Home Energy-Efficiency Retrofits

Stephens, Brent; Carter, Ellison M.; Gall, Elliott T.; Earnest, Charles M.; Walsh, Elizabeth A.; Hun, Diana; Jackson, Mark

doi:10.1289/ehp.1103621

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Low-income and minority neighborhoods collectively bear the brunt of more environmental hazards in and outside of their individual households (50,107). For example, the siting of highlypolluting sources such as bus depots, landfills, highways, and plants or factories tend to be located in low-income communities.…”

Section: Socioeconomic Status Race and Placementioning

confidence: 99%

Energy, Poverty, and Health in Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review of an Emerging Literature

Jessel

Sawyer

Hernández

2019

Front. Public Health

228

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Household energy is increasingly vital for maintaining good health. Unaffordable and inadequate household energy presents adverse consequences that are amplified by poverty and a changing climate. To date, the connections between energy, socioeconomic disadvantage, and well-being are generally underappreciated, and household energy connection with climate change is under-researched. Building on the energy insecurity framework, this review explores literature related to household energy, poverty, and health in order to highlight the disproportionate burdens borne by vulnerable populations in adequately meeting household energy needs. This paper is based on a comprehensive review of books, peer-reviewed articles, and reports published between 1990 and 2019, identified via databases including JSTOR and PubMed. A total of 406 publications were selected as having potential for full review, 203 received full review, and 162 were included in this paper on the basis of set inclusion criteria. From the literature review, we created an original heuristic model that describes energy insecurity as either acute or chronic, and we further explore the mediators and pathways that link energy insecurity to health. In the discussion, we posit that the extant literature does not sufficiently consider that vulnerable communities often experience energy insecurity bundled with other hardships. We also discuss energy, poverty, and health through the lens of climate change, making the criticism that most research on household energy does not consider climate change. This evidence is important for enhancing research in this field and developing programmatic and policy interventions as they pertain to energy access, affordability, and health, with special emphasis on vulnerable populations, climate change, and social inequality.

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Section: Socioeconomic Status Race and Placementioning

confidence: 99%

Energy, Poverty, and Health in Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review of an Emerging Literature

Jessel

Sawyer

Hernández

2019

Front. Public Health

228

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“…More recently, the green movement has introduced data on how energy-efficient housing can enhance the economic status of low-income elders by lowering the costs associated with the operation of their houses, benefiting elders on fixed income by maintaining their economic well-being. Research on energyefficient homes for seniors has shown that there is an added health benefit by reducing indoor air pollution through the use of air filters and other special air sealing measures [24].…”

Section: The Built Environment and Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The savings help governments to provide more services in terms of both quantity and quality for the well-being and health of its aging population. In other words, green energy can influence seniors' lives in different aspects, from economic to climatic changes and natural disasters that often are the consequences of consuming unsustainable energy resources [34,35].…”

Section: What Are Others Doing? Individual Residential Livingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 3: Societal Benefits and Challenges of Sustainable Buildings and Their Ecosystems for Aging Populations

Ingman,

Wolfe,

Amini

et al. 2016

Analytics for Building-Scale Sustainable Ecosystems

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“…Therefore, the indoor environment has been increasingly recognized for its relevance to human health and well-being [ 11 ]. Prior studies on the effects of residential ventilation on indoor exposure has led to a continued concern about the impact of weatherization on human health [ 12 – 18 ]. The World Health Organization (WHO) established a set of 12 housing inadequacies that had sufficient evidence for estimating disease burden [ 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The short-term effect of residential home energy retrofits on indoor air quality and microbial exposure: A case-control study

2021

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Weatherization of residential homes is a widespread procedure to retrofit older homes to improve the energy efficiency by reducing building leakage. Several studies have evaluated the effect of weatherization on indoor pollutants, such as formaldehyde, radon, and indoor particulates, but few studies have evaluated the effect of weatherization on indoor microbial exposure. Here, we monitored indoor pollutants and bacterial communities during reductions in building leakage for weatherized single-family residential homes in New York State and compared the data to non-weatherized homes. Nine weatherized and eleven non-weatherized single-family homes in Tompkins County, New York were sampled twice: before and after the weatherization procedures for case homes, and at least 3 months apart for control homes that were not weatherized. We found that weatherization efforts led to a significant increase in radon levels, a shift in indoor microbial community, and a warmer and less humid indoor environment. In addition, we found that changes in indoor airborne bacterial load after weatherization were more sensitive to shifts in season, whereas indoor radon levels were more sensitive to ventilation rates.

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Home Energy-Efficiency Retrofits

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Energy, Poverty, and Health in Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review of an Emerging Literature

Energy, Poverty, and Health in Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review of an Emerging Literature

Chapter 3: Societal Benefits and Challenges of Sustainable Buildings and Their Ecosystems for Aging Populations

The short-term effect of residential home energy retrofits on indoor air quality and microbial exposure: A case-control study

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