Health and wellness at Greenbuild 2024

Explore sessions at Greenbuild that will focus on reaching goals for human health and wellness.

Protecting human health and wellness is an essential part of the role buildings and spaces play in our world. Green building strategies and certification through rating systems like LEED and WELL help create superior environments for building occupants, promote safe sites for construction workers, reduce toxic exposures throughout the supply chain and advance the health of surrounding communities.

As the global green building community's top space for learning, networking and sharing insights, Greenbuild 2024, "Built to Scale," will offer more than 100 sessions on the most critical topics in the industry. The conference will take place Nov. 12-15 this year in Philadelphia.

Take a look at a small sample below of opportunities to engage in learning about how our built environment can support health and wellness, and explore the full Greenbuild education program when you register to attend. You can sort by track, topic, learning level and more.

Achieving Energy Savings and Occupant Wellness with Evidence Based Design

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

A multidisciplinary team will review the latest in facility health standards, showcase how to prescribe treatment for air quality issues and share case studies from the field of building performance monitoring. Dr. Marwa Zaatari explores ASHRAE Standard 241 and the latest updates to ASHRAE Standard 62.1 and discusses strategies to reduce disease transmission indoors using hybrid ventilation approaches for enhanced IAQ, sustainability and resilience. Her insights align ASHRAE and LEED v5 credits. Dr. Carl Peterson discusses comprehensive treatment for indoor air quality (IAQ) issues, emphasizing continuous measurement and verification. Drawing from his medical practice, he reviews biocontaminants, chemical-free cleaning and disinfection procedures. Building controls and integration practitioner Ike Beyer offers practical insights for optimizing IAQ while also safeguarding the safety of facility occupants and operations and maintenance staff, including the role that wireless smart sensors play in informing evidence-based design and treatment of indoor air quality issues.

Advancing Health in Buildings Through Research Partnerships

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 3-4 p.m.

Attention to the direct impacts of buildings on the well-being of occupants and neighboring communities has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic, rise in extreme weather events and emerging technology. However, while most building professionals now acknowledge the need to evolve their approaches for managing health, the state of planning for this domain remains fragmented. This session explores how research partnerships can address that challenge by establishing shared standards of evidence to mitigate the risk of poor implementation, fostering alignment around priority values, and driving toward harmonized guidance and metrics to reduce the uncertainty that makes innovation risky. A panel composed of academic researchers and green building professionals will debate the types of research, data collection and analysis, learning feedback loops, and dialogue needed to speed the transition to a more healthy, equitable and resilient built environment.

LEED v5 and Indoor Air Quality

Friday, Nov. 15, 9-10 a.m.

In the wake of heightened awareness and evolving regulations surrounding indoor environmental quality, the spotlight has turned to LEED v5 and a significant shift toward prioritizing air quality performance metrics.This presentation delves into the new approach to indoor air quality in the LEED v5 new construction and existing buildings rating systems, highlighting the interconnection of climate/natural hazard resilience with air quality and occupant well-being. Through the lens of LEED developers representing both the indoor technical advisory group and the resilience working group, see the technical differences and updates from previous versions and gain insight into the LEED v5 existing buildings beta and LEED public comment process. Attendees will be guided through the considerations for selecting appropriate technologies to satisfy the new requirements of LEED v5 and how the requirements overlap and contrast with the methodologies in other building certifications (WELL, Fitwel, etc.).

Cities Designed for People: Climate, Wellness and Nature

Friday, Nov. 15, 10:15-11:15 a.m.

The infrastructure of private-car dependence and unsustainable planning principles of earlier eras have left cities vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with inequitable access to nature, a housing crisis, and changing labor and social patterns. Water Street Tampa, a 52-acre Florida development, is helping a car-dependent city to reimagine itself for a healthy, climate resilient future. As the first WELL Community-certified project in North America, its intersecting sustainability, resilience and wellness design goals have made it a global model for new development that is socially and economically diverse and vibrant. This panel will include the perspectives of the three architects who led the design and will discuss their strategies for creating environments that enhance human health and well-being; achieve resource savings, and positively impact the local economy and community.

View the full education lineup.

Register for Greenbuild.

View the full education lineup

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