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Creating Evidence-based Healthy and Energy-Efficient Housing

Creating Evidence-based Healthy and Energy-Efficient Housing

Modern indoor environments can directly affect human health. This is partly driven by the dramatic increase in the quantity and diversity of chemical exposures from household furnishings and consumer products over the past 50 years. While some exposures are difficult to estimate in the general population, many of the dominant pathways can be understood and modified. For example, indoor concentrations of airborne pollutants may be driven by the design or condition of the home’s physical structure; resident behaviors; product-use profiles; characteristics of household furnishings; presence, condition, use of mechanical ventilation; air infiltration pathways (especially in multifamily settings); and outdoor pollutant concentrations. New development and new construction offer many opportunities to modify these pathways and reduce exposures. It is also worth noting that some exposures in the home are persistent. Many semi-volatile contaminants (including those which are known or suspected endocrine disruptors) can provide long-lasting reservoirs that may confer health risk long after their introduction into the home. The selection of materials used in construction and furnishings can be a key proactive (and precautionary) step in mitigating these potentially harmful exposures.

Led by Dr. Gary Adamkiewicz, of the Harvard School of Public Health, the team is currently:

  • Developing guidance for best practices to reduce indoor environmental exposures in newly-constructed residences. These will include elements of design, operation and maintenance of structures, as well as educational elements intended to promote healthy behavior among occupants.
  • Developing guidance for the selection of materials which minimizes exposure to key pollutants including known and suspected endocrine disruptors.
  • Using data collected from a ten-city housing study in China, in order to understand the key housing-based drivers of occupant health.
  • Creating a model of future energy demands for residences in Chinese cities based on anticipated climatic change.
  • Under the direction of Julia Africa providing guidance on the best landscape design and ecological infrastructure practices based on climate change-related shifts in environmental conditions (e-CO2, e-Temp, increased wind and storm severity, increased precipitation volume, etc.)
  • Providing recommendations for public green spaces (transportation corridors, parks and green belts).

Click here to read the 2015 journal article co-written by Dr. John Spengler, Green Buildings and Health, published in Global Environmental Health and Sustainability. 

Click here to watch a webinar recording on this research.