Page 8 - Green Builder July-August 2020 Issue

Green Building NEWS

The Latest on Sustainability and Renewable Energy

One-quarter of Americans Lack Space to

Follow COVID-19 Guidelines

Tighter quarters means a higher risk of the coronavirus spreading among families, study shows.
WENTYžFIVE MILLION HOMES that house 81 million Americans lack Before COVID-19, small homes and large family gatherings seemed natural.
adequate space or plumbing to allow compliance with U.S. Centers Now, they could be putting everyone’s lives at risk, the researchers note.
for Disease Control and World Health Organization recommendations. “To help contain family spread, we should immediately offer free masks,
T Their homes are simply not designed to prevent possible spread of gloves and disinfection supplies to all families of potentially contagious
COVID-19 among family, according to a new study. persons,” notes study lead author and CWRU Professor of Medicine Dr. Ashwini
The study by Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland and City Sehgal.
University - Hunter College in New York City also finds that inadequate room Sehgal adds that doctors and nurses caring for COVID-19 patients are
for self-imposed quarantine is much more common among minorities hardest routinely put up in hotel rooms that lie vacant because of the pandemic. The
hit by the pandemic, worsening spread within families. same option should exist for potentially infectious patients in homes that are
About 46 percent of Latinos, 43 percent of Native Americans, and 32 too small for safe isolation, he says.
percent of Blacks live in dwellings where separation is not feasible, compared to
less than 20 percent of non-Hispanic whites. Crowding is worst for apartment The article appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Story by Claire Faulk, Physicians
dwellers, particularly in the Northeast. for a National Health Program.

Study: Wealthy Suburbs Produce 15 Times

More Emissions than their Neighbors

Large homes account for 25 percent more GHGs than those in modest neighborhoods, but
they’re just part of the problem.

HE HOMES AND LIFESTYLES OF THE WEALTHY
represent a major contribution to global warming,
according to a new study by the University of Michigan.
T The report notes that affluent suburbs produce up
to 15 times the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as nearby,
poorer districts, and larger homes are responsible for nearly
25 percent more GHGs through lighting, heating and cooling
than smaller ones.
This disparity has significant implications for climate change:
one-fifth of U.S. emissions come from residential power use.
The typical American uses more than 30 times the amount of Smaller impact. Modest neighborhoods and homes produce CREDIT: MICHELLE AMBRY
electricity at home than the average person in India, the study less than a tenth as much pollution as wealthy suburbs.
notes.
“Although houses are becoming more energy efficient, U.S. household to smaller homes and xeriscaping that does not demand regular and extensive
energy use and related [GHGs] are not shrinking,” says study lead researcher lawn, driveway and grounds maintenance chores typically performed with
Benjamin Goldstein. “This lack of progress undermines the substantial combustion devices. The analysis of 93 million homes in the continental U.S.
emissions reductions needed to mitigate climate change.” found that the most-energy intensive dwellings, per square foot, are in Maine,
Such emissions would plummet if the power grid switched entirely Vermont and Wisconsin, while the least energy-intensive are in Florida, Arizona
away from fossil fuels and toward renewables such as solar and wind, the and California.
researchers note. But far more extensive changes would need to occur to
“help avoid disastrous impacts from the climate crisis.” This includes a shift The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

6 GREEN BUILDER July/August 2020 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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