Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Assessment in Information Resource Centre (IRC) of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP)

Green Building is the key component in achieving sustainable development in a country and at the same time it reduces the global warming and climate change effects. Malaysia is not an exception country in moving forward to develop green buildings and encourage the reduction of resource usage and increasing the energy efficiency. In order to achieve that, detail assessment criteria of Green Building Index need to be evaluated for a building to be certified as a green building and one of the important criteria is Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). This study is carried out to assess IEQ in Information Resource Centre (IRC) of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. The objectives of this study are to (1) To evaluate the occupants’ satisfaction in IRC based on Post Occupancy Evaluation, POE (quantitative survey), (2) To identify the current measurement of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) parameters in IRC, (3) To recommend IEQ improvement for IRC based on (2) and compliance to Green Building’s IEQ criteria. POE involves questionnaire survey which reflects the satisfaction level of occupants based on solely what they have perceived and experienced while staying in IRC. Field measurement verified the result of the survey based on current measurement of IEQ parameters, which are : Carbon Dioxide (ppm), Relative Humidity (%), Temperature (oC), Lighting (W/m2) and Noise Level (dB). These IEQ parameters should comply with MS 1525: 2007 “Code Of Practice on Energy Efficiency and Use Of Renewable Energy for Non-Residential Buildings” and Green Building Index. The result from POE has showed temperature with severity index of 41% as the most dissatisfied parameter perceived by the occupants. Meanwhile, temperature and noise do not comply with the recommended range and prescribed value as set by the standards. On the other hand, Post occupancy comfort has met Environmental Quality (EQ 15) of GBI requirement with more than 80% of occupants have expressed satisfaction with the overall comfort in IRC. Recommendations on the improvement of the non-compliance parameters are identified by installing multiple thermostats in large sections area to control indoor temperature as well as installing sound absorber at the air conditioner blower. Improvements of IEQ will lead to the betterment of IRC building’s performance in moving forward to be certified as a green building.