Workers in Green Buildings are Happier and Healthier

Workers in Green Buildings are Happier and Healthier

Here’s some good news. Workers in buildings that are certified green by the US Green Building Council are happier and healthier than those who work in buildings that are not green certified. This finding, reported in Green Building Elements, comes from researchers at Harvard’s School of Public Health and New York’s Upstate Medical University.

They studied over 100 workers in 10 buildings in five cities across the US. They found that working in a green certified building resulted in higher cognitive function scores, fewer sick building symptoms, and higher sleep quality scores. Based on this research, the team is calling for a holistic approach, a multi-disciplinary concept called “Buildingomics,” to consider “the totality of factors in a building’s environment.”

Support for the study was provided by United Technologies, which makes heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems, and control networks for green certified buildings.

I’m John Howell for 3BL Media.