On Friday September 6th, the CAE research task force was joined by public health researcher Erika Eitland, MPH of Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She presented her work in the state of Massachusetts documenting indoor air quality in a variety of school across the state. She highlighted the fact that students' cognitive skills, memory and test performance can all be improved with better ventilation rates and showed that students are also highly influenced by temperature variances, both inside and outside of their classrooms. She also presented a review of green building credentials across various communities in the state and found that neighborhoods with existing high levels of investment in their schools were more likely to receive high performance remodels and certifications (LEED and CHPS). Conversely, neighborhoods with existent public health issues, such as asthma and increased absenteeism were less likely to have high performance renovations planned for the future. She made the point that receiving LEED certification is not a guarantee of improved ventilation and air quality, especially if any of those credits were skipped and that IAQ is a top priority in educational settings.A recording of the call and presentation are attached.Further resources:
September 6th, 2019 CAE Research Task Force call recording featuring Erika Eitland, MPH of Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.00:51:57