Healthy Co-Benefits of the Built Environment

Buildings consume 40% of the world’s energy. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings can lower demand on the energy grid, resulting to a concomitant reduction in air pollutions emitted from fossil fuel power plants. The reduction of criteria air pollutants leads to immediate health co-benefits, including a reduction in premature mortality, hospitalization, and lost school or work days. The reduction of greenhouse gasses leads to climate co-benefits, including a reduction in agriculture, forestry and fisheries changes, and property damage from increased flood risk.

CoBE makes it simple to understand how decisions about your building or project can impact the health of people and communities and is geared towards decision makers who want to quantify these health and climate co-benefits of energy efficiency strategies in buildings and cities.

Learn More at CoBE.forhealth.org

The future of healthy buildings must be one where they are the norm, not the exception. Health cannot and should not be a luxury item, afforded to only those that can afford it. This applies to healthcare, working conditions, access to food, and, yes, the buildings where we live, work, play, pray, and heal.
JOSEPH ALLEN, DSC, MPH, CIH, Director of the Healthy Buildings Program
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Our goal is to improve the lives of all people, in all buildings, everywhere, every day.
A healthy building is a human right.

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