Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-16
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. Its potential effects on public health have been addressed in major research efforts conducted under the auspices of the federal US Global Change Research Program and the National Center for Environmental Health, the congressionally mandated National Academy of Sciences' America's Climate Choices study initiative, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization.
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FRAMEWORK AND ORGANIZATION The first three chapters of the report present introductory and background materials. Subsequent chapters address five major issues related to potential alterations in indoor environmental quality (IEQ)
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However, the intersection of those bodies of research -- the fraction specifically on the effects of climate change on human health in the indoor environment -- is small. Such studies are complicated by the fact that the effects of climate change on indoor environmental quality are region-dependent and vary with the age and condition of the regionally dependent built environment.
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Increased use of air conditioning, an expected adaptation measure, could exacerbate emissions of greenhouse gases and, if accompanied by reduced ventilation rates, increase the concentrations of pollutants emitted from indoor sources. The potential for poisoning from exposure to carbon monoxide emitted from portable electricity generators may increase if peak electricity demand due to heat waves or extreme weather events leads to power outages.
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systems can ameliorate humid conditions, but poorly designed or maintained systems may introduce moisture and create condensation on indoor surfaces. Mold-growth prevention and remediation activities may also introduce fungicides and other agents into the indoor environment, which can lead to adverse exposures of occupants.
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No matter which approach is used to maintain safe indoor environmental conditions, it is important to ensure that the conditions are sustained when failures in building systems or power outages disable mechanical ventilation -- something that may happen more often if climate change leads to more instances of extreme weather conditions or unsustainable loads on the electric grid. Building Ventilation, Weatherization, and Energy Use Research indicates that poor ventilation in homes, offices, and schools is associated with occupant health problems or lower productivity.
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They do not depend on any particular model of future climatic conditions. The literature on indoor environmental quality and health is rich and unequivocal: indoor environmental conditions have a great influence on human health, and adverse conditions harm occupant well-being.
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As the country moves toward a future where climate change will spur the need for increased action to lower buildings' energy demands and increase their resistance to adverse outdoor conditions, it is vital that public health be put in the forefront of the criteria taken into account in making decisions on issues that affect indoor environmental quality. Make the prevention of adverse exposures a primary goal when de signing and implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.
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The committee recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency undertake the following actions. The Environmental Protection Agency should work with such agencies as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist state, terri torial, and local health and emergency-management agencies in efforts to initiate or expand programs to identify populations at risk for health problems resulting from alterations in indoor environmental quality induced by climate change and to implement measures to prevent or lessen the problems.
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The Environmental Protection Agency should expand and accelerate its efforts to ensure that indoor environmental quality is protected and enhanced in building-weatherization efforts by facilitating research to identify circumstances in which mitigation and adaptation measures may cause or exacerbate adverse exposures; by reviewing and, where appropriate, changing weatherization guidance to prevent these expo sures; and by establishing criteria for the certification of weatherization contractors in health-protective procedures. One of the primary points made in this report is that buildings are complex systems whose siting, design, and operation interact in ways that are not necessarily easy to predict.
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Most residential and commercial buildings have useful lifetimes that are measured in decades. Promoting research on and development and adoption of regionally appropriate building codes that account for the possibility of future climatic conditions not only will protect the well-being of occupants but could produce economic benefits in the form of longer building lives, lower building insurance fees, and avoided retrofitting costs.
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The committee recommends that EPA foster the development and implementation of standards in cooperation with other stakeholders. The Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies should put into place a public-health surveillance system that uses existing environment and health survey instruments to gather informa tion on how outdoor conditions, building characteristics, and indoor environmental conditions are affecting occupant health and on how these change over time.
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The committee recommends that EPA expand its current efforts by creating and disseminating specifically tailored messages that speak to the specific circumstances and needs of the diverse audiences listed above and that are focused on steps that these audiences can take to improve indoor environmental quality in the spaces that they occupy. The Environmental Protection Agency should continuously evaluate actions taken in response to climate-change–induced alterations in the indoor environment to determine whether they are enhancing occupant health and productivity in a cost-effective manner, should identify ini tiatives that fail to achieve these objectives, and should take corrective steps as needed.
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-- in which it participates -- to address the effects of climate change on indoor environmental quality and on the health and productivity of occupants. The USGCRP, which involves 13 federal departments and agencies, serves as the coordinating body for federal research on climate change and its effects on society (CCHHG, 2011)
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An effort to establish a governmental entity to act as a coordinating body will likely require support from the administration or Congress. Nonetheless, the committee believes that consolidating and focusing indoor environmental health efforts may generate efficiencies that make it worthy of consideration and that any efforts that support collaboration in the pursuit of healthy indoor environments will produce societal benefits.
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