Acoustics of green buildings

69
Acoustics of Green Buildings Ralph T Muehleisen Ph.D., P.E., LEED AP BD+C, INCE Board Certified, FASA Principal Building Scientist Argonne National Lab

Transcript of Acoustics of green buildings

Acoustics of Green Buildings

Ralph T Muehleisen Ph.D., P.E., LEED AP BD+C, INCE Board Certified, FASA Principal Building Scientist Argonne National Lab

Outline

• Part I: What is a Green Building?

‒ Environmental Impacts of Buildings

‒ How Green Buildings Help

‒ The LEED Green Building Rating system

• Part II: Acoustics of Green Buildings

‒ Conflicts between Green Building Design and Office Acoustics

‒ Synergies and Opportunities for Better Acoustics in Green Buildings

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 2

Part I: What is a Green Building

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 3

Why Do We Need Green Buildings?

To understand the Acoustics of Green Buildings, we also have to understand what Green buildings are and understand how they are different than conventional buildings.

But, before we discuss what they are, let’s take a minute to discuss why people want to make buildings more green to begin with

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 4

Rise in CO2 Emissions and Global Warming

• The scientific community agrees that the earth is warming from man made CO2 emissions. Much of that is from buildings

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 5

How Is This Related to Buildings?

Global CO2 Emissions by Sector:

#1: Buildings #2: Industry

#3: Transportation

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 6

CO2 Sources and Emitters in

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

2444

Of

6576

Source: EIA Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the US 2009

7

Energy Flow in the US

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

Source: EIA Annual Energy Review 2009

US Energy use in Quads (Quadrillions of BTU)

1 Quad =1010therms= 1015BTU = 3.141015Wh= 3.14109MWh

39.36

Of

94.58

8

Why Do We Need Green Buildings?

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

13% of

Potable

Water Use

37% of

Greenhouse

Gas

41% of

Primary

Energy Use

72% of

Electricity

Consumption

Buildings account for a LOT of resource use and greenhouse gas emission. In the US buildings account for:

9

What Can We Reduce With Green Buildings?

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 10

What Other Benefits Do Green Buildings Provide?

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 11

What is a Green Building?

“Green” buildings are buildings that are better for the environment (i.e more sustainable) than a conventional building in one or more ways. These ways include:

• Lower energy use in construction and operation

• Less water use in construction and/or operation

• Destroy less of the environment during construction and/or operation

• Provide a better indoor environmental quality (leading to better worker satisfaction and performance)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

12

How Are Green Buildings Different?

Green building design aspects focus on reduced energy use, water use, and more use of sustainable materials through:

• More use of natural ventilation

• More use of daylight and passive solar heating

• More use of radiant heating/cooling

• More use of wood and stone and less use of fiberglass or mineral fibers

• More use of glass for daylight integration and views of outside world

• Less interior walls and partitions

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 13

How Do We Know If A Building Is Green?

One way in which buildings are determined to be Green or not is through Green building rating systems

‒ Energy Star (from US EPA and DOE)

‒ LEED (from US Green Building Council)

‒ Green Globes (from Green Building Initiative)

‒ ASHRAE 189 (standard from ASHRAE)

‒ BREEAM (from UK)

‒ Green Star (from Green Building Council Australia)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 14

Introduction to LEED

• LEED is the predominate Green Building Rating system in the US so let’s explain it in a bit more detail.

• Most of the other rating systems are fairly similar, it tends to be details that are different.

• Those of you who were familiar with LEED and maybe even are a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) but have not kept up to date might find something new in here

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 15

What is LEED?

• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a system for rating Green Buildings

• Buildings are “Certified” as LEED when they have a high enough rating.

‒ There are multiple levels of certification

• Getting a building LEED certified is voluntary … except when it isn’t

‒ Many state and local governments require LEED certification of any building built with public funds

‒ Some municipalities (e.g. San Francisco) are requiring LEED certification for any new construction or major renovation

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 16

What LEED is NOT

• LEED is NOT a city in the UK

‒ That would be Leeds

• Is NOT building code

‒ That is municipal law that regulates building design and construction • E.G. The International Building Code

• Is NOT a construction standard

‒ They usually define performance levels of specific building components and describe methods of how to measure performance • E.G. ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Standard, ANSI

S12.60

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 17

LEED Rating Systems

• There are different LEED Rating systems for different types of buildings

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 18

Who Creates LEED Rating Systems?

• LEED is a consensus based rating system that is organized by the US Green Building Council, a non-profit organization with members from all of the building industry including members from the design, construction, and owner/developer industries.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 19

Four Levels of LEED Certification

• LEED Certified: 40-49 points

• LEED Silver: 50-59 points

• LEED Gold: 60-79 points

• LEED Platinum: > 80 points

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 20

LEED Prerequisites and Points

• To get any certification, a building must meet all the prerequisites of the rating system and achieve at least 40 points

• Prerequisites are minimum building standards and they basically ensure that the building is not “bad”

‒ The prerequisites are often found as part of the local building code so meeting them is already a requirement to build

• Points are awarded for enhanced performance in many areas including construction, material use, energy use, and indoor environmental quality.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 21

What Things Go Into a LEED Rating?

• LEED prereqs and points are broken down into 5 main areas with differing levels of importance

• Additional areas for points are design innovation and regional priority

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 22

Overview of the LEED 2009 NC Rating System

• The following slides show the categories, list the prerequisites and available design points for one rating system, LEED 2009 for New Construction and Major Renovation (LEED NC 2009)

• With Innovation and Design and Regional Priority credits there are up to 110 points available.

‒ There are only 100 points available in the main rating system

‒ This is going to stay fixed in future updates, although the prereqs and details of the available points may change

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 23

Sustainable Sites (SS)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

Possible Points: 26

Prereq 1

Credit 1 1

Credit 2 5

Credit 3 Brownfield Redevelopment 1

Credit 4.1 6

Credit 4.2 1

Credit 4.3 Alternative Transportation—Low-Emitting and Fuel-Efficient Vehicles 3

Credit 4.4 2

Credit 5.1 Site Development—Protect or Restore Habitat 1

Credit 5.2 Site Development—Maximize Open Space 1

Credit 6.1 Stormwater Design—Quantity Control 1

Credit 6.2 Stormwater Design—Quality Control 1

Credit 7.1 Heat Island Effect—Non-roof 1

Credit 7.2 1

Credit 8 Light Pollution Reduction 1

Sustainable Sites

Alternative Transportation—Parking Capacity

Heat Island Effect—Roof

Construction Activity Pollution Prevention

Site Selection

Development Density and Community Connectivity

Alternative Transportation—Public Transportation Access

Alternative Transportation—Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms

24

Water Efficiency (WE)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

Possible Points: 10

Prereq 1

Credit 1 Water Efficient Landscaping 2 to 4

Reduce by 50% 2

No Potable Water Use or Irrigation 4

Credit 2 Innovative Wastewater Technologies 2

Credit 3 2 to 4

Reduce by 30% 2

Reduce by 35% 3

Reduce by 40% 4

Water Efficiency

Water Use Reduction—20% Reduction

Water Use Reduction

25

Energy and Atmosphere (EA)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 26

Materials and Resources (MR)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

Possible Points: 14

Prereq 1

Credit 1.1 1 to 3

Reuse 55% 1

Reuse 95% 3

Credit 1.2 Building Reuse—Maintain 50% of Interior Non-Structural Elements 1

Credit 2 1 to 2

50% Recycled or Salvaged 1

75% Recycled or Salvaged 2

Credit 3 1 to 2

Reuse 5% 1

Reuse 10% 2

Credit 4 1 to 2

20% of Content 2

Credit 5 1 to 2

20% of Materials 2

Credit 6 Rapidly Renewable Materials 1

Credit 7 1

Materials and Resources

Storage and Collection of Recyclables

Building Reuse—Maintain Existing Walls, Floors, and Roof

Construction Waste Management

Materials Reuse

Recycled Content

Regional Materials

Certified Wood

27

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

Possible Points: 15

Prereq 1

Prereq 2

Credit 1 1

Credit 2 1

Credit 3.1 1

Credit 3.2 1

Credit 4.1 1

Credit 4.2 1

Credit 4.3 1

Credit 4.4 1

Credit 5 1

Credit 6.1 Controllability of Systems—Lighting 1

Credit 6.2 1

Credit 7.1 1

Credit 7.2 Thermal Comfort—Verification 1

Credit 8.1 1

Credit 8.2 1

Indoor Environmental Quality

Minimum Indoor Air Quality Performance

Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control

Outdoor Air Delivery Monitoring

Increased Ventilation

Construction IAQ Management Plan—During Construction

Construction IAQ Management Plan—Before Occupancy

Low-Emitting Materials—Adhesives and Sealants

Low-Emitting Materials—Paints and Coatings

Low-Emitting Materials—Flooring Systems

Low-Emitting Materials—Composite Wood and Agrifiber Products

Indoor Chemical and Pollutant Source Control

Controllability of Systems—Thermal Comfort

Thermal Comfort—Design

Daylight and Views—Daylight

Daylight and Views—Views

28

Innovation and Design (ID) and Regional Priority

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

Possible Points: 6

Credit 1.1 1

Credit 1.2 1

Credit 1.3 1

Credit 1.4 1

Credit 1.5 1

Credit 2 1

Possible Points: 4

Credit 1.1 1

Credit 1.2 1

Credit 1.3 1

Credit 1.4 1

Innovation in Design: Specific Title

Innovation in Design: Specific Title

Innovation in Design: Specific Title

LEED Accredited Professional

Regional Priority: Specific Credit

Regional Priority: Specific Credit

Regional Priority: Specific Credit

Regional Priority: Specific Credit

Innovation and Design Process

Regional Priority Credits

Innovation in Design: Specific Title

Innovation in Design: Specific Title

29

LEED Prerequisite and Points in More Detail

Let’s look at a prerequisite and a point so you can see a little more about what must be done. Each prereq and point has several sections:

• Intent: ‒ This explains why it is in LEED

• Requirements: ‒ This explains what has to be done

• Potential Technologies and Strategies: ‒ This gives some brief ideas of how to achieve the prereq or point

• Required Documentation (In the Full Reference Guide Only): ‒ This explains what you have to submit

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 30

From the LEED 2009 NC Rating System PDF

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 31

From the LEED 2009 NC Rating System PDF

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 32

Important LEED Documents

• LEED Rating Systems

‒ PDF Documents that give an overview of all the prereq and points. Does not explain required documentation or required submittals. Free download from USGBC

• LEED Checklist

‒ Excel spreadsheet that lists the prereq and points useful for double checking your design, Free download from USGBC

• LEED Reference Guide

‒ PDF or print book that explains the rating system in details, includes references and explains required documentation and submittals. Must be bought from USGBC

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 33

References and Resources

• US Energy Information Administration. 2010. Annual Energy Review 2009. http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/.

• US Energy Information Administration. 2011. Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2009. http://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/ghg_report/.

• USGBC. 2011. Building Impacts - Why Build Green? https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=4317.

• USGBC. 2011. LEED 2009 For New Construction and Major Renovations. http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=8868.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 34

Part II: Acoustics of Green Buildings –

Conflicts and Synergies

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 35

What is Architectural Acoustics

• Architectural acoustics is the study of sound in buildings and the design of buildings for proper acoustics including ‒ Control of sound transmission throughout building

‒ Maintaining conditions for good speech intelligibility

‒ Maintaining sound isolation for speech privacy

‒ Enhancing the acoustic signal in performance spaces

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 36

Reverberation

• Reverberation is the bouncing sound in a room from the room surfaces ‒ We characterize by the Reverberation Time, RT, the amount of time

it takes the sound energy to decay from absorption by 60 dB

• The shorter the reverberation time, the less reverberation and the easier it is to understand speech. ‒ Most rooms should have reverberation times well under 1 second

to be good for speech

• High reverberation tends to mask sound reducing speech intelligibility

31-Oct-2011

Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 37

Sound Isolation

• Sound isolation is the ability to block sound transmission from one area to another

• Sound isolation capability depends upon the mass and construction details of a partition or fenestration

• We often characterize sound isolation by a single number called the sound transmission class or STC ‒ The higher STC, the better the isolator

‒ Measured with ASTM Standards

• STC > 50 is desired for high sound isolation

31-Oct-2011

Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 38

Speech Intelligibility

• Speech Intelligibility is the ability to hear and understand a conversation ‒ The higher the speech intelligibility, the more a conversation is understood

• Speech intelligibility is related to the sound power and directivity of the speaker, the background noise level at the listener, the attenuation between speaker ‒ Sentence understanding of 90-95% is usually desired ‒ Speech Intelligibility is objectively measured with the Speech Intelligibility

Index ( ANSI S3.5) or the Speech Transmission Index (IEC 60268-16)

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 39

Speech Privacy

• Speech Privacy is the inability to understand someone else's speech ‒ It’s basically the opposite of speech intelligibility ‒ This is important for legal and security issues as well as annoyance

• Like Speech Intelligibility, Speech Privacy is related to sound power, background noise level, attenuation, and listener language skills ‒ Speech privacy is measured by the Privacy Index (ASTM 1130) in open offices

and the Speech Privacy Class (ASTM 2638) in closed offices ‒ Good Speech Privacy has a PI > 95% or SPC > 80

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 40

Office Acoustics

• The “acoustics” of a room in an office are largely defined by

‒ the overall background noise level

‒ the speech intelligibility between co-workers who are working together

‒ speech privacy between workers who are not working together

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 41

What affects Office Acoustics?

‒ The noise generated by building systems and people

‒ The sound absorption of the room’s surfaces • Low sound absorption means high reverberation

• Workstation-to-workstation reflections mean reduced speech privacy

‒ The sound isolation capabilities of walls/roofs/windows and partitions • Poor sound isolation means increased background noise and reduced

speech privacy

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 42

How Do Buildings Affect Occupants?

• Poor building designs can cause or exacerbate:

• hidden sick days – higher absenteeism

• high stress levels

• high blood pressure

• respiratory ailments

• allergies, asthma

• These all result in reduced productivity and increased health insurance costs ‒ Note: A 1% decrease in productivity (about 5

minutes per day) equals $600-700 per employee per year!

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 43

• Acoustics is an important part of employee comfort and well-being – it is a significant portion of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)

• Poor acoustics will

‒ Inhibit Communication

‒ Create Vocal Strain

‒ Limit Attention Span

• These problems lead to

‒ Increased Stress Levels

‒ Higher Absenteeism

‒ Decreased Productivity

Where Does Acoustics Fit In?

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 44

Acoustics in Green Building Standards

• The new ASHRAE 189.1 has some acoustics • AIA Guidelines for Healthcare Facility Design (which

is quite Green) has some acoustics • LEED for Schools

‒ LEED for Schools requirements are a reduced version of the ANSI S12.60 Classroom Acoustics Standard

• LEED for Healthcare will have a little acoustics ‒ LEED for Healthcare requirements are a reduced version of

the acoustics in AIA Guidelines

• The most popular LEED rating systems (NC and EB/OM) have no acoustics whatsoever (yet) ‒ As a result, design teams have no incentive (from the rating

system) to design for good acoustics or even consider them within the design phase

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 45

Are “Green” Buildings Really Better Buildings?

To evaluate if green buildings really are better we can:

• Look at resource use to see if it is reduced

‒ Most green buildings really do have reduced energy and water use. A few do not perform as well as expected.

• Look at surveys of occupants to see if they find that the indoor environmental quality is improved

‒ We call these surveys of the occupants after they have used the building, “Post Occupancy Evaluation” (POE) surveys

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 46

Results of the UC Berkeley POE Surveys

-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

Overall Building

Overall Workspace

Office Layout

Cleaning/Maintenance

Lighting

Air Quality

Thermal Comfort

Acoustics

Berkeley Post Occupancy Survey Results

LEED/Green New Non-Green All Buildings

Over 400 total buildings and thousands of respondents in the survey

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 47

Acoustics Survey Results are Poor

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

• Acoustics is the only category where the performance is worse in new green buildings compared to non-green buildings and it is the category with the lowest ratings in all buildings.

• In short – “green” buildings have worse acoustics

-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4

Thermal Comfort

Acoustics

Berkeley Post Occupancy Survey Results

LEED/Green New Non-Green All Buildings

48

Acoustics Complaints

Obvious problem:

• Poor speech privacy and sound isolation

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 49

Office Noise Sound Examples

• Acoustically Good Open Office

‒ Absorptive ceiling and floors

‒ cubicles with 5 – 6 ft absorptive walls

• Typical Green Office

‒ Hard walls, floors and ceilings

‒ Short or no cubicles

• Simple Private Office

‒ Thin walls

‒ Thin, unsealed, but closed door

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 50

Causes of Poor Green Building Acoustics

Let us examine some of the causes of poor acoustics:

• Natural Ventilation

• Daylighting

• Radiant Heating and Cooling

• Exposed Thermal Mass

• Lightweight Steel Frames

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 51

Natural Ventilation

Natural ventilation uses indoor/outdoor pressure differences to drive air flow through holes in walls and open windows

‒ Reduces the energy use to move air in ducts

‒ Can provide higher quality air to occupants

This type of system results in: • Reduced HVAC noise

‒ This can be good but sometimes it is too quiet

• Poor sound isolation ‒ Outside to Inside ‒ Room to Room ‒ Cubicle to Cubicle

31-Oct-2011

Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 52

Daylighting and Passive Solar

Green buildings use a lot more sunlight for illumination (daylighting) and passive solar heating. More sunlight means more windows and skylights

‒ Some even use glass for internal walls to allow more interior sunlight penetration

The result of all this is:

• Reduced indoor/outdoor sound isolation

• Reduced interior sound isolation

• More acoustically reflective surfaces on room walls and ceilings

• Less surface area available for sound absorptive treatments

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 53

Radiant Heating/Cooling

Radiant Heating and Cooling is being used more for improved energy efficiency and improved thermal comfort. This results in:

• More exposed metal and concrete which are sound reflective surfaces

• This results in higher reverberant sound levels and high reflection of direct sound ‒ Increased background noise in general

from high reverberation

‒ Decreased speech privacy from direct reflections

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 54

Thermal Mass

• More Thermal Mass is being used in design

‒ Thermal mass is a high heat capacity material like CMU block or concrete

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

• Use of thermal mass results in ‒ Reduced inside thermal variation

‒ Time delay in peak loads

‒ Reduce overall energy costs

• Using thermal mass requires direct heat exchange with room ‒ This means we cannot cover surfaces with

typical sound absorbing materials

55

Use of Sustainable Materials

“Green” buildings tend to use more sustainably farmed wood, metal (recycled and recyclable), stone, and concrete than conventional buildings. This means

•Reduced use of acoustic ceiling tile

•Reduced use of acoustic absorptive panels

•Reduced use of carpeting

‒Note: acoustic tiles, panels, and carpeting all are being made in more sustainable ways by some firms so the trend away from them might be changing.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

56

Lightweight Steel Frame Design

• If thermal mass systems are not used, buildings are often being designed with lighter weight, welded steel frames and much thinner walls and floors. This results in ‒ Reduced Airborne Sound Isolation

‒ Reduced damping of structure borne sound

‒ Increased coupling of vibration between structural members

‒ Decreased isolation to impact and vibration excitation.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 57

Conflicts with Natural Ventilation and Daylight

• There is no simple way to provide sound isolation if partitions need to be reduced or eliminated for natural ventilation and daylighting

‒ Sound masking, the generation of background noise to cover up other noise, can help provide cubicle-to-cubicle sound isolation but only with an increase in the overall noise level

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 58

Conflicts with Natural Ventilation and Daylight

• There are no magic bullets to provide good sound isolation with large amounts of glass.

‒ High sound isolation windows are available, but are expensive and their sound isolation is still worse than most opaque wall constructions

‒ Clear and translucent sound absorbing materials are available but are still extremely expensive

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 59

Synergies

• Careful construction to avoid thermal bridging and air infiltration usually results in improved outdoor-indoor sound isolation

• Use of high mass construction (concrete, filled CMU) in walls and floors can provide better sound isolation opportunities ‒ Must be careful to install high acoustic

absorbing materials where they are acceptable to ensure reverberation is controlled

• Reduced use of forced air HVAC mean less HVAC generated noise and vibration ‒ May need to install noise masking systems to

provide speech privacy

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

60

Synergies

• Green Roofs can provide improved sound isolation

‒ Green roofs are being used to reduce urban heat islands, reduce heating and cooling load, increase roof membrane lifetimes, improve local air quality, reduce roof water runoff, and roof clean water runoff

• Studies show that the increased mass and absorbing properties of green roofs can increase sound isolation of roofs by 3-15 dB ‒ The transmission loss difference

between the green/pink and blue curves is from the green roof

31-Oct-2011

Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 61

Opportunities

• The use of coordinated and integrated design teams can take advantage of synergies and try to minimize conflicts early in design.

‒ Owners, architects, and building systems designers frequently meet together in design charrettes early in the design phase

• The old school methods with discipline separated design must be abandoned in green buildings to ensure energy use is minimized

‒ For this to be able to provide improved acoustics someone on the design team needs to have training in acoustics!

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

62

Opportunities

• Post-occupancy evaluations can be used to find and document acoustic complaints of workers even if upper management is not aware of problems

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

• Market for sustainable acoustic products ‒ Make traditional acoustic treatments more

sustainable ‒ Transparent Acoustic Absorbers

• Available but very high cost now

‒ Absorbing Radiative Heat Exchangers • None commercially available but the idea is sound (pun

intended)

63

Designer Needs

• Need to get some acoustics into the criteria for green building rating systems ‒ This is slowly starting to happen, in part because

of advocacy of ASA members like Dan Bruck, Alexis Kurtz, Charles Salter, Dave Lubman, David Sykes, Brandon Tinianov, and others

• Need to educate architects and engineers on the need to consider acoustics in the design, even if the rating system does not ‒ Make them aware of the implications of poor

acoustics (unhappy and unproductive applicants)

‒ Make them understand that some things cannot always be fixed afterward

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 64

Research Needs

• More human performance studies

‒ We need to be able to determine which environmental components have the greatest effect on environmental acceptability, productivity, and human performance so we can prioritize design

• New Materials and Treatments

‒ Affordable transparent sound absorbers

‒ Sound absorbing radiative heat exchangers

‒ Noise control for natural ventilation

‒ Better acoustic models for green roofs

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

65

Summary

“Green” Buildings usually have worse acoustical performance than conventional because:

‒ Rating systems do not incentivize good acoustics. We need to change that

‒ Green building designs tend to remove sound absorbing materials for daylighting, radiative heating and cooling, and exposed thermal mass

‒ Green building designs tend to reduce isolating construction for daylighting and natural ventilation.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 66

Summary

“Green” buildings can provide some good opportunities for improved acoustic performance through:

‒ Coordinated, integrated design teams

‒ High mass construction provides opportunity for improved sound isolation

‒ Green Roofs provide better sound isolation

‒ New markets for sustainable acoustical materials

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 67

Common Standards Used in Office Acoustics

• ANSI S3.5-1997: Methods for the Calculation of the Speech Intelligibility Index

• ASTM E90-04, Standard Test Method for Laboratory Measurement of Airborne Sound Transmission Loss of Building Partitions and Elements.

• ASTM E336-05, Standard Test Method for Measurement of Airborne Sound Attenuation between Rooms in Buildings.

• ASTM E413-04: Classification for Rating Sound Insulation.

• ASTM E1130-08: Objective Measurement of Speech Privacy in Open Plan Spaces Using Articulation Index.

• ASTM E2368-10: Standard Test Method for Objective Measurement of the Speech Privacy Provided by a Closed Room

• IEC 60268-16: Sound system equipment – Part 16: Objective rating of speech intelligibility by speech transmission index.

• ISO 3382:1997 Acoustics -- Measurement of the reverberation time of rooms with reference to other acoustical parameters.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings 68

Green Building Acoustics Resources and

References

• Center for the Built Environment: Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Survey. http://www.cbe.berkeley.edu/research/survey.htm

• Muehleisen, R. T. (2010). "Acoustics of Green Buildings," in InformeDesign Implications (InformeDesign), pp. 1-7 http://www.informedesign.umn.edu/_news/jan_v08.pdf.

• Field, C. (2008). "Acoustical design in green buildings," ASHRAE Journal 50, 60-70.

• Muehleisen, R. T. (2009). "Review of the Implementation and Recent Changes of Several Acoustic Criteria Used in United States Schools," in Inter-Noise 2009 (Institute of Noise Control Engineers, Ottawa, CA).

• Hodgson, M. (2009). "Occupant Satisfaction with the Acoustical Environment," in PLEA2009 - 26th Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture (Quebec City, CA).

• Hodgson, M., Khaleghi, A., Richter, M., and Razavi, Z. (2009). "Design and evaluation of noise-isolation measures for the natural-ventilation openings in a `green' building," Noise Control Engineering Journal 57, 493-506.

• Abbaszadeh, S., Zagreus, L., Lehrer, D., and Huizenga, C. (2006). "Occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality in green buildings," in Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2006, Lisbon, Vol III (International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate), pp. 365-370.

31-Oct-2011 Ralph T. Muehleisen - Acoustics of Green Buildings

69