The GreenHome Institute’s – “Healthier materials for energy efficiency upgrades” – Free CE Webinar

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The GreenHome Institute’s – “Healthier materials for energy efficiency upgrades” – Free CE Webinar

November 10, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EST

Details about this event

There is no question that investing in energy efficiency upgrades has the potential to deliver substantial financial, environmental, and health benefits to building owners and residents. Robust evidence demonstrates that interventions such as weatherization and other energy-efficiency upgrades, particularly in poor quality housing, can reduce thermal stress, asthma symptoms, and energy costs for residents.

What is far less understood and addressed, however, are the adverse impacts of hazardous chemicals in some of the insulation and air sealing materials commonly used for energy efficiency upgrades. These materials can contain chemicals that are asthmagens, reproductive or developmental toxicants, endocrine disruptors, or carcinogens. These toxic chemicals can pose threats to building residents and, over the materials’ life cycle, to the workers who manufacture, install, and dispose of these products, to the communities adjacent to these facilities, and to the broader environment.

The good news is there are healthier insulation and air sealing material options that perform well, are cost-effective, and widely available. In this course, you will learn about how energy efficiency can support good indoor environmental quality, common chemical hazards in insulation and air sealing materials, and how to select and specify healthier materials.

Continuing Education Units (CEUS) 1 hour in

  • Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)
  • Building Performance Institute (BPI) NonWholeHouse
  • American Institute of Architects – AIA (HSW) (PENDING)
  • Certified Green Professional (NARI & CGP)
  • Certified GreenHome Professional (CGHP)
  • AIBD
  • State Architect / Builder License may be applicable

Lessons Learned:

  1. Describe three ways that energy efficiency upgrades can benefit indoor environmental quality and health for building residents.
  2. Explain how hazardous chemicals in insulation and air sealing materials can impact resident, worker and community health.
  3. List types of insulation materials that are healthier and those that are not preferred.
  4. List types of air sealing materials that are healthier and those that are not preferred.

Speakers: Veena Singla & Rebecca Stamm

Veena Singla focuses on creating healthier indoor environments, including advancing safe and sustainable materials and chemicals in the built environment and every day products. She investigates how toxic chemicals and harmful environmental exposures threaten the health of vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, children and workers. Her research uses an interdisciplinary approach incorporating environmental health, exposure science, public health and policy expertise.

Veena specializes in the communication of complex scientific information at the intersection of research and policy and has testified to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Alaska state legislature, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She currently serves on the US EPA’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, the National Toxicology Program Board of Scientific Counselors, and the Board of Directors for Clean Production Action.

Veena previously was the Associate Director of Science and Policy at the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed a postdoctoral teaching fellowship at Stanford University and was an adjunct faculty member at the University of San Francisco. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in cell biology from UCSF.

Rebecca Stamm, Senior Researcher, works with the team at Healthy Building Network to conduct vital building materials research. She has a B.S. from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and M.S. from Purdue University where she studied Chemical Engineering with a focus on materials. Rebecca has worked extensively in materials development and testing, quality control, and certification, including more than three years in the building materials industry. She is excited to be a part of the HBN team’s important work to improve the health and safety of buildings.

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