CH-24-C101 - Understanding Housing Challenges in Rural Alaskan Communities: Remote Long-Term Residential Data Collection

Rural Alaskan communities face many housing challenges. Existing housing is often old, inefficient, overcrowded, and poorly equipped to withstand the extreme arctic weather conditions. Many communities have limited access to the resources needed to retrofit current housing to improve living conditions and energy performance. These factors contribute to a high energy burden for homeowners and introduce additional indoor air quality (IAQ) challenges. To investigate IAQ in rural areas in Alaska, sensors have been installed in 33 homes to remotely collect long term IAQ and occupant behavior data to identify the relationship between IAQ trends and self-reported homeowner health concerns. However, collecting remote real-time IAQ data from rural Alaskan communities can be challenging due to a lack of reliable internet access and communication systems. Therefore, this research aims to describe the selection process used to identify sensor systems and features that can help to address these unique challenges associated with remotely collecting real time residential building performance and IAQ data in rural and remote areas.