AR5: Mitigation of Climate Change

Chapter 9: Buildings

[...]

9.7 Co-benefits, risks and spillovers

[...]

9.7.3 Environmental and health effects

[...]

9.7.3.1 Health co-benefits due to improved indoor conditions

The implementation of energy efficiency interventions in buildings improves indoor conditions resulting in significant co-benefits for public health, through: (1) reduction of indoor air pollution, (2) improvement of indoor environmental conditions, and (3) alleviation of fuel poverty particularly in cold regions. In developing countries, inefficient combustion of traditional solid fuels in households produces significant gaseous and particulate emissions known as products of incomplete combustion (PICs), and results in significant health impacts, particularly for women and children, who spend longer periods at home (Zhang and Smith, 2007; Duflo et  al., 2008; Wilkinson et  al., 2009). Indoor air pollution from the use of biomass and coal was responsible for 2 million premature deaths and 41 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide in 2004 (WHO, 2009), with recent estimates (Lim et al., 2012) reaching as high as 3.5 million premature deaths in 2010. Another half a million premature deaths are attributed to household cook fuel’s contribution to outdoor air pollution, making a total of about 4 million (see WGII Chapter 11.9.1.3). Several climate mitigation options such as improved cookstoves, switching to cleaner fuels, changing behaviours, and switching to more efficient and less dangerous lighting technologies address not only climate change but also these health issues (Anenberg et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2013; Rao et al., 2013). Wilkinson et al. (2009) showed that the implementation of a national programme promoting modern low-emissions stove technologies in India could result in significant health benefits amounting to 12,500 fewer DALYs per million population in one year. Bruce et al. (2006) investigated the health benefits and the costs associated with the implementation of selected interventions aiming at reducing indoor air pollution from the use of solid fuels for cooking/space heating in various world regions (Table 9.8).