Portable Air Cleaners: Selection and Application Considerations for COVID-19 Risk Reduction The Harvard Healthy Buildings Program published a report on the selection and application considerations of Portable Air Cleaners (PACs) for COVID-19 risk reduction. Engineering controls and Healthy Buildings measures are a key component of the “hierarchy of controls” that should be used in a […]

There is great disparity in the way we think about and address different sources of environmental infection. Governments have for decades publicized legislation and invested in food safety, sanitation, and drinking water for public health purposes. However, airborne pathogens and respiratory infections, whether seasonal influenza or COVID-19, are addressed fairly weakly, if at all, in […]

The Global CogFx study, a research project conducted among 302 office workers in six countries (China, India, Mexico, Thailand, the UK and the US) aims to understand the effects of indoor air pollution on cognitive performance. Our paper published today shows the significant acute effects of PM2.5 and ventilation on cognitive test performance. These findings add […]

Across the United States, buildings are responsible for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions – nearly 30%. Many plans to meet our climate goal of net zero emissions involve switching those buildings that currently run on fossil fuel energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, to electricity generated by renewable energy sources. This […]

October 11, 2022 – Dr. Joseph Allen, associate professor for exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was a guest panelist at the first White House Summit on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). The summit underlined the relevance of IAQ for public health and human […]

Our new study, led by Anna Young with the Harvard Healthy Buildings program and colleagues in the Duke Stapleton Lab, found that office workers are commonly exposed to hormone-disrupting chemical mixtures. Once hormone-disrupting chemicals enter our bodies, they can be mistaken for natural hormones like estrogen and testosterone, thereby preventing our actual hormones from doing their […]

The CoBE team – with researchers from Harvard Healthy Buildings program, Oregon State University College of Engineering, and Boston University School of Public Health –  reports on a novel method for calculating health and climate impacts of building energy savings. Here are three key takeaways from our study. Buildings consume 40% of energy in the U.S., so changes in […]

Ahead of World Mental Health Day, YouTube and the Center for Health Communications (CHC) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health held an exclusive briefing session for public health creators. The briefing focused on the overlooked connection between air quality and mental health. It was part of the center’s “Creators Summit series,” which connects scientists and […]