Home energy efficiency measures can provide health benefits and protection against overheating

Improving the energy efficiency of homes is one step towards reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions to  net zero by 2050, and can provide a co-benefit in terms of reduced energy consumption and improved  wellbeing. However, retrofitting homes (wall insulation, double or triple glazing, converting lofts into living  spaces) and making our homes more airtight can have unintended consequences for indoor  environmental quality (IEQ). Provision of additional ventilation could be neglected, leading to overheating and poor indoor air quality (IAQ). The CUSSH project has published several papers relating  to potential effects on IEQ, and subsequently human health, due to implementing energy efficiency  retrofits and their interaction with a changing climate.

Publications

1. Ferguson L, Taylor J, Davies M, Shrubsole C, Symonds P, Dimitroulopoulou S (2020). Exposure to indoor air 
pollution across socio-economic groups in high-income countries: A scoping review of the literature and a modelling 
methodology. Environment International, 143, 105748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105748 

2. Ferguson L, Taylor J, Zhou K, Shrubsole C, Symonds P, Davies M, Dimitroulopoulou S (2021). Systemic 
inequalities in indoor air pollution exposure in London, UK. Buildings and Cities, 2(1). http://doi.org/10.5334/bc.100

3. Tsoulou I, Jain N, Oikonomou E, Petrou G, Howard A, Gupta R, ... Davies M (2022). Assessing the Current and 
Future Risk of Overheating in London’s Care Homes: The Effect of Passive Ventilation. International Building 
Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA). https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10137961/

4. Symonds P, Rees D, Daraktchieva Z, McColl N, Bradley J, Hamilton I, Davies M (2019). Home energy efficiency 
and radon: An observational study. Indoor air, 29(5), 854-864. https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12575

5. Taylor J, Shrubsole C, Symonds P, Mackenzie I, Davies M (2019). Application of an indoor air pollution 
metamodel to a spatially-distributed housing stock. Science of The Total Environment, 667, 390-
399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.341

6. Taylor J, Symonds P, Heaviside C, Chalabi Z, Davies M, Wilkinson P (2021). Projecting the impacts of housing 
on temperature-related mortality in London during typical future years. Energy and Buildings, 
111233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.11123 

7. Li X, Taylor J, Symonds P (2019). Indoor overheating and mitigation of converted lofts in London, UK. Building 
Services Engineering Research and Technology, 40(4), 409-425. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0143624419842044

8. Symonds P et al (2021a). A tool for assessing the climate change mitigation and health impacts of environmental 
policies: the Cities Rapid Assessment Framework for Transformation (CRAFT). Wellcome Open Research, 5:269 

9. Symonds P, Verschoor N, Chalabi Z, Taylor J, Davies M (2021b). Home energy efficiency and subjective health 
in Greater London. Journal of Urban Health, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-021-00513-6

10. Taylor J & Symonds P. (2021). Estimating spatial variation of moisture risks in English and Welsh dwellings. In 
International Conference on Moisture in Buildings. http://dx.doi.org/10.14293/ICMB210061

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