Impacts of Residential Building Decarbonization on IEQ

Overview

This proposed Annex builds on the work of IEA EBC Annex 86 and related efforts under Annexes 5, 80, 87 and 92. It will focus on understanding and quantifying the co-benefits of decarbonization on Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) improvements associated with energy upgrades in residential buildings. The Annex aims to identify strategies that simultaneously enhance occupant health, comfort, and wellbeing while improving energy performance, energy system flexibility, and building resilience, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The work will assess both direct indoor impacts (e.g., reduced exposure to indoor contaminants of concern) and broader societal benefits (e.g., improved public health outcomes) while also considering interactions with energy system performance, peak demand reduction, and renewable energy integration. The Annex will combine literature reviews, field studies, modeling, and new analytical approaches to quantify these co-benefits and develop practical metrics and tools for policy, standards, and design practice including approaches to co-optimize carbon reduction and IEQ using harmonized indicators (e.g., DALYs and CO2e). It will evaluate interactions between energy efficiency measures and IEQ performance, and energy system flexibility, identifying retrofit solutions that optimize both energy and indoor environmental outcomes across diverse housing types, climates, and socioeconomic contexts.

Outputs will include guidelines, case studies, and quantitative assessment methods that support policymakers, designers, and industry stakeholders in implementing retrofit strategies that jointly optimize IEQ, energy performance, and building resilience. Close collaboration with international organizations (ASHRAE, CIBSE, REHVA, ISO, CEN) and stakeholder workshops will ensure that findings are practical, scalable, and applicable across diverse housing types, climates, and socioeconomic contexts.

Through this work, the Annex will provide the technical foundation and practical tools needed to realize the full range of IEQ-related co-benefits of the decarbonization of residential buildings, supporting healthier, more comfortable, and resilient homes while emissions reduction and enhancing energy system performance and flexibility.