Energy Efficient Upgrades Can Improve Health

An energy-efficient home can provide more than just lower electric bills, it can improve the health of those that are living there. High moisture levels, dust, and other allergens living in your home or work can be harmful when you spend a lot of time somewhere. Making energy-efficient upgrades can improve health overall. Below are some important highlights if you would like to read the full article click here.

Improving Environmental Conditions

Some of the common issues that you may find when looking at a home from an environmental aspect are chronic moisture problems and ventilation problems. Both of these issues can lead to a high chance of someone developing an issue and having to go to the hospital or call emergency services out of their house.

When you are able to assess the environment and identify specific types of environmental conditions and then make changes to improve the indoor environment, then you see a reduction in healthcare utilization. And that translates into dollars, because they’re not going to the hospital, they’re not having to go to the emergency department.

Energy-Efficient Upgrades can Improve Health

The work the energy-efficiency industry does on homes is specifically improving the home’s indoor environment. It changes how air flows and circulates through the house: where that air comes from and the quality of that air.

Similar things can be said about a hospital as a home in this area. Improving the indoor environment of a hospital can change how the air flows and circulate throughout the hospital. This is particularly important because you don’t want someone who is extremely contagious sharing the same air with someone that has minor cuts on their skin. If this were to happen, the disease would spread extremely fast. Hospital designers have created a system to be able to shut off the airflow from certain departments or rooms from others so as to minimize the exposure to a potentially contagious disease.

Why is this Important?

Being aware of the environment in which you live is important for many reasons with the main one being the health of the people in the household. If you notice something is wrong, then changing it before it gets too bad is important. It can ensure that people stay healthy and don’t have to go to the hospital.

Being aware of these things can also be important for hospitals because the patients there are suffering from illnesses that could be weakening their immune systems. If their immune system is already weak then they could be at a higher risk to catch something else. When hospitals are being designed by healthcare designers all these factors play an important role in how something is designed.

If this article interested you check out these others A Guide to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – LEED, Smart, Sustainable Solutions at Any Scale, and LED Lighting Tips for Design in Healthcare.

Marie Wikoff is the creator of Wikoff Design Studio based out of Reno, Nevada. Her expertise in healthcare design has helped modernize healthcare organizations locally, regionally, and internationally, improving patient experience and outcomes. Her credentials include Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC), American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designer (CHID), the National Council of Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) and LEED AP. Contact Marie Wikoff

Source: Ennis, Bridgett. “How Energy-Efficiency Upgrades Can Improve Your Health ” Yale Climate Connections.” Yale Climate Connections, 22 June 2022, https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/06/how-energy-efficiency-upgrades-can-improve-your-health/.