IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p2256-d502175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Indirect Economic Effects of Vertical Indoor Green in the Context of Reduced Sick Leave in Offices

Author

Listed:
  • Jutta Hollands

    (Research Unit of Ecological Building Technologies, Institute of Material Technology, Building Physics and Building Ecology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, A-1040 Vienna, Austria)

  • Azra Korjenic

    (Research Unit of Ecological Building Technologies, Institute of Material Technology, Building Physics and Building Ecology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, A-1040 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

Low indoor humidity has been shown to influence the transmission of respiratory diseases via air. A certain proportion of sick leave in offices is therefore attributable to dryness of air. An improvement in these conditions thus means a reduction in sick leave, which is accompanied by cost savings for companies. Vertical indoor greening has a verifiable positive effect on air humidity, especially in winter months. In this article, the correlation between improved air humidity in greened rooms and reduction of sick leave due to improved air humidity was described. The resulting indirect economic effect was determined by comparing the costs for construction, green care, and technical maintenance of indoor greenery with savings due to lower sick leave. Based on long-term measurement data on air humidity and temperature, and actual cost values for three buildings, located in Vienna, Austria, with 6 greened and 3 reference rooms without greenery, the correlation of the method was derived and finally formulated in a generalized way using dimensioning factors. Only considering the influence on air humidity, profitability of 6.6 m 2 vertical greening installed in an example office with six workplaces equipped with technical ventilation and saving of two sick days already results after about 4.5 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Jutta Hollands & Azra Korjenic, 2021. "Indirect Economic Effects of Vertical Indoor Green in the Context of Reduced Sick Leave in Offices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2256-:d:502175
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2256/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2256/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mendell, M.J. & Fisk, W.J. & Kreiss, K. & Levin, H. & Alexander, D. & Cain, W.S. & Girman, J.R. & Hines, C.J. & Jensen, P.A. & Milton, D.K. & Rexroat, L.P. & Wallingford, K.M., 2002. "Improving the health of workers in indoor environments: Priority research needs for a National Occupational Research Agenda," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(9), pages 1430-1440.
    2. Thomas Leoni, 2019. "Fehlzeitenreport 2019. Krankheits- und unfallbedingte Fehlzeiten in Österreich – Die flexible Arbeitswelt: Arbeitszeit und Gesundheit," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 62103, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Pichlhöfer & Eldira Sesto & Jutta Hollands & Azra Korjenic, 2021. "Health-Related Benefits of Different Indoor Plant Species in a School Setting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-28, August.
    2. Katarina Cakyova & Marian Vertal & Jan Vystrcil & Ondrej Nespesny & David Beckovsky & Ales Rubina & Jan Pencik & Zuzana Vranayova, 2021. "The Synergy of Living and Water Wall in Indoor Environment—Case Study in City of Brno, Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, October.
    3. Jutta Hollands & Eldira Sesto & Azra Korjenic, 2022. "Thermal Comfort in a Greened Office Building: Investigation and Evaluation through Measurement and Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-27, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christine Mayrhuber & Hedwig Lutz & Ingrid Mairhuber, 2021. "Erwerbsaustritt, Pensionsantritt und Anhebung des Frauenpensionsantrittsalters ab 2024. Potentielle Auswirkungen auf Frauen, Branchen und Betriebe," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 67348, April.
    2. Erica Cochran Hameen & Bobuchi Ken-Opurum & Young Joo Son, 2020. "Protocol for Post Occupancy Evaluation in Schools to Improve Indoor Environmental Quality and Energy Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-23, May.
    3. Paulína Šujanová & Monika Rychtáriková & Tiago Sotto Mayor & Affan Hyder, 2019. "A Healthy, Energy-Efficient and Comfortable Indoor Environment, a Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-37, April.
    4. He Zhang & Ravi Srinivasan, 2020. "A Systematic Review of Air Quality Sensors, Guidelines, and Measurement Studies for Indoor Air Quality Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-38, October.
    5. Gyu-Bae Lee & Seung-Min Lee & Seung-Eon Lee & Jae-Weon Jeong & Jong-Won Lee, 2022. "A Comparative Field Study of Indoor Environment Quality and Work Productivity between Job Types in a Research Institute in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Felipe Quesada-Molina & Sebastián Astudillo-Cordero, 2023. "Indoor Environmental Quality Assessment Model (IEQ) for Houses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, January.
    7. Franz Astleithner & Bettina Stadler, 2021. "Arbeitszeitverkürzung. Modelle und Praxis in Betrieben," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 47(4), pages 469-510.
    8. Chua, K.J. & Chou, S.K. & Yang, W.M. & Yan, J., 2013. "Achieving better energy-efficient air conditioning – A review of technologies and strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 87-104.
    9. Ma, Nan & Aviv, Dorit & Guo, Hongshan & Braham, William W., 2021. "Measuring the right factors: A review of variables and models for thermal comfort and indoor air quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2256-:d:502175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.