Page 35 - Green Builder Nov-Dec 2020 Issue

THE STATE OF

SUSTAINABLE

BUILDING 2021

HEALTH As people spend

more time in their
homes, thoughts
MATTERS turn to indoor air

and water quality.

ITH COVID being the strategies to improve the health of their
thing you just can’t hear homes in an e”ort to protect their families.
enough of from the daily “It’s shocking how palpable the bene­ts
news—and with the of healthy homes are,” insists Rashkin. “We
W No. 1 edict being, “stay spend $40 billion a year on organic food
indoors until this ­nally goes away,”—peo- and $20 billion year on bottled water to stay
ple are retreating inside their homes and healthy, and the promise of those things are so
staying there for longer times than any much less tangible than maintaining a healthy
other moment in recent history. home—primarily because we ingest seven
Which begs the question: How safe is this times more air than food and water each day.”
house, and how can it be made safer? Rashkin believes that the most e”ective
According to Sam Rashkin, chief architect way to communicate about the benefits
at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building of a healthy home is to keep the message
Technologies O’ce, now more than ever, simple. “We make selling homes very com-
homeowners are searching for successful plicated,” he says. “But interest in healthy

Survey reveals increased concern for healthy

homes amid pandemic

Levels of concern vary among
generations, with Gen X and
Millennials more likely than 60% 59%
Boomers to express concern

Gen X (ages 40-55) Millennials (ages 24-39)
54%

Improvised spa? The pandemic has of survey participants 52% 48%
brought exercise and indoor air quality into are more concerned about having a
the foreground. Homeowners want spaces healthy home with good indoor air SOURCE: CARRIER THE HARRIS POLL
and systems that help them stay in shape quality and fire protection since the
and avoid illness. start of the COVID-19 pandemic Gen Z (ages 18-23) Boomers (ages 56-74)

www.greenbuildermedia.com November/December 2020 GREEN BUILDER 33

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