LEED Post-Occupancy Surveys: Designing a Survey for Maximum Return

This course is an examination of how occupant survey design for LEED certified buildings could improve effective surveying of occupants to maximize thermal comfort satisfaction. A common misconception is that thermal comfort means an individual is satisfied with the air temperature. Air temperature is only one of six factors that influence whether a person is comfortable in their environment. Occupancy surveys bridge the gap between design-based thermal comfort projections and actual building performance. LEED IEQ Credit Thermal Comfort – Verification under LEED for New Construction and LEED for Commercial Interiors requires a thermal comfort post-occupancy survey six to eighteen months after the building is operational. LEED IEQ Credit Occupant Comfort – Occupant Survey under LEED for Existing Buildings, Operations & Maintenance requires the survey to be performed during the performance period.

This course analyzes different survey designs to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each survey approach. After reviewing all current analyses of post-occupancy evaluations, building owners should consider three factors for survey design: create a more educational survey, improve occupant knowledge of controls and the system, and sync continuous building monitoring with survey data.