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...environmental quality from the aspect of office workers' productivity. Our experiments on the effect of moderately high temperature on productivity are noted. They showed that the effects of thermal environment on task performance were contradictory among the task types. However, the subjects complained of the feeling of mental fatigue more, and more cerebral blood flow was required to maintain the same level of task performance in the hot condition than at thermal neutral condition. For evaluating task performance, the cost of maintaining performance, namely, fatigue and mental effort, is important in evaluating and predicting productivity. For long periods of exposure, indoor air temperature has effects on workers' performance.
INTRODUCTION
Indoor environmental quality may affect physiological and psychological processes that, in turn, may affect performance of tasks that may interact with other factors to affect overall productivity (Parsons 1993). Seppanen and Fisk (2003) developed a conceptual economic model for owner-occupied buildings that shows the links between improvements in indoor environment quality and financial gains. It is very important to consider the effect of indoor environmental quality on office workers' health and productivity.
Earlier studies about the effect of thermal conditions on productivity were done mainly by field study. They showed that accident rates were high or output rate decreased in hot environments (Chrenko 1973; Vernon, 1919). Some reviews and a summarized model for the effects of the thermal environment on mental performance showed that mental performance decreases with heat (Parsons 1993; Wyon 1986; Seppanen and Fisk 2003). On the other hand, it was also reported that performance of mental tasks is generally unaffected by heat (Pepler and Warner 1968; Sundstrom 1987). Productivity research is somewhat confusing because the results are sometimes conflicting (Lorsch and Abdou 1994; CIBSE 1999). The difference of task types or workers' psychological factors, such as motivation level, may affect the results. In our study, we tried to evaluate the effect of thermal environment on productivity, not only by task performances, but also by physiological measurements, psychological measurements, and structural analysis of fatigue.
In this paper, the current status of Japanese office buildings is taken as an example and the balance of environmental concerns and office productivity are discussed by introducing our previous subjective experiments on the effect of moderately high temperature on office workers' productivity.
CURRENT STATUS OF JAPANESE OFFICE BUILDINGS
With the intent of energy conservation, the Japanese government recommended keeping an office temperature setting of 28[degrees]C in summer. If we keep an office temperature setting of 28[degrees]C, we may reduce expenditure for energy cost by 1~2%, which would be no more than 50 $/[m.sup.2] per year and accounts for only 4% of real-estate rental service (Murao et al. 2003). As a result, reduction in the quality of the office environment will occur. It will decrease the office worker's productivity and have much effect on income, which accounts for 68.9% of real-estate rental service. Since a building owner's interest is to raise income or to reduce expenditure, nobody will take that risk.
How does reduction of energy use in controlling the indoor environment affect productivity in the office? We must balance environmental concerns and office productivity.
EFFECT OF...
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