Success Stories, Air Quality World News, & the Sustainable Pittsburgh Challenge

ROCIS News & Events

March 2018

ROCIS Kicks Off Partnership with the Sustainable Pittsburgh Challenge

This month ROCIS kicked off their partnership with the Sustainable Pittsburgh Challenge by presenting at an air quality workshop in Millvale. Community leaders from past cohorts provided insight on air quality initiatives in the Pittsburgh region including experiences with the Low-Cost Monitoring Project. We are happy to announce you can receive even more points this year with our collaboration with SPC!

Participated in ROCIS Last Year?

This coming year the SPC has increased the points participants can earn by completing the ROCIS LCMP. SPC participants can earn points by joining more than one (up to 20!) LCMP Cohorts, or by having additional people / sites engaged in 20 Cohorts. In addition to monitoring in the workplace, SPC will give points for monitoring in employees’ homes, as well as others (volunteers, neighbors, friends) who may be recruited.

Learn more about the Sustainable Pittsburgh Challenge here.

Participants Share their Wins with ROCIS

LCMP Success Stories

“My participation in ROCIS gave me insight into how my habits and also outdoor air quality affected the air I breathe in my home. After my first cohort, I continued to monitor and experimented using a box fan filter in my bedroom window and was blown away by the difference filtering outside air made. I could see the particle count in my bedroom drop within a matter of minutes of turning on the filter.

"Not only did I learn how I can breathe cleaner air in my home through ROCIS, as a Sustainability Fellow at Highmark, I was also able to earn many Sustainable Pittsburgh Challenge points for Highmark for my continued participation! I’m glad that there are actions within the Sustainable Pittsburgh Challenge to encourage us to participate in ROCIS because it is such a great initiative and experience that everyone can learn from!”

Tammy Lee, ROCIS LCMP Participant

“When I joined Cohort 16 for the Township of Upper St. Clair, it was my sole intent to let that be a baseline for future testing in our building.

"I joined Cohort 18 as a concerned home owner in the city of Pittsburgh. Applying this new knowledge about particles made home monitoring a must. The combination of particle data and several visits from Rhett Major, The Energy Doctor, helped me to assess opportunities to improve my forced air system. He suggested changing out the stock motor for an ECM type motor. I also had some additional sealing needed in my duct work and as a result, noticed some reduction in particle counts.

"All of this led me to continued monitoring in my home. I now check on particle counts when I clean, cook and / or open windows. Suggestions that have come my way to improve particle counts include cooking bacon in the oven instead of on the stove top, and keeping windows closed to let the house be the filter. I would have never been aware of little changes that make a big difference in indoor particle counts without ROCIS.“

Ron Sarrick, ROCIS LCMP Participant

...Coming soon on our Blog

Zaheen Hussain details the great work occurring in Millvale.

Indoor Air Quality News from Around the World

Research Summary Round-Up

Some very recent results of a European & Oceanian study on particles:

The influence of lifestyle on airborne particle surface area doses received by different Western populations.

This 5-city pilot study of adults in Europe and Australia measured personal exposures to particle sizes under 0.3 μm. Indoor exposure, and in particular cooking and eating activities, was the main influencing factor in terms of exposure to particle surface area (and thus dose) of the population; direct outdoor particle exposure was relatively low due to the brevity of time spent outdoors by most participants.

(Pacitto et al., Jan. 2018).

Equally recent research findings out of Asia:

Cooking and kitchen ventilation are linked to diabetes in Chinese women.

The results of a large biomonitoring study indicated that the women who cooked their own meals had an elevated risk of diabetes, which may be partly explained by an increase in the PAH body burden and higher inflammatory responses. Women who cooked and used kitchen exhaust fans/hoods had a 52% decrease in the risk of diabetes compared with those that did not use fans/hoods.

(Hou et al., Feb. 2018).

Back in the US, if you want to learn more about reducing exposures to cooking-related particles, take a look at:

ROCIS ISSUE BRIEF, Ducted Range Hoods: Recommendations for New and Existing Homes which was released in February 2018
This PDF link to Tom Phillip's presentation: Range Hoods: Best Design Practices for Safe Indoor Air
And this YouTube video from Tom's presentation at Redwood Energy's 4th Zero Net Carbon Retreat.

ROCIS Low Cost Monitoring Project (LCMP)

Do you want to learn more about how Pittsburgh’s outdoor air quality affects the indoor air quality where you live and work?

Are you a motivated individual who wants to learn more about how their behavior affects their air quality?

Consider signing up for the Low-Cost Monitoring Project. Through this project, we provide monitoring kits loaned for a month-long cohort so folks measure particles, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, radon, temperature, and humidity.

Upcoming LCMP Cohorts

More Cohorts Announced in the Fall

Cohort 29

Kick-off Meeting : Friday, Apr 27

Check-in Meeting : Week of Apr 30

Wrap-up Meeting : Thursday, May 24

Please CLICK HERE to fill out a survey to express your interest.

Note that participation in the LCM Project is time intensive. Attendance to the Kick-off and Wrap-up meeting is required.

Review project expectations here.

Left to Right: Rob Busher, ROCIS Air Quality Fellow & Kacy McGill, ROCIS Low Cost Monitoring Program Coordinator

Coming Events & Presentations by ROCIS

2018 HPC National Home Performance Conference

April 23-26, 2018

Philadelphia, PA

Our Presentations: High MERV Filters in Central Air Handlers: Opportunities & Challenges with Linda Wigington, ROCIS, Rhett Major, The Energy Doctor / ROCIS, & Iain Walker, LBNL

What Can You Do With a Consumer IAQ Monitor? with Brett Singer, LBNL & Linda Wigington, ROCIS

INFO & REGISTRATION