Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
Title
Optimizing Indoor Air Quality for Human Health, Cognitive Performance, Building Life
Cycle Costs, and Long Term Environmental Sustainability
Abstract
Place Abstract Here
Table of Contents
Place TOC Here
Introduction
Research Significance & Objectives
You might just cut and paste your most significance and objective statements here from
the most recent version of your slides
Significance
To improve the lives of people that spend time in buildings. [This section will be
expanded in future iterations.]
Objectives [will be re-written after Background and Methods sections are completed.]
•
To determine the optimum feasible ventilation rate(s) for buildings designed for
human occupancy based on human health and cognitive performance, economic
life-cycle costs, and overall long-term environmental impacts.
•
To suggest changes to existing building codes, standards, and voluntary green
building rating systems to encourage building owners and operators to construct
and operate their buildings in a manner that optimizes human health and cognitive
performance and building life-cycle costs, while minimizing long-term negative
environmental impacts normally associated with increases in outside airflow rates.
Background
Use subtitles to divide this into sections as part of your outline.
Then outline the specific main points or paragraphs you would cover under each topic
reviewed, as organized by your subtitles
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
Opening paragraph
 Describe how many hours, on average, people spend inside buildings today.
 Describe recent HSPH (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) findings
about link between CO2 levels and cognitive performance.
 Describe other human health benefits of improved IAQ (Indoor Air Quality).
 Describe how current ventilation standards are based on minimum requirements,
and that these do not optimize for human health/performance, building
location/climate, energy use, etc.
 Describe the purpose of the minimum airflow rates mandated by ASHRAE 62.1
(i.e., to reduce occupant complaints due to odors, but cite the original source).
 Describe the up and down history of ventilation rates (e.g. reaction to 1973 oil
embargo, follow-up reaction due to sick building syndrome, etc.). See figure on
next page for a visual of this.
 Describe the energy profile of buildings throughout the U.S. (and the world?)
 Describe how the energy pie is distributed throughout buildings (HVAC, lighting,
etc.)
 Describe how there is a lack of coordination between ventilation rates and energy
used for ventilating buildings. (e.g., ASHRAE 62.1 does not address energy,
ASHRAE 90.1 does not address ventilation directly, etc.)
 Finally, describe briefly the connection between green building standards, energy
use, and ventilation rates in buildings.
Green Building Paragraph
 Describe the most significant green building standards in the U.S. (e.g., LEED,
Living Building Challenge, Green Globes, Title 24, etc.)
 Describe how each standard addresses ventilation and IAQ within buildings
 Describe how each standard addresses energy as it relates to IAQ
 Give an example of LEED, EAp2: Minimum Energy Performance, IEQp1:
Minimum Indoor Air Quality, and IEqc2: Increased Ventilation, and how this has
been seen by industry as simply a trade-off between one point in IEQc2 vs one
point in EAp2 (e.g., more ventilation = more energy). Describe why this is not an
optimum solution to the problem at hand.
 Conclude with a remark about industry needing a better way to determine
ventilation rates in buildings, one that optimized not only for energy and for
airflow rate(s), but also for human health and cognitive performance, life-cycle
costs, and environmental impacts.
Previous Studies Paragraph
 Talk about the three primary studies that have led to this research (all three
Harvard School of Public Health papers written in 2015 have been uploaded with
this assignment). An example quote follows:
“Overall, the initial scientific evidence published to date indicates better measured and
perceived indoor environmental quality and health in green buildings versus non-green
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
buildings. For indoor environmental quality, green buildings had lower levels of VOCs,
formaldehyde, allergens, ETS, NO2, and PM. Many of these environmental contaminants
that have been linked to adverse health effects are explicitly addressed in green building
design credits, so these early findings suggest that the design elements targeted at
improved IEQ translate to significant reductions in actual exposure.” (2015, “Green
Buildings and Health,” Joseph G. Allen, Piers MacNaughton, John D. Spengler, et. at.)
Include a quote from the “Cognitive Performance” study that directly addresses the
correlation between decreasing CO2 levels in buildings and increased human cognitive
performance. This is the study and the quote, when inserted, that will become the primary
motivation for this follow-up study.
More In-Depth Analysis of ASHRAE 62.1, its history, and where it stands today… e.g.,
The following figure shows the history of ASHVE/ASHRAE ventilation rates, 1900 –
2001. Note the drop in 1981 in response to the 1973 oil embargo. Note also the
significant increase in 1989 as a result of sick building syndrome (and possibly related
lawsuits).
Figure Source: http://tc43.ashraetcs.org/docs/Presentation_2003_KC_Kohloss.pdf (This
link is broken; however, I will cite the actual paper that includes this figure after I
retrieve it from my computer in Minnesota. Before I am finished with this proposal I plan
on updating this figure through ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2013, which is the most recent
version of the standard; with a new version due in 2016.)
Bring It All Together
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development

January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
At this point I will begin to bring all of the pieces together, sum up what has
already been said, and then propose the research.
o People spend a majority of their times in buildings
o Buildings can have both positive and negative effects on people and on the
environment.
o Building codes and standards have typically been written in silos, without
detailed consideration of interactive effects (e.g., between ventilation
codes and energy codes, especially as related to building
locations/climate).
o New research suggests that we should revisit our ventilation standards;
e.g., we might want to consider increasing outside airflow rates in order to
reduce inside CO2 levels to increase occupants’ health and cognitive
performance.
o However, this should be done in the context of what we know about IAQ
and human health, ventilation and energy, energy and costs, energy and
the environment, etc.
o The purposes of this study and this paper are to
 Determine where we are today in terms of ventilation standards,
green building standards, and existing buildings’ ventilation
performance.
 Determine what is working in terms of improving IAQ (mention
quick examples, e.g., LEED IEQc2, CO2 control of outside air,
energy recovery, etc.)
 Analyze actual building IAQ performance to learn if we operate
our buildings as the original designer intended.
 Determine if IAQ should/could be improved based on our most
current scientific understandings.
 If so, determine if there is an optimized ventilation rate and/or
control strategy (or control strategy design standard that might be
based on local climate, energy sources, etc.) that maximizes human
health and cognitive performance while minimizing overall lifecycle costs (possibly including savings from human performance
listed above) and environmental impacts.
Note-to-self for future consideration: When considering the LCC of increased ventilation,
consider who is paying for the building design and operation (building owner and
operator) vs. who benefits from the increased ventilation rates (building occupants and
tenants). This is not a trivial consideration since owners may be reluctant to pay for
improvements that benefit only the tenants financially.
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
Research Question/Hypothesis
Select a model for presenting your main research questions and/or hypotheses. For
instance, you might have an overall research question, then two or more specific
hypotheses that illustrate the main predictions your research will address.
Question: As stated in “Green Buildings and Health,” (PDF submitted with this
assignment) “…the initial scientific evidence published to date indicates better measured
and perceived indoor environmental quality and health in green buildings versus nongreen buildings.” One question that this my research hopes to address is, what contributes
to this finding? One possibility is that green buildings might provide more outside air
than a non-green building. This might be the case because green building certification
programs set a minimum ventilation standard (typically ASHRAE Standard 62.1, which
is the industry minimum standard of care), and also because green building certification
programs require an independent third party review of the pre-green-certified
construction documents. Because ASHRAE Standard 62.1 is the industry minimum of
care that most HVAC system designers use (may need a source for this statement) it may
be the independent third party review that results in design changes that correlate with an
increase in outside air being delivered to the buildings. Stating this in hypothesis form…
Hypothesis #1: Independent third party reviews of ASHRAE 62.1-2007 ventilation rate
procedure calculations positively correlate with increased design outside airflow rates
being specified for buildings. The null hypothesis being that there is no correlation
between independent third party reviews and increases in outside airflow rates being
specified in buildings.
However, even if we reject the null hypothesis in H1 (as we might expect to do), it would
be helpful to verify that the design outside airflow values specified in buildings also
result in actual differences in indoor air quality (as measured using CO2 concentrations
or actual building ventilation airflow rates) within the completed and occupied buildings.
Stating this is hypothesis form…
Hypothesis #2: Measured indoor air CO2 concentrations (or ventilation system outside
airflow rates) in certified green buildings negatively correlate (CO2 levels being inversely
proportional with increased outside airflow ventilation rates, e.g., more outside air results
in lower inside CO2 levels) with increased outside airflow rates specified in the building
green-certified construction documents. The null hypothesis being that there is no
correlation between the outside airflow rates specified in the construction documents and
the resulting CO2 levels measured in the completed and occupied buildings.
Hypothesis #1 asks whether green buildings are designed to provide at least (or more
than) ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2007 (may want to enlarge scope to include more recent
version(s) of 62.1) minimum ventilation rates and hypothesis #2 asks if indoor air quality,
as measured using indoor CO2 concentrations, is correlated with the design specification
of the ventilation system. If we determine that independent third party review results in
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
increased design ventilation rates and if we also conclude that the measured CO2
concentrations in the finished buildings correlate with the specified values, then we might
conclude that the improvement in indoor air quality, at least in part, is a result of the
independent third party review of the ventilation rate procedure calculations. Buildings
not seeking green building certification are not required to submit to an independent third
party review of the ventilation rate procedure calculations; therefore, these buildings may
end up with inadequate ventilation simply because they did not participate in an
independent third party review of their ventilation calculations.
Confounding factors to consider are: green building certification programs also have a
construction and post-construction commissioning component, which acts as a further
quality control check of the ventilation rate procedure calculations confirmed earlier in
the design process, some buildings are provided with scheduled outside air, CO2 control
of outside air, night-time cooling, economizer modes which increase outside air when this
results in free cooling, etc. The final study design must take into account these
confounding factors to ensure that the study results are correct for the building type(s),
location(s), and HVAC system variables selected.
Assuming that the outcome of H1 and H2 concludes (not exactly the right word) that
buildings are being operated to meet their design specifications (or possibly even if they
are not), the following follow-up questions might be addressed by this study.
Question 1: How much might outside airflow rates be increased in the buildings included
in this study, based on the equipment types and sizes included in the project? For
example, suppose a building is achieving an indoor CO2 concentration of 1,000 ppm, how
much additional outside air could the HVAC systems bring into the building without
affecting internal comfort conditions, and what would be the resulting concentration of
CO2 after making this adjustment? How might the outside air temperature and humidity
readings affect this throughout a typical meteorological year (i.e., more outside air would
be expected to be possible during spring and fall without affecting system performance,
whereas less outside air would be expected to be possible during peak heating and peak
cooling conditions when HVAC systems are already operating at maximum design
levels)? [In an ideal world, I would like to make these adjustments, measure the indoor
air quality, and measure the increase in energy use; however, given the schedule, scope,
and budget for this work, making such aggressive changes to an existing building is not
likely.]
Question 2: How much additional heating and cooling equipment capacity would be
required to increase the outside airflow rate(s) even further, in 10% increments, up to
100% outside air? For example, if the original building is supplying 20% outside air
during peak heating or cooling modes, how much additional heating or cooling capacity
would be required to increase the outside airflow rate to 30%, 40%, etc., up to 100%?
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
Question 3: How much would equipment and construction costs be estimated to increase
to provide increasing outside airflow rates as specified in question 2 (possibly for both
the existing/study buildings and also the same buildings remodeled as new buildings)?
Question 4: How much would energy costs and combustion related emissions (e.g, coal
burning at the electric power plant) be estimated to increase to provide increasing outside
airflow rates as specified in question 2? This question covers both energy costs and
environmental impacts related to increased energy use. This may be split up into two
questions, for clarity.
Question 5: Given the findings of “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,” (copy submitted with this assignment) which showed significant
cognitive performance improvements when decreasing inside CO2 concentrations from
1,400 ppm to 945 ppm to 550 ppm, what level(s) of CO2 concentrations are feasible to
achieve in the buildings included in the study based first on technical limitations of the
existing equipment, but then based on financial life-cycle-cost issues that take into
account equipment costs, operational costs, and estimated improvements in human
performance (as discussed in “Economic, Environmental and Health Implications of
Enhanced Ventilation in Office Buildings”)?
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
Specific Aims
You can revise and add to the list you included in your slides. The more specific these
show the set of research tasks you need to complete, the better
H1:
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H2:
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Q1:
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Q2:
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Q3:
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Q4:
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Collect LEED documentation on a subset of LEED buildings that have been
certified and constructed in the U.S.
Analyze the LEED documentation related to ventilation calculations to determine
if there are relationships between presubmission (preliminary) and postsubmission (final) calculations.
Summarize the findings of the LEED documentation review.
Collect field measurements of IAQ parameters of all or a subset of buildings from
H1
Compare the field measured data to the final LEED submission data from H1 and
determine if there are relationships between the design intent (LEED
documentation) and field operations (field measurements).
Summarize the findings of the field work.
Based on the results of H1 and H2, and based on the HVAC equipment included
in the buildings, determine how much outside air can be increased without
exceeding the capacity of the equipment installed in the building.
Determine how much additional capacity would be required to increase outside
airflow rates even further, beyond the capacity of the existing equipment in the
building, up to and including equipment that could supply 100% outside air while
maintaining thermal comfort conditions throughout the buildings and throughout
the year.
Estimate the equipment, construction, and maintenance costs associated with
adding or modifying building HVAC equipment in order to meet the additional
requirements as determined in Q2.
Estimate the annual operating (energy) costs associated with adding or modifying
building HVAC equipment and operating it in order to meet the additional
requirements as determined in Q2. Also translate this additional energy use into
emissions values for determining the environmental impact of changing the study
variables.
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
Q5

Analyze the results of H1, H2, and Q1 – Q4 to determine if there is an optimum
amount of outside air based on human heath, cognitive performance, equipment
life-cycle costs, and environmental impacts. [Note that this last bit is not yet clear
in my mind, and will depend to some extent on the findings of the hypotheses and
questions above; however, I can envision an optimized system that would include
energy recovery, CO2 controls, and climate and season specific programming that
would allow an increase in outside air to improve human health and cognitive
performance while also minimizing energy costs and associated combustion
emissions; in other words, a system that maximized outside air intake while
meeting cost and environmental impact parameters, as yet to be determined.]
Methods
Research Design
Outline the main elements of the research design that specifies how you are addressing
your research question/hypothesis and specific aims. Where is your data coming from
and what is your overall research approach?
Following is an overall plan for my research, not specifically written as aims or methods,
but more just a general summary of things that I think I need to accomplish. Aims were
already included above, and methods follow:
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First, I will collect publically available data on a subset of LEED certified
buildings in the U.S.
From this subset, I will determine a random sample size of buildings to include in
the study
I will then request LEED specific data from each of the buildings from the
building owners and/or project teams.
I will analyze the provided data as outlined in Methods, below.
I will summarize conclusions for H1
Then I will select all or a smaller subset of the buildings for field verification.
I will send data-logging equipment (or request reports from the building
management system, if applicable) to determine actual building ventilation system
performance.
I will use the collected data to compare actual building ventilation system
performance to the original design specification, and describe any correlations,
differences, etc.
I will summarize conclusions for H2
For the remaining questions (Q1 – Q5, so far), I will create virtual models of all or
a subset of the buildings from H2 and run models to answer the questions
presented related to ventilation system performance, HVAC system installation
and operation costs (installation costs will be estimated based on building
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development

January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
standards, e.g., “Means” or vendor quotes and operation/energy costs will be
based on local energy rates), and other variables included in the study.
If a pattern emerges that suggests a design process might be necessary to optimize
the building, then I will summarize this design process to include ventilation
system design in relation to building type, size, location, energy/fuel sources, etc.
Methods
Outline your methods of collecting data, selecting samples, and analyzing data. Define
variables you will use in analyses, and your approach to analyzing data or models. These
might be tests of statistical hypotheses or comparing different scenarios in spreadsheet
models, for instance. Be sure your methods address all your specific aims.
H1
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Determine a subset of buildings to analyze, beginning with a randomly selected
subset of buildings that have gone through the LEED certification review process.
Request from and obtain copies of the design presubmission (preliminary) LEED
documentation and the design final LEED documentation for (list specific credits
here, but at a minimum, IEQp1, IEQc2, if applicable, and EAp2, if available.
Others may be of interest as well) from building owners and/or project design
teams (building owners preferred).
Sort the subset of buildings by LEED strategies pursued (e.g., IEQp1: Minimum
Indoor Air Quality Performance vs IEQc2: 30% Increased Ventilation, etc.)
Calculate the outside airflow rates per person, per square foot, and as a percentage
of the design supply airflow rates for all HVAC units providing outside air to the
building. Do this for both the presubmission documentation and the final review
documentation.
Calculate what the anticipated indoor CO2 level is expected to be based on the
final VRP calculations, based on ASHRAE 62.1 methodology.
Statistically determine if there is a correlation between the presubmission
(preliminary) VRP calculations and the final submission VRP calculations. [I
anticipate that the final submission calculations will show increased outside
airflow rates compared to the presubmission (preliminary) calculations. If so, this
would confirm (probably not the correct word) that the GBCI LEED certification
review (third party independent review) does results in project teams increasing
outside airflow rates, and that projects not receiving a third party review may be
provided with lower ventilation rates compared to a LEED building.
Summarize results for H1.
H2
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Determine a random subset of buildings to analyze from H1, or select all,
depending on the size and final study scope.
Request permission to collect data on ventilation system performance.
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development




January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline
Collect data on indoor air CO2 concentrations or actual ventilation rates as
measured at the outside air intake, or both. Collection will be via site installed
CO2 and temperature data-loggers, field measurements of outside airflow rates at
the HVAC system level, or using outputs from the building management control
system computer, if one exists (and has been recently calibrated).
Compare all collected data with the design documentation collected in H1.
Statistically determine if there is a correlation between the final building design
specifications and the actual building performance.
If differences are found, further study may be suggested to find the cause of the
differences (e.g., incorrect installation, post-construction changes made by the
building manager, etc.) [It is anticipated that the findings will show a variance
between the design outside airflow values and the actual field measured data, so a
follow up study may be necessary to determine the cause of any differences.]
Q1 – Q5:
 Create computer and/or spreadsheet models, as needed, to model the systems and
answer the questions.
 Estimate equipment purchase, installation, and maintenance costs.
 Model energy profiles and estimate energy operational costs based on building
location, climate, local utility rates, etc. (e.g., buildings in Malibu, which has a
mild climate, generally require less heat for ventilation than, say, a building in
Ely, MN, which has an arctic-like climate.)
 From the previous models, determine energy related atmospheric emissions
resulting from each model.
 Summarize all aspects of the models including ventilation rate(s)
achieved/achievable, resulting performance in terms of human health and
cognitive performance (as compared to HSPH study outcomes), building lifecycle cost analysis related to the proposed changes, and environmental impacts
associated with any proposed changes.
 Review the data from all simulations to determine if there is an optimum
ventilation rate that would maximize ventilation while also minimizing costs and
negative environmental impacts. [This is the tricky part, and I am not sure what
the data will show. I am hoping that there might be a multi-variable analysis that
will show some statistical relationship between the different variables, and that an
“optimum” solution might present itself. I won’t really know if this is true until I
collect the data and run the models.]
Research Limitations
TBD
Research Schedule
TBD
Daniel A. Katzenberger
Harvard Extension/January Term
ENVR – E-200: Research Methods for Thesis Development
Bibliography
TBD
January 10, 2016
Homework Assignment #3
Proposal Outline