Healthy Home Standard Healthy Building Rating System

The Healthy Home Standard is, to my knowledge, the only building rating system that is entirely focused
on occupant health. It is also the only green building rating system in the US that even mentioned
electromagnetic fields (EMF) and electromagnetic radiation (EMR). GreenPoint Rated and LEED have
numerous credits for water conservation but no points available for water quality testing or water
filtration! People looking for healthy building would be wise to incorporate credits from the Healthy
Home Standard.
Basics of the Healthy Home Standard (HHS)
Like most Green Building Rating Systems, the HHS is broken up into categories of credits and relies on
checklists to evaluate the projects performance.
There are only 3 categories:

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)
Water Quality

Instead of just awarding a total number of points (GreenPoint Rated), or categorizing how buildings
score by precious heavy metals (LEED), Building Biologists decided that buildings should be graded like
children so they issued letter grades! For each category, and again for the whole house, a letter grade
from A-to-F is determined. In my opinion, this was a mistake, because once clients see their building
may receive an F in any category they quickly decide not to pursue formal certification through IBE.
Ive seen it happen, and I dont blame the clients one bit.
A strength of the Healthy Home Standard is its commitment to onsite verification before, during and
after construction. A rather extensive air quality testing procedure is involved in the IAQ verification,
and I prefer the Building Biology testing methods over LEEDs approach. An obvious advantage is that
HHS includes airborne biological contaminants.

Subsequent blog posts will dive into specific categories of the Healthy Home Standard the best
Healthy Building Rating System weve got!
This is part of the series on the Healthy Home Standard, and this second part about EMR is a follow up
from an earlier post (EMF Rules of Thumb). EMF best practices covers low frequency electric and
magnetic fields, as well as Radio Frequency (RF) radiation.
Best practices for EMF are intended to reduce exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) and Radio
Frequency (RF) Radiation often combined in the term electromagnetic radiation, or EMR. These
low-EMR measures include how to install wiring, heating/AC, and other tips on items such as
transformers for pool or outside lighting. For information on how far to locate a building from known
point sources (e.g., power lines, cell towers, electrical transformers), please visit the previous EMF Rules
of Thumb blog.
I find these guidelines useful for pre-purchase real estate decisions, and also for healthy building
construction and remodels.
Building Location & Neighborhood Considerations for EMF

Building more than a mile from electric power transmission lines

Building more than 100 feet from Utility Substation
Building more than 25 feet from distribution system electrical transformer
Building more than 75 feet from overhead or 25 feet from buried electrical distribution lines
Building is in a neighborhood without wireless Broadband Internet service
Building is not in direct line of sight of any cell phone antenna

EMF/EMR Site Evaluation and Recommended Ambient Levels of EMF/RF

Magnetic fields: 0.2 mG (20 nT) or less

Digital communication radiations: 10 W/m2 or less at 10 ft above site elevation

Magnetic field allowable levels

Utility Services and Magnetic Fields

Cable TV, Phone, Electric power, water service entry points are within 10 feet of each other
Water utility pipe into house is plastic or if metal has 3 ft plastic section 10 feet from house

Plastic Pipe on Incoming Water Line to Minimize Stray Current from Neighborhood

Electrical meter located more than 10 ft away from bedrooms, family room, HUR
Cable TV sheathing, phone cable sheathing bonded to electrical system within 10 feet of entry
point

Electrical System Installation for Low EMF and RF

Main Electrical Panel (MEP) & sub panel is more than 10 ft away bedrooms, family room, High
Use Rooms (HUR)
Supply cable from MEP to a sub-panel does not cross beneath or above a bedroom or HUR
Electric panel wire lay out minimizes production of magnetic fields

Electrical Panel Wired to Minimize Magnetic Fields Compliments of Karl Rileys book, Tracing EMFs in
Building Wiring

The electric panel design provides a neutral buss running the full length of each circuit breaker
column
If metal water pipes are used, the only bond to metallic water piping is at the MEP regardless of
the number of sub panels
MEP and sub panel are mounted to wood. On concrete surfaces Panel is on plywood. No
panel mounting screws can penetrate the plywood into concrete.
The only bond between neutral & ground buses is in the MEP where the main breaker is located
Neutrals from multiple branch circuits meeting in a J-box are kept separate (no ganging of
neutrals from different branch circuits)
If there are three-way switches, three-way switch circuit hot and neutral are sourced from same
location & three wire travelers are used between switches
If there is low voltage lighting, the transformers for 12-volt can lights are not located below
bedrooms

Many people are increasingly aware of the health threats from exposure to synthetic radiation. Over the
past 100 years weve created an entirely new environment surrounded by silent, odorless, invisible
radiation. If you suffer from electrical hypersensitivity, or if you just are being pre-cautious, I hope these
EMF rules of thumb and best practices are helpful.

Electrical System Installation for Low-EMR:

All rooms are wired for high speed Internet using Cat 5e or 6 cable
All rooms wired for phone service using shielded cable
There is no wireless Internet or cordless phones in house
There are no cell phone booster stations in house
All circuit breakers are accurately labeled as to area/devices serviced

Low-EMR Heating Via Forced Air:

If there is air-conditioning, the AC condenser & Freon lines are more than ten feet of any point
on any bed or any HUR
If there is a forced air system for ventilation, heating or air-conditioning, the Air Handling Unit
(AHU) or Forced Air Unit (FAU) fan motor is located more than 10 feet from any point on any
bed or any HUR

Low-EMF Electric Radiant Heat:

Ceiling or floor radiant electric heat designed to cancel magnetic fields

If heat is by electric baseboard, electric baseboard heaters are located more than 5 feet any
point on any bed

Low EMF Electric Radiant Heat ThermoSoft Has An Option

ThermoSoft seems to have a good low-EMF electric radiant heating system that accounts for both
magnetic AND electric fields. However, its not zero-EMF as they claim.

Low-EMF Wiring In A Bedroom:

Using only one of the following 3 strategies is necessary each strategy is intended to minimize electric
fields.

Wiring above, below, around bedrooms is metal clad (MC) cable or electrical metallic conduit
Wiring above, below, around every bedroom can be shut off with a kill switch
Wiring above, below, around every bedroom can be shut off with a remote control switch
operating a relay located at the electric panel

Remote Control Demand Switch EMF Best Practice for Reducing Electric Fields in a Bedroom

Pool and Spa Pumps & Outdoor Lighting Transformers

If there is a pool or spa, the pool or spa pump or outdoor lighting transformer is located more
than 5 feet from any bed or any HUR

These EMF Best Practices have been established for many years, and we have seen them implemented
successfully in projects around the world. They are tried and proven best practices for reducing EMF. Im
grateful to the Building Biologists that came before me and not only created this handy resource, but
also were kind enough to share!
If youre doing a remodel or building from scratch, following these best practices will get you a better
than average home. To take it to the next level, consider hiring a Healthy Building Consultant!