Healthy Home Barometer – a survey among European citizens

Panel: 6. Buildings policies, directives and programmes

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Susanna Beranova, VELUX, Denmark
Lone Feifer, VELUX, Denmark
Marie Wickmann Elkjær, VELUX, Denmark
Ulrich Bang, VELUX, Denmark
Michael K. Rasmussen, VELUX, Denmark
Jens Christoffersen, VELUX, Denmark

Abstract

The Healthy Homes Barometers from 2015 and 2016, present key findings from a pan-European study investigating European citizens’ attitudes and behaviour regarding home comfort, energy consumption and environmental impact. The Healthy Homes Barometers are published by the VELUX Group. The first Barometer was published in 2015, based on 12,000 Europeans respondents in 12 countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the UK), while the second barometer from 2016 had two additional countries (Spain, Switzerland ) giving a total of 14,000 European respondents. The number of respondents from each country was set to ensure statistical representation, and survey represent more than 430 million Europeans.

In 2015, the answer was clear; Europeans find that their health starts at home. Europeans rated the home arena more important than a healthy diet or being physically active. Curiously enough, this concern did not seem to spur much action. Europeans worry about their indoor climate, but do little to improve it – by frequent airing, for example. The next step was to identify how the home actually affects Europeans health. Can we “afford” not to have healthy homes? The 2016 Healthy Homes Barometer identified five key characteristics of a healthy home: good sleeping conditions, comfortable indoor temperatures, fresh air, satisfactory levels of daylight, and appropriate levels of humidity. Daylight is a factor Europeans tend to overlook, they simply don’t know what affect it has, until they experience it. Other key findings is that a healthy Europe requires healthy homes, and the drivers for renovation is home wellbeing and energy savings. The barometer concludes that Europe needs healthy homes and this requires authorities, industry and private individuals work together to make healthier homes a reality.