NCHH:Green Analysis

Comparing Green Building Guidelines and Healthy Homes Principles: A Preliminary Investigation

Recently, there has been a proliferation of voluntary green building programs aimed at improving commercial and residential environments. The guidelines for these programs primarily focus on product and material selection, maximizing energy-efficiency, and reducing the impact of building on the outdoor environment. However, proponents of green building programs are increasingly emphasizing the indoor environmental aspects of their programs and their related occupant health benefits. Ideally, a home should be designed, constructed, and operated in a manner where all building goals are optimized - including environmental, energy, durability, affordability, and occupant health concerns.

In this preliminary report, the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) compared major national green building and indoor air quality guidelines with its own set of recommended healthy housing criteria to assess the extent to which these programs protect residents from health and safety hazards. The analysis examined guidelines produced by both the public and private sectors including: the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Homes, the National Association of Home Builders' NAHB Green Home Building Guidelines, and Enterprise Community Partner's Green Communities Criteria, spearheaded by Enterprise in partnership with NRDC and other national entities. NCHH also included in the analysis the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star with Indoor Air Package, and the American Lung Association's Health House Builder Guidelines, which are programs aimed at primarily at improving the quality of the indoor environment.Overall, for healthy indoor environments, Energy Star Indoor Air Package Pilot Specifications and the ALA Health House Builder Guidelines offer the greatest protection of occupants.

The analysis examines whether national green guidelines address housing conditions known to affect health status, such as asthma and respiratory disease, unintentional injuries, and toxic agents. NCHH compared the criteria in the selected guidelines with its healthy housing principles, which were developed by experts for use in a nationwide training and education program. In short, these Healthy Homes principles provide for keeping homes dry, clean, well-ventilated, pest-free, free from contaminants, safe, and well-maintained.

The results showed that there is significant variation in the degree to which national green guidelines consider occupant health. For example, although most programs had elements related to reducing moisture and improving ventilation, injury prevention was omitted from all of the guidelines and protection from contaminants such as lead and pesticides were not uniformly covered. Only one program, Green Communities, focused on affordable existing housing, an important consideration since low-income families are disproportionately impacted by housing-related health problems.

Overall, the analysis suggests that green building programs offer a significant opportunity to achieve public health benefits and have the potential to transform the housing market toward healthier building. The report also demonstrates the difficult challenge of balancing affordability, practicality, and criteria stringency.This report suggests ways to strengthen the occupant health criteria for green building programs so that they may deliver greater benefits to those who are building and rehabilitating homes, and to the families who reside in them.

You may download the 42-page Comparing Green Building Guidelines and Healthy Homes Principles: A Preliminary Investigation document in Acrobat (.pdf) format.(File size 611k.)

Note: The ALA Health House guidelines used were the 2006 version. For more information, you may visit the American Lung Association's Health House.

The National Center for Healthy Housing, 10320 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 500 Columbia, MD 21044
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