Opportunities for Promoting Healthy Homes and Long-Lasting Energy-Efficient Behaviour among Families with Children in Portugal

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 16; no. 4; p. 1872
• Main Authors: Gabriel, Marta Fonseca, Cardoso, João Pedro, Felgueiras, Fátima, Azeredo, Joana, Filipe, David, Conradie, Peter, Van Hove, Stephanie, Mourão, Zenaida, Anagnostopoulos, Filippos, Azevedo, Isabel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2023
• Subjects: Air pollution; Air quality; Alternative energy sources; Behavior; building survey; Carbon dioxide; Children; children’s exposure; Consent; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Data collection; designing interventions; Emissions; Energy conservation; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Energy industry; Energy management systems; Energy poverty; Energy use; Environmental conditions; Environmental health; Families & family life; Family; Green technology; Health promotion; Households; Hypotheses; Indoor air pollution; Indoor air quality; Indoor environments; Intervention; Pollutants; Population studies; Poverty; Residential energy; Risk reduction; Socioeconomics; Ventilation; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Portugal; Netherlands; Greece
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en16041872

Energy poverty vulnerability constitutes a significant concern in Portugal, with 17.5% of the population being unable to keep their home adequately warm. Furthermore, there is evidence that a substantial number of children live in unhealthy homes. This study aims to comprehensively characterise a sample of 101 Portuguese families with children and their homes in order to identify opportunities for actions for promoting long-lasting energy efficiency and environment health-promoting behavioural changes. To accomplish this aim, two tools—a building survey checklist and a questionnaire to participants—were developed and implemented to collect harmonised data on building-specific characteristics and on participants’ socioeconomic status and behaviour. The home visits for recruitment and data collection were conducted from July 2021 to April 2022. The results suggest that, for the population under study, the main opportunities for improvement include: (i) replacing low energy-efficient technologies, with high emission rates, namely those used for heating purposes, with cleaner and more efficient alternatives; (ii) providing citizens with detailed information about their home’s energy use and indoor air quality and (iii) educating the population on the best-practices for reducing indoor air stuffiness, mitigating the risk of hazardous exposures, improving thermal comfort and saving energy.