Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health (2011) / Chapter Skim
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9 Key Findings, Guiding Principles, and Priority Issues for Action
9 Key Findings, Guiding Principles, and Priority Issues for Action
Pages 239-256
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From page 239... ...
While there is substantial scientific literature on the effects of outdoor environmental conditions on the indoors, of indoor environmental condi 1 This report uses the term climate to refer to prevailing outdoor environmental conditions -- temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, sea level, and other phenomena -- and climate change to refer to modifications in those outdoor conditions that occur over an extended period of time.
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From page 240... ...
KEY FINDINGS Three key findings derived from the committee's literature review underlie its conclusion that alterations in indoor environmental quality induced by climate change are an important public-health problem that deserves attention and action.
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From page 241... ...
Epidemiologic literature reviewed by the committee indicates that pollution intrusion from the outdoors, emissions from building components furnishings, and appliances, and occupant behaviors introduce a number of potentially harmful contaminants into the indoor environment. Dampness problems in buildings are pervasive, and excessive indoor dampness is a determinant of the presence or source strength of several potentially problematic exposures, notably exposures to mold and other microbial agents and to chemical emissions from damaged building materials and furnishings.
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From page 242... ...
The lack of directly relevant literature -- studies of the intersection of climate change, indoor environmental quality, and occupant health -- prevents the committee from drawing more definitive or specific conclusions and underscores the need for the additional data collection and research recommended in this chapter. Data reviewed as part of the National Academies' America's Climate Choices series of reports indicate that global mean temperatures have risen over the past 100 years, heat waves have become longer and more extreme, and cold spells have become shorter and milder.
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From page 243... ...
Potential increases in the level and frequency of peak electricity demand due to heat waves and in the occurrence of extreme weather events have led to concerns over power outages that could leave building occupants without sources of temperate air and over carbon monoxide poisonings from improper use of generators or other alternative sources of energy and heat. Opportunities exist to improve public health while mitigating or adapt ing to alterations in indoor environmental quality induced by climate change.
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From page 244... ...
As the country moves toward a future in which 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 environments. Make the prevention of adverse exposures a primary goal when de signing and implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.
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From page 245... ...
PRIORITY ISSUES FOR ACTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Chapters 4–8 offer several observations regarding how climate change may affect indoor air quality; dampness, moisture, and flooding; infectious agents and pests; exposure to thermal stress; and building ventilation, weatherization, and energy use. The items below constitute a distillation of the committee's thoughts on how their findings and conclusions should be operationalized.
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From page 246... ...
Expanded and coordinated action with other federal agencies -- including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which sets testing standards for products and systems and is heavily involved in building research, and the Federal Trade Commission, which is concerned with the accuracy of environmental-product marketing claims -- will help to ensure that the resulting protocols are comprehensive and to promote their acceptance. 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.
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From page 247... ...
For example, changes that would reduce ventilation rates would tend to increase indoor radon levels and might also alter the effective radiation dose received.2 The use of untested building materials could introduce toxic agents to the indoor environment. EPA and the Department of Energy (DOE)
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From page 248... ...
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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From page 249... ...
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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From page 250... ...
The ideal surveillance system for assessing how climate change affects indoor environment exposures and related health effects would collect data from across the nation and have this clear focus in mind. However, there are substantial logistical hurdles in mounting such an effort, and its high cost may not be tenable under current federal budget circumstances.
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From page 251... ...
It's Tools for Schools initiative provides a number of educational products for building professionals, school staff, and the general public aimed at maintaining "a healthy environment in school buildings by identifying, correcting, and preventing [indoor air quality] problems" (EPA, 2011c)
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From page 252... ...
-- 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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From page 253... ...
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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From page 254... ...
2008. Global climate change and extreme weather events.
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From page 255... ...
US Green Building Council.
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