Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #healthybuildings
Most recents (12)
1/ I know #SoTU as so 12-hours ago, but did you know there's a buildings connection? (there always is...)
Short excerpt from my book, #HealthyBuildings
"We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us." -Winston Churchill
Short excerpt from my book, #HealthyBuildings
"We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us." -Winston Churchill
2/ "THE WORLD IS CHANGING around us, and buildings are at the center of that change. So much so that the decisions we make today regarding our buildings will determine our collective health for generations to come. Winston Churchill’s famous quote has never been more apt.
3/ You may know that quote; many in the building world do. But you may not know that Churchill wasn’t making some grand statement about the societal impacts of our urban fabric when he uttered this now famous phrase.
First class today and I brought up new #chatGPT policy. Sharing in case others find helpful.
Background: for one assignment students create a two-page summary for the public on a #HealthyBuildings topic.
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Background: for one assignment students create a two-page summary for the public on a #HealthyBuildings topic.
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2/ Answer basic questions: what is it? Why it matters for health? What are solutions. Topics can be anything (asbestos, VOCs, nano materials, green cleaners, SARS-CoV-2…)
3/ aside: Why only 2 pages? b/c it’s *hard* to write concisely for the public. It’s easy to spew out 5 pages.
Measuring CO2 indoors and trying to figure out what’s a “good” level? Our Harvard #HealthyBuildings team built an easy tool to help you.
1. Input room size and # of people
2. Select target air changes
3. Hit “Calculate”
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1. Input room size and # of people
2. Select target air changes
3. Hit “Calculate”
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3/ Not sure what the target ACH should be? Our Lancet @Commissioncovid Task Force released a report where we recommend 4-6 ACH
4=good
5=better
6+=best
covid19commission.org/safe-work-trav…
4=good
5=better
6+=best
covid19commission.org/safe-work-trav…
If you read this, you'll see that it matches the recs in our Lancet @CommissionCovid report on "The #FirstFour Strategies Every Building Should Pursue".
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Lancet: Commission building systems (give them a tune-up)
WH: "verify proper ventilation in federally owned buildings"
WH: "verify proper ventilation in federally owned buildings"
Lancet: improve ventilation
WH: "Providing tools and guidance documents for improving ventilation"
WH: "Providing tools and guidance documents for improving ventilation"
SCHOOLS: I'm presenting today for a State DPH on steps schools can take on ventilation. Re-sharing some things I hope people find helpful (all available since summer 2020)
Simple #HealthyBuilding strategies: more ventilation, better filtration, portable air cleaners, VERIFY
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Simple #HealthyBuilding strategies: more ventilation, better filtration, portable air cleaners, VERIFY
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But, as I've been saying since March 2020, you can't just say 'more outdoor air' without giving a specific target. My recs is 4-6 ACH.
How can I determine if my classroom is meeting these targets? We have a simple 5-step guide for how to do this.
This is an example of the reality that we really did know just about everything about transmission very early in the pandemic. A short thread:
Feb 9, 2020 - airborne, ventilation, filtration, portable air cleaners...
March 4, 2020. repeat of my Feb 2020 article essentially, but this time for US audience. (NYT rejected this piece in JANUARY 2020. Took me another 6 weeks to convince them...)
nytimes.com/2020/03/04/opi…
nytimes.com/2020/03/04/opi…
THREAD: Buildings as a First Line of Defense against Airborne Infectious Diseases
(excerpt from my book #HEALTHYBUILDINGS, out Oct 18, available now)
(excerpt from my book #HEALTHYBUILDINGS, out Oct 18, available now)
WE’VE LONG KNOWN THAT BUILDINGS can make us sick. And yes, sometimes the solution is as easy as opening a window, as Florence Nightingale told us long ago. But at some point, we lost our way.
We forgot these basic lessons from centuries ago, that bringing in more fresh air is a simple—but effective—infection control measure. Since the days of mech ventilation, with each revision of the ventilation standard leading to less fresh air and more tightly sealed buildings,
"Mysterious outbreak in Argentina solved"
Newly interested in #Legionella? Here's an excerpt from my book, #HealthyBuildings (in the opening chapter, after my FBI story...)
And...good time to mention...new edition comes out October 18. First look at the new cover!
1/n
Newly interested in #Legionella? Here's an excerpt from my book, #HealthyBuildings (in the opening chapter, after my FBI story...)
And...good time to mention...new edition comes out October 18. First look at the new cover!
1/n
It was during one of my first forensic investigations of a “sick building” that I first saw the power and potential of this burgeoning Healthy Buildings movement. This was no ordinary case of sick building syndrome...
It wasn’t a stuffy cubicle farm where people sometimes report symptoms like headaches, eye irritation, dizziness, or allergic reactions. I don’t mean to diminish those types of sick buildings in any way, but this was a hospital and the lives of four people were in jeopardy.
In addition to the very cool name (#FalconCurve), you’re *really* going to want to know what’s in our paper if you’re at all interested in:
#ClimateChange
#GreenBuildings
#ElectrifyEverything
#EnergyEfficiency
#Sustainability
#HealthyBuildings
THREAD
bu.edu/sph/news/artic…
#ClimateChange
#GreenBuildings
#ElectrifyEverything
#EnergyEfficiency
#Sustainability
#HealthyBuildings
THREAD
bu.edu/sph/news/artic…
Direct fossil fuel consumption by buildings, burned in water heaters, furnaces, and other heating sources, account for nearly 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Switching to an electric system that powers heating through renewable energy sources, rather than coal, oil, and natural gas—the process known as building electrification or building decarbonization—is a crucial step towards achieving global net-zero climate goals.
"just about every building you’ve ever walked into is underventilated with low levels of filtration. That’s b/c the standard that governs ventilation rates is a bare minimum not designed for health."
We need Operation Warp Speed for clean *indoor* air
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thehill.com/opinion/energy…
We need Operation Warp Speed for clean *indoor* air
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thehill.com/opinion/energy…
When we think about the full suite of tools we need to combat covid, now and in the future, we’ve had many successes - vaccines, therapeutics, rapid tests. But amid all these achievements, one of the most important and needed has been ignored: good ventilation and filtration.
2/x
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How much of a non-focus are ventilation and filtration? We don’t even include an assessment of the building systems in our outbreak investigations, as our Lancet COVID-19 Commission report pointed out should be done every time.
3/x
3/x
The Concord project opted to go with Solar (PV) connected to an energy storage system (battery storage) in lieu of a backup generator.
This system has been designed to keep the critical loads for the home operational even if the utility power is knocked out.
This system has been designed to keep the critical loads for the home operational even if the utility power is knocked out.
This includes the backup heating and domestic hot water system (gas boiler with radiant floor heat + indirect hot water tank), the refrigerator, freezer, microwave, TV/WiFi, lighting and receptacles in strategic areas.
The Generac PwrCell provides 18 kWh of battery storage in a single cabinet, and up to 9 kW of continuous power output, enough to power the critical loads for extended periods of time. It can also be expanded to 36 kWh of battery storage in the future should it ever be needed.
@WHO highlights how important #Ventilation is for #HealthyBuildings in order to help reduce the risk of indoor transmission of #COVID19! "This has to be one intervention part of a package of interventions to prevent" #SARSCoV2 transmission. @j_g_allen
"In settings like schools or working places ...what we are recommending is to increase the rate of air change; increase the rate of ventilation by natural ways or mechanical ones, always trying to avoid the recirculation of the air." 2/
@ShellyMBoulder @linseymarr @CorsIAQ
@ShellyMBoulder @linseymarr @CorsIAQ
"Essentially what we know is to renew the air... if in 1 hour you renew, you change your air six times, I think that will provide quite a sensible way of making sure that we are reducing or preventing the spread of the virus indoors." 3/ #Ventilation #HealthAndSafety @kprather88
