ASHRAE Journal - June 2022 - 48

COLUMN RESIDENTIAL APPLICATIONS
Economics of Lost Productivity
" The potential annual savings and productivity gains
from improved IAQ in the United States are estimated
to be as high as $14 billion from respiratory disease,
$4 billion from reduced allergies and asthma, $30
billion from reduced sick building syndrome and
$160 billion from direct improvements in worker performance
that are unrelated to health. " 6 A clear economic
connection exists between IAQ, health and productivity.
Indirect costs from asthma alone make up $5.9 billion,
including lost pay from sickness or death and lost work
output from missed school or workdays.7 According to
the CDC, productivity losses in 2016 related to personal
and family health issues cost U.S. employers $1,685 per
employee per year or $225.8 billion annually.8
Summary
In a study in Chicago with forty existing homes, various
ventilation systems were applied, and a wide variety
of pollutants were studied. " There was a reduction in I/O
(indoor/outdoor) ratios for all measured constituents
with each type of system. " 9 The reduction averaged out
to about 27%.
So we know mechanical ventilation dilutes pollutants
in the house-that's why we install ventilation systems.
We know pollutants impact the health of the occupants
of the house. We know that the health of the occupants
impacts their productivity. And we know that the mean
annual productivity was $57,324 for U.S. adults in 2016.10
If we assume a 27% reduction in indoor air pollutants
due to improved mechanical ventilation and that change
had an equal reduction in the $1,685 cost of lost productivity,
we could tell a weatherization agency or electrician
that there was about a $400 per person per year
savings. That would make it a lot simpler to sell a welldesigned
mechanical ventilation system. This is only an
approximation because even though there is clearly an
impact on productivity with an improvement in IAQ, too
many variables exist to put a single dollar figure on the
savings. A lawyer would say, " It depends. "
Whatever the exact dollar figure is, those of us who
live and breathe this stuff every day need to find ways to
evangelize the science to raise the value of mechanical
ventilation and health beyond the location of the toilet
paper roll or the value of the owner's car.
References
1. Tran, V.V., D. Park, Y.-C. Lee. 2020. " Indoor air pollution,
related human diseases, and recent trends in the control and
improvement of indoor air quality. " International Journal of
Environmental Research and Public Health 17(8):2927.
2. Wyon, D. 2004. " The effects of indoor air quality on
performance and productivity. " Indoor Air 14(S7):92 - 101.
3. Lee, D.-W., J. Lee, H.-R. Kim, M-Y. Kang. 2021. " Healthrelated
productivity loss according to health conditions among
workers in South Korea. " Int J Environ Res Public Health 18(14):7589.
4. NIH. 2021. " Sinusitis. " National Institutes of Health, National
Library of Medicine. https://tinyurl.com/bddyrxjm
5. Wargocki, P. 2019. " The Effects of Poor Air Quality on Indoor
Environments. " WELLCertified.com. https://tinyurl.com/mwbux84
6. Fisk, W. 2000. " Health and productivity gains from better
indoor environments and their relationship with building energy
efficiency. " Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 25:537-566.
7. AAFA. Undated. " Cost of Asthma on Society. " Asthma and
Allergy Foundation of America.
8. Stewart, W.F., J.A. Ricci, E. Chee, D. Morganstein. 2003. " Lost
productive work time costs from health conditions in the United
States: results from the American Productivity Audit. " J Occup
Environ Med 45(12):1234 - 1246.
9. Kang, I. 2022. " Indoor air quality impacts of residential
mechanical ventilation system retrofits in existing homes in
Chicago, IL. " Science of the Total Environment 804:150129.
10. Grosse, S., K. Krueger, J. Pike. 2019. " Estimated annual and
lifetime labor productivity in the United States, 2016: implications
for economic evaluations. " J Med Econ 22(6):501 -508.
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ASHRAE Journal - June 2022

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