Sustainable And User-Centered: Applying Human Factors Solutions Towards Improving The Effectiveness Of Green Buildings

With climate change threatening the very existence of our species, it is imperative the scientific community collaborate to help solve environmental problems. Human factors professionals are uniquely qualified for addressing issues of climate change, particularly because the potential consequences represent the most human-centric of all concerns. That is, when designing for sustainability, and thus for the preservation of our species, we are designing with the human in mind. However, without a user-centered design, many sustainable products and features may either fail to be adopted or may not be used in a way that maximizes performance, thus limiting their utility and potential benefits. One area of sustainable development that could greatly benefit from improvements in usability is the realm of green and LEED-certified building. However, in order to provide improvements in this area, there are a variety of issues and considerations that must be first addressed. In this paper, we provide an overview of each of these areas of concern within green building, describe what is currently being done to solve these issues, and provide human-factors-based solutions to increase usability, performance, and satisfaction within the realm of green building. Copyright 2013 by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Inc