Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health (2011) / Chapter Skim
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3 Government and Private-Sector Involvement in Climate Change, Indoor Environment, and Health Issues
3 Government and Private-Sector Involvement in Climate Change, Indoor Environment, and Health Issues
Pages 53-78
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Chapter 8 provides additional detail on programs related to building weatherization and energy efficiency. US Environmental Protection Agency The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
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They touch on such issues as moisture, emissions from building materials, and ventilation and offer guidance on exposure assessment, mitigation, and adaptation strategies. EPA specifically addresses the subject of the present report in an Indoor Air Quality and Climate Readiness Web site that in late 2010 included weatherization and indoor air-quality briefing material and links to more general indoor environmental-health information (EPA, 2010d)
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It also cochairs the Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality with four other federal agencies.3 This committee coordinates research and facilitates communication on indoor-air topics, including excessive dampness, mold, ventilation, emissions from building materials, and "green buildings." National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the principal biomedical research arm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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27) ; risk factors for illness and death associated with acute exposure to extreme heat events and chronic exposure to increased average temperatures; and the health benefits of the use of environmental design principles to reduce the high thermal mass of urban areas (p.
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poisoning from home electricity generators during power outages. CDC also collects surveillance data on diseases related to environmental changes via its National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (CDC, 2010b)
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The department's Building Technologies Program does not identify climate change as a motivating factor but conducts work that addresses the topic through programs that seek to reduce energy demands and promote good indoor air quality. Research and development initiatives include support of revisions of ventilation and building codes; improvement of exposure-assessment, ventilation, filtering, and air-cleaning technologies; source reduction of VOCs; and better 7 Indoor chemistry refers to the oxidation-reduction, acid-base, hydrolysis, decomposition, and other reactions that occur in indoors as a result of the interaction between various chemicals in the air, furnishing, floor and wall coverings, cleaning supplies and other constituents of the indoor environment.
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. Among its efforts are Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants, which include predisaster mitigation plans and climate-change–impact assessments among the eligible activities (HUD, 2010b)
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, but the present committee could not identify any work that it has published that explicitly addresses indoor environmental quality or building-related issues. GOVERNMENT HOUSING AND HEALTH DATA COLLECTION Various agencies and organizations conduct or sponsor studies that collect pieces of information useful in assessing the relationships between buildings, the environment, and health.
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A change of occupants of a housing unit would also mean changes in how the unit is used, which could influence and possibly confound variables used to evaluate indoor environmental quality. American Healthy Homes Survey EPA and HUD collected questionnaire and environmental data on a stratified, nationally representative sample of 1,131 US residences in 2005–2006 (Stout et al., 2009)
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. The study examines indoor air environments and their connection to the building, but the data were centered on occupant perceptions of indoor air quality rather than on measurements, and climate-change– related factors were not assessed (WHO, 2011)
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As Chapter 4 notes, there are outdoor air pollutants such as particulate matter and ozone whose levels may be affected by climate change, and outdoor levels influence indoor levels. One approach would be to collect valid, nationally representative air-toxics exposure data that could be linked in time and space to human health outcomes data.
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In addition, CDC has collaborated with several other federal agencies and professional organizations to provide data for the program. The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network promotes information-system standards to integrate local, state, and national databases on environmental hazards, environmental exposures, and health effects, including outdoor and indoor air exposures.
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-- to imbed it more firmly in state and local public-health systems and make it more responsive to local needs for information. Synthesis -- Surveillance Systems to Track Climate-Change Effects on Indoor Environmental Quality and Health To track the effects of climate change on indoor environmental quality and health, it will be important to gather information over time and in specific geographic regions to assess variations and the different effects associated with them.
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In addition, a report from the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force (ICCATF) -- under the auspices of the White House Council on Environmental Quality -- set a policy goal of coordinating capabilities of the federal government to support climate-change adaptation (2010)
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One, a California standard on emissions from building materials, is summarized below. A 2010 white paper by Levin provides details on that standard and voluntary standards in the United States that address emissions from building materials and products that may affect indoor environmental quality.
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and voluntary measures regarding indoor air quality. The California Environmental Protection Agency's Air Resources Board has regulatory authority to evaluate and control air toxics under the state's 1983 Toxic Air Contaminant Identification and Control Act (Cal/EPA ARB, 2009)
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. The report called indoor air pollution "a key environmental and public health peril for countless of the world's poorest, most vulnerable people" and advocated the adoption of cleaner-burning cooking stoves both to prevent health problems and to limit greenhouse-gas emissions.
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A third document addressing how ventilation, the thermal environment, and other building characteristics jointly influence indoor environmental quality -- Guideline 10: Interactions Affecting the Achievement of Acceptable Indoor Environments -- was under development in early 2011.
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The standards include consideration of indoor air quality, but they focus primarily on increasing buildings' water and energy efficiency and decreasing their greenhouse-gas emissions and other aspects of their environmental footprint. Chapter 8 addresses LEED standards in greater detail.
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2010. Evaluation of dicarbonyls generated in a simulated indoor air environment using an in vitro exposure system.
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2007. The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program: Healthy informed communities 2007.
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2010a. Federal interagency committee on indoor air quality.
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2010d. Indoor air quality and climate readiness.
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2010. Building codes and indoor air quality.
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grating systems to improve indoor air quality credits and to address changing climatic conditions. Washington, DC: EPA Indoor Environments Division.
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http://www.euro.who.int/ en/what-we-do/health-topics/environmental-health/Housing-and-health/activities/the large-analysis-and-review-of-european-housing-and-health-status-lares-project (accessed February 8, 2011)
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