Weatherization with Healthy Homes and a little LEED

Greetings;

Lots to report on healthy homes these days. The Department of Energy has been working to address environmental health hazards encountered during weatherization work and has been working with the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP) to promote their Weatherization Plus Health program across the country through a series of State conferences that kicked off this week in Manhattan.
The NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene and the NYS Homes & Community Renewal hosted two days of joint energy efficiency/healthy homes awareness and presentations by government officials, consultants and local community based representatives. This was a great opportunity to become familiar with the latest guidance from the DOE and EPA regarding weatherization health & safety, including the DOE 2011 Weatherization Health & Safety Guidance and the EPA “Healthy Indoor Environment Protocols for Home Energy Upgrades”.

Take a good look at those documents for a peek into best practices for environmental hazard control during weatherization. The hope here is that weatherization and other home improvement folks will recognize and utilize the existing infrastructure for hazard identification and mitigation (i.e. remediation, abatement). Asbestos, lead, IAQ, mold and radon professionals will appreciate the effort that Federal, State and local are putting into ensuring that weatherization is conducted without creating new health and safety issues.
Don’t forget about our weekly raffle.

Our winner for this week is Ken Jackson.

Keep those entries coming.

Weatherization with healthy homes offers a win-win for owners, residents and those doing the work, by creating a healthier dwelling without harming those who do the work. Energy upgrades save money for the owner in the short term; hazard control benefits occupants and us all by reducing the cost of health care in the long term.

We’re also busy working on best environmental practices in new construction, partnering with the Scarano Architects, the Green Kitchen Institute and Daemen College’s Global and Local Sustainability Program to introduce innovative techniques for healthy living environments under the US Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes. We’ll be introducing LEED into our outreach and training efforts in the coming months. Let us know if that’s of interest to you.
BTW, here are a couple upcoming courses you shouldn’t miss. Best to get ahead of the curve.

Asbestos Allied Trades and Project Monitor Refresher’s in Rochester

Asbestos Project Designer and Operations and Maintenance Intial’s in Buffalo

Lead Renovator Intials in Niagara Falls and Utica