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We explore a paper examining the future of residential air quality and its environmental justice implications. This research highlights how poor indoor air quality disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, creating a "triple jeopardy" of higher exposure, greater health burdens, and limited resources to address the problem.
• Indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air, with pollutants coming from building materials, cleaning products, cooking, and outdoor air infiltration
• We spend 90% of our time indoors, with 70% in our homes, making residential air quality crucial to our overall health
• The environmental justice framework examines who is exposed to pollution and why through five dimensions: distributive, procedural, recognition, capabilities, and epistemic justice
• Social inequalities lead to uneven exposure to poor indoor air quality, with lower socioeconomic groups often facing greater health risks
• Climate change will worsen indoor air quality through higher temperatures, humidity, and changing outdoor pollution patterns
• Net zero policies create tensions between energy efficiency and adequate ventilation for healthy indoor environments
• New technologies like air purifiers may create further inequalities if not accessible to all communities
Clean indoor air for everyone is both a technical and social challenge that requires bringing together researchers, policymakers, and communities to develop equitable solutions. See you next week.
Paper

Lead Author - D Booker

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