At Home in the Arctic: Improving Housing Quality and Resident Health and Well-Being

Building performance optimisation and community engagement to improve the housing quality in the Northwest Territories.

Status: Current

Research themes: Resilience Health and comfort Energy and GHG emissions

Research areas: HVAC control and component characterization and optimization; Human-Building Interaction; Equitable and resilient housing for communities; Solutions for air leakage, ventilation and filtration

Project Objective

In this project, we aim to achieve three key objectives: 1. Characterise public housing building stock performance in the Northwest Territories; 2. Assess the impacts of current building stock performance on human well-being and energy use; and 3. Develop a comprehensive housing stock renewal strategy based on the findings from objectives 1-2.

Approach

This research will combine conventional building performance monitoring techniques (e.g., air quality and energy use sensors installed in homes, surveying) with remote-sensing methods to collect, analyze, and interpret data related to building performance and propose retrofit or replacement solutions. Surveys will be conducted to investigate the link between IEQ in the building stock, respiratory diseases, and other health concerns.

Findings

This project will generate new knowledge surrounding typical performance limitations in existing Northwest Territories public housing stock and develop a vision for a path forward that will improve housing quality for both existing stocks and new developments in a cost-effective manner. Ultimately, this will improve the quality of life of public housing residents in the Northwest Territories and reduce energy use and GHG emissions.