www.bloomberg.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
151.101.1.73
Public Scan
Submitted URL: https://order.weshield.us/e3t/Ctc/RI+113/cZZj304/VVXsH-1r5llRW7cVfzh9cLKr9W4sKGqD4Sf3_RN5DTzm33lLCyV1-WJV7CgBcMW6_Z3dm1slQ...
Effective URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-27/the-healthy-buildings-movement-is-sick-of-crummy-ventilation?utm_medium...
Submission: On November 14 via api from US — Scanned from US
Effective URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-27/the-healthy-buildings-movement-is-sick-of-crummy-ventilation?utm_medium...
Submission: On November 14 via api from US — Scanned from US
Form analysis 1 forms found in the DOM
<form class="styles_form__30K3Z styles_stretch__3uAK_" novalidate="" autocomplete="on">
<div class="styles_inlineEmailComponentsContainer__3BZMF">
<div class="styles_textInputContainer__1zLyR">
<div class="styles_textInputContainer__2auAr"><label class="styles_label__skU7T styles_fullWidthLabel__1cCyR"><span id="EmailLabel9943813357285476" class="styles_inputLabel__3AJ7c styles_hideLabel__3U25Y styles_line__1Emwe"> Email </span><input
type="email" class="styles_textInput__2z4aO styles_small__2oxsA styles_standard__2CmiD styles_line__1Emwe styles_fullWidth__1eYKX styles_inactiveState__3vsqb styles_backgroundColor-transparent__1sl6g" placeholder="Enter your email"
required="" maxlength="254" name="" aria-describedby="EmailLabel9943813357285476">
<div id="EmailErrorMessage6836823620927157" class="styles_errorMessage__20OVl styles_hideError__3zeWG styles_line__1Emwe" role="" aria-atomic="true">Please enter a valid email address</div>
</label></div>
</div>
<div class="styles_inlinePrimaryButton__2Y6kv styles_hideButton__3LmPR"><button type="submit" class="styles_primaryButton__1gA6d styles_black__1w3ff styles_inlineStandard__29RNf styles_fullWidth__YrzuV">Sign Up</button></div>
</div>
<div style="height: 1px;"></div><span class="styles_error__ZifL7" role="alert" aria-atomic="true"></span>
<div class="styles_privacyPolicy__2Kdap styles_fullWidth__2bPJD styles_boulder__35lZB" data-testid="privacy-policy-root-div"><span class="styles_privacyPolicyCopy__uulDz styles_boulder__35lZB">By submitting my information, I agree to the
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/notices/privacy/" class="styles_privacyLink__16Pla styles_boulder__35lZB" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Privacy Policy</a> and
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/notices/tos/?in_source=hp-nav" class="styles_privacyLink__16Pla styles_boulder__35lZB" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Terms of Service</a> and to receive offers and promotions from Bloomberg.</span>
</div>
</form>Text Content
Skip to content
Skip to content
Bloomberg the Company & Its ProductsThe Company & its ProductsBloomberg Terminal
Demo RequestBloomberg Anywhere Remote LoginBloomberg Anywhere LoginBloomberg
Customer SupportCustomer Support
Bloomberg Webinars: Access a broad range of analysis, research, insight & ideas.
US Edition
* UK
* Europe
* US
* Asia
* Middle East
* Africa
* 日本
Sign In Subscribe
* Live Now
BLOOMBERG TV+
BLOOMBERG MARKETS AMERICAS
Bloomberg Markets Americas. Live from New York, is focused on bringing you
the most important global business and breaking markets news and information
as it happens.
BLOOMBERG RADIO
BLOOMBERG MARKETS
Bloomberg Markets live from New York, focused on bringing you the most
important global business and breaking markets news and information as it
happens.
Listen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUICKTAKE
THE BREAKDOWN: CYBERPUNK 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the highest selling games of all time. It's
developer, CD Projekt Red, was seen as one of Poland's most important
companies. But inside the company, leadership pushed developers to get the
game out for launch, hid the truth about how bad the game was, and ultimately
had it returned by millions of people.
ALSO STREAMING ON YOUR TV:
* * Markets
Markets
* Deals
* Odd Lots
* The FIX | Fixed Income
* ETFs
* FX
* Factor Investing
* Alternative Investing
* Economic Calendar
* Markets Magazine
MARKETS
Russia Delivers First Crude Cargo to UAE’s Ruwais Refinery
BUSINESS
Nike to Open Its Own Virtual Sneaker Store and Trading Platform
MARKET DATA
* Stocks
* Commodities
* Rates & Bonds
* Currencies
* Futures
* Sectors
View More Markets
* Economics
Economics
* Indicators
* Central Banks
* Jobs
* Trade
* Tax & Spend
* Inflation & Prices
ECONOMICS
UK’s Cost-of-Living Squeeze Driving Older People Back Into Work
ECONOMICS
Brexit ‘Permanently Damaged’ UK Economy, Michael Saunders Says
INDICATORS
Euro-Area Production Rises 0.9% on Month to End-2017 High
View More Economics
* Industries
Industries
* Consumer
* Energy
* Entertainment
* Finance
* Health
* Legal
* Real Estate
* Telecom
* Transportation
MARKETS
Telefonica Opts for Higher Costs to Appease Hybrid Investors
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Electric Truck Stops Will Need as Much Power as a Small Town
FEATURED
* Business of Sports
View More Industries
* Technology
Technology
* Code Wars
* Checkout
* Prognosis
TECHNOLOGY
Twitter Must Cut Extreme Content to Lure Back Ads, Sorrell Says
TECHNOLOGY
Top South Africa Companies Outline Extra Costs of Rolling Blackouts
TECHNOLOGY
Alibaba Stock Primed for Rebound on Sales Recovery
View More Technology
* Politics
Politics
* US
* UK
* Americas
* Europe
* Asia
* Middle East
POLITICS
CIA Chief Warns Russian Counterpart Against Using Nuclear Weapons in
Ukraine
POLITICS
Biden Says Midterm Voters Strongly Rejected Election Deniers
FEATURED
* Midterm Elections 2022
* Next China
View More Politics
* Wealth
Wealth
* Investing
* Living
* Opinion & Advice
* Savings & Retirement
* Taxes
* Reinvention
ECONOMICS
Here Are the US Cities With the Biggest Share of Mortgage-Free Homes
WEALTH
Jeff Bezos Plans to Give Most of His Fortune to Charity
FEATURED
* How to Invest
View More Wealth
* Pursuits
Pursuits
* Travel
* Autos
* Homes
* Living
* Culture
* Style
PURSUITS
Book Award Finalists Are 'Debut Novelists' in Name Only
PURSUITS
Manchester United Responds to Explosive Ronaldo Comments
FEATURED
* Screentime
* New York Property Prices
* Where to Go in 2022
View More Pursuits
* Opinion
Opinion
* Business
* Finance
* Economics
* Markets
* Politics & Policy
* Technology & Ideas
* Editorials
* Letters
TYLER COWEN
Not Even Keynes Can Help Us Now
THE EDITORS
Netanyahu Needs to Govern for All Israelis
JAVIER BLAS
India Is Bright Spot for World Oil Demand
View More Opinion
* Businessweek
Businessweek
* The Bloomberg 50
* Best B-Schools
* Small Business Survival Guide
* 50 Companies to Watch
* Good Business
* Subscribe to the Magazine
FEATURE
How Apple Stores Became Just Another Retail Job
SMALL BUSINESS
A Sports Bar Builds a Loyal Clientele Showing Only Women’s Events
TECHNOLOGY
The Golden Era of AI Chess Makes Things Tricky for Players
View More Businessweek
* Equality
Equality
* Corporate Leadership
* Capital
* Society
* Solutions
EQUALITY
UK Has a Stubborn, Unexplained Ethnicity Pay Gap, Study Shows
EQUALITY
Daughter of Famed Japan Investor Activist Starts Politics School
FEATURED
* In Trust Podcast
View More Equality
* Green
Green
* New Energy
* ESG Investing
* Weather & Science
* Electric Vehicles
* Climate Politics
* Greener Living
* Cleaner Tech
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Electric Truck Stops Will Need as Much Power as a Small Town
GREEN
Europe’s Energy Crisis Complicates COP for Key Climate Player
FEATURED
* Data Dash
* Hyperdrive
View More Green
* CityLab
CityLab
* Design
* Culture
* Transportation
* Economy
* Environment
* Housing
* Justice
* Government
* Technology
DESIGN
Low-Income Apartments That Set a High Standard for Energy Efficiency
DESIGN
Tokyo’s Iconic Capsule Tower Cubes Get a New Lease on Life
CULTURE
This City-Building Video Game Takes on Climate Change
View More CityLab
* Crypto
Crypto
* Decentralized Finance
* NFTs
* Regulation
* Technology
CRYPTO
Solana Games Stumble as Ecosystem Takes a Hit After FTX Collapse
CRYPTO
Hacking the Mango DeFi Platform: A New Way In for Crypto Thieves
CRYPTO
FTX’s Freefall Into Bankruptcy Shows Why Case File Is Empty
View More Crypto
* More
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CityLab
Housing
THE MOVEMENT TO KEEP BUILDINGS FROM MAKING YOU SICK
Environmental health expert Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings
program at Harvard, explains why people should demand more from their schools
and offices.
The view from 425 Park Avenue, the first commercial building in New York to
pursue WELL healthy building certification.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg
By
Linda Poon
+Follow
October 27, 2022 at 12:00 PM GMT
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE
6:28
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Copied
Follow the authors
Linda Poon is a writer for CityLab in Washington, D.C., focused on climate
change and urban life. She also writes the CityLab Daily newsletter.
@linpoonsays
+ Get alerts forLinda Poon
In October, the White House held its first-ever summit on indoor air quality,
encouraging businesses, organizations and especially schools to improve their
buildings’ ventilation and filtration systems. The summit, which came in
response to the pandemic, underscored that buildings are a first line of defense
against infectious diseases and a key to public health.
“Healthy buildings are the new minimum,” says Joseph Allen, an expert on indoor
environmental quality issues at Harvard University, who also spoke at the
summit. “The White House is signaling that they’re critical to Covid and
beyond.”
Earlier this month, he and coauthor John Macomber released an updated version of
their 2020 book Healthy Buildings, a sort of manual detailing the science of how
indoor spaces can make us ill, with insights from Allen’s early work as a
forensic investigator of “sick buildings.” In the worst cases, like at a
hospital experiencing an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, poor ventilation can
even kill.
The book also outlines the economic, social and health benefits to upgrading
buildings, particularly in the era of climate change and rising threats of
epidemics.
“We make the case that healthy buildings are good as tools for worker
recruitment and retention,” Allen says. “But we also make the simple case that
healthy buildings are just good business.” In fact, studies have shown that
better-ventilated offices or schools can improve people’s cognitive abilities
and productivity, and can curb absenteeism.
More from
Bloomberg citylab
Low-Income Apartments That Set a High Standard for Energy Efficiency
Tokyo’s Iconic Capsule Tower Cubes Get a New Lease on Life
This City-Building Video Game Takes on Climate Change
A New Maternity Care Model, Founded by a Mother and Her Midwife
CityLab spoke with Allen about how the healthy building movement has progressed
since the start of the pandemic, and what more needs to be done. The interview
has been lightly edited for clarity.
In what type of buildings have you seen the biggest investments in indoor air
quality since the start of the pandemic? Where is it still lacking?
The finance and technology sectors and commercial real estate have made
significant advancements here. Where we have a long way to go is in schools and
affordable housing, where the potential gains are the biggest because of decades
of neglect and disparities across race, ethnicity and income.
We saw hundreds of schools close in the Northeast from May through September
this year, so there are things that can be done today, as you make longer-term
plans for improvements. We’ve been putting out guidance for schools since the
beginning of the pandemic, showing how you use portable air cleaning technology,
and laying out roadmaps for longer-term investment in better mechanical systems,
better air conditioning.
It’s not hard. It’s not expensive. We know what to do. Significant money is
available through the stimulus related to Covid — but much of it’s still sitting
on the sidelines.
What’s the role of government in helping schools break through the barriers to
getting fixed, and the role of city government in particular?
I think the key role for the government at all levels is, first, to raise
awareness. What has to happen next is that the federal, state, local governments
and non-governmental standard-setting agencies like ASHRAE [the American Society
of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers] have to set
health-based standards for our buildings. This hasn’t been the case for
decades.
The only way we’re going to have this healthy buildings movement reach
everyone and address these longstanding disparities is for it to be codified
through standards and codes. Otherwise, it’s just going to be the well-resourced
organizations and schools that improve their buildings.
Currently, there are at least two building certification systems focused on
health: WELL, created in 2014 by the International Well Building Institute, and
Fitwel, a joint initiative between the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the General Services Administration, which oversees government
buildings. Taking a cue from the green building movement and the widely adopted
LEED standards, why do they matter?
I think the green building movement did an excellent job of raising awareness
around the importance of energy efficiency in buildings. And now a lot of these
state-level codes go beyond the green building certifications.
We’re at the early stages of healthy building certifications, and there’s an
opportunity to continue to show the value proposition to building owners and
developers, that there’s a business benefit to making these improvements and
communicating it.
The most important thing is that any certification has to be based on the latest
science. They have to be flexible and incorporate new science as it becomes
available. They have to be dynamic and be able to incorporate real-time indoor
air quality monitoring, so it’s not a once-in-time stamp on the building that
will no longer be valid a year or two after certification.
I think there’s an important warning for businesses that when it comes to
health, there’s no cutting corners. Because if you stamp your building as
healthy regardless of the certification or the process, and it’s not based on
the best science, there’s a potential liability problem.
In fact, you argue that greening buildings and making them healthier actually go
hand-in-hand, as opposed to causing conflicting priorities, right?
There’s this false notion that a healthy building is at odds with energy
efficiency, but I don’t think they’re in conflict at all. It’s unacceptable to
have an energy-efficient building that makes people sick, just as it’s
unacceptable to have a healthy building that ignores the role that buildings
play in the climate crisis.
What people don’t realize is that outdoor air pollution penetrates indoors, and
because we spend so much time indoors, the majority of your exposure to outdoor
air pollution occurs indoors. Think about that for a minute.
Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter.Cities are
changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter.Cities are changing
fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter.
The best way to follow issues you care aboutThe best way to follow issues you
care aboutThe best way to follow issues you care about
Email
Please enter a valid email address
Sign Up
By submitting my information, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
and to receive offers and promotions from Bloomberg.
And we actually have existing technologies that allow us to conserve energy
while improving the air quality. We need to upgrade our filters to a higher
standard, and these can be deployed without an energy penalty. We can have
higher ventilation rates, and instead of releasing that treated
air-conditioned air out into the environment, we can recapture some of that with
energy recovery ventilation. We can use demand control ventilation, so instead
of dumping air everywhere in a building — even where people aren’t — we’re using
these smart technologies and real-time indoor air quality sensors to deliver air
when and where it’s needed without wasting energy.
It’s easy to see the future as bleak: The air is getting worse in many places,
especially those experiencing wildfires. More disease outbreaks are on the way.
Is there reason to be optimistic?
We can guarantee that there’ll be another pandemic, hopefully not soon. What I’m
optimistic about is that it won’t take so long to recognize that buildings
should be at the forefront of our response to respiratory infectious disease,
and that the way we operate in our buildings determines people’s health.
You have a media landscape that’s hyper-focused on infectious diseases. The
White House is talking about indoor air quality, and you have a public that’s
talking about filtration and air quality. It’s also a business continuity
measure. It’s a way to keep restaurants open, your coffee shops open, your
offices open, and schools open — with basic control measures.
And so what this means is that this [movement] is not going away, right?
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Copied
Follow the authors
Linda Poon is a writer for CityLab in Washington, D.C., focused on climate
change and urban life. She also writes the CityLab Daily newsletter.
@linpoonsays
+ Get alerts forLinda Poon
Have a confidential tip for our reporters?
Get in touch
Before it's here, it's on the
Bloomberg Terminal
Learn more
by Taboolaby Taboola
Sponsored LinksSponsored Links
Promoted LinksPromoted Links
From The Web
Chaikin Analytics
Get Your Money Out of U.S. Banks ImmediatelyChaikin Analytics
TheGrommet
Here Are The 31 Coolest Gifts of 2022TheGrommet
Health Headlines
Grandma: 'A Drop A Day Keeps Arthritis & Joint Pain Away'Health Headlines
All Things Auto
Cadillac Has Done It Again. This Year's Lineup Has Left Us SpeechlessAll Things
AutoSearch Now
TrendingGifts
23 Insanely Cool Gifts That Are Going To Sell Out Before ChristmasTrendingGifts
Consumerbags
Here Are 29 of the Coolest Gifts for This 2022ConsumerbagsClick Here
LIVE ON BLOOMBERG
Watch Live TVListen to Live Radio
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Progress: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
Playback Rate
1x
Chapters
* Chapters
Captions
* captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
* captions off, selected
Fullscreen
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque
Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge
StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional
Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall
Caps
Reset restore all settings to the default valuesDone
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Play Again
MOST READ
* Technology
FTX Latest: Binance CEO Plans Recovery Fund, Laments Bad Actors
* Markets
Stocks Pare Declines as Traders Mull Fed’s Path: Markets Wrap
* Politics
China Plans Property Rescue in Latest Surprise Policy Shift
* Business
Elon Musk Says He’s Working Morning to Night, Seven Days a Week
* Technology
Big Investors Are Giving Up on Crypto Markets Going Mainstream
Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Info (California) Trademarks Privacy Policy
©2022 Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved
Careers Made in NYC Advertise Ad Choices Help