Green Building Week: Sick of Work? Here's Why.

The opening scene in Joe Versus the Volcano (above) is a brilliant depiction of the classic soul-sucking office job. The main character, Joe, works at the American Panascope Corporation (“Home of the Rectal Probe”), in an office dominated by the buzz of flickering fluorescent lights, the automatic-artillery sound of a typewriter, and the high-strung, one-sided ranting of a boss on the telephone.

Joe does not feel good, and the other people in the office don’t look like they feel good. The secretary, Dede, pauses her work every few seconds to take a hit off of her inhaler and wipe her nose with the back of her hand. When Joe tells his boss that he doesn’t feel good, the boss dismisses everyone’s substandard health as “a fact of life.” “Do you think I feel good?” He asks Joe. “I feel rotten. So what? I don’t let it bother me…”

The film is replete with hyperbole, but I think this first scene gets the dismal office-job reality just right. While we tend to think of job-related health risks as a strictly blue-collar or unskilled worker issue, studies have shown that conditions in many office buildings pose risks to human health. Sick-building-syndrome, once thought to be synonymous with mere malingering, is now understood to be a real result of poor air quality, indoor pollutants, and biological contamination.

A study conducted in 2000 estimated that improved indoor environments in the U.S. could save $20 billion to $160 billion from direct improvement in worker performance, as well as billions of dollars per year in health care costs associated with asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

It’s no wonder, then, that the U.S. Green Building Council considers human health issues as part of their standards for sustainable building. The Council has developed a Green Building Rating System called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) through which buildings can become certified as Officially Green. The System works by granting points for various building aspects, such as sustainable site development, energy efficiency, water savings, material selection, and indoor environmental quality. Buildings can be certified on a number of different levels, from Certified to Platinum.

In New York City, the new 7 World Trade Center (the old building was the third to fall, after the twin towers, on 9/11) was the first building in NYC to attain LEED Gold certification. The building opened in May 2007 with sustainable features including 30% recycled steel, ultra-clear glass for improved natural light and energy efficiency, and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems.

The skyscraper pulls in clean air from above to circulate around the building, and uses technology like carbon dioxide detectors to monitor the level of ventilation and circulation needed-- the more people in a room, the more air circulation. The Trade Center's developer, Larry A. Silverstein, said that air quality was a personal issue for him: "I'm an asthmatic," he said. "When you have asthma, you realize how important it is to have clean air to breathe."

Of course, Mr. Silverstein was probably motivated by more than a sense of altruism prompted by personal health issues in his decision to go green (clean energy considerations and materials cost about $35 million out of the $700 million project). From an economic standpoint, it is advantageous for developers to build green buildings and seek LEED certification because, in the end, it saves them money in energy costs (30 to 70 percent), and it attracts tenants who are interested in keeping their employees healthy and productive.

While buildings like 7 WTC and Hearst Tower have likely set a standard precedent for all future commercial building in NYC, it's probably going to be a while before the average American workplace can offer clean air and natural light to working Americans.

If you ask me, the solution is to stay out of the office.