Dive Brief:
- A leading building performance credentialing group and an advocacy organization focused on healthier homes have partnered to develop a new certification aimed at more holistic and efficient assessments, Midwest Energy News reports.
- The Healthy Home Evaluator (HHE) certification was developed by the Building Performance Institute and the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative.
- According to Green & Healthy (GHHI), the United States spends more than $82 billion annually due to unhealthy and inefficient housing, making up a full 3% of total U.S. healthcare costs.
Dive Insight:
The energy sector has been focused on efficiency in recent years, building on the idea that the cheapest kilowatt is the one never used. But efficiency also has secondary benefits, including helping to make residents healthier, and two groups are working to enhance that link will reducing the costs of performing home audits.
BPI and GHHI last month unveiled their new certification. The curriculum for the HHE certification was developed through a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Lead Hazard Control. The presence of lead in a home is one of the key health issues that can be addressed during an efficiency assessment or retrofit. By combining these types of assessments with energy audits, the groups believe costs can be reduced by up to a quarter.
BPI said it initiated a pilot phase of the HHE certification in April, with 335 professionals taking the exam. The HHE assesses the risk of key home-based health hazards, including asthma triggers from dust, moisture and mold, volatile organic compounds, lead-based paint, asbestos, radon, carbon monoxide leaks and other hazards.
The Obama administration has been a large supporter of energy efficiency. The White House earlier this year announced new initiatives aimed at improving building efficiency, including giving a few building owners complete access to energy usage data.
