Environmental Health
When we work with homeowners on energy efficiency improvements, we also have the opportunity to create a safer, healthier environment for residents. We're working to identify and remove home-based health hazards, like asthma triggers and lead hazards, and establish programs that address them while reducing energy costs.
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Current and Previous Projects
Improving Indoor Air Quality for Asthmatics
We're currently working with the Illinois Institute of Technology on the Breathe Easy Project, a two-year study on respiratory health and indoor air quality. Participants complete health surveys and receive a ventilation system to improve the air quality in their home at no cost.
For more information, check out the program flyer and FAQs or a sample participation timeline. Presione aquí para más información en Español.
Partnering with Health Providers to Reduce Asthma Triggers
We're partnering with Presence Health on the Pay for Success project, which seeks to improve asthma management for children and adults and to reduce the number of hospitalizations and emergency department visits due to asthma through a multi-trigger, multi-component intervention. Clinic staff and community health workers at Presence Health will provide clinical care and home visiting. Home assessors and technicians at Elevate Energy will provide environmental assessments and remediate asthma triggers. If outcomes are met, a payer will use cost savings to make success payments to upfront investors. A pilot is being implemented to assist 20 homes with in-home asthma triggers.
Green Materials
We're working with the Natural Resources Defense Council to address questions of performance, costs, and feasibility of healthier energy efficiency materials through analysis of building energy data, surveys, and interviews with contractors performing building retrofits. We're collecting information to compare the energy performance of buildings retrofit with standard materials versus healthier materials. Surveys and interviews with contractors that use standard materials, healthier materials, or who recently switched to healthier materials will reveal how material choices are made on the ground. The surveys and interviews will also identify information channels, content, and critical drivers that are most influential on material choices to inform education, outreach, and policy advocacy.
We will publish research results and healthier material and policy recommendations in a "Guide for Healthier Energy Efficiency Retrofits." The long-term goal is to make the use of healthier building materials mainstream in energy efficiency retrofits to reduce toxic exposures to workers and occupants, improve indoor environmental quality, and make buildings more energy efficient.
Reducing Lead Exposure Through Window Replacement
The Comprehensive Lead Education, Reduction and Window Replacement (CLEAR-WIN) program was a State of Illinois-funded window replacement program to remove a major source of lead dust in homes for eligible Englewood and West Englewood residents.
Windows and window frames in homes can be a major source of lead hazards for children. Opening a window that has worn paint on and around the window frame can create hazardous dust when consumed or inhaled. Older houses and apartments built before 1978 may have paint that contains high levels of lead. On average, residents gave the program high marks, reporting that they were “very satisfied” with the window replacement work (87% of homes).