Measuring indoor environmental quality: a web-based occupant satisfaction survey

High-performance green buildings are often promoted as offering higher quality, more productive environments for their occupants. Yet measuring how successful a building is at achieving this objective can be difficult. Post-occupancy studies are done infrequently and tend to be highly customized for specific applications. The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) at the University of California, Berkeley has developed a web-based occupant indoor environmental quality (IEQ) survey to inexpensively measure occupants’ perception of the quality of their workplace environment. A set of core questions is used to assess occupant satisfaction and comfort with respect to many issues related to green building objectives including indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics. Custom modules can be added to address issues not covered in the core questions, and the survey can be offered in multiple languages. Surveys assessing other aspects of building quality are also in use, including an operations and maintenance staff survey, and a design and construction process survey. Together this set of surveys provides a complete picture of the quality of the building process, from the planning phase through the occupancy phase. The CBE building quality surveys have been conducted in 45 buildings to date (including three LEED-rated buildings), including office buildings, laboratories, banks and courthouses in North America and Europe. The database of survey responses is growing rapidly and is increasing its utility for benchmarking performance.