Are green buildings more satisfactory and comfortable?

Much of the emphasis to date in green building development has been on optimizing energy and resource efficiency. Very little was known about user perception and satisfaction in green buildings. To make up these drawbacks, this paper presents a large-scale occupant survey in first generation green buildings in China. When comparing the green and non-green buildings, the analysis showed a big difference. Some green buildings enjoyed higher satisfaction and comfort, while some green buildings attracted lower satisfaction and comfort. This research suggests that green building users were more forgiving of their buildings; they were more likely to balance the good features against the bad to reach their overall assessment, which has important implications to sustainable design and research.

► The paper presents a large-scale occupant survey in first generation green buildings in China. ► A standard questionnaire was used to benchmark the buildings through an international database. ► Green and non-green buildings were compared in terms of occupant comfort and satisfaction. ► ‘Occupant forgiveness’ was introduced to test users' tolerance of the shortcomings of such sustainable design.