Avoiding Health Pitfalls of Home Energy-Efficiency Retrofits

Housing consumes 40% of our nation’s energy use,1 making it a prime target for energy-efficiency measures. Steps such as adding insulation, installing high-efficiency HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) systems, and tuning furnaces rank high as simple ways to lower utility bills and improve comfort and indoor air quality. But an energy-efficiency label attached to a product is meaningless if that product is installed incorrectly, and when it comes to green building techniques, the devil is in the details. The complexities of high-tech equipment and the subtle and usually invisible movement of air and moisture in homes mean even experienced and well-intentioned contractors do not get things right in every instance. This can result in health problems for occupants and installers alike. Such concerns have arisen in relation to recent activities conducted by local community action agencies through state programs funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program. This program, created under the Energy Conservation and Production Act of 1976, provides the means for basic weatherization of the homes of low-income families. Since 2000, federal funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program has averaged around $225 million per year,2 sufficient to weatherize approximately 95,000 homes annually.3 In 2009, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the federal government awarded the states $5 billion with the goal of weatherizing 600,000 homes by 2012.4 But the sudden influx of cash and the short period of time in which to spend it has spelled trouble for many state weatherization programs.