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Indoor VOC's

VOC Concentrations and Sources in Office Buildings

Design of the California Healthy Building Study (CHBS)
In the early 1990's, the IED conducted a study of 12 office buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area (Fisk et al., 1993). This project was termed the "California Healthy Building Study (CHBS)." City and county office buildings in four Bay Area counties were recruited. The selection requirements were: (1) more than 929 m2 of currently occupied office space; (2) at least 45 full-time and at least 10 clerical workers; (3) no unusual pollutant sources; (4) no ongoing renovations; and (5) one of three ventilation types. All eligible buildings to which access was granted were included in the study. Descriptive information for the 12 buildings is shown in Table 1. There were three naturally ventilated buildings, three mechanically ventilated buildings without air conditioning, and six air-conditioned buildings with sealed windows.

Table 1 Descriptions of the 12 public office buildings included in the Calif. Healthy Building Study.
Vent. Type Bldg. No. Occupied
Floor Area
(m2) 		Number of
Floors 		Year
Built 		Number of
Eligible
Workersa 		Number of
Study
Spaces
Natural 1 3,440 10 1964b 54 2
Natural 10 2,690 3 1895 35 4
Natural 12c 36,200 6 1915 69 1
Mechanical 6 5,390 2 1955 44 1
Mechanical 9 2,280 4 1954 59 4
Mechanical 11c 36,200 6 1915 99 1
Air Cond. 2d 11,100 9 1978 186 2
Air Cond. 3 19,100 7 1982 113 3
Air Cond. 4 3,760 3 1987 117 4
Air Cond. 5 9,010 12 1957 53 3
Air Cond. 7 8,590 5 1964 106 2
Air Cond. 8 5,950 4 1964 97 2

a Number of workers in the selected study spaces

b Date substantially rebuilt, originally constructed in 1912

c "Buildings" 11 and 12 were isolated spaces of 1,300 and 1,020 m2 floor area within a single large building

d History as a complaint building

Objectives of the CHBS
The major objectives of the study were to investigate the prevalence of various occupant health symptoms and perceptions of thermal comfort in office buildings selected without regard to worker complaints, and to test hypotheses about associations between health symptoms and features of the buildings, indoor environments, and personal factors.

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