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Human occupants have a profound influence on indoor environments, although there is limited information on means to cost-effectively assess occupant metrics in all types of buildings. Multiple measures of occupancy (i.e., the number of occupants and the duration of their presence) and occupant activity (i.e., the number of occupant movements through room doorways) were investigated in ten single-patient rooms in a new hospital in Chicago, Illinois as part of the Hospital Microbiome Project, with the overarching goal of determining occupant characteristics to inform an investigation of interactions between humans and microbial communities. Four relatively low-cost, non-invasive methods to estimate time-resolved occupancy and occupant activity were developed using data from (1) CO 2 concentration sensors installed in patient rooms and the supply air streams serving each room and (2) non-directional doorway beam-break sensors installed at each patient room doorway. A method that utilized data from both sensors produced the most accurate estimates and was used to characterize time-varying occupancy and occupant activity. Daily occupancy varied among rooms, with median values ranging from 0 to 3 persons per hour. Occupant activity exhibited less variation on average (approximately 8 doorway movements per hour), but reached high levels on certain days for some patient rooms. No consistent relationship was observed between estimated occupancy and occupant activity, indicating that one metric cannot be inferred from the other. This study shows that this dual-sensor methodology provides a relatively inexpensive, non-invasive, accurate approach to estimate occupancy and occupant activity in an environment with rigorous privacy and security limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report details the outcome of the 1st Hospital Microbiome Project workshop held on June 7th-8th, 2012 at the University of Chicago, USA. The workshop was arranged to determine the most appropriate sampling strategy and approach to building science measurement to characterize the development of a microbial community within a new hospital pavilion being built at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The workshop made several recommendations and led to the development of a full proposal to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as well as to the creation of the Hospital Microbiome Consortium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]