Council.
17) USGBC (2003). Building momentum. A paper prepared for the U.S.
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Washington,
DC.
18) USGBC. (2008). Green building facts: Green building by the
numbers. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from http://www.usgbc.org/
ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=3340.
19) USGBC (2006). Introduction to LEED. Presentation prepared as
an educational material. Washington, D.C.
20) USGBC (2007). About USGBC. Retrieved September 18, 2007
from http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=124.
21) Wright, T. A., Cropanzano, R., Denney, P. J., & Moline, G.
L. (2002). When a happy worker is a productive worker: A
preliminary examination of three models. Canadian Journal of
Behavioral Science, 34 (3), pp.146-150.

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300 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Young S. Lee