Effect of climate change on indoor air quality and public health

Often in the literature the focus of the climate change discussion involves impacts to outdoor environments; however, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is also an important topic. Poor IEQ can create health and productivity problems and may cost tens of billions of dollars a year. Many IEQ concerns are related to two primary factors: (1) pollutants that migrate from outdoors or are introduced from products used indoors and (2) inadequate ventilation. Although, both of these factors can be influenced by altered climatic conditions and/or adaptation methods used to address climate change concerns, the focus on IEQ and climate change has received relatively little attention. To help fill this gap, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's, Indoor Environments Division (IED), requested the Institute of Medicine convene a panel of experts to summarize and evaluate the current scientific understanding of the effects of climate change on indoor air quality and IAQ-related public health. The committee's report, Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health, considers research on several related topics including, how climate change affects the outdoor envi¬ronment, how the outdoor environment affects indoor environments under different climate conditions, and how indoor environments affect occupant health. The committee concluded that climate change may make existing indoor environmental problems worse and could introduce new indoor environmental problems by altering the frequency or severity of adverse outdoor conditions that impact indoor environments; creating outdoor conditions that are more hospitable to pests, infectious agents and disease vectors that can penetrate indoors; and, causing changes in occupant adaptation efforts that may cause or exacerbate harmful indoor environmental conditions. This presentation will present the major findings and recommendations of the report and allow the public health community an opportunity to discuss issues related to this important topic.