This document summarizes a study on assessing indoor environments in office buildings in Jamaica to improve energy efficiency. Two office buildings in Kingston, Jamaica were investigated through field studies. The studies found that both buildings operated outside of the standard comfort temperature range, likely causing discomfort for occupants. Meteorological data was analyzed to better understand the local microclimate and how to incorporate it into more energy efficient building design. The goal is to develop guidelines to improve indoor environments and reduce Jamaica's dependence on imported oil through more efficient building practices.

1. International Conference of WREC-Asia & SuDBE2011, Chongqing, China 28-31 October 2011
Assessing the indoor environment as a method of designing energy efficient
office buildings in Jamaica: The case of Jamaica National Building Society
Keroma Bernard1*
, Baizhan Li1, 2
Liu Meng1
1
Faculty of Urban Construction and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, China
2
The Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region (Ministry of Education), Chongqing
University, 400030 Chongqing, China
Abstract: A substantial portion of the average life span of man is spent in his working environment. This has become more so in
today’s fast-paced modern office work, which often obliges people to work long hours, particularly within the Asia Pacific Latin
American and the Caribbean regions where work competition and pressure for family survival and coping with higher living
standards are on the rise. There is an increasing demand for higher quality office building in Jamaica. As a developing country, the
Jamaican economy is characterized by high intensity and low efficiency and is almost completely dependent on imported oil for
energy. A comprehensive program of efficiency improvement and energy diversification is urgently required for Jamaica to provide
high quality, affordable, environmentally friendly office buildings and reduce the country’s dependence on high cost imported oil.
Two office buildings in Kingston Jamaica were investigated via field study. The research findings revealed that because of the
thermal uniformity of the outdoor temperature in Jamaica from the mean daily temperature we can easily incorporate the
micro-climate in the design of energy efficient office buildings and control the indoor temperature within the suitable thermal
comfort standard range. Both buildings were operating at extreme temperature from the standard comfort range recommended which
causes a high level of discomfort for its occupants.
Key words: Office Building, Building Energy Efficiency, Indoor Environment, Thermal Comfort, Micro-climate
1 Introduction
Jamaica with an area of 10,990 km2
and a
population of over 2.8 million is the largest English
speaking island in the Caribbean. Statistics showed that
the country has one of the highest energy intensity rates
in Latin America and the Caribbean and is characterized
by low efficiency. The increasing concern about the
environment impact of buildings and the quality of their
internal environment has raised debate as to the role
architects and engineers should play in the environment
design of buildings. [1] Occupants of office building ask
for a healthy and stimulating working environment and
decisions taken in the early stages of design can have a
large impact on the performance of the finished building.
Choices such as the overall form of a building, depth and
height of rooms and the size of openings can together
double the eventual energy consumption of the finished
building and cause high level of discomfort for its
occupants.
With respect to the status and limitations of
current indoor environment researches, it is timely to
carry out the first indoor environment study for office
buildings in Jamaica, which will add stronger literature
to the material available on indoor environment and
energy efficiency of buildings in the tropical context. The
objectives of this paper are to:
1. Investigate the occupants comfort level and the
intensity of SBS symptoms of tropically
acclimatized subjects in real offices.
2. Model and use meteorological data available to
take advantage of the microclimate
3. Develop basic guidelines to better the indoor
environment and improve energy efficiency of
offices been study.
1.1 Jamaica Climatic Characteristics
The “climate” of a given region is determined by
the pattern of variations of several elements and their
combinations. The principal climatic elements, when
human comfort and building design are being considered,
are solar radiation, longwave radiation to the sky, air
temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation such as
rain, snow, etc. [2]
Jamaica is surrounded by the warm waters of the
Caribbean Sea and is located in the tropics at
approximately latitude 18ºN and longitude 77ºW, which
is about 4.5 degrees south of the Tropic of Cancer or
about midway between the southern tip of Florida and
the Panama Canal.
Table1 shows a summary of Jamaica climatic data
for two months January and August 2009 and figure 1
shows the location map of Jamaica and the Caribbean
region.

2. The International Conference in Sustainable Development in Building and Environment ,Chongqing, China 28-30 October 2009
Table 1 Jamaica Climatologically Data (Source): Jamaica
MET Office
Jamaica Climatologically Data January and
August 2009
Parameters Jan. Aug.
Highest Maximum Temp. (o
C) 32.0 34.0
Mean Daily Tem. (oC) 26.7 29.2
Rainfall (mm) 8.9 48.8
Relative Humidity -7am (%) 72 72
Relative Humudity - 1pm (%) 57 65
Mean Sunshine (Hours/day) 8.9 8.4
Mean Daily Evaporation (mm) 4.4 5.5
Fig.1 Location Map of Jamaica Source: UNEP GEO
Latin America and the Caribbean environment outlook 2008
1.2 Thermal Comfort and Productivity
One of the major reasons for concern in the office
environment is that poor indoor environmental quality is
believed to be having adverse impacts on health and
reducing productivity. The latter occurs by causing lower
work output, poor quality of work, lost working hours or
days (due to sick leave and absenteeism), and negative
effects on other indices of performance. However, office
productivity as a function of indoor environmental
factors such as thermal environment and indoor air
quality has only recently begun to attract any interest on
a regional and global scale as the result of changes in
building practice and increased occupant awareness.
Thermal comfort is defined as the condition of
mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal
environment according to (ASHRAE Standard 55-92).
As such, it will be influenced by personal differences in
mood, culture and other individual, organizational and
social factors. Thermal comfort standard determine the
energy consumption by a building’s environmental
systems and is also a key parameter for a healthy and
productive workplace; therefore, they play an integral
role in building sustainability.
Modern buildings are designed to provide optimum
indoor environment depending on their function (eg.
work, leisure) [1] In order to allow their occupants to be
[1] Yao R. Steemers K. Li B. 2006 Sustainable Urban and Architectural
Design
[2] Givoni, Baruch. (1976). Man, Climate and Architecture. 2nd ed.
London: Applied Science Publishers, pp. 1-144.
[3] Tchinda R, Djongyang N. Thermal Comfort: A review paper (2010)
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review
[4] ASHRAE Standard 62.1 – Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air
Quality. ASHRAE, Atlanta, GA.
[5] Preller, L., Zweers, T., Brunekreef, B., and Boleij, J.S.M. (1990) Sick
leave due to work related health complaints among office workers in
the Netherlands. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on
Indoor Air Quality and Climate, Toronto, pp 227-230.
[6] Spengler, J.D. and Moschandreas, D.J. (1982) Indoor air pollution
(Editorial). Environmental International, 8, pp 3-4.
[7] Fisk, W.J. and Rosenfeld, A.H. (1997) Estimates of improved
productivity and health benefits from better indoor environments.
Indoor Air, 7, 158-172.
[8] Fanger, P.O. and Toftum, J. (2002) Extension of the PMV model to
non-air-conditioned buildings in the warm climates. Energy and
Buildings, 34, pp 533-536 .
[9] Humphreys MA, Nicol JF. The validity of ISO-PMV for predicting
comfort votes in every-day thermal environments. Energy and
Buildings 2002;34(6): 667–84.
[10] Ministry of energy and mining, Jamaica Energy Policy (2009)
[11] UNEP GEO Latin America and the Caribbean environment outlook
(2008)
Note: * Corresponding Author Keroma Bernard
Email: bernardkeroma@gmail.com
Email Author for full publication