FEATURE— October 2017
12
Healthy Housing & Home Performance –
A Growing Fusion
Research Findings and Gaps, New Initiatives and Partnership Efforts
by Julie Michals
• identifies research gaps, and/or research areas
to improve and leverage
• highlights innovative programs combining EE
with health-focused home repairs
We were excited to piggyback on a broader re-
search effort undertaken by the U.S. Department of
Energy. Its report, Home Rx: The Health Benefits of
Home Performance, includes a comprehensive, sys-
tematic review of studies that build understanding of
the link between home performance and health.
From these complementary reports, we learned about
significant research and evidence which demonstrates
that efficiency retrofit projects in homes can improve in-
door air quality and associated health impacts. We also
discovered that more comprehensive (and consistent)
research is needed to document both direct-occupant
and wider public-health benefits from efficiency.
Existing and emerging partnerships between ef-
W
hen E4TheFuture explored
the health "co-benefits" of
energy efficiency (EE) in our
white paper Occupant Health
Benefits of Residential Energy
Efficiency, we had a particular
reason for doing so. Our initial
focus was to document studies that could help inform
cost-effectiveness screening—specifically, to help
make the case that important health co-benefits of effi-
ciency exist, and that their value is higher than $0.
The paper provides relevant data that can support in-
clusion of health impacts as a public benefit of EE.
The paper:
• reviews and summarizes research studies of resi-
dential EE and related ventilation upgrades
• discusses how programs have monetized occu-
pant health co-benefits
