ABSTRACT
An assessment of the health status of all commercial buildings in the United States was made
based on nineteen research reports and related information on indoor air quality projects, and
medical and epidemiology evaluations of existing reports and papers. This information was
used to determine the cost to bring all buildings up to ASHRAE Standard 62-1989 and other
accepted indoor air quality (IAQ) practice. The productivity benefits were determined: both
employee-related productivity benefits and general customer or client benefits. An evaluation
of annual cost to sustain the IAQ measures in buildings was included in the study. The study
determined the ‘healthy building’ status of existing buildings by commercial type and five
US climatic regions. The economic productivity return for bringing all buildings up to our
defined ASHRAE 62-1989 level is recovered in about half a year. However, for a specific
building this can range from weeks to several years. Many buildings in the current inventory
are very close to ASHRAE 62-1989, and these require only a small investment to bring them
up to this level.
