Arts
**The Building Science Podcast**

If you’re a human being and you live indoors, this podcast is more relevant to your life than you probably ever knew. Exploring the ways building science helps humans thrive in the built environment.

Latest Episodes:

An Architectural Optimist Wrote a Book - Part 3, Causing Good Design to Happen Nov 19, 2024

Join Kristof and Corey Squire in this third and final installment of their interview series discussing Corey’s book People Planet Design. In Part 1, they opened the discussion at the logical starting place of the important Why questions. Why design matters to society and Why architecture is the place to address so many important issues we face today. Part 2 addressed How to make good design happen by focusing on often overlooked dimensions of the design process. These include company culture, communication and information flow, and the importance of positive incentives.

Here in Part 3 is where the rubber meets the road in the form of the What question - What types of systems do we actually design? What do we actually do during the design process? This conversation flows across ten different architectural systems that each correspond to a chapter in Corey’s book. The systems covered are (1) Scale; (2) Windows; (3) Air; (4) Roof; (5) Electricity; (6) Structure; (7) Embodied Energy/Carbon; (8) Interior Finishes; (9) User Behavior, and (10) Access/Equity.

Corey Squire

Corey Squire is an architect and nationally recognized expert in sustainable design. Working as both a sustainability leader within architecture practices and a sustainable design consultant through his firm, Dept. of Sustainability, Squire has empowered multiple award-winning design firms to achieve high-performance projects across their portfolios. He lectures nationally on a range of sustainable design related topics and was a lead author of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence, a resource that’s actively redefining excellence in the built environment. Squire is an Associate Principal and Director of Sustainability at Bora Architecture and Interiors in Portland Oregon, where he lives with his Family.

Helena Zambrano, Illustrator

Helena Zambrano is an architect, licensed in the United States and Mexico, with over a decade of national and international experience. She practices with a passion for environmental systems and is a strong advocate for the use of evidence to inform design. Emphasizing the design of daylit spaces, Helena’s work has been recognized with local, national, and international design awards. Her advocacy work includes leading the development of both the COTE Super Spreadsheet and the AIA Common App, two tools that raise the status of sustainability metrics and reframe the way design awards recognize architecture.

People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential

If you were asked to close your eyes and envision where you are happiest, would you picture somewhere inside a building? North Americans are inside buildings for more than 90% of the day. Meanwhile, the indoors are stifling us, sometimes even killing us. Buildings, and the materials that make them up, expose us to materials linked to negative health impacts. The construction and operation of buildings is responsible for 40% of climate-changing carbon emissions.
In the US, the design choices made by the typical architecture firm employee each year can reduce emissions by about 300 times that of an average American. But the promise of sustainable architecture will not be realized if sustainability remains a secondary consideration for architects. What if great design were defined by its ability to cool the planet, heal communities, enhance ecological functioning, and advance justice?
In People, Planet, Design, architect Corey Squire builds the case, provides the data, and lays out the practical tools for a transformative human-centered architecture. This approach integrates beauty and delight with an awareness of how every design choice impacts the community, the planet, and the people who will use the building. Outcome-focused with a deep dive into practical design strategies, the book showcases ten building systems that embody design excellence.
Squire centers the idea that by focusing on the desired outcomes—that buildings shelter us from the elements without disconnecting us from the world, that buildings provide the quality of air, light, and views we now know to be essential to health, productivity, and joy—we can move beyond the checklist mentality that has captured much of the design community.
Essential reading for architects who want to transform what the profession means, People, Planet, Design pioneers a new vision and sets readers up with clear guidance on implementing it. Only when design prioritizes people, as it should, can architecture realize its full potential.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Designer Desiccants, Molecular Filters, and the Prospects of Dehumidification Nov 04, 2024

What is the future of dehumidification? Turns out this simple question opens up an exciting view of the future of IAQ generally. The goal of a low energy method for removing water molecules from a flowing airstream boils down to some way of identifying, grabbing and holding onto them. Essentially we are talking about a designer desiccant or molecular filter that lets the air pass through while it filters out water molecules.

If we can do this, the next logical question is “Why stop there?” Why not identify a broad range of pollutants and contaminants in the airstream and also select and remove them as well?

Enter molecularly sensitive filtration based on Metal Oxide Framework (MOF) technology. MOFs are a type of advanced material that scientists are developing to tackle a wide range of challenges, from clean energy, to environmental protection via direct air carbon capture (DACC), to health and drug delivery.. While the name may sound complex, the basic idea behind MOFs is relatively simple—they are materials made by combining metal ions (like zinc, iron, or copper) with organic molecules to create a kind of 3D structure that is highly porous, meaning it has lots of tiny holes or cavities - and they operate as a molecular sieve or filter.

Join Kristof as he interviews Todd DeMonte of Madison IAQ to unpack the future of dehumidification and learn about desiccants, and the potential for metal oxide frameworks. Along the way we learn whether the “good old” compressor-based dehumidifier is likely to remain the preferred and appropriate approach for many years to come. This is an episode that will bring you up to date at this important edge of the industry. Enjoy!

Important Links!

Article on MOFs:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.7b04132

SMECO Document discussing 3Å wheels:

https://www.semcohvac.com/hubfs/Importance_of_3A_Molecular_Sieve.pdf?hsLang=en

Lithium Chloride Examples:

https://www.alfalaval.us/products/heat-transfer/dehumidification/liquid-desiccant-dehumidification/

https://temaprocess.com/products/dehumidifier/

https://www.ventilex.com/working-principle-drygenic-air-dehumidification/

Todd Demonte

Todd DeMonte is the Chief Innovation Officer of Madison Indoor Air Quality (MIAQ), a Madison Industries business vertical that holds the following companies: Nortek, Broan-NuTone, StatePoint, NGH, Big Ass Fans, UV-Resources, Therma-Stor, DAS, Addison, Specified Air, Air Xchange, Novel Aire, United Cool Air, Conviron, Argus Controls, and Steril-Aire. As Chief Innovation Officer, Todd identifies and leads the development of innovative new product concepts, markets, and solutions across all MIAQ companies, increasing vitality and driving long-term value creation.

Prior, Todd was President and General Manager of Therma-Stor from 2004-2019, where he and his team grew the company’s revenue over 600% ($100M+) and created over $250M in enterprise value through innovation in products and markets.

Before joining Therma-Stor, Todd was a business owner and worked as a manager and technician in the automotive business for more than 10 years. During that time, he won awards from Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and for being among the top 15 and top 10 (respectively) technicians in the United States.

Todd earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Tulane University. He has been awarded 28 U.S. patents with several more pending.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Unlocking Electrification with Passive Buildings Oct 09, 2024

Passive house has become synonymous with the rapidly arriving new normal for our homes and buildings and offers layers of positive outcomes. Thermal comfort, IAQ/IEQ, durability, and low energy use are typically the incentives for owners, architects, builders and trades. As it turns out, there may be broader societal benefits tied to thoughtfully managing heat flows in and out of a building as well. Good ol’ thermodynamics isn’t getting the flashy attention of solar PV, wind turbines and batteries, but the demand side may well be where we win this fight to protect ourselves and our planet from the worst, most devastating impacts of the climate crisis.

Join Kristof in this wide-ranging conversation with Lisa White, the Co-Executive Director of Phius, where they unpack the positive ripple-out impacts that passive buildings have on our energy grids, and our decarbonization efforts. Seen holistically, buildings are a powerful enabling technology for the ongoing energy transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Starting with a perspective on the current state of the grid and its ongoing evolution, the conversation here positions passive buildings in relation to the decline of the fossil fuel era and the dominance of renewables.

Lisa White

Lisa White is the Co-Director and a technical lead for Phius.

Ms. White has been with Phius since 2012. She led the building certification review team for seven years and is an instructor for Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC®) training and WUFI® Passive energy modeling software training. She holds a degree in Environmental Sustainability with a minor in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master’s in Energy Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Ms. White has a strong understanding of high-performance building design and how this is integral to the transition to a renewable energy grid. Her Masters’ thesis posed the question “What do Net Zero Buildings Cost the Grid?”, combining the concepts behind how building loads are shaped, how design techniques can alter that shape, and how that ultimately impacts the electricity generation resources needed to meet the load – all while considering the shift to more intermittent, renewable energy resources. Ultimately, this research concludes that energy conservation and demand response in buildings is a critical up-front investment to facilitate this transition.

At Phius, White works on the development of new and existing professional training courses and has delivered professional training to more than 800 students. She has taught introductory and advanced seminars at professional conferences and universities nationwide, including guest lecturing at the Harvard Extension School. She is a longtime member of Phius’ technical committee and was instrumental in the development of the Phius+ 2015 Climate-Specific Passive Building standard, followed by the 2018 and 2021 updates. Alongside standards development and research, White works directly with the Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics to develop and implement new key features into the WUFI Passive energy modeling software that Phius uses for passive building certification. While in her previous role as Certification Manager, Ms. White reviewed and provided feedback on energy models, drawings, details, planned mechanical systems, etc. to more than 500 project teams working on passive building designs across the world.

Ms. White has written and co-authored many publications, the most recent being a cover-featured article in the ASHRAE High Performing Buildings magazine. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences on topics related to grid-friendly buildings, assessing resiliency and passive survivability, measured data for high performance and net zero buildings.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

More Influence, More Impact, More Satisfaction Sep 08, 2024

Empowering the practice of architecture to achieve consistent, predictable, positive impacts on human well-being and planetary health is perhaps one of the most pressing topics in the AEC today. Starting with a review of the history of the search for Bioclimatic Law, this conversation with Dr Bill Braham, FAIA is an invitation to architects to reclaim their power.

Bioclimatic Law is the relationship between architecture and life. In practice “life” is more narrowly defined by architecture as “comfort” or “comfort, health and well-being”. At its core bioclimatic design asks “What are the climate opportunities?”. The basic principle is to start with a clear understanding of the ambient climate and map those inputs to the design of the building - its massing, orientation, enclosure systems, and window sizes, locations, and shading devices. Beyond these truly passive methods, there are always active systems involved in maintaining a balance between heat flowing into the building and heat sources within the building.

Our buildings mediate between the external climate and our lives. From a thermal perspective, actively managing the enclosure can lead to comfortable indoor conditions 60-80% of the time in most climates. From a well being perspective, as the external climate becomes more unpredictable and severe we have an opportunity to improve the quality of the lived experience of the buildings we deliver to ourselves to protect and shelter us. Join Kristof as he and Bill enjoy a thoughtful, wide-ranging discussion about the role of architecture in society and the role of buildings as extensions of our lives and goals.

Big picture, we also want to thank you for being listeners who, in our increasingly soundbite world, appreciate the depth, breadth and subtlety of conversations like this. We’re happy that you’re noticing and valuing that we “go there” in these idea exchanges. Please keep your emails and comments coming.

Bill Braham

William Braham, PhD, FAIA is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he previously served as Department Chair and Chair of the Faculty Senate, and is currently Director of the Master of Environmental Building Design and of the Center for Environmental Building + Design. He has worked on energy and architecture for over 35 years as a designer, consultant, researcher, and author of numerous articles and books. His most recent projects include energy and carbon plans for Nakashima Woodworkers and Chautauqua Institution and building performance modelling for Daikin Open Innovation Lab, Silicon Valley.
His books include:
Architecture and Systems Ecology: Thermodynamic Principles for Environmental Building Design (Routledge, 2016)

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Tools For a Habitable Future Aug 16, 2024

The work of the AEC is broader than buildings. On a daily basis we, collectively and individually, make decisions that have broad and lasting impacts on our lives, our health, and our world. These impacts can be either positive or negative; the choice is ours. This is the perspective of Gina Ciganik and her brilliant and motivated team at Habitable.

Armed with powerful minds and compelling data, they are working to help society rethink material supply chains altogether. Formerly the Healthy Building Network, Habitable exists to help people understand that we need to fundamentally shift the materials economy to protect ourselves and our planet's ecosystems. These are also the people who created the Pharos database. Now they are releasing a powerful tool, The Informed Tool, to make it easy to make good decisions for materials using a simple Green, Yellow, Red system. It’s time to start.

If the term materials economy is somehow just a bit bland and doesn’t connect or feel engaging for you, consider these two facts to remind you of what we’re talking about:

1. Microplastics in the ocean: 58% of them are from one material - Paint. And 48% is from paint used in homes and buildings. We know latex gloves are plastic but somehow we forget that latex paint is as well. If we are going to ever get the plastics out of our waterways, oceans and bodies, we have to address this material and the upstream decision making process.

2. Carpeting as single use material: 2 Millions Tons of carpeting are thrown into landfills and incinerators in the US every year. Our national obsession with fuzzy floors uses more plastic than all single use plastic bottles, plastic bags, and plastic straws combined (mic drop).

OK, did those wake you up and help you understand that the decisions we make here in the AEC have implications and impacts far beyond what we normally consider our purview? Join Kristof and Gina in this lively wide ranging discussion as they unpack the work that Habitable is doing.

Gina Ciganik

Gina Ciganik is the CEO of Habitable and has been instrumental in growing and scaling the organization's vision since assuming the role in 2016.

Recognized nationally for her leadership in transforming human and environmental health, Gina’s strategic partnerships and innovative practices have reshaped housing standards across the affordable housing sector. With a proven track record of creating healthier spaces–including the groundbreaking 90-unit apartment building, The Rose–Gina’s leadership drives Habitable’s mission forward. She sees herself as a “dot-connector” and translator who amplifies the organization’s impact, fostering holistic solutions for planetary health. Determined, curious, and joyful, Gina is committed to creating healthier environments for communities worldwide.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Rethinking The Wood Supply Chain Jul 29, 2024

How can we build better supply chains for the built world? When it comes to the inconceivably vast amount of wood we use in our buildings, one “simple” way is to use less virgin material and use more wood that would otherwise not make it to market. Instead it would be destined to decompose and emit its carbon into the sky. What if, instead, the forgotten trees were salvaged and turned into valuable, usable lumber?
This is a big idea whose time has come. Still, having a powerful idea is only the first step. Making it happen in the real world is the other side of the story. Starting with a focus on a smarter, more transparent wood supply chain, the ambitious team at Cambium Carbon are making powerful change happen in the human side of the wood ecosystem in the AEC. Their work is a key support for firms committed to sustainability.
Join Kristof in a thoughtful conversation with Ben Christensen to learn more about what Ben and his team are doing to find wood impacted by the four Ds: disease, decay, disaster, and development and keep it out of landfills. Instead of landfills the wood goes back into the built world for generations to come.

The company Living Carbon was mentioned during this episode as an interesting website to check out!

Ben Christensen

Ben, a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister and TedX speaker, is a thought-leader and industry expert. He is the CEO and Co-founder of Cambium, a climate-tech start-up backed by Joe Tsai, Steve Case, and many others. By working with cities to divert wood waste, local manufacturers to create sustainable products, and demand partners for offtake they are creating a new regenerative supply chain for urban wood. Ben loves to share his expertise on topics like circular economies, climate tech, leadership, and building teams. He earned his Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Modular Part 2 - Working Skillfully Within Constraint Jul 09, 2024

Today we’re continuing the conversation on modular construction w/ Rommel Sulit and Chris Krager. Buckle up for some quotable quotes and impactful ideas in this episode. A recurring theme from part 1 is present here. Could it be the case that because modular delivery must rethink basic assumptions, it may be the first area of the AEC to do what the rest of the AEC is not. At core, the role of architecture is to create the link between design intent and what is actually built. This is not easy, nor simple. It means managing multiple streams of expertise and action so that they are effectively coordinated and integrated into a finished livable space.

Modular requires a high resolution understanding of why we build the way we do, what are its strengths and weaknesses, and, particularly, where are the key leverage points to unlock change. Because as they say in this episode, there’s no way around the reality that when it comes to AEC practices, We have to Pivot at somewhere. Modular delivery is perhaps, at heart, a recognition of this truth.

Rommel Sulit

Founding Principal and Chief Operations Officer at Forge Craft Architecture + Design. With 25 years of experience, Rommel founded Forge Craft with Scott Grinder to improve lives through the art and science of architecture and design. Rommel developed his architectural philosophy working on projects that span demographics, geographies and types at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with Rem Koolhaas, Page Southerland Page, Rhode Partners and BOKA Powell.

Before Forge Craft, Rommel’s work in Europe and across the U.S. centered on ambitious, large scale urban developments. Rommel now oversees projects across Forge Craft’s six Architecture + Design Craft Studios including Commercial, Affordable Housing, Interior Architecture, Residential Use, Modular Architecture and Emergent Technologies.

Chris Krager

Chris Krager has a BA in Business Administration from Michigan State University, and he received his March First Professional from the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. Krager formed KRDB (Krager & Associates, Design/Build), a develop/design/build company, in 2001 with the intention of creating financially accessible architecture, while focusing on sustainability in the urban environment (www.krdb.com). The firm’s projects cover a broad range from single-family developments, small lot projects, mixed-use and multi-family developments, hotels, creative office, alternative senior living models, and more.

KRDB’s work has been recognized locally and nationally including winning the AIA Austin’s prestigious “Firm Achievement Award” in its first year (2001). Their work has appeared in the New York Times, Dwell, Architectural Record, Residential Architect, and Metropolitan Home amongst others. It has been published in numerous books including “Modern Shoestring: Contemporary Architecture on a Budget” by Susanna Sirefman, “Good House/Cheap House” by Kira Oblensky, “The Perfect $100,000 House” by Karrie Jacobs, and two of Sheri Koones’ “Pre-Fabulous” books. There work has also been featured on shows such as “This New House”, “Small Space, Big Style”, “Dream Builders”, “Dwell TV” and “What You Get For Your Money”.

KRDB’s Sol Austin project, a 40 unit model for holistic sustainable design, was one of the first net-zero capable projects in the US, and was awarded an AIA Austin Merit award, the inaugural Austin Green, “Project of the Year” and was featured on the front page of the NY Times Homes section (www.solaustin.com).
KRDB introduced ma modular in 2008, their line of affordable modern modular homes and are currently working on projects in Austin, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York
(www.mamodular.com). What began as a single-family endeavor, has now grown to
include projects ranging in scale from a 4 unit small lot development, to a 135 unit, 150k sf project on 6 acres.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Modular Part 1 - It doesn't have to be so *$%! Hard! Jul 02, 2024

How often do you think about modular construction? Is it an idea whose time has come? There are those who view it as the only path forward that realistically checks all the boxes - are they right?

The potential is clear, modular project delivery can save time, save money, and positively impact our current and looming labor and skills crunch on the construction side of the AEC. There is no doubt that relative to the current norm, the “holy triumvirate” of owner, architect builder*, modular delivery represents a disruptive force within the AEC. Modular may be exactly the solutions we need but also one that we are not currently embracing at scale. Why is that? What are the challenges and the opportunities for modular design, construction and delivery? Join us today to unpack those questions and more.

Whether you’re a seasoned modular developer or just a curious newcomer and novice this podcast has something for you. Kristof is joined by Chris Krager and Rommel Sulit who, collectively have soaked up decades of experience and expertise in the modular space. One of the challenges to understanding modular design and construction is that it is dynamic and evolving. This confluence of financial, technical and material perspectives means different things at different times to different stakeholders. Along with our society and the AEC industry, modular has a path quality, it is not static, by some accounts where we are now is Gen 4 modular. To fulfill its potential modelar delivery needs to reach backward to influence the design process and also to reach forward to construction. This reality, while challenging, is long overdue and it is perhaps the most relevant and powerful benefit. It forces, or at least strongly encourages, the AEC to finally do integrated project design and delivery at scale.

*Quote by Rommel in the podcast

Rommel Sulit

Chris Krager

Chris Krager has a BA in Business Administration from Michigan State University, and he

received his MArch First Professional from the University of Texas at Austin School of
Architecture. Krager formed KRDB (Krager & Associates, Design/Build), a develop/design/build
company, in 2001 with the intention of creating financially accessible architecture, while
focusing on sustainability in the urban environment (www.krdb.com). The firm’s projects
cover a broad range from single-family developments, small lot projects, mixed-use and
multi-family developments, hotels, creative office, alternative senior living models, and
more.

KRDB’s work has been recognized locally and nationally including winning the AIA

Austin’s prestigious “Firm Achievement Award” in its first year (2001). Their work has
appeared in the New York Times, Dwell, Architectural Record, Residential Architect,
and Metropolitan Home amongst others. It has been published in numerous books
including “Modern Shoestring: Contemporary Architecture on a Budget” by Susanna Sirefman, “Good House/Cheap House” by Kira Oblensky, “The Perfect $100,000 House” by Karrie Jacobs, and two of Sheri Koones’ “Pre-Fabulous” books. Their work has also been featured on shows such as “This New House”, “Small Space, Big Style”, “Dream Builders”, “Dwell TV” and “What You Get For Your Money”.

KRDB’s Sol Austin project, a 40 unit model for holistic sustainable design, was one of

the first net-zero capable projects in the US, and was awarded an AIA Austin Merit
award, the inaugural Austin Green, “Project of the Year” and was featured on the front
page of the NY Times Homes section (www.solaustin.com).

KRDB introduced ma modular in 2008, their line of affordable modern modular homes and are currently working on projects in Austin, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York
(www.mamodular.com). What began as a single-family endeavor, has now grown to
include projects ranging in scale from a 4 unit small lot development, to a 135 unit, 150k sf project on 6 acres.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Pickleball Goes Passive Jun 11, 2024

Who knew that an indoor pickleball facility could become a touchstone for high performance construction based on passive house principles? The backstory here is worth unpacking as it relates to a powerful force that is not often discussed - money. Return on investment is the aim of the game in the realm of real estate investment and this fact typically filters out high performance passive buildings - but not this time, and it is important to understand why. Our guest today is adept in both the financial and the construction realms and has been able to make a solid case for the value of passive construction in his latest development.

Beyond the financial angle, this project aim to showcase high quality construction while also fostering community through sport. Plus with the heat and humidity of the Texas summers playing sports indoors makes it far more accessible to people. Join us in this thought-filled interview with David Komet of Urban Earth to hear about his journey and learn what he’s doing with his new pickleball facility as he prioritizes the health of the community, the local environment, and the planet.

David Komet

David's professional career began with the Medical Center Guesthouse of America, developing interim stay facilities for patients and their families in major medical centers. From there he went on to be General Manager of Murdock Pharmaceuticals, a division of Nature's Way. His business experiences soon led him to the public capital markets and positions with Prudential Securities and Komet Asset Management managing private pools focused on long/short equity, direct lending and equity real estate investments. His current active projects reflect his deep interest in the sustainability conversation for the built environment, including age in place housing , commercial buildings and controlled environment agriculture.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Is There a Passive House Aesthetic? May 23, 2024

At a fundamental level, passive house practitioners are engaged in a rebellion against poor quality design and construction. It’s becoming quite clear that this rebellion has legs and will endure. Given this, a question worth unpacking is whether the durability of the passive house movement is emerging as an architectural style. What are the defining principles behind architectural aesthetic decisions in the context of high performance homes and buildings? What will the history books say about our little rebellion in the years to come? Join us in this rich and thoughtful discussion with two powerful voices at the top of their game in the passive house realm.

Tessa Bradley

Tessa is an optimist. She’s also tenacious and dedicated to creating designs that are stunning and sustainable at once. She uses her powers for good: in Tessa’s vision of the future, architecture is a cohesive part of creating the good life for more people — she believes that excellent design can help make a joyful life.
With a tireless enthusiasm for problem-solving and a drive to tackle the toughest challenges head-on, she approaches every project with a blend of spunk, poise, and nerdy, sciencey know-how.
Tessa’s signature style merges elegant modernism and cutting-edge building science. She’s designed some of the most energy-efficient homes in the United States and has been featured in Dwell, The New York Times, The Seattle Times, Sunset Magazine, Design Boom, Houzz, and in books about sustainable design, prefab architecture, and Passive House homes.

Graham Irwin

Graham is the principal of Essential Habitat Architecture, a Northern California design firm focused on healthy, high performance, sustainable buildings built to Passive Building standards. He has a degree in physics, with additional studies in engineering and architecture, and an extensive background in software development. Since 2008, his firm has worked on numerous single-family, multi-family and commercial Passive House projects throughout California and the US, including the first certified Passive House in California, the first certified Passive House retrofit in the US, and the first certified multi-family Passive House in the US. He is a licensed architect and licensed general contractor in the state of California.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Our First PSA, Humid Climate Conference in Austin, May 6-7! May 01, 2024

Big news! The Humid Climate Conference is coming back to ATX and it’s time for some appropriate FOMO. We’re just two weeks out. You will be so glad you made the decision to come to HCC in ATX. Both the technical knowledge and perspectives you’ll hear, as well as the realization and experience of the power, vitality and unstoppability of the growing community of folks in the AEC that are stepping up to move our industry and our society forward.

The theme for HCC’24 is Transitions. The work we do in the world as architects, developers, builders, trades, and even owners is important and it is also going through a series of transitions that together represent an altogether new way of delivering buildings to clients and communities. The Energy Transition, the refrigerant transition, the transition to lower carbon designs, both embodied and operational, are all “in play” right now. Now is the time to learn about them from visionary thought leaders and boots on the ground who are both showcasing these transitions and helping make them happen.

Here’s the HCC website and here’s the link to buy tickets.

Code to get $50 off is shared on the podcast!

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Ultrasonics Comes to Market Apr 22, 2024

Today’s episode opens up the system of systems that delivers the materials, equipment and tools we use to deliver high quality homes and buildings to ourselves. The focus is on an novel ultrasonic leak detection system. This is potentially game-changing technology that impacts the ability to confidently deliver Passive House quality air control layers. Along the way you’ll learn about the importance of the air barrier and get a glimpse of the vastness of the AEC. This is an expansive episode that covers the human side of what it will take to get us from high quality designs to high performance finished projects - and ultimately to high quality lived experiences for occupants and owners.

If you appreciate the ideas you hear on our podcast, Humid Climate Conference is the conference and the community you’re looking for.

Bernard Hornung

Head of Built Environment, Coltraco Ultrasonics Limited a technology firm in the UK.
Coltraco is manufacturer of a novel and powerful ultrasonic leak detection system.
An example of the types of innovative and trailblazing materials equip and tools that Source2050 is brining to the market. Major Bernard Hornung was educated at Ampleforth College and at The RoyalMilitary Academy Sandhurst. He served 15 years in the Irish Guards, firstly as a Platoon Commander in the Battalion and secondly at the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion. Bernard is fluent in Spanish and in Portuguese Bernard joined Coltraco Ultrasonics In May of 2020 (a good time to switch career focus to air quality and air barriers) as Head of the Built Environment at Coltraco.

John Knapp

Co-founder of Source2050.

Source2050 is the first mission-driven, curated marketplace of energy efficient and high
performance building products that lets builders find and purchase the best solutions for their projects. As you’ll hear he’s a force of nature who has done a lot, and played a varied of roles during his time on the planet.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Next Level Leverage Apr 10, 2024

What if it’s true that “We can not solve our problems using the same level of thinking that created them”? - Attributed to Albert Einstein
Could it be that our building science understanding is limited? Could it be that even the clarity of understanding we gain by viewing homes and buildings as a systems of systems, assemblies, materials and products interacting according to the laws of science and nature - is necessary but not sufficient to cause us to build that way?
Building science is a necessary understanding but it is proving insufficient to cause the change we want at the pace we need. What do we need to add to the building-as-a-system perspective? What will it take to get past Knowing How to get us to Actually Doing what it takes to design and build for the outcomes we need? Using that concept as a lens, this episode seeks to expand the building-as-a-systems view into the society-as-a-system view in order to find ways to allow the power of building science to have proper impact in society. Anyone working in the AEC knows that the barriers to change are solid and weighty. This is what motivates our search for Leverage.
Leverage is a force multiplier. Leverage creates a large powerful force using a smaller force. We need leverage to multiply the force we can exert to cause change to happen in the AEC. Following the insights from Donella Meadows(2), we focus on the concept of Leverage Points - those “places within a complex system where a small change in one area can have pervasive positive impacts”. What we will discover is that according to Donella our mental models of the world, our industry, and our role in it - our deeply held, often unexamined, paradigms, are points of power that bring leverage.
Please join us for this rich and thoughtful exploration to find sufficiency. What will it actually take to bring the future we want into the present we have. Bring your caring hearts and curious minds and let’s have some fun!

Reference: Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer
BSPS, SIGN UP PAGE TO GET ON OUR MAILING LIST, WE NEVER SHARE IT.
https://positiveenergy.pro/the-building-science-philosophical-society
DONELLA MEADOWS BOOK
CHAPTER 6
https://donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Leverage_Points.pdf
Wiki on Donella Meadows
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donella_Meadows
Donella Meadows Project - Academy for Change
https://donellameadows.org/
Check out the Systems Thinking Resources page!
https://donellameadows.org/systems-thinking-resources/
Book: Thinking in Systems
https://donellameadows.org/systems-thinking-book-sale/

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Houses are Made of Stories Mar 26, 2024

Josh Salinger

Joshua Salinger is CEO and Founder of Birdsmouth Design Build, a residential Design Build company located in Portland OR. In 1999 Josh graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in Zoology and Conservation. In 2007 he started Birdsmouth Design Build with the goal of designing and building beautiful, high performing homes that transform and improve the built environment.

Josh has received certifications from Earth Advantage’s Sustainable Homes Professional course, and is an early graduate of the Passive House Builders Training program administered by PHIUS and is an accredited EEBA Zero Energy Home Professional. He has been on the board of Passive House Northwest since 2016 and also sits on the Technical committee of Zero Energy Ready Oregon. He is currently developing the curriculum in concert with Earth Advantage for the Sustainable Homes Professional Remote Learning & Accreditation Program. He lives in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood of Portland with his wife and two children and enjoys playing guitar, yoga, cooking, bemoaning the inefficiency of his house, and making the world’s best cup of coffee.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Entropy, Insight and Our Time to Shine Mar 12, 2024

Luke Leung

Luke is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Fellow; He is also a Centennial Fellow from The Pennsylvania State University Architectural Engineering Department; Board of Directors for USGBC (United State Green Building Council), Illinois; Chairman of the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning) Committee on “Tall Buildings”; Chairman of the Building Pressure Committee, Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings; Sustainable Committee with Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat; Part Time Professor at IIT; Member of the Chicago Sister Cities Program with China; MBA from University of Chicago, MS and BAE from Architectural Engineering at Penn State University.

Luke Leung is the Director of the Sustainability Engineering Studio for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP. He is the incoming Chair of ASHRAE Environmental Health Committee; Team leader for ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force, Commercial Buildings; Group Leader for LCA and Embodied Carbon, ASHRAE Decarbonization Task Force; National Renewable Energy Laboratory IN2 Incubator Industry Advisor; BOMA Toronto, Health Committee Co-Chair. His work includes Burj Khalifa, the world’s current tallest man-made structure; Multiple times “Excellence in Engineering” award from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE); Selected projects also include Pertamina Tower (Net Zero Supertall), General Motors Global Headquarters, XiongAn Net Zero Development, Beijing Finance Street, Embassy of Ottawa in Canada, Embassy in Beijing, Lakeside – 55 million sqft low energy development, a LEED Platinum building with the first large scale horizontal wind turbine in the city of Chicago; etc., and has served as a member of the editorial team for the CTBUH guide Natural Ventilation in High-Rise Office Buildings, ASHRAE “Design Guide for Tall, Supertall, Megatall Building Systems”, among other publications.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Produced by M. Walker

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Wood is Good? Mar 01, 2024

Chris Magwood

Chris works with the Embodied Carbon Team in the Carbon Free Buildings Program. He brings focus on carbon-storing material and the residential sector to the team, using his experience with LCA studies and policy development to support the team’s work.

Chris has been designing and building zero-carbon buildings throughout his 25-year career. From 2005 to 2018, he was a lead instructor in a hands-on design/build program at Endeavour Centre and was responsible for many zero-carbon, zero-toxin, and zero-waste buildings.
In 2019, he helped found Builders for Climate Action and codeveloped the BEAM tool for measuring material emissions in residential buildings. He authored four major studies of embodied carbon in new construction for Canadian governments and helped Canadian cities develop an embodied carbon policy.

Chris published eight books on green construction, most recently coauthoring Build Beyond Zero: New Ideas for Carbon Smart Architecture (Island Press, 2022) with Bruce King.

Jacob Racusin

Jacob Deva Racusin is co-owner of New Frameworks Natural Building, LLC, offering services in green remodeling, new construction, consultation, and education featuring natural building technologies. Through their work as a builder, consultant, and educator, Jacob is able to merge their passions for fine craft, ecological stewardship, relationship to place, and social justice.

Their goal in this work is to create a meaningful impact on the built environment in developing healthy, resilient communities. Deva is an instructor at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School, where they are the former director of the Natural Building Intensive Program. A BPI-certified contractor and Certified Passive House Consultant, Jacob has conducted field research on moisture and thermal performance of straw bale wall systems, which is featured in the book The Natural Building Companion which they co-authored with Ace McArleton (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012). They have lectured and presented at universities, conferences, and other events across the Northeast. Jacob lives with their family in Montgomery, VT, in a straw bale house on their permaculture-inspired homestead.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Circles All the Way Down Feb 13, 2024

How do we design and build affordable net-zero, carbon-negative homes? That important goal is the subject of today’s episode and is the focus of a multidisciplinary team that includes PNNL, Virginia Tech, and Green Canopy NODE. On the podcast today you’ll hear from Patti Gunderson with PNNL who is working with a talented team who are taking a thoughtful approach to this ambitious goal. One that focuses on modular design, carbon sequestering materials, thermal/energy efficiency, and a forward-looking circular approach that relies on cleverly designed, factory-built, bio-based materials right from the start. The outcome is a home that supports an owner’s right to repair (we need this with so many so-called durable products in our world today) and also allows the materials in the home to be disassembled and reused and the end of the home's lifecycle.

Patricia Gunderson

Patti Gunderson joined PNNL in 2021 and supports several projects in both the Energy Policy and Economics and Buildings and Connected Systems Divisions. A particular strength is collaborating with manufacturers, designers, builders, and trades people to understand and overcome barriers to adoption of optimized building technologies.

Patti most recently spent nearly six years at Home Innovation Research Labs where she proposed, designed, and led research projects to study constructability, functionality, energy efficiency and durability of buildings. Her background in building physics, engineering software tools, systems design, discipline coordination, project documentation, and construction administration provides valuable insight for research, analysis and client support.

Prior to HI, Patti worked in the DC office of SmithGroup, an international AE firm, on numerous high-profile projects including embassies, medical centers, university law schools and the flagship Net Zero Brock Environmental Center for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Patti is a big fan of collaboration and has benefitted from research partners and clients representing several national labs, the National Association of Home Builders, the Leading Builders of America, and numerous international manufacturers, as well as staff from DOE, FPL, HUD, and VA.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Air-To-Water: Hydronic Hype or the Future? Jan 24, 2024

You don’t have to be a building nerd or an engineer for a question like this to be relevant and important to consider. There are many reasons why AWHP systems make an attractive alternative to our batch of current “normal” heat pumps that rely on refrigerant for thermal distribution. Some of the reasons AWHP are appealing include: (1) reduced refrigerant volumes, thus reduced refrigerant leakage into the atmosphere; (2) larger selection of indoor unit options relative to refrigerant based systems; (3) the ability to support comfort via thermally active surfaces (aka radiant heating/cooling); (4) your home is better future-proofed and more technology-agnostic, and (5) these systems affordably unlock thermal storage (for thermal loads), which can provide energy resilience for their owners as well as dispatchable grid-level energy storage This episode is why you listen to the Building Science Podcast, somehow this multifaceted emerging story has still not hit the mainstream.

Not Your Grandpa's Home Improvement Show Jan 16, 2024

We spend the vast majority of our time inside yet we actually know very little about what it means to live indoors. This is the case even though what happens indoors impacts us in nearly every way. Our comfort, health and overall well-being all are deeply impacted by what's in the air we breathe and what’s happening in and on the surfaces all around us.

Enter Corbett and Grace Lunsford. Knowing that what we don’t know about our homes matters a lot, they took on the challenge of creating a TV show on home performance for mainstream audiences. Their show, now in it’s third season makes it clear that a “good home” is far more than what it looks like and how much it will sell for in the market. In the process, Corbett and Grace have become leading voices in the role of educating us about the many and hidden dimensions of home performance. Join us in this episode as they unpack the why, the what, and they created the Home Diagnosis TV show on PBS.

Corbett Lunsford

Corbett began working in the realm of home performance expertise in 2008 with Grace. He quickly discovered the challenges within the construction industry—its inherent messiness, time constraints on professionals, and inadequate compensation, all of which adversely affect homeowners throughout their lives. Their shared objective is clear: to present building performance in an accessible manner for both professionals and consumers, contributing to the improvement of structures globally.

In 2009, Corbett initiated the Building Performance Workshop. He has also been prolific in sharing knowledge through more than 500 YouTube videos, 80 interviews for the Building Performance Podcast, and the authorship of the book "Home Performance Diagnostics: the Guide to Advanced Testing." Additionally, he developed the APT Reports software tool.

Not bound by conventional expectations, Corbett and Grace designed and constructed the world's highest performance tiny house on wheels, the #TinyLab, in 2016. They toured the U.S. and settled in Atlanta, Georgia, creating the groundbreaking TV series "Home Diagnosis," the first of its kind on public television across the U.S.

Grace Lunsford

Grace Lunsford is the powerhouse behind The Building Performance Workshop’s videos and the Home Diagnosis TV series. She started the 'Home Performance' YouTube channel, and has produced over 500 videos to date, gaining 4 million views and 23k subscribers. Grace is the creator, co-host, and Executive Producer of 'Home Diagnosis', the first-ever TV series about measured home performance, which has aired on over 60% of the PBS stations across the U.S. Her short films and feature film, The Other One, have won awards at film festivals, and as a Hewlett-Packard sponsored artist, she presented workshops on her work methods at both Sundance and Cannes.

She founded the media firm Sterling Rock Productions because the media she wanted to see was not being made. She has served on the Boards of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild Midwest and the Illinois Production Alliance (which lobbies for tax incentives in the film industry), where she spearheaded an initiative to bring the production of major motion pictures and television shows to Chicago. She also founded the 501c3 Chicago Acting in Film Meetup, a professional support group of over 150 screen actors.

Grace's career in film and television and voiceover continues in Atlanta, GA, where she's represented by Stewart Talent.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Excuse Me, Your Coil is Leaking Dec 18, 2023

Moving heat with a heat pump is an unsung superhero in the global energy transition. Chances are nearly 100% that you’re using a heat pump right now - to heat or cool yourself, refrigerate your food, or keep your car comfortable while you drive. The vapor compression process may be the thermodynamic engine of a heat pump, but where the rubber meets the road is the heat exchanger, aka “the coil”.
Getting heat exchanger coils right is a balancing act. On one hand we want the coils wall material to be as thin as possible so they move heat efficiently, on the other hand we don’t want the working fluid, typically a high GWP refrigerant, to leak out into the sky. This is a costly hassle for us as well as a tragic outcome for the atmosphere.
This is the backdrop for today’s conversation with Todd DeMonte on coils, coil failures, and the future of refrigerant based heat ex. Todd has been one of many smart folks around the world working to help society move past the vexing issue of formicary corrosion. Enjoy the feast of ideas in this episode!

Healthy Home Revolution Dec 01, 2023

As a society we are learning, slowly but surely, how to design and build healthy indoor spaces for ourselves and our loved ones. Seeing the need to both guide and accelerate this learning process, Paula Baker LaPorte and her wingman John Banta and Erica Elliot MD dedicated themselves to write a book. This happened 35 years ago with the 1st Edition of Prescriptions for a Healthy Homes, last year (in 2022) the 4th Edition was published and it is a richly updated treasure trove of motivation, guidance and actionable information that we all need to know more about. What we need now is a step change of sorts in the way society thinks about and delivers housing to itself. We need a Healthy Home Revolution.

With that in mind, Kristof sat down with Paula to have a conversation about her journey exploring and understanding the connection between the built environment and our health. After hearing her stories and absorbing the understanding and knowledge in her book, it is clear that homes can be so much more than we currently ask them to be. Homes are more than a visual-spatial-economic situation, more than a place to hold ourselves, our families and our stuff, more than an exercise in energy efficiency and resource use; The places we live are in truth highly immersive and tactile experiences for our bodies and minds, and profoundly impactful opportunities to promote our health and the health of the planet.

Green Glop & Hair Shirts - Perspectives on Client Communication Nov 27, 2023

Designing and building a sustainable passive house is a powerful moment for all involved - the client, the architect, and the planet. For the owners the process is deeply personal and emotional, with layers of financial impacts and the significant time investment involved. For architects the key is to talk in a way that clients can hear them, and listen in a way that they can hear their clients*. For both the architect and the client the first few conversations set the stage for what comes next.

Join us in this interview with Graham Irwin of Essential Habitat where we unpack the seemingly simple question: How does effective communication between the client and the architect happen? The answers may surprise you.

“Designing a home is an incredible opportunity, let’s ensure the results are extraordinary”

-Graham Irwin, Essential Habitat

*with respect and appreciation to the amazing parenting book

An Architectural Optimist Wrote a Book Part 2 - Design Excellence through Practice Nov 21, 2023

Stated another way: Why is it that some firms produce a consistent stream of high-performing buildings, while others have trouble crafting a single project that moves beyond traditional practice? The answer is Practice; the environment and practices within which each particular firm carries out or exercises its professional role in the society. Join us in this episode as Corey and Kristof enjoy a thoughtful and lively discussion of architectural practice along the dimensions of Vision, Culture, Process and Knowledge. This is one for all of you out there that recognize the power of architecture and want to better understand how to unleash its positive impact into the world.

Filter Feast Part 2 Nov 07, 2023

Topics include the basics of particulate capture, the tradeoffs between filtration efficiency, clean air delivery rate, and energy use, filter media types, and electret degradation. If you want to learn about the role of filtration in delivering clean indoor air for your self, or if your role in society has agency in making sure your clients are breathing healthy air, you will appreciate what you learn here. Mark is a filter nerd with the ability to break things down and communicate clearly.

Filter Feast Part 1 Oct 18, 2023

The “Roaring 20s” for IAQ Sep 26, 2023

The 2020’s have so far been a decade of abundance and progress for society’s awareness and understanding of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Beyond and before the pandemic put IAQ on everyone's mind, researchers have been enjoying well funded support from various organizations, both public and private, to better understand the impacts of indoor air on our health and well being. Plus cutting edge technologies from novel mass spectrometers to real-time PCR and next-generation DNA sequencing are both expanding and accelerating our understanding of the richness, diversity and significance of indoor air quality in our lives.

Join us for this engaging and somewhat nerdy discussion with Dr Pawel Misztal, an assistant professor from the University of Texas at Austin’s Civil Architectural and Environmental Engineering department. In this conversation Pawel unpacks the story of indoor air emissions and their impact on us. The emissions come from many sources including what we do, who we are (our bodies are highly active emission sources), and the microbes that live on every surface indoors.
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Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin

Produced by M. Walker

Edited by Nico Mignardi

An Architectural Optimist Wrote a Book Sep 11, 2023

There are few roles in society with the broad and lasting power of Architecture. Architecture both reflects and directs the story of a civilization and its cultural milieu by signaling what’s important, who has value, and how society functions. Recognition of the power of architecture in society sets the stage for today’s discussion with Corey Squire, a skilled sustainability consultant, a member of the AIA’s COTE Advisory Group, and an architectural optimist if there ever was one. Join us in this episode as Corey and Kristof start to digest the feast of ideas in Corey’s new book that will be coming out in the Fall of 2023.

Corey’s book People, Planet, Design is somewhat of a “How To” response to Carl Elephante’s declaration that “Architects don’t need to seek relevance, only seize it” (1). As you'll hear in this episode, in Corey’s view, seizing relevance happens by bringing about a new vision of design excellence. A vision that heals the schism between architecture and the goals and concerns of society. This happens first by shifting the mindset about the purpose of architecture, and then practically recognizing architecture at a crossroads and moving in a direction. One that unlocks the power of architecture, the promise it holds, and needs to hold, in the future that’s arriving now.

Making Quality Homes A(a)ffordable? Aug 25, 2023

In a Seattle neighborhood, close to public transportation, Dan Whitmore and his associates are putting the money where their ideals are and making affordable housing happen. Not just affordable but high-performance Passive House affordable per the Phius standards, plus they have an onsite PV array that unlocks the benefits of onsite power generation. This episode is an interview with Dan as he unpacks the topic and asks Why is this compelling social issue considered to be only one that can be addressed by governmental programs and non-profits?

The need for affordable housing is indeed a compelling societal issue with wide-ranging impacts. In many cities in the US the cost of housing is rising faster than incomes and there is a growing racial homeownership gap. The lack of housing creates a lot burden, pain and turmoil in, and can have lasting impacts on people's lives, particularly children. On the flip side, studies have shown that investing in affordable housing can have a significant positive economic multiplier effect. So why is there not more affordable housing happening in the US? Perhaps the answer lies in investors taking this question seriously.

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Dan Whitmore

Dan Whitmore has worked in the construction industry since 1987 as a carpenter, general contractor, builder, and consultant with additional stints as a designer and FEMA Inspector.

His introduction to high-performance building came at an impressionable age when, in 1977, his family built an award-winning Solar Home in Oklahoma where he grew up. As designer, builder, and Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC®), he completed one of the first passive houses in Washington State in 2010. Since then, he has consulted on and/or built more than 20 passive house projects.

He now divides his time between Indicator, his new energy, durability, and constructability consulting firm, and Cascade Built, a builder/developer of sustainable multifamily projects in Seattle. Whitmore is also an Instructor at Phius, co-developer of the Phius Certified Builder Training program, Council Chair of the Phius Alliance, and a founding board member of Passive House Northwest.

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Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited by Nico Mignardi
Produced by M. Walker

The Future of Homes Aug 17, 2023

Today we are going to dig into The Future of Homes with two home builders intent on delivering that future in the present. How do we make truly healthy, exceptionally durable homes that also respect the environment, the new normal?

What are we doing in residential construction today that we’ll look back on and say “Remember when we used to do that?” Conversely, what are we doing that is “new” and unconventional today but will come to be a widespread, mainstream practice? These are the opening topics in this thoughtful conversation about the importance of perspective and the role of the builder-client relationship. A core theme is whether the constraints to achieving powerfully positive outcomes are more related to materials and technologies, or perspective and process. The discussion here on all these topic and more is broad and deep.

Join Kristof for an interview with Kevin Rosa and Paul Coppock of Opus Vitae Construction out of Portland, Oregon.

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Kevin Rosa

He constantly seeks out the best process and the latest and most in-depth scientific construction knowledge, Kevin is Passive House certified, and refers to himself as a “building science nerd”.

Paul Coppock

His favorite aspects of the job are problem-solving and the uniqueness of each project. He relishes the opportunity to build lasting relationships with clients and subcontractors.

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Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited by Nico Mignardi
Produced by M. Walker

Hempcrete Homes: A Growing Industry Aug 09, 2023

Why is the AEC industry still mostly ignoring hempcrete? There are a host of good reasons to use this renewable and low environmental impact material in homes and buildings - including indoor air quality, acoustics, thermal comfort, and energy performance - yet the mainstream market is still largely uninformed and continues to deliver today’s houses with yesterday's material palettes. With industrial hemp coming online fueled by new legislation, favorable economics and strong market potential - amid a conventional building material supply supply chain beset by disruptions and price increases - deciding to use hempcrete for your build may be just a matter of time.

Join us in this episode as we unpack the basics and benefits of hempcrete and beyond. Aside from hemp as an amazing multi-use crop, and hempcrete as a product, there are the unsung innovators and pathfinders in the AEC world who rarely get the attention and appreciation they deserve. In this episode we keep true to our tagline and bring the human factor to architecture design* in the form of the incomparable heart and mind of Tim White. Tim has long been a man with a passion for healthy sustainable homes. A passion that over time has become a mission to build with hempcrete.

*Quiz question: Where have you heard that phrase before?

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Tim is the president and owner of Texas Healthy Homes. He is an experienced builder and product designer, with a passion for sustainability and human health.

He has built over 50 natural homes in the last 20 years across the United States and the Caribbean. As a clay and lime expert, Tim has developed proprietary technology for both plaster and masonry blocks independently and as a product designer for American Clay. He loves to educate and has led workshops on historic masonry, lime plasters, clay plasters, straw bale construction and LSC.

Prior to becoming a natural builder, Tim played college football, served in the Marine Corps and guided Class 5 river rafting trips in southern Colorado.
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Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited by Nico Mignardi
Produced by M. Walker

Architectural Solar: A New Normal Aug 02, 2023

The best place to generate electrical power is where it’s used. We all know that solar PV adds value for both owners and society by improving resilience, reducing energy costs and decreasing carbon emissions and climate impact. Yet traditional design practices and compressed schedules make it challenging for project teams to include integrated solar on their designs.
The solution is Architectural Solar and the Architectural Solar Association knows that the key moves are early engagement and integration of architectural, structural and cladding systems. The time is now to consider solar as being architecturally significant and to realize that it does not always have to be relegated to the roof. The days of the Mr Potato HeadTM approach, where panels are stuck onto a home or building after they’re built, are over. Join us for forward-looking discussion with two industry experts in best practices for solar integration and design.
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Stan Pipkin

Since 2007, Stan has co-managed and owned Lighthouse Solar in Austin, TX. He has been involved in the shaping of local and state policy to foster the growth of solar energy. In addition, Stan runs an architectural design practice, Pipkinc., focusing on residential, commercial and civic projects. He has found considerable overlap between integrated solar design and holistic architectural design services.

In 2000 he co-founded a research and design collective, Spurse, which has engaged in community design projects, material research and process consulting for institutions and organizations ranging from the Guggenheim Museum to The Land Institute. Their work has included exhibitions, workshops, lectures, participatory community design projects, product development and architectural design. Lecture and workshop venues have included MIT, Rhode Island School of Design, Maine College of Art and the Guggenheim

While managing and growing all aspects of Lighthouse Solar, Stan worked closely with a number of industry innovators, including Lumos Solar on the development of its architectural solar product suite. Stan holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas, his skill-set sits at the nexus of solar energy and architecture.
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Christopher Klinga

Chris is a licensed, professional structural engineer, with 10-years of hands-on experience in the architectural solar industry. He has an extensive background in solar installation design and operations and architectural solar product development. In addition to his efforts with ASA, Chris operates his own solar product development firm SolMotiv Design, which consults directly with the full value chain of both PV and curtain wall industries. Chris is also a co-inventor on 3 solar technology patents and 3 pending patents. Chris holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

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Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited by Nico Mignardi
Produced by M. Walker

Build. Not too much. Mostly with plants. Jul 19, 2023

There has never been a better time or opportunity to completely rethink the way we approach the practice of architecture and construction. With climate change looming over us, becoming more visible by the day, a critical look at the materials we use and their impacts on emissions is needed. Enter natural building materials. Which ones are legit? How can we use them? Join Kristof as he interviews architect and builder, Greg Esparza, with a sweeping introduction to mass timber construction, as well as other natural building materials like cork insulation, hemp insulation, wood fiber board insulation, etc.
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Greg Esparza

Greg is a co-founder of Moontower Design & Build and the founder of Cross Cabin Build & Supply. He received his Bachelors of Science in Architecture, University of Texas at Austin and has been in the design and construction industry for over 15 years. Greg prides himself on developing deep relationships with his manyinteresting clients and delivering fantastic outcomes on their projects. Greg is a fierce advocate for natural building materials and has spoken at building science conferences across the country, including The Humid Climate Conference.

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Cross Cabin Build & Supply

Cross Cabin Build + Supply promotes climate-friendly homebuilding in and around their hometown of Austin, Texas. They do this through distributing low carbon, renewable, plant-based building products and providing technical support during design and construction of climate-friendly homes. Cross Cabin specializes in mass timber projects and foam-free, vapor-open homes that prioritize a safe work environment for craftspeople, a healthy home for families, and a careful consideration of the climate impact of how building materials are made and how these materials can be recycled, reused, or naturally biodegraded in the future.

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Team

Hosted & Produced by Kristof Irwin
Edited by Nico Mignardi
Engineered & Produced by M. Walker

Building Science Journalism Jul 12, 2023

We live in the information age. The quality of the information we receive determines the quality of our decisions and the effectiveness of our actions. It is also no secret that money holds influence, and the methods through which we obtain information, as well as the economic dynamics of the building science and construction industry, are undergoing constant change.

We invite you to join us in exploring the significance of Building Science Journalism in today's world. Our conversation features two accomplished, knowledgeable, and profound authors who have dedicated themselves to this field: Brian Pontililo and Aaron Fagan. Along the way, we will delve into the evolving role of bloggers and social media influencers within the AEC industry. We will also acknowledge the fact that manufacturers now possess multiple avenues to convey their public relations and marketing messages to their target audiences.

Throughout our discussion, we will highlight the value of journalism, storytelling, and the adherence to journalistic standards, such as fact-checking. We encourage you to participate in this captivating dialogue and, perhaps, gain a fresh perspective that will enable you to engage more meaningfully with your favorite building science and construction channels.
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Brian Pontililo

Brian Pontolilo has spent the better part of the last 20 years as a journalist, writer, and editor covering residential design and construction at Fine Homebuilding magazine and GreenBuildingAdvisor.com. Brian has a degree in professional writing, worked for a short time at local newspapers, and has worked in landscape construction, as a painter, and as a carpenter before coming to the Taunton Press, and during the three breaks he has taken from office life. On his current hiatus from full-time employment, Brian is designing and building what he hopes will be a pretty good house in northwest Connecticut.

Aaron Fagan

Former associate editor for Fine Homebuilding, Aaron has written and edited for a disparate list of publications, including The Economist, Penthouse, and Scientific American. He has also worked as a welder in a window factory, as a screw-machine operator, and as a remodel/repair carpenter. Educated at Hampshire College and Syracuse University, Aaron is the author of three poetry collections: Garage, Echo Train, and A Better Place is Hard to Find.

Low Carbon Buildings - What’s Next? Wow. Just Wow Jul 05, 2023

You’re in for a feast of ideas here. Join us as Kristof talks with Bruce King about his work as a stubborn optimist and powerful motive force in the realm of low carbon buildings. Bruce joins a wise heart with a clever mind and a deep understanding of the technical aspects and implications of the role of energy and carbon in how we, as a society, deliver buildings to ourselves.

Today’s interview discusses themes from Bruce’s new-at-the-time book Build Beyond Zero written along with friend and co-conspirator, Chris Magwood, and a host of superstars in the low carbon buildings space, to remind us that the very buildings we live and work in are currently poised to be “one of the most practical and affordable climate solutions instead of leading drivers of climate change.” We all have power and agency in the future of buildings and it benefits us to listen to folks like Bruce King to show us the way and motivate us to move forward.

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Bruce King
Bruce King is the founder of the Ecological Building Network (EBNet), and a registered engineer with 35 years of worldwide experience in structural engineering and construction. He is the author of Buildings of Earth and Straw, Making Better Concrete, Design of Straw Bale Buildings, ASTM International E-2392, earthen building guidelines, and dozens of papers and articles for conferences and journals. He has organized three international conferences on ecological building, and is the founder of BuildWell Source, a user-based collection of low-carbon materials knowledge, and of the BuildWell Symposia. www.bruce-king.com www.ecobuildnetwork.org

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About Bruce’s Books
Build Beyond Zero

Authors Bruce King and Chris Magwood re-envision buildings as one of the most practical and affordable climate solutions instead of leading drivers of climate change. Build Beyond Zero provides a snapshot of a beginning and map towards a carbon-smart built environment that acts as a CO2 filter. Professional engineers, designers, and developers are invited to imaging the very real potential for our built environment to be a site of net carbon storage, a massive drawdown pool that could help to heal our climate. And if you have not yet read, or recently re-read his first book, please feel encouraged to do so!

New Carbon Architecture

Imagine a building made of sky. For the first time in history, we can build pretty much anything out of carbon that we coaxed from the air. We can structure any architectural style with wood, we can insulate with straw and mushrooms, we can make concrete - better concrete - with clay, microbes, smoke, and a careful look in the rear view mirror and the microscope.

All of these emerging technologies - and more - arrive in tandem with the growing understanding that the so-called embodied carbon of building materials matters a great deal more than anyone thought in the fight to halt and reverse climate change.

The built environment can switch from being a problem to a solution - much nicer places to occupy that just happen to pull carbon out of the air.

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Team

Hosted & Produced by Kristof Irwin
Engineered & Edited by Nico Mignardi
Produced by M. Walker

Direct DC-to-LED Lighting (Bonus Short Episode) Jun 30, 2023

Producer’s note: after a regrettably long COVID-19 disruption, this fun bonus short episode (recorded live in 2018) finally gets to see the light of day

Are you open to rethinking how you provide lighting to your home? What if there were a lighting system that not only saves you time, money and energy, but also enhances your experience of the living space?

I think we all already know that running 120V AC around a home to power DC LEDs leads to a lot of warm AC-to-DC transformers and wasted energy. We also know that Solar runs on DC and batteries store DC power, so why do we still use AC for lighting (besides the fact that it’s traditional)?

Enter direct DC lighting for homes – an approach that brings efficiency, safety, and versatility to illuminate your surroundings. With its low-voltage wiring, energy-saving direct DC to LED connection, and smart control systems, DC lighting offers a host of possibilities and benefits including:

Simplifying lighting installation

Reducing the use and associated costs of copper wiring

Providing flicker-free dimming in true white or tunable colors

Supplying backup lighting during outages

Improving the owner/end-user experience.

Join us for this short interview with Murray Freeman, a pioneer and stubborn optimist in the DC Lighting space. We will learn the basics and leave you with an informed perspective on the fascinating realm of direct DC-to-LED lighting, where modern technology, sustainable living, and high quality owner/user experience converge.
Murray Freeman
Murray has deployed Power over Ethernet in over 3,000 buildings. Creative engineer, he has striven to design systems for better reliability, durability, and self diagnosing while achieving cost efficiency. With experience in residential construction, he realized that neither PoE nor 120 VAC are suitable for lighting in new home construction - therefore, a new standard low voltage method to light LEDs was invented. His lighting solutions equips new homes and small business with smart switches and tunable white extended lifespan LEDs. He founded ATX-LED to design and manufacture energy efficient smart lighting systems. His goal is to bring high feature and higher quality lighting solutions to new construction, changing forever how light is wired.
Hosted & Produced by Kristof Irwin
Edited by Nico Mignardi
Engineered & Produced by M. Walker

An Introduction to Embodied Carbon & Buildings Jun 28, 2023

Is a building more like a river or a rock?

A building seems to just sit there*, so in that sense it seems to be more like a rock. But in reality every building material, and thus the entire building itself, is a snapshot in time of a river of resources and energy flowing from natural ecosystems into our use, and then, ultimately flowing back into the environment

All along the way, this flow of energy and resources emits carbon and other molecules into the sky, changing atmospheric chemistry and imbalancing our climate’s equilibrium. We’ve long known that this is both happening and that it’s a problem. What’s different now is that human society is waking up to the fact that we must work together to chart a new course forward. A course that recognizes the importance of reducing the both operational and embodied, or upfront, carbon emissions.

That’s where our guest today comes in. Andrew Himes is all about helping groups move society forward by focusing on the convergence of technology, communication and social activism. Join us for this fast paced and compelling interview with Andrew as we talk about the theory of change for industry transformation using data & tools, policy change, and collective action.

*From a building science perspective, we know that a building’s enclosure seems static and solid but is actually constantly and dynamically mediating the flows of heat, light, sound, vibration, odor, microbes, allergens, water and air (mass) between the interior and exterior conditions.

Links & Resources

Carbon Leadership Forum

MEP 2040

Andrew’s TEDx Seattle Talk : Save our buildings, Save our Planet

Team

Hosted & Produced by Kristof Irwin

Engineered & Edited by Nico Mignardi

Produced by M. Walker

Do you like it hot? Do you want it now? Do you want it to last forever? Jun 21, 2023

Gary Klein is in hot water and that’s a good thing. Hot water is the often-overlooked aspect of energy use in our homes and buildings and that makes zero sense. Energy for water heating is either the second largest, or in some cases the largest single energy use and does not get enough attention.

As if that were not motivation enough, hot water is also the place where convenience and energy savings align perfectly because no one wants to wait for hot water and no one (arguably) wants to needlessly waste energy. With all the product based attention on ways to heat water - air-water heat pumps, electric, gas, tankless - it may surprise you to learn that once you have hot water what you do with it can matter even more.

Join us in this action packed interview with Gary Klien, a true national treasure in the realm of water heating and distribution as he applies simple logic again and again to break down the How and the Why of having hot water arrive efficiently When and Where you need it.
Gary Klein

Gary Klein is the principal and founder of Gary Klein and Associates. Every day, across the United States, millions of gallons of water and millions of Btus of energy are lost in our hot-water systems through a combination of structural and behavioral waste. Ours is an era where efforts to conserve resources have led to ever-increasing complexity, be it in water heaters that are harder to understand and use, be it in the smart grid and electric meters that tell the utility all about our behavior. Given human nature, it is our responsibility to provide the infrastructure that supports efficient behaviors.

Gary Klein is tackling this issue in a different way, rejecting complexity and concentrating on elegant simplicity. He works to change building codes and to get architects and builders to use plumbing systems that, by their design, deliver hot water quickly and with minimal waste. He has looked at the structural and behavioral waste and believes great resource savings are to be had in both. When he gives a presentation, it's impossible to doze in the back row. He calls on people at random to serve as props, marks lines on the floor in tape, makes people think, and makes them laugh. It works.
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Produced by M. Walker
Edited by Nico Mignardi

Building Passion For Passive Nov 04, 2022

Knowing how to build fantastic high performing buildings is not enough; we need to cause that to actually happen. We need high performance buildings to exist. Knowing how is necessary, but also clearly not sufficient. During this time of increasing urgency to realize new performance outcomes, we need new skills in order to fulfill our roles in society as architects, engineers, builders and trades. What this means is that we need to think about what actually works and then do a lot of that right now. In this episode we interview a veteran Passive House architect who has thought deeply about this topic of “What do we do differently that will cause owners to make better decisions?” In our rational, fact-filled world, we may be leaving some powerful tools on the table. Tools that recognize that we are far more than rational decision-making computers; we are humans and as such we are powerfully influenced by relationships and by emotions.

Join Kristof as he interviews Graham Irwin, AIA, CPHC and the rich discussion that follows.
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

Proving Passive House Is Practical, Possible, & Promising (In Climate Zone 2A) Sep 26, 2022

Join Kristof as he interviews architect and Passive House nerd, Trey Farmer, in a wide ranging discussion about remodeling his personal residence. The ambitious project was an endeavor to prove to the Austin architecture and construction community that beautiful, well designed single family passive houses were not only possible in the market, but also quite practical and able to be built without breaking the bank or special products. Trey’s emphasis on community and his own business endeavors all point to a deep prioritization of doing better and leading by example. This episode is awesome and we can’t wait for you to hear it.

About Trey

Trey Farmer, AIA received his M.Arch from The University of Texas at Austin and has 15 years of experience in sustainable design and construction. He came to Austin from New Hampshire via New Zealand and Northern California where he worked and studied English, architecture, permaculture and natural building. He is a LEED AP (BD+C) and a Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC) as well as a certified permaculture designer and teacher. Trey is on the Austin Passive House Alliance Board and the national Passive House Alliance Council. He spends his free time with his wife, son and fur-child on the greenbelt, in their garden or in their certified Passive House home.

Press & Media About Theresa Passive House

PHIUS project profile

AIA Austin design awards profile

Matt Risinger video about the HVAC system

Mitsubishi video about the HVAC system

Matt Risinger video about the insulation levels

Green Builder article about the house in the deep freeze

Texas Architect Magazine feature

Passive House Buildings feature article (on page 58)
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

The Business of Building Science Jan 12, 2022

Happy New Year! Welcome back to the 8th season of our little show. We can hardly believe it. In this episode, we ask the question “what is it actually like to run a business that focuses on building science?” Turns out, we know something about that. Join Kristof and Miguel in a discussion about the challenges, joys, and future of business model innovation as building scientists and entrepreneurs. You can learn more about our Performance Consulting and Residential MEP services on our company website. Be on the lookout for great new episodes in the coming weeks (we’re stacked with interview appointments at the moment and it’s exciting).
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

Energy With Memory Nov 09, 2021

The famous astronomer and educator Carl Sagan once said, “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe.” What Sagan was pointing at is the fact that for us to really do anything from scratch, we have to understand the system in which we exist.

The planet and all its inhabitants exists as a massive, complex system of interconnected systems that we don’t always see. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown us that public health is part of a global web, inextricably linked. On a smaller scale, the materials and energy that we use to build and operate our homes and cities rely on these natural interconnected ecosystems. Effortlessly spanning scales from the level of the planet, a vast forest or a single home, the science of Systems Ecology provides a powerful perspective and valuable set of tools that can inform skillful design and construction practices for homes, buildings and cities.

How do natural ecosystems provide us with all that we need for our lives, homes and cities? What are the basic ingredients that are “cooked” in this recipe? Join Kristof as he interviews Miaomiao Hou and Dr. Bill Braham for a fast and furious dive into the infinite complexity of emergy. You’ll never be able to un-hear this. We will unpack some of the terms and concepts needed to unlock this powerful, versatile, quantitative way to understand what matters most when it comes to resources and energy, and why. Along the way we will learn about energy that remembers where it comes from and the layers of transformations it goes through along the way to us, so we can make better decisions on how to use it wisely.

For complete show notes, please visit the episode’s webpage.
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

Keep It Dry ! Nov 04, 2021

Do we really need dehumidifiers when we’ve got VRF units? How do dehumidifiers work? Why do we need dehumidifiers now when we’ve never had them before? These are valid questions that deserve scientific answers and we’re here to dig in. Join Kristof as he interviews David Treleven and Nikki Krueger of Madison Industries (makers of dehumidifiers, ERVs, and many other innovative indoor air quality products).
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

PFAS In Building Products Nov 04, 2021

One of the most uncomfortable topics for anybody to wade through is the nearly ubiquitous and constant exposures to hazardous chemicals and compounds which we all encounter in daily products. The construction industry is no different - many building products are chock full of chemicals that are known health hazards to humans. As the body of scientific knowledge about these chemicals and their health impacts grows, it’s important that professionals and consumers have a sufficient understanding of their presence and purpose.

Join Kristof as he interviews Dr. Tom Bruton, Senior Hazardous Substances Engineer at California Department of Toxic Substances Control and formerly a Senior Scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute, on a class of chemicals called PFAS, which are present in many common building materials and making their way into our bodies through a variety of exposures that are easy to forget in day-to-day life.

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Dr. Bruton is a Senior Hazardous Substances Engineer at California Department of Toxic Substances Control. He works at the interface of science, business, and government to promote healthier products and a healthier environment. Trained as an environmental engineer and environmental chemist, Tom’s experience ranges from contaminated site remediation to chemicals management in supply chains to regulatory policy, with particular expertise on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
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PFAS

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of highly fluorinated synthetic chemicals notable for their non-stick, waterproof, and grease resistant properties and also for their extreme environmental persistence. Building materials are a high-volume use of PFAS that have received relatively little attention. PFAS have many uses in the building industry, including in roofing materials, flooring, paints and coatings, sealants, glass, and more. Annual sales of PFAS-containing building materials are more than $26 billion.

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Green Science Policy Institute

The Green Science Policy Institute was founded in 2008 in Berkeley, California, by Executive Director Arlene Blum after she learned that the same chlorinated tris flame retardant that her research had helped remove from children’s pajamas in the 1970s was back in furniture and baby products. Since its founding, Green Science Policy Institute’s scientific research and policy work has contributed to preventing the use of “Six Classes” of harmful chemicals in consumer products and building materials worldwide.
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

Zen & The Art of Continuous IAQ Monitoring Jun 23, 2021

The world of indoor air quality monitoring can feel like the Wild West and it’s high time we sort it out. Join Kristof as he interviews Stanton Wong, President of RESET Standard, about the landscape of sensor technology, accuracy, data reliability, how SARS2 moves around public spaces, and a range of other indoor air quality topics. You may be surprised by how deep this field of applied science can go.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

To Grow A Home, To Grow A Future May 03, 2021

Industrial hemp is poised to proliferate across many verticals in the construction materials marketplace. It’s a raw material with an unfortunately politicized history and so many potential applications it’ll make your head spin. Join Kristof and Miguel in conversation with Mattie Mead and Henry Valles as we explore the many intersections of industrial hemp and the built environment.
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

One Wheel Down and The Axle Dragging: The Texas Grid Failure Explained Mar 10, 2021

Valentines Day 2021 began a hellacious week for Texans as not one, but multiple critical infrastructure grids failed amidst prolonged record low temps. Join Kristof as he interviews Dr. Joshua Rhodes and Dr. Charles Upshaw, of IdeaSmiths (and of Positive Energy if you don't mind the bragging). In this episode we discuss what happened in Texas, separating myth from fact and understanding the role of buildings in the equation.

Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

Indoor Data Quality Feb 01, 2021

We’ve talked a lot about indoor environmental quality on this show, but what how do we measure that and how do we know that our measurements were consistent and accurate? Turns out, data quality in the built world can be quite opaque and challenging to reign in. But there’s hope. Join Kristof as he interviews Anjanette Green, Director of standards at RESET about the nature of data quality in the built world and how it impacts the daily lives of practitioners and occupants across the planet.

What Would This Old House Say? Nov 20, 2020

This Old House has been the gateway experience for countless numbers of building science enthusiasts and we’d wager many of you listeners have intersected with the show at some point in your life and career. Media, whether television or podcasting, is about so much more than sharing information - it’s about telling stories. And the important stories are the ones that change paradigms and facilitate progress in the world. Join Kristof as he interviews Chris Ermides of This Old House and the Ask This Old House podcast about leveraging stories to create meaning and context for anyone building a home.

Chris Ermides:

Chris Ermides joined This Old House in December 2018 as the editor of pro content. Since then, he’s written and produced a wide array of digital content, including articles and videos geared towards professional tradesmen and women. He is the host of the Ask This Old House podcast, the Idea House Build series, and many interviews on This Old House: Live.

His interest in home improvement began at the age of 6 when he accompanied his dad to the local hardware store on the weekends and helped him on projects around the house. It was during this time that he also started watching This Old House and New Yankee Workshop. The trades have been a strong part of his family for several generations—Chris’s grandfather, an immigrant from Greece, was a cobbler and his great grandfather was a carpenter in Greece.

While studying English in college, Chris worked full-time at a local hardware store before graduating with a Master’s degree in teaching English. He went on to teach high school and middle school English while working as a house painter and repairman during the summers. After four years of teaching, Chris returned to the trades starting with a brief stint on a ranch in Wyoming.

His career path continued to evolve on jobsites, working his way up from a laborer to carpenter and eventually site supervisor for a custom home builder in upstate New York. He combined his love for the trades and writing chops with his jobsite experience and became an editor at Fine Homebuilding and Tools of the Trade. He’s been a contributor to JLC, Deck Builder, and ToolBox Buzz. Throughout his career he’s reported on many aspects of residential construction including how-to, tools, materials, and building science.

Follow Chris on Instagram @ChrisErmidesTOH.
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

"Faster Horses" & The Future Of HVAC Oct 23, 2020

When Ken Gehring began his career servicing dairy equipment, who would have guessed that he would go on to pioneer some of the most important equipment to hit the HVAC market? But that’s exactly what he did, leading the charge in the development and creation of the Therma-stor product lines, which include the Santa Fe and Ultra-Aire dehumidifiers that you’ve heard us talk about many times. Join Kristof as he and Ken explore a range of topics on human health, indoor air quality, dehumidification, ventilation, building envelope leakage, and more. Just FYI, we curse a little on this episode so if you’re around sensitive ears, be sure to stick some ear plugs in them.

Disclaimer: Therma-stor has sponsored previous episodes of this podcast and is a current equipment sponsor of the show. Big thanks to their continued support the last 6 years that has kept this show going!

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Ken Gehring, President Emeritus, Therma-stor

Ken Gehring is the President Emeritus and chief troublemaker at Therma-stor in Madison, Wisconsin. His career has spanned the divide between refrigeration service and engineering/product development and his expertise and leadership has led to the development of many products considered a normal part of construction in the 21st century. Ken has a treasure trove of personal stories that paint a picture of the HVAC industry’s evolution over the last 40+ years and its rapid changes in the last decade.

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HVAC Talk

An online forum for HVAC professionals and homeowners to discuss and problem solve issues both normal and strange. You can find Ken’s username, teddy bear, via this link.

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2016 Risinger Interview With Ken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsIq-vI_Cnc
Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Edited and Produced by M. Walker

Through The Looking Glass Of High Performance Windows Sep 23, 2020

What do we actually know and have available to us in the United States market when it comes to high performance windows? The answers may surprise you. Join Kristof as he interviews Sam McAfee of Zola Windows in a wide ranging conversation of window performance, market dynamics, and the future of high performance windows.

Sam MacAfee

Sam McAfee has been a student of green building ever since buying his first Earthship books back in 1988. Since then, he has received an MFA in Sculpture from UC Berkeley, designed web experiences for Gucci, HBO, & Showtime, and launched the green-contracting company Sumner Green that executed one of the first PH retrofit projects in NYC (2010).

He went on to co-found 475 High-Performance Building Supply, co-design the Zola Historic Simulated-DH window being used in many landmarked Passivhaus projects around the country, and started SGbuild Consulting that worked alongside Baxt Ingui Architecture to complete the first certified Passivhaus in Manhattan (2014) and the First Landmarked Passivhaus in NYC (2014). Over the last 4 years, he was co-founder & CTO of Fentrend.com, a global window & door marketplace, and designed/developed the permit data analysis portal FenIQ (iq.fentrend.com).

He is currently with Zola Windows (www.zolawindows.com) and in charge of their NYC client support & market development and has launched the NYC Low-Carbon Building Social Networking group focused on expanding the reach of high-performance building knowledge into other segments of the NYC real estate market.

Zola Windows

“Zola is committed to offering its customers products that stand apart from the competition. We are continuously innovating and improving our windows and doors to ensure that we can offer the highest performance and quality on the market. We are proud of the recognition that has brought us in the architectural and building communities.”

https://www.zolawindows.com

Ventilation & Virus Transmission Prevention (And Other Topics Too) Aug 07, 2020

How well do we understand the behavior of the novel coronavirus in our homes? What can we do to make our homes healthier? What is a CERV? These questions open the door to a rich exploration of the role of ventilation in healthy indoor environments. And you’ll be surprised to find how intimately connected ventilation is to a future powered by solar PV. Join Kristof as he interviews Ty Newell in a broad exploration of topics relevant to any building science aficionado.

Ty Newell, PhD, P.E.

Professor Emeritus - University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Engineer/Owner - Build Equinox

After a distinguished career at one of the country’s finest research institutions, Ty is now the owner/engineer at Build Equinox, focused on developing technologies for sustainable, healthy and comfortable living. They are the company responsible for manufacturing the CERV ("serve") smart ventilation system for residences. He’s an all around brainiac and kind soul.

The Westford Summer Camp Blues Aug 03, 2020

For the first time in its 24 year history, the Westford Symposium on Building Science was forced to take a hiatus by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (it would have began as of the release of this episode). If you’ve never heard of this conference, you’ve been missing out. It’s one of the most incredible hubs of building science knowledge exchange and community building in North America. Obviously, we were sad about missing it so we decided to ask the founders and hosts of the conference for an interview. Join us as Kristof interviews Joe Lstiburek and Betsy Petit about the history, meaning, and impact of “Building Science Summer Camp.”

Joseph Lstiburek

Ph.D., P.Eng., ASHRAE Fellow

Principal, Building Science Corporation

Joseph Lstiburek is the founding principal of Building Science Corporation. Dr. Lstiburek’s work ranges widely, from providing expert witness testimony to overseeing research and development projects, to writing for the ASHRAE Journal and buildingscience.com. Dr. Lstiburek’s commitment to advancing the building industry has had a lasting impact on building codes and practices throughout the world, particularly in the areas of air barriers, vapor barriers, and vented and unvented roof assemblies. For example, his work with industry partners through the Department of Energy’s Building America program led to significant research into the wetting and drying of walls and ultimately to a major code change relaxing the requirement for vapor barriers in the International Residential Code.

Dr. Lstiburek is also an acclaimed educator who has taught thousands of professionals over the past three decades and written countless papers as well as the best-selling Builder Guides. Fittingly, the Wall Street Journal has described him as "the dean of North American building science." He has a joy for telling tall tales to his protégés and audiences.

Dr. Lstiburek holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Building Science. While still an undergrad, Dr. Lstiburek worked as a residential construction manager; during his Master’s degree, he developed the Air Drywall Approach to air barriers. Other formative experiences include working on the Canada-wide Super Energy Efficient Housing R-2000 program and serving as senior engineer on commercial construction projects for Trow in Toronto. Dr. Lstiburek founded BSC in 1990 with his business partner Betsy Pettit, and he has been a key figure in establishing BSC as one of the most influential, innovative, and respected building science firms in North America.

Betsy Pettit

M.Arch., FAIA

President, Building Science Corporation

Betsy Pettit is the president of Building Science Corporation and is a registered architect with over 35 years of professional experience in the design and renovation of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. With a particular passion for and commitment to environmentally responsible design, Ms. Pettit managed Building Science Corporation’s role in the Department of Energy’s Building America project for the past twenty years, which has involved the design of over 2,000 high performance houses throughout the United States.

Consistent with her philosophy that environmental responsibility ought to also be economical, Ms. Pettit has done extensive work to advance the building industry in the area of energy efficient affordable housing, partnering with Habitat for Humanity, as well as developers and builders across the United States. She is the former Director of Modernization and Redevelopment in the public housing division of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Offices of Communities and Development, where she oversaw over $120 million of building improvements to Massachusetts’ 40,000 units of public housing.

Ms. Pettit has given seminars on the subject of healthy and environmentally responsible housing to builders and architects across the country, and she has contributed to many procedural and technical manuals and papers to guide designers and contractors in the area of high performance design. She has also served as chair of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) Buildings Conference, where BSC staff members are frequent presenters.

Ms. Pettit holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Design from Miami University and a Master of Architecture from North Carolina State University. Based on Ms. Pettit’s “notable contributions to the advancement of the profession of architecture,” she was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in February 2008.

Obsessed With Humidity Jul 18, 2020

The world’s climate is changing and so the way we think about design needs to change with it. But before we know what that looks like, let’s dig into the science and understand how it might change. And as we think about expanding humid climate zones in the era of climate change, what does the cutting edge dehumidification technology look like? You’re going to find out. Join us as Kristof interviews Pamela Cabrera about the expansion of humid climate zones in the future and the development of passive, membrane-based dehumidification.

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Pamela is currently a project climate engineer at Transsolar. Cabrera’s research centers on building science and new material assemblies for passive climate control systems. Her professional experience has alternated between New York and Lima, where she co-ran the studio CE-AD for three years. She is a partner at the Peruvian NGO Construye Identidad, where she contributes with research on the development of vernacular building and materials. She has a BArch from The Cooper Union and a Master’s in Design Studies in Energy & Environment from Harvard GSD, where she received the Daniel L. Schodek Award for Technology and Sustainability.

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Abstracts For Pamela’s Research Work

Uncovering Future Mold Risks in Existing Residential Walls with Climate Change
Pamela. L. Cabrera1 , Holly W. Samuelson1 1 Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, USA

This paper exposes the vulnerability of prevalent, wood-framed residential envelopes to mold-growth in predicted future weather, a topic that is yet to be explored in scientific literature. In the U.S. and elsewhere, residential exterior walls have followed a tradition of layered construction, including interior insulation to mitigate heat loss and vapor membranes to control moisture. These building assemblies, and their defining codes, have been designed for a narrow definition of historical climate which may be ill- suited for future conditions. We combine state-of-the-art hygrothermal simulation and mold-growth computation with morphed future weather data to analyze 60 prevalent code-compliant walls in three U.S. cities: New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Our results show an imminent problem in all tested wall types indicating future mold prevalence. The work serves as a framework for considering future hygrothermal risks in building envelopes and demonstrates the widespread need for further work on building resilience.

The Humid Threshold: Cooling hot, humid climates via membrane dehumidification
Thesis, Master in Design Studies - Energy and Environment Pamela L. Cabrera Pardo Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, USA

The thesis centers on the design of a membrane material for cooling hot, humid climates via dehumidification, by selecting water vapor out of humid air. While membrane selectivity is a well-known field of study, found throughout nature and applied across industries, architecture has only regarded membranes as barriers. However, membranes have the potential to separate substances through diffusion, a passive process that is isothermal, and therefore a membrane selectivity system for dehumidification can be less energy intensive than typical vapor compression system used for cooling (Yang, Yuan, Gao, & Guo, 2015) (Woods, 2014) (Mahmud, Mahmood, Simonson, & Besant, 2010). Membrane dehumidification research has been developed over two decades for the enhancement of air mechanical units, but it has not yet been proposed as a building material. This thesis investigates the possibility of using membranes as a building screen material to dehumidify incoming air as it is drawn into a building. This application could lower the latent heat that drives air conditioning demand in humid climates, and thus increase natural ventilation potential and other passive dry-bulb cooling strategies.

Constructal Law Meets Building Science - Flow Systems Are Everywhere Jun 05, 2020

It’s not often that you get to have a discussion with someone who has uncovered a fundamental physical law of the universe, but that’s exactly what we got to do in this unmissable episode. In a very entertaining and fascinating departure from our usual discussion of building science, we dive deeply into the concepts underlying Contstructal Law with its discoverer, Professor Adrian Bejan of Duke University. Our conversation ranged from HG TV, to the golden ratio in architecture, to the evolution of Homo sapiens, to fake news, and so much more. Join us as Kristof tries to uncover the mysteries of flow structures that prevent us from creating better buildings and we’ll also learn why a duct system, river, leaf, and lightning bolt are all shaped so similarly. Buckle up and hold on to your hats, folks!

Stewardship & The Future of Engineering May 29, 2020

Engineers can fulfill a vital role in their communities through civic activism, proactive engagement in shaping public policy and leading in the civic realm. This segment of the Ideas Institute will explore the future of civic activism and leadership in the public realm for engineers. It is time for the engineering community to contribute to this re-examination in the spirit of technological and environmental stewardship. Increased leadership from the engineering community is needed to help society prepare for future crises.

Join Kristof in an interview with members of the Engineering Change Lab USA as they explore the future of engineering.

Passive House Accelerator Apr 03, 2020

Join Kristof as he interviews Zack Semke and Michael Ingui of Passive House Accelerator on all the great work they’re doing to build community in the building science field.

Passive House Accelerator

Mission

Together we can make a difference! We have seen the power of collaboration.

The Passive House Community is creative, driven, and Collaborative. Passive House Accelerator has been created to make it easier for others to learn about Passive House, to support the community by allowing them to share ideas and solutions, to continue and expand on the incredible conversations and sessions at conferences, and to allow those who are succeeding in creating beautiful projects and/ or solutions to share their knowledge.

Passive House Accelerator aggregates the already fantastic content from existing sites while also creating a new platform for people to share new ideas. This site will hopefully always be a work in progress.

One of the keys to the success of Passive House Accelerator is for you to contribute -

Create new short or long articles

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Zack Semke (CPHC, LEED AP) is Director of Passive House Accelerator, VP of Marketing with Zola Windows, and owner of Semke Studio, a marketing consultancy for the high performance building industry. Part of Al Gore's Climate Reality Leadership Corps. Zack writes and speaks about the role that buildings can play in accelerating the clean energy transition. He studied human biology, with a focus on human ecology, at Stanford University (BA, ’93). Since then he’s worked as a policy advocate for progressive regional planning, a developer and leader of nonprofit community organizations, a taiko (Japanese drum) musician, and an evangelist for Passive House construction.

Michael Ingui is a Partner at Baxt Ingui Architects, located in NYC. Baxt Ingui is a highly collaborative architectural design firm that consists of a number of talented architects and teams, most of which are also Certified Passive House Designers. Michael is active in the Passive House community, speaking at many national and international conferences. The team at Baxt Ingui have extended their collaborative efforts by opening their homes during construction to teach architects, tradespeople, homeowners, and developers to integrate better building techniques.

A House Needs To Breathe... Or Does It? Mar 31, 2020

Allison Bailes is writing a book! Allison writes the popular Energy Vanguard Blog. With a PhD in physics and thousands of hours spent in attics and crawl spaces, he knows a thing or two about houses. Join Kristof in a discussion with his old friend and colleague as they explore common myths about houses and talk about your next book purchase.

Dr. Allison Bailes III

With a background in physics and nearly twenty years of experience in many facets of the residential buildings industry, Allison Bailes has a good handle on what’s wrong with residential buildings and how to fix them. In 2001, he built a high-performance home and launched himself into a new career in the world of building science. Since that time, he has worked as an HVAC designer, home performance contractor, regional manager for a green-building program, and building science trainer. For most of this new career, Dr. Bailes has run his own companies. Energy Vanguard, which he started in 2008, is his current firm.
At heart, though, Dr. Bailes is a teacher. He taught high school science for three years prior to earning a PhD in physics from the University of Florida and then taught physics for six years at the college level after his graduate education. Since leaving academia, he has focused his teaching on the principles of building science. Through short presentations, workshops, and extended classes, he has helped thousands of people understand how buildings work.
What Dr. Bailes is most known for is writing the Energy Vanguard Blog, which gets ten thousand page views per day. He also writes regularly for Green Building Advisor and has had articles published in Fine Homebuilding, The Journal of Light Construction, Home Energy Magazine, and other publications. Dr. Bailes is also popular speaker at conferences, presenting keynote speeches, breakout sessions, and extended workshops. In addition, he is a runner, a juggler, and a skier as well as having the honor of being perhaps the only man included in Who’s Who of American Women.

The Book!

A House Needs to Breathe...Or Does It?

“Of course it doesn't. But the people in the house do! That's one of many myths I'll be exploding, along with lots of advice about how to do things right (and sometimes, how not to do them wrong). And with the coronavirus on everyone's mind now, one of the topics I'll be discussing is what's most effective at combating infectious microbes in your home...and what's not.
My goal with this book is to make it one of the most informative and readable building science books in the world. I want people who live in homes - and that's almost everyone - to know how their homes work and what they can do to be more comfortable, have better indoor air quality, and save money on their energy bills.”
Here's some of the advance praise I've gotten for the book:

Dr. Bailes is my favorite writer in building science and HVAC design because of how he simplifies and explains complex topics. This book is sure to be a must read.
~ Bryan Orr, Founder of HVAC School and host of their podcast

I am stoked to share my excitement about the upcoming book, "A House Needs to Breathe." Manufacturers, distributors, trades, and design professionals need to get it right - right now. There's so much bad BS (building science) floating around, it needs to be sanitized before society moves into more bad houses. Dr. Allison Bailes, a designer's designer, will clean house with this one - a recommended must-read!"
~ Robert Bean (ret.), ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, Mechanical and Building Construction Engineering

Allison Bailes makes the complex world of building science seem intuitive. He combines the penetrating analysis of a physicist with the flowing narrative of a storyteller. And the story he tells is about what your home can and should be doing to make your life better. You're going to want to read this book!

~ Kristof Irwin, P.E., host of the Building Science Podcast

“If you order this book, you'll get signed copies of the book. If you order at the Six Pack level or higher, you'll also get your name listed in the book. And the top four levels have other bonuses (free consulting, webinar, workshops, or advertising in the Energy Vanguard Blog) included for the same price per book.

Please go to the campaign page and then click the Pre-order button at the top right to pre-order your copies. And pass the link on to your family, friends, and coworkers.”

Energy Vanguard Blog

Southface

Passive House Austin

The 5 Principles Of A Healthy Home - Start With A Good Enclosure Mar 24, 2020

Now, more than ever, there is a tremendous amount of attention on how interconnected we are to our immediate environmental conditions (and to each other). As building science consultants. Our family, friends, colleagues and clients have asked us for years about information that will help them reduce their exposures to pollutants, like viruses, in their homes, offices, and other indoor spaces. So as we began contemplating this episode, we heavily considered talking more about the Novel Coronavirus and how our work can help prevent potentially worse future outbreaks. What we realized in the process is that creating the future we want to see is the only way out of the old paradigm. We have to internalize the fact that buildings can improve health outcomes, both for us as human beings and also for the health of our planet.

This podcast episode is the first of a five part series exploring what we see to be The 5 Principles Of A Healthy Home. Join Kristof and Miguel as we explore what it means to “start with a good enclosure.”

The 5 Principles Of A Healthy Home:

-Start with a good enclosure
-Minimize indoor emissions
-Keep it dry
-Effectively capture particles
-Ventilate

2019: Looking Back & Looking Forward Dec 20, 2019

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It’s been an incredible year. Let’s unpack it together and take a look at what’s coming your way in Season 6 of the show. Join producer Miguel & host Kristof for a fireside chat as the winter settles in around us.

Death Of The Suburbs: An Urban Manifesto Dec 09, 2019

It’s time to fundamentally reevaluate the way we build - not just at the level of detailing, but at the scale of the city. What are the decisions we make about density and how do they affect our daily lives? Why do we orient our urban infrastructure around cars when they’re incredibly inefficient ways to move people around? Why can’t you get to 90% of your daily needs within a 15 minute walk? Join Kristof as he interviews Ruchi Modi of the architecture and urbanism firm, PAU on a range of topics exploring how urban environments (can and will) actually benefit the entire planet.

Ruchika Modi, AIA

Ruchika Modi is an associate partner and the studio director at PAU. A registered architect, she oversees all aspects of the design process in the office. Most recently Ruchika completed design development for Riverfront Square, a 730-unit residential project in Newark, NJ. She is currently spearheading the design of the Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, NY, an adaptive reuse project to transform a factory into offices with a mixed-use ground floor; the master plan and design of forty-one buildings as part of a mixed-use new development in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and an arcade infill and POPS design for an Emery Rothâ€“designed office building in Manhattan.

Before joining PAU, Ruchika was a senior associate at Standard Architects and a founding partner of Studio r&star in New York City. She has also worked at Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, Richard Lewis Architects, Maria McVarish Design Services, and Tim Perks Architecture.

Ruchika holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, where she was awarded the Charles McKim Prize for Excellence in Design / Saul Kaplan Traveling Fellowship, the William Kinne Fellows Prize for Study and Travel Abroad, and the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize. She received her BA in economics from the University of Delhi and a BA with distinction in interior architecture from the California College of Arts, San Francisco. Her work has been exhibited at the Center for Architecture in New York, the International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, and the China International Architectural Biennale in Beijing.

PAU

Founded by Vishaan Chakrabarti, FAIA FRAIC, in 2015, PAU is both an emerging and an established global practice. We embrace architecture and city planning as allied fields operating along a range of scales. We break down disciplinary boundaries by expanding the definition of architecture and rejecting the silos that have ossified it. Our designers use both sides of their brains to be as creative as they are analytical. Given the breadth and depth of our teamâ€™s talents, but also in an effort to raise labor standards in our field, we treat our personnel with the utmost respect in terms of compensation, staff development, benefits, and work-life balance. Our team of twenty, our network of experienced collaborators, and our clients all come to PAU inspired by our desire to palpably and positively impact the world. Together we thrive on constraints such as program, constructability, public process, regulation, budget, and schedule as the fuel for innovation and beauty. To achieve this, from the precise scale of an architectural detail to the large scale of a master plan, ours is a group of â€œswiss-army knives,â€ professionals who employ an unprecedented range of skills and mindsets. We are fluent in multiple languages: we speak architecture, we speak culture, we speak ecology, we speak economics, we speak academia, we speak urbanity, we speak government, and, perhaps most importantly, we speak the language of democratic public process, because the complexities of the projects we design demand no less. Below are brief descriptions of the individuals who form our unique collective, a group of thinkers who build, utopian pragmatists whose dreams of impactful design have been forged in the white heat of hard-fought experience.

Carbon Fluency Nov 23, 2019

Architects and engineers have great power because they make decisions that influence resource and energy use in their buildings. With great power comes great responsibility and now is the time to become fluent in the language of embodied carbon. In this episode Kristof has a lively conversation with Z. Smith and Kelsey Wotila from EskewDumezRipple on this and some adjacent topics.

The Insulation Decision Nov 09, 2019

While insulation and airtightness are critical elements of a high performance building, they also can significantly increase the risk of health and moisture failure issues. In addition, if using high "embodied carbon" impact materials then high performance buildings can have a higher net carbon impact by 2050 than conventional buildings. Come join us to learn how to create truly healthy, durable, comfortable, and low carbon impact buildings. Join Kristof as he interviews Lucas Johnson in a discussion about the impacts of insulation material decisions.

Lucas is a building scientist who has worked as a builder, utility program manager, enclosure systems consultant, and clean tech venture capital consultant to deliver Zero Net Energy, Passive House, Living Future, and even two of his own standards: SUN Buildings and Active House. Lucas holds a degree in Physicochemical Biology as well as a Master of Environmental Science and

Lucas Johnson

EcoEntrepreneurship. His position at 475 is his dream job since he gets to share his experience by collaborating with architects, engineers, and builders to make their projects cost-effective, carbon negative, healthy, durable, and enjoyable.

The V In HVAC - Part 2 Oct 05, 2019

As houses get tighter, we know they need to be ventilated (hopefully). But many in the building industry don’t understand ventilation well. We know about the less than ideal ways to do it, like raw fresh air intakes. We’ve heard of ERVs. And it seems like everyone thinks they want them, but nobody understands them or cares enough to actually bring them into a project. Well wonder no more friends. This episode is a two part series and a deep dive into the V in HVAC - demystifying the ventilation paradigm and making ERVs a topic you can wrap your head around after a few listens.

Don’t be afraid to rewind. Soak it up. Join Kristof as he interviews Chris Smith of Zehnder America about ERVs, HRVs, and all things ventilation.

Chris Smith, Business Development Manager, Zehnder America

Chris Smith is Business Development Manager for Zehnder America, a high-performance residential ventilation division of the Swiss-based Zehnder Group. Chris's technical inclinations were established as a teenager in his family's CNC machine shop and further developed as a guided-missile launcher technician in the U.S. Navy. He has spent over 15 years in the residential design/build industry as a designer and licensed construction supervisor. He is an NAHB Certified Green Professional and a Certified Passive House Tradesperson. He has designed custom, balanced ventilation systems for hundreds of projects and has personally installed many of them. Chris's professional passion is to help mature the North American building industry's knowledge and application of ventilation systems and promote best practices for healthy Indoor Air Quality.

The V In HVAC - Part 1 Jul 19, 2019

Don’t be afraid to rewind. Soak it up. Join Kristof as he interviews Chris Smith of Zehnder America about ERVs, HRVs, and all things ventilation.

Chris Smith, Business Development Manager, Zehnder America

That's How The Light Gets In Jun 14, 2019

Architecture that interacts skillfully w/ the sun is needed now more than ever. Beyond just light and heat there are broader implications and deeper relationships between the building skin and aperture that are not always transparent during the design process. It's time to develop a sympathetic understanding of interrelated decision factors. Enter Matt and Dason and their new book that seeks to fill a void in the understanding and practice of designing around the Sun. This is an architects resource for moving the industry forward with the design of apertures - both the pragmatics and the poetics. This interview shares a feast of ideas related to this evolving field with two of its thought leaders.

Fix-A-Flat For Houses? May 07, 2019

Join Kristof as he interviews Amit Gupta, CEO of AeroBarrier and Aeroseal Technologies. The discussion dives into the particulars of a unique and fascinating technology company at the helm of the architectural and construction industry change.

Don't Just Build A House. Build A Legacy. Apr 05, 2019

David Escobedo is a fascinating character with a deep connection to his own heritage in the construction industry. Join Kristof as he interviews David for a conversation that outlines not just the path of a builder, but the path of someone who wants to leave behind a legacy.

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David Escobedo is the active founder of Escobedo Group where he leads a six-division, vertically-integrated luxury home building company that self-performs their work.

Escobedo’s focus on solid construction methods, resulting in superior aesthetic beauty, is seamlessly delivered due to the fact that the company is literally building every aspect of the project within their own stone, metal and millwork divisions.

Equipped with the latest CNC technology and some of the best craftsmen in the country, Escobedo guarantees razor-edge precision, which has become the signature of his work.
Today, David’s primary focus is utilizing digital fabrication and computational modeling within all the company’s divisions, leveraging his DARIO panelized construction process that delivers fully systems-integrated pre-fabricated wall, floor and roof panels that mitigate the customary high-end residential construction issues surrounding weather, labor force scarcity and site risks. Escobedo is literally revolutionizing how luxury homes are built with his DARIO process.

Escobedo is known within the design and building industry for his technical design capabilities, his skills in fabricating complex and challenging structures and his problem- solving techniques. In 2016, Escobedo collaborated with colleagues from MIT, ETH-Zurich and Cambridge to design and fabricate the prestigious Armadillo Vault, a 399-piece limestone vault with a 60’x50’ footprint standing in true compression; a showstopper at the by- invitation-only 2016 La Biennale di Venezia Architettura (prototype model pictured above).

Escobedo and his work have appeared in Dezeen, CNN Style, Domus, The Economist, BBC with Will Gompertz, Austin Business Journal, Houston Chronicle, HGTV, The Guardian, Architectural Record, Inhabitat, Architect, Elle Decor, Detail, Luxe, Western Interiors, Cowboys & Indians, Objektandothers. The company was deemed the #1 General Contractor in Texas in 2018 and has won the Artisan award from Texas Society of Architects, as well as the Custom Home Pacesetter Award. David Escobedo had been named one of the top 100 most influential Latin business owners in America.

David lives just outside Austin,Texas with his wife Kathy, three dogs and a cat. All three of David and Kathy’s children (Matt, Jessica and Anna) work at Escobedo Group.

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For more show notes and photos, visit our show’s website.

Just Don't Tell Them It's Passive House! Mar 22, 2019

If you’re ever wondered what kind of salt it takes to move the needle for multi-family passive house projects, look no further than the story of architect and developer Hank Keating. We all have under utilized power in our professional roles. Join Kristof for a discussion with Hank about the work he’s done in Massachusetts to make way for passive house buildings - from codes, to renter occupants, to design - this episode’s got it all.

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Hank Keating, AIA

Mr Keating is a registered architect with more than 30 years of experience in the design and construction of multifamily affordable housing projects. Recently retired from Trinity Financial, (but consulting back on select projects) Mr Keating completed over nine affordable housing developments totaling over 1500 units in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York City while at Trinity. For the last 10 years Mr Keating has been engaged with the Passive House movement and designed and completed a passive house for himself while pushing to move Trinity’s large scale affordable projects toward the Passive House Standards. He managed the Bristol Commons / Lenox Green project in Taunton which created 160 affordable units built to near the passive house standard– 4 years of data tracking demonstrates that the project is using 80% less heating energy that comparable LEED GOLD projects in Massachusetts. Since retiring, he has been consulting with Trinity during the design of 425 Grand Concourse, a 26 story, 270 unit, affordable passive house project in NYC. Mr Keating is currently on the Passive House Massachusetts Board of Directors and has been leading the efforts of its Public Policy Committee to get passive house incentives included in the upcoming EEAC Three-Year Plan for utility company incentive programs. In addition, he is on the MassCEC Passive House Challenge Selection Committee and has been working with DHCD to encourage the addition of QAP bonus points for passive house projects.

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Green Builder Article On Hank

“This unique home’s smart and solar bells and whistles reduce its ecological footprint even more.

Building a home up to standards required to be deemed “passive” might make some builders cringe. But when the Valle Group received such a request, it was almost par for the course. The Cape Cod, Mass.-based builder specializes in carefully planned, energy-efficient homes.”

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Passive House Massachusetts

Passive House Massachusetts is a member-based non-profit organization that promotes a healthy and comfortable built environment that significantly reduces energy consumption and lowers carbon emissions by utilizing the Passive House building standard and other high-performance building strategies, focusing on education, training, outreach, and advocacy.

We regularly host meetings, trainings, tours, and other events related to Passive House design and construction and serve as a hub of knowledge for high-performance design in the state and region.

PHMA members include designers, builders, engineers, policy makers, students, community leaders, and all those interested in high-performance, energy efficient buildings. From regular member meetings and educational programming to tours and special events, there are plenty of way for members to become involved and membership support is essential to our work promoting and expanding the use of Passive House and high-performance building.

End Game Refrigerants Mar 08, 2019

Refrigerants are all around us and we barely ever notice. They are a hidden force in creating the comforts we have grown to think of as normal and yet many of us know little about them. Rethinking refrigerants is considered by many experts to be the #1 way to to combat and draw down climate change given how much carbon they can add to the atmosphere when not created and handled correctly. This episode features John Miles of Sanden Water Heaters in a ranging discussion of the effects and behaviors of refrigerants that might just blow your mind a little.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know, You Know? Feb 15, 2019

The state of our current housing industry’s understanding and treatment of HVAC systems in in quiet crisis. Systems are routinely installed incorrectly to the detriment of the environment both on a macro scale and on the micro scale of the air quality inside people’s homes. In this episode, Kristof interviews Sean and Ian Harris, the owners of IAQ Texas. You'll hear discussion on why quality duct installation is crucial for good indoor air quality outcomes.

Also, we talk about Aerobarrier. It’s a little sneak peak for our full episode with the CEO of AeroBarrier, Amit Gupta, to be released soon!

Sean Harris has been developing his interest in residential home construction since participating in a remodel project, certified by Austin Energy’s Green Building Program in 2005. With a degree in business administration, Sean combines his interest in green building and knowledge of business systems. Sean oversees the operations of Positive Energy and including product development, quality control, staffing, and marketing/sales. He is also a certified RESNET energy rater and conducts home performance inspections, energy code tests, ECADS, and HERS ratings. His father and business partner, Ian Harris, has worked in many aspects of the residential construction industry for decades and was a Positive Energy consultant in the early days of the company. Together, they run IAQ Texas, offering observation, cleaning, and sealing services across the state of Texas.

Rooted in building science, IAQ Texas was started by testing homes to better understand how they work and how indoor air quality can improve your health and comfort. IAQ Texas has experience in hundreds of new and older homes throughout Central Texas and beyond. They aim to help builders who frequently struggle to seal building envelopes and duct systems, to prevent leaving homeowners, especially in older homes, stuck with poorly sealed houses, discomfort, and IAQ issues. Since the beginning their goal has been to resolve poor indoor air quality issues for both builders and homeowners. The team believes that the greatest possible quality of life indoors can happen by simply improving and protecting the air you breathe.

Texas Goes Passive Jan 31, 2019

Is Dallas, Texas ready for the state’s first internationally certified Passive House? Kyle and Connor Fagin think so and they’re betting on it. Join Kristof as the Fagin Partners tell us their unique story of operating in the developer driven construction world to sacrificing profit for the principled push forward in industry transformation.

Kyle Fagin

The first home Kyle ever built was a tree house for his three awesome kids. Sometime after that he began a major remodel on a mid-century home for his family and was heavily involved in all aspects of the project. A year or so later he was part of a team that designed and built the family lake house in East Texas. He discovered building really suited him and it seemed that he had a knack for it as well. He built commercially for a while, but found residential much more enjoyable. His true passion is learning how to build the most efficient and sustainable homes that can be built and now does this alongside his son and partner Connor. When he's not working, Kyle enjoys biking, sailing, being outdoors and spending time with his wife, Christy, and his three kids.

Connor Fagin

Connor is a graduate from Baylor University. He has always been deeply involved in community adventures; he helped to develop the Dallas High School Meals on Wheels advisory board, which is still active today. He is a self-proclaimed techie and stays on the leading edge of any technology that can enhance his own life as well as the customers. “I truly enjoy the fact that the changes I help people make to their little slice of the American Dream is something that they will enjoy and be proud of for years to come.”

Fagin Partners

Kyle and Connor are extremely proud of the homes they have built and are building; their focus is on their customers, the environment, and the union of the two.

The homes built by Fagin Partners are efficient, sustainable, consistent and include the forethought to make it the most comfortable home for their customer. The attention to detail in each home allows each customer to be sure their home is uniquely theirs.

Fagin Partners sees the value in doing good for the environment but also appreciate that these efficiencies greatly impacts the customers. Through innovative materials and technology we create our unique yet comfortable homes. We are constructing homes today to prepare for the changes and needs of the future.

At Fagin Partners, we sacrifice profit on each project to create a high preforming product that pays our customers back every month, year after year.

Fagin Partners Passive House Press

'An experiment unlike any other': Father-son duo build first house of its kind in Texas

A spec Passive House was built in Dallas. Will buyers bite?

Designer Spotlight: Fagin Partners and the Passive House

The First Passive House in Texas

PASSIVE HOUSE – A First of its Kind Home Makes its Mark in Texas by Making None.

Texas-Sized Savings: Texas’ First Certified Passive Home Runs on $2 of Energy a Day

Look Inside First 'Passive House' in Texas

Sense Energy Monitoring System

Every electrical device has a unique electronic signature — its own voice. The Sense home energy monitor listens to those voices through current sensors in your electric panel. It records them millions of times per second. Then advanced machine learning detection algorithms work to distinguish one appliance from another — to recognize each individual voice. Over time, more and more devices are discovered as the Sense community grows.
https://sense.com

Flo Smart Water Meter Monitoring System

https://meetflo.com

Flo by Moen is installed on the main water supply line to the home. Because it’s installed in-line, this allows Flo by Moen to monitor all water going into the home. The device has three sensors that actively monitor water flow, pressure, and temperature. These sensors, in combination with Flo by Moen’s algorithms, are what enable Flo by Moen to detect and protect the home from problems like leaks, burst pipes, etc.

There's What In This Building?! Jan 14, 2019

Modern building materials are generally feats of engineering marvel - we’ve managed to manufacture countless high performing systems, yet it has often been at the cost of human exposure to harmful chemicals. But it’s not a hopeless situation. There are people who are helping the average consumer understand what’s what. Join Kristof in a wide ranging conversation with Gina Ciganik and William Weber from the Healthy Building Network.

Gina Ciganik

Chief Executive Officer

Gina has been growing and scaling HBN’s vision since assuming the CEO role in 2016. Previously she served as Senior Advisor for Housing Innovation, establishing and leading the HomeFree initiative, an expansion of HBN’s healthy materials work into the affordable housing sector. Recognized as a national leader in transforming human and environmental health through strategic partnerships, innovative business practices, education, and leading-edge research, Ciganik has a proven track record of creating healthier spaces where we live, work, and play. Prior to HBN, she was Vice President of Housing Development at a Minneapolis-St. Paul area affordable housing development organization, where she spent two decades creating thousands of healthy, affordable homes. Her efforts culminated in the construction of The Rose, a 90-unit apartment building in Minneapolis that set a new national standard for healthy materials.

William Weber

Collective Impact Director

Billy oversees the leadership and design of HBN’s communities of practice and educational activities, with a focus on the HomeFree Affordable Housing Initiative. A widely sought and accomplished speaker, technical advisor, and facilitator on innovative projects regionally and nationally, Weber’s work focuses on the integration of sustainability and architecture through applied research, exploring and developing tools to evaluate and compare what are often disparate aesthetic, economic, and environmental goals. Before joining HBN he served in multiple roles over a nearly 20-year stint at the University of Minnesota, including as Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Building Research and Lecturer at the School of Architecture. Weber has both a B.A. and M.Arch. from the University of Minnesota.

Home Free Website - 9 Product Categories

Healthy Building Network

HomeFree

HomeFree Products

Chlorine/PVC Research

Chlorine and Building Materials (A Global Inventory of Production Technologies, Markets, and Pollution Phase 1: Africa, The Americas, and Europe)

Antimicrobial Research

Healthy Environments: Understanding Antimicrobial Ingredients In Building Materials

HPD Repository

HPD Public Repository

Building Science Report - Multivariate Insulation Analysis

Making Affordable Multifamily Housing More Energy Efficient: A Guide to Healthier Upgrade Materials

Breathe Like You Mean It Dec 21, 2018

Live from The HIVE Conference held in Austin, TX in 2018, we’re proud to bring you one of the brightest minds in the discipline of indoor air quality research, Dr. Brett Singer from Lawrence Berkley National Labs. Join Kristof as he discusses a broad array of topics that affect every single person who breathes inside a house (so, ya know, most people). It’s our last episode of 2018 and season 4 so we made sure it’s extra long (almost an hour and a half!). Enjoy it and we’ll see you next year!

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Dr. Brett C. Singer, PhD, is a Staff Scientist and Principal Investigator (PI) in the Energy Technologies Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Singer is the Leader of the Indoor Environment Group and co-leader of Indoor Air Quality research in the Residential Building Systems Group.

Dr. Singer has conceived, conducted and led research projects related to air pollutant emissions, physical-chemical processes, and pollutant exposures in both outdoor and indoor environments. His research aims to understand the real world processes and systems that affect air pollutant exposures. His guiding professional motivation is to provide the scientific basis to inform energy and environmental policy.

Dr. Singer leads the Indoor Environmental Quality project within the US-China Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency Program.

A major focus of Dr. Singer’s work over the past decade has been the study of environmental quality and risk reduction in high performance homes. The goal of this research is to accelerate the adoption of IAQ, comfort, durability and sustainability measures into new homes and retrofits of existing homes. This is achieved through the mechanisms of buildings codes and standards; training of builders and contractors; public education; and technology development – all supported by robust research. The IE and RBS research groups conduct in-home studies, controlled laboratory experiments, simulation-based studies and data analysis to identify the most effective and energy efficient air quality control strategies.

Dr. Singer’s early career research examined on-road motor vehicle emissions and the effectiveness of California’s Smog Check program. His first project at LBNL examined the sorption of secondhand smoke compounds, an effect that contaminates materials and leads to extended odors and pollutant exposures. This work helped launch interest in the study of “thirdhand” smoke.

Dr. Singer has authored or co-authored over 50 papers in archival, peer-reviewed journals and dozens of technical reports and peer-reviewed conference papers.

Education and Honors:

2016: Named to the Academy of Fellows of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate.

1998: Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

1991: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Temple University (Summa cum Laude).

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Lawrence Berkley National Labs

From the infinite scale of the universe to the infinitesimal scale of subatomic particles, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Berkeley Lab – are advancing the scope of human knowledge and seeking science solutions to some of the greatest problems facing humankind. Scientific excellence and an unparalleled record of achievement have been the hallmarks of this Laboratory since it was founded in 1931.

Thirteen Nobel Prizes are associated with Berkeley Lab. Eighty Lab scientists are members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors for a scientist in the United States. Fifteen of our scientists have won the National Medal of Science, our nation’s highest award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research, and one (Arthur Rosenfeld) has received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. In addition, Berkeley Lab has trained tens of thousands of university science and engineering students who are advancing technological innovations across the nation and around the world.

Located on a 202-acre site in the hills above the UC Berkeley campus with spectacular views of the San Francisco Bay, Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram science lab in the national laboratory system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Science. It is managed by the University of California and is charged with conducting unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Technologies developed at Berkeley Lab have generated billions of dollars in revenues and thousands of jobs. Savings as a result of Berkeley Lab developments in energy-efficient technologies – from cool roofs to window coatings to appliances – have also been in the billions of dollars.

Berkeley Lab was founded by Ernest Orlando Lawrence, a UC Berkeley physicist who won the 1939 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of the cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that opened the door to high-energy physics. It was Lawrence’s belief that scientific research is best done through teams of individuals with different fields of expertise, working together. His teamwork concept is a Berkeley Lab legacy that continues today.

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The Corsi Code

Originally from a paper titled, Klepeis et al., J Exp Anal Env Epid 2001, 11, 231 from Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology published in the year 2001, volume 11 about a study called the National Human Activity Pattern Survey funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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Season 5 Preview Dec 17, 2018

We just wrapped an unthinkable season 4 of The Building Science Podcast. We hope you'll join us for season 5 in 2019. Hear more about what we'll be discussing.

Do You Have 2030 Commitment Issues? Dec 07, 2018

To support the 2030 Challenge, the American Institute of Architects created the 2030 Commitment Program, aimed at transforming the practice of architecture to respond to the climate crisis in a way that is holistic, firm-wide, project-based, and data-driven. Over 400 A/E/P firms have adopted the 2030 Commitment, and firms from all over the country have been tracking and reporting projects since 2010, with over 2.7 billion ft2 of project work reported in 2016 alone. Join Kristof as he interviews Nathan Kipnis of Kipnis Architecture + Planning as they discuss the 2030 Commitment and all topics in-between.

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Nathan Kipnis, FAIA, LEED BD+C

Founder & Principal, Kipnis Architecture + Planning

Nathan Kipnis has spent his career practicing and promoting the importance of sustainability and energy efficiency in architectural design. A life-long interest was initially sparked during the 1973 energy crisis, and Mr. Kipnis designed his first solar home, located in Boulder, CO, when he was just 22 years old.

Master of Architecture | Emphasis: Energy Conscious Design - 1985
Arizona State University, Tempe

Bachelor of Environmental Design - 1983
University of Colorado, Boulder

AIA National 2030 Commitment Working Group - 2014 to current (Co-chair 2018-2019)
AIA Chicago 2030 Commitment Working Group - 2010 to 2016

Citizens Greener Evanston
Board of Directors - 2010 to 2014
Renewable Energy Task Force - 2008 to current

The architectural work designed by Mr. Kipnis has been widely published both locally and nationally.

Selected awards and distinctions include:
2015 - Elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.
The award is given to those who have made significant contributions to the profession and society on a national level.
2011 - Chicago Magazine Green Award
2009 - Home of the Decade, Natural Home Magazine
1999 - Green Homes for Chicago
A KAP design was selected for this international design competition and built.

"He is one of Chicago's new breed of up-and-coming architects, who blends excellence in architecture with a social conscience. Before the advent of air conditioning, before electricity, everything that was built related to nature. Nate understands that. He made a habit of it long before it was fashionable.” — Stanley Tigerman, FAIA and co-founder of Archeworks.

Viewing the mission beyond his own practice of architecture, Mr. Kipnis’s leadership was instrumental in helping to develop the idea of an offshore wind farm in Lake Michigan off Evanston's shoreline. The work led to a Design Evanston Urban Design/Planning award, and the project is now on the DOE's list of potential offshore wind farm sites.

Additionally, he currently serves as Co-chair for The National AIA AIA 2030 Commitment’s working groups. In this capacity, he assists architects with the AIA 2030 Commitment, whose goal is to design full Net Zero buildings by 2030.

Nathan Kipnis also lectures extensively on topics related to sustainable architectural design and renewable energy. He has been an invited speaker at numerous symposiums and conferences, including at national AIA conventions, the Chicago AIA, Archeworks, GreenBuild, The Midwest Renewable Energy Association, the Center for Green Technology in Chicago, and Northwestern University's “Green City Summer Institute,” as well as being one of the keynote speakers at the Mother Earth News Fair, among others.

Recognized as Chicago’s premier award winning sustainable architectural practice, Kipnis Architecture + Planning (KAP) was founded in 1993 and is based in Evanston, Illinois. KAP has practiced the architectural design philosophy of 'High Design/Low Carbon™' long before it was in vogue. They are guided by the idea that architectural design excellence need not be sacrificed for principles of sustainability. Rather, they believe sustainable design expands the possibilities for innovative architectural forms, construction methods and the use of materials. A particular expertise is the architectural integration of passive solar and bioclimatic design. They are early signatories to the AIA's 2030 Commitment, rigorously working towards having their projects be 'net zero' for their energy use by 2030.

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Architecture 2030 Challenge

The urban built environment is responsible for 75% of annual global GHG emissions: buildings alone account for 39%. Eliminating these emissions is the key to addressing climate change and meeting Paris Climate Agreement targets. To accomplish this, Architecture 2030 issued The 2030 Challenge in 2006 asking the global architecture and building community to adopt the following targets:

All new buildings, developments and major renovations shall be designed to meet a fossil fuel, GHG-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 70% below the regional (or country) average/median for that building type.

At a minimum, an equal amount of existing building area shall be renovated annually to meet a fossil fuel, GHG-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 70% of the regional (or country) average/median for that building type.

The fossil fuel reduction standard for all new buildings and major renovations shall be increased to:

80% in 2020

90% in 2025

Carbon-neutral in 2030 (using no fossil fuel GHG emitting energy to operate).

These targets may be met by implementing innovative sustainable design strategies, generating on-site renewable energy, and/or purchasing (20% maximum) off-site renewable energy.

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2030 Commitment Program

Join the 2030 Commitment today and become part of a growing network of designers striving to meet the 2030 Challenge targets. Commitment signatories gain access to a host of online tools, educational resources, and mentorship opportunities to support success.

The mission of the AIA 2030 Commitment is to support the 2030 Challenge and transform the practice of architecture in a way that is holistic, firm-wide, project based, and data-driven. By prioritizing energy performance, participating firms can more easily work toward carbon neutral buildings, developments and major renovations by 2030.

Joining the 2030 Commitment gives you access to the Design Data Exchange (DDx), a national framework created by AIA with simple metrics and a standardized reporting format for measuring progress. The confidential, easy-to-use DDx lets you pinpoint best practices and anonymously compare project performance in your firm and beyond. The research tool allows you to compare projects of similar type, size, climate, and a host of other attributes across the 2030 portfolio.

Through the 2030 Commitment, you can elevate your practice, save clients money, and combat the effects of global climate change. Explore the resources and articles below to navigate the program.

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The AIA+2030 Series

The AIA+2030 Online Series is an educational program aimed at providing design professionals with the high-performance building knowledge necessary to meet the 2030 Challenge targets. Sponsored by Autodesk and delivered through AIAU, the AIA’s online education portal, the highly-rated Online Series is based on the successful AIA+2030 Professional Series that has been offered to over 30% of AIA’s membership in 25 markets throughout the United States.

New 2030 Commitment Signatories get the first course of the AIA+2030 Online Series for free, so join today!

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Thanks to our sponsor, Passive House Austin for their generous and continued support of the podcast.

3 Hot Topics Served Crunchy Nov 16, 2018

What do heat pump water heaters, ERVs, and low static VRF systems have in common? You’re picturing them and we’re talking about them! Join Kristof in a wide-ranging discussion of building science topics with consultant John Semmelhack of Think Little.

John Semmelhack is the owner of Think Little. He is a Certified Passive House Consultant, a member of the Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) Technical Committee, and is a PHIUS Trainer for the Certified Passive House Consultant and PHIUS+ Rater training programs. He sits on the boards of the Passive House Alliance U.S. (PHAUS) and the Passive House Alliance U.S. – Capital Chapter.

John is also a certified Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rater, a Technical Advisor to builders in the EarthCraft House Virginia green building program, and a BPI-certified Building Analyst. He is a graduate of the Leeds School of Business (no, not that “LEED”) at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Thanks to Passive House Austin for their generous support and partnership.

What Do Spec Homes Dream Of? Oct 26, 2018

If your house could go down a highway at 70MPH, would you trust your architect and builder to make sure it’s not going to fall apart?

Let’s face it - most people can’t build custom homes just like most people can’t afford a Lamborghini. It’s just not a financial reality for so many of us. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t want a car that doesn’t work well and it doesn’t mean we don’t want a high quality home to live in. It sure as hell doesn’t mean we don’t want a healthy environment for ourselves and our families. So what are the economic drivers of a healthy, high quality, affordable home? Join Kristof as he interviews Ben Broughton about the trends in construction economics, job site processes, market dynamics, and the ins-and-outs of quality.

Ben Broughton

Ben is the Design Build Operations Director for Ames Design Build and oversees the execution of all construction projects. He holds a graduate degree in Construction Science and Management, through which his passion for research resulted in publications in peer-reviewed journals. He is a building science student who uses his extensive experience in both commercial and residential construction to vertically integrate the land development and high-end residential components of Ames Design Build. Ben is a key driver of the company’s unique business model, which focuses on building to the highest degree of quality while adhering to exacting schedules and budget control in order to ensure success in each Ames Design Build project. Ben rejects the paradigm that you can't simultaneously be on-time, on budget, and achieve high quality.

Excuse Me, Your Building Is Leaking Oct 05, 2018

Healthy, efficient buildings shouldn't leak. Leaky buildings are unfortunately a staple of our industry norm. As you know, making change in the construction industry is like turning a super tanker. It doesn’t happen quickly, but super tankers do turn. They use a trim tab to enable the large rudder to turn the shift. What is needed now is a fresh take on the societal forces resisting change in construction practices and energy code. We need a trim tab to start the process of countering these stuck forces. Enter a Duane Jonlin, a man with technical depth, a creative mind and a sense of humor. What he has accomplished through unconventional tactics in Seattle and Washington state is nothing short of astounding. The underlying strategy he used is one we can all use in our roles in life where we encounter stickiness and dogma from those who argue for the status quo. Listen with an open mind and enjoy the episode.

Duane Jonlin FAIA

Duane Jonlin is has been appointed by two Governors to the Washington State Building Code Council and chairs its Energy Code Technical Advisory Group. Recently he was appointed by ICC to the 2018 IECC Commercial Buildings Committee. Prior to joining the City of Seattle, Duane was a principal at NBBJ, where he led regulatory compliance and quality management initiatives. He is a professional member of AIA and ASHRAE, with 30 years' experience designing civic and institutional work, and has architectural degrees from the University of Washington and University of Michigan. Duane is an active member of the AIA Seattle Code Committee, and he writes and lectures on energy efficiency and construction technology in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Duane was also elevated in 2016 to the American Institute of Architects’ prestigious College of Fellows. The fellowship program elevates architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession (out of AIA’s membership of 88,000, only 3,200 members are distinguished with this honor). He’s also a really kind and funny person with a lot of great thoughts on how to affect change at a pretty substantial level.

Episode Sponsor

Special thanks to the BEC:Austinfor their generous support. If you’re in the Austin area, be sure to check out their upcoming event called Mutations In Building Skins. More info on their website: button below!

What The Heck Is HOMEChem? Sep 20, 2018

This week’s episode features an interview with Corbett Lunsford on the HOMEChem experiments that were being conducted alongside the filming of a brand new, building science focused show called Home Diagnosis TV (be on the lookout for that). Of course, we're really excited about the potential of Indoor Air Quality education coming to the masses. It's the future fulcrum point of housing and health care. The HOMEChem experiment (House Observations of Microbial and Environmental Chemistry) took place in the month of June 2018, incorporating measurements from over 15 research groups from 9 universities to identify the most important aspects of the chemistry that controls the indoor environment. The HOMEChem field study is expected to kick-start and energize the Chemistry of Indoor Environments community of scientists, while also answering interesting preliminary science questions on the chemistry of indoor environments in a real-world experimental setting. This brings an excellent opportunity for outreach to the broader scientific community and other stakeholders, such as other funding agencies, the local and national media, and the public.

Corbett Lunsford wasn't always a building forensics expert- he used to play piano for ballerinas (among many other things). Since 2008, he has been educating and advocating for better performance testing in construction.

Among his goals are to package building performance so it can easily be understood and used by professionals and consumers alike, for better buildings worldwide. Corbett believes that homeowners are not just aiming for efficiency or sustainability, but that we really want what all homeowners aim for: living in a better home, and getting a better life.

Since 2009, Corbett has put on his Building Performance Workshop, and has hosted over 300 YouTube videos and 80 interviews for the Building Performance Podcast. He wrote the book Home Performance Diagnostics: the Guide to Advanced Testing, and developed the APT Reports software tool.

In 2016 he and his wife, Grace, built the world's highest performance tiny house on wheels, the #TinyLab, and toured the US before settling down in Atlanta, Georgia.

Of course, they’ve performed hundreds of comprehensive home performance tests and building investigations, keynoted for events including InfraMation, Habitat for Humanity Michigan, the Thermal Imaging Conference, the EPA, IR Info, etc, and presented courses in partnership with National Healthy Homes, Air Conditioning Contractors of America, the RESNET and Affordable Comfort (ACI) Conferences.

Home Diagnosis TV

We're excited to share and help promote a brand new show that will air on PBS in 2019 called Home Diagnosis TV. Our friend and colleague, Corbett Lunsford, and his wife Grace have been working tirelessly the last few years to make this project a reality and we are so proud of the result. You may have seen Corbett & Grace before on their Proof Is Possible U.S. tour. You'll be seeing a lot more from us about this show as it launches.

Here's the description from the Home Diagnosis TV website:

“Home Performance Experts Grace and Corbett Lunsford created this 6-episode 30-minute series coming to your television in 2019! Shot in cities across the U.S. as part of the Proof Is Possible Tour, the show follows Corbett and Grace as they solve mystery problems of all types in homes new and old. Presented by Georgia Public Broadcasting with post-production by ECG Productions.”

SixClasses.org

Many of the products we use every day contain chemicals of concern that may be harming our health. Many of these substances can be grouped into “Six Classes”, each containing similar chemicals. The Six Classes approach allows us to better understand these chemicals, their functions, where they are used, and how they can be avoided. It can prevent a cycle of “regrettable substitution,” whereby a phased out harmful chemical is replaced with a closely related chemical which may cause similar harm.

The Sloan Foundation

Founded in 1934 by industrialist Alfred P. Sloan Jr., the Foundation is a not-for-profit grantmaking institution that supports high quality, impartial scientific research; fosters a robust, diverse scientific workforce; strengthens public understanding and engagement with science; and promotes the health of the institutions of scientific endeavor.

5 Principles Of A Healthy Home Aug 31, 2018

Health is the new green - this message is seemingly everywhere these days. It's clear that a shift is underway in the way we think about our homes and buildings. A quality building does more than just use energy efficiently, it needs to provide for the occupants. This means recognizing that our clients will spend their time immersed in the air we create for them and that indoor air is a dominant exposure. Now is the time to get clear on how our homes and buildings relate to health, comfort and well-being and, more importantly, what to do about it.

There are myriad known and emerging contaminants that negatively impact occupants. This episode will break this complex and daunting topic down into 5 clear and actionable principles.

The 5 Principles Of A Healthy Home:

(1) Start with a good enclosure

(2) Minimize indoor emissions

(3) Keep it dry

(4) Effectively capture particles

(5) Ventilate

This episode will cover each step to make it clear why it matters and, more importantly, how to incorporate the benefits of this succinct approach into design and delivery decisions. Once understood, these 5 concepts will help design and construction teams make decisions all along the project lifecycle.

The Building Science Podcast Presents: The Edifice Complex Aug 17, 2018

We got so much great feedback from listeners who loved the last crossover episode. So much so that we figured why not do it again? This week we're proud to present to you one of our favorite building-centric shows, The Edifice Complex. Hosted by our colleague Robert Bean (who has been on our show before) and our new friend Adam Muggleton, we're thrilled to bring you an episode of their show in which they interviewed our beloved Building Science Podcast host, Kristof.

In this episode, topics discussed are as follows:

1. How energy is a technology, not just a fuel,

2. Air filters can be a poignant moment in life!

3. How “health is the new green”

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder how you got to where you are now and so much more. Give their show a listen and share this episode with a friend.

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The Edifice Complex

The Edifice Complex Podcast with Adam Muggleton and Robert Bean is a show dedicated to helping you keep up with who in the world of property design and development is innovating and doing great work, perspective on the adjacent possible, and challenges to the status quo.

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Robert Bean

Robert Bean is a Registered Engineering Technologist (R.E.T.) in building construction (ASET) and a Professional Licensee (P.L.(Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering (APEGA). A design practitioner, author, and educator with over 35 years’ experience.

Robert is president of Indoor Climate Consultants Inc. and director of www.healthyheating.com an on-line resource serving as a technical interpreter and consolidator of academic research within building and health sciences.

Robert is a past two-term ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer and has received numerous industry awards for his contributions including the ASHRAE’s Lou Flagg Award and ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award. He serves on several technical committees related to physiology and the human environment, eXergy and sustainability; and radiant based HVAC Systems. Robert is also the author of numerous industry programs addressing indoor environmental quality and building systems.

Robert works at the intersection of business, buildings, science, demographics, industrial design and product ergonomics.

Adam Muggleton

Adam has been immersed in property and construction for 37 years. Having worked in 20 countries and held leadership positions at several firms, Adam has a unique skill set derived from experience in property development, design team management, project management, and building commissioning.

Adam is passionate about promoting the concept of Commissioning Management as an effective project management tool, to hand over buildings that actually work. He devises and delivers successful project, leadership and testing strategies that achieve optimum outcomes for those involved and affected.

As an industry leader, Adam served on the CIBSE Commissioning Code “A” committee for the 1996 code re-write and the UK BSRIA steering group for Application Guide 16/2002 Variable Flow Water Systems. Adam also served as an international board member for the USA Building Commissioning Association.

Adam’s focus is on property development as a:

• Property Industry Blogger, Podcaster, and Philosopher
• Chartered Project Management Surveyor (RICS)
• Qualified Building Commissioning Professional

Philosophically, the question is this, “why are zero defect, high-performance buildings not normally delivered?”

The Building Science Podcast Presents: The Build Show Jul 31, 2018

Kristof is away in Europe visiting his family so today you get me - your ever faithful producer Miguel. I’ve got a treat for you today - a surprise, bonus if you will, short episode of the podcast. It’s summer and it’s been a long hot summer here in Austin so we wanted to do something new and fun with a bonus episode so here it is.

Today, my friends, we’re doing a CROSSOVER EPISODE.

The Building Science Podcast proudly presents a crossover episode with The Build Show. If you haven’t heard of The Build Show yet, now you have. Matt Risinger of Risinger & Co. has a widely popular YouTube channel that you should check out after you hear this episode. It’s dedicated to building science, fine craftsmanship, and exploring the products and techniques available to builders today. Matt is a great human being, a good friend, a long time colleague, and a really excellent host. He’s got a great team of people including his other host, Jordan Smith and his producer extraordinaire Joey Puterbaugh.

This episode is the audio from a video episode of The Build Show called How to Design and Install a Good HVAC System for the South. It was released this summer after Matt, alongside the Journal Of Light Construction’s Senior Editor, Ted Cushman, interviewed Kristof.

Inside The Mind Of An HVAC Contractor (Or Two) Jul 27, 2018

The perspectives of each team member in construction matter a lot - especially when we're striving to integrate our processes and delivery efforts. One voice that's often missing from the conversation is the voice of the HVAC contractor. So we decided to give a little love to our HVAC contractor compadres and interviewed two of the best in Central Texas. Explore the inner workings of two excellent HVAC contractor's challenges, joys, business realities, and aspirations for the future of the industry. Kristof interviews Patrick Wilks of Wilks Heating & Air in San Antonio, TX and Nacho Moreno of New Results in Austin, TX. The conversation is broad ranging and insightful.

Patrick Wilks

Patrick grew up carrying his father’s tools and learning to serve customers honestly, with the utmost integrity. In 2005 Patrick graduated from Texas A&M University and came home to help in the family business. While honing his skills in air conditioning repair, Patrick has helped grow the business based on the same values his father instilled in him as a young boy. Patrick married his wife, Alicia, in 2010 and has three children, Raeleigh, Mckinley and Luke. As President, he manages the day to day activities at Wilks Air Conditioning & Heating and is dedicated to continuing the tradition of quality service and a strong sense of family.

Nacho Moreno

Ignacio Moreno grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, moved to Austin in 1996 and now considers himself an Austinite. He got his start in the HVAC business as a part time job while going to college and eventually it became his lifelong career. Nacho, as he is know to all his friends and customers, founded New Results Hvac in 2002 and is directly involved in every job from planning to commissioning. Staying on top of new technology, Treating his customers like family, being honest and constantly pushing his crews to provide the best quality are his top priorities.

He is married to his wife Claudia and has 3 boys one of which has started working for him and is quickly learning the trade. Whenever he is not working or building his shipping container house he enjoys learning to use new software suites like Revit which he used to design his house. Having a fascination for technology his hobbies include tinkering in his shop fabricating CNC equipment, home automation gadgets with arduino and raspberry pi boards and occasionally crews a sail boat in Lake Travis regattas.

Locavore Dirt Construction? Jul 13, 2018

Through the years, we've been asked a lot about natural building materials and how they relate to building science. And frankly, it's a nuanced conversation that requires a lot of unpacking preconceived notions about what constitutes a good product (from the perspective of liability, ecology, availability, serviceability, durability, etc.). In this episode of the podcast, we interview Brad King of Earthbound Builders in Austin, TX. They're endeavoring to make natural building materials part of the main stream building processes rather than a custom, "hippie" solution. Check it out, think on it, and let us know your thoughts.

Brad King & Earthbound Builders

Brad King is a builder and specialist in natural building products, including clay plaster finishes. His expertise is robust and he is a great resource for natural building questions and projects.

Brad's company, Earthbound Builders, is a worker-owned collective of builders based in Austin, Texas. They focus on providing high quality, environmentally responsible construction services. Using natural building methods, local materials, and sustainable design principles, they create spaces that are healthier to live in, more beautiful to look at, and better performing than conventional alternatives. Earthbound Builders is committed to collaboration and quality.

Resources

-Dr. Dirt

As mentioned in the episode, read more about Dr. Clay Robinson, PhD and his work with soil science education in the United States. The resources are primarily designed for kids K-12, but the research in the soil science world has profound impacts not only on buildings, but on agriculture and larger sustainability issues.

-American Clay

From the American Clay website:

"American Clay plasters are a natural way to finish any interior. Non-toxic and made in the U.S.A., our plasters are a healthy alternative to paint, wallpaper, cement, acrylic and gypsum plasters. American Clay offers eight plaster finishes, hundreds of colors, unlimited textures, and a depth not found in other finishes."

-Clay Sand Straw

www.claysandstraw.com provides design, consultation, education and construction for straw bale, cob, adobe and timber frame buildings. Please reach out to them for natural building related questions and projects.

-Ann Sussman

Ann Sussman is interested in how buildings influence our behavior. Her book, Cognitive Architecture, written with Justin B. Hollander, reveals the unconscious tendencies at work when we navigate the world around us. These ‘hidden’ predispositions reflect our long evolutionary trip per recent research in psychology and neuroscience, and can help explain why we favor certain urban conditions and building configurations and shun others. Understanding ourselves better, Sussman believes, can lead us to build more humanely and ultimately, more successfully for people.

-New York Times Article On Cob Houses

From the article:

LAGO VISTA, Tex. — As a senior systems analyst at the University of Texas, Austin, Gary Zuker lives in a high-tech world all week. But when the weekend arrives, Mr. Zuker retreats to a home that’s about as low-tech as possible. His getaway is a 900-square-foot cottage that he built himself out of straw and clay. To come upon it, tucked away on two acres in the wooded Hill Country outside Austin, is to find a storybook dwelling that could be Geppetto’s workshop or a Hobbit house...

Use Your Tools - The New COTE Tool Kit Jun 29, 2018

The Building Science Podcast got a couple of Press Passes and went to New York City last week for the AIA Conference on Architecture, 2018. What an incredible conference it was! We had the opportunity to connect with so many thoughtful and visionary architects who want to build a better, healthier future. We're psyched.

One of the most thoughtful conversations we had was with Corey Squire and Tate Walker about the new Committee On The Environment's new Toolkit. It's a resource-rich document that helps firms and projects of any kind measure their progress against benchmarks of sustainability without restrictive prescription pathways, while keeping outcomes at the central focus.

COREY SQUIRE

LEED AP O+M
Sustainability Process Manager, Lake|Flato Architects

Corey works with all Lake|Flato teams to establish sustainability goals, analyze designs with simulation software, and collects post-occupancy performance data. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and a Master of Architecture from Tulane University. In 2012, Squire was awarded the Eskew+Dumez+Ripple Research Fellowship to study building post-occupancy energy performance and sustainable design processes.

Tate Walker

AIA, LEEP AP BD+C, Sustainability Director, OPN Architects

As an architect focused on energy and sustainability in the built environment, he steers OPN’s sustainability initiatives, focusing on energy research, technology evaluation, and high performance design. He regularly writes and presents on issues relating to energy, technology, building science, and promoting environmental awareness through design. His experience includes integrating teams, design charrettes, building systems, and sustainability initiatives on capital projects.

Tate has worked nationally for clients such as Northwestern University, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Iowa State University. He served the United States Green Building Council in various capacities since 2008 and has been a leader within the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance since 2005, including serving as the organization’s vice president in 2009.

At OPN, Tate led the adoption and administration of the 2030 Challenge to transition to net zero energy buildings. He also is chair of the firm’s annual Green Day event and an internal sustainability committee.

He is currently leading the sustainable design for the new Advanced Teaching and Research Building for the Biosciences at Iowa State University, which is targeting LEED Gold. The 115,000 square foot, $52 million project will be an anchor building on campus, incorporating innovative site, water, advanced materials and daylighting components to support a unique, sustainable experience for its users.

About The Committee On The Environment

COTE Mission

The Committee on the Environment (COTE) works to advance, disseminate, and advocate—to the profession, the building industry, the academy, and the public—design practices that integrate built and natural systems and enhance both the design quality and environmental performance of the built environment. COTE serves as the community and voice on behalf of AIA architects regarding sustainable design and building science and performance.

COTE reflects the profession’s commitment to provide healthy and safe environments for people and is dedicated to preserving the earth’s capability of sustaining a shared high quality of life. The committee’s mission is to lead and coordinate the profession’s involvement in environmental and energy-related issues and to promote the role of the architect as a leader in preserving and protecting the planet and its living systems.

COTE provides the AIA with knowledge about environmental issues and advises the Institute on environmental policy matters affecting the practice of architecture. The committee supports cooperation with educators and institutions of learning, manufacturers, government agencies, environmental organizations, and industry groups in advancing environmentally sound design processes and standards as well as environmentally innovative materials and integrated systems.

COTE Goals

-To advance the importance of sustainable design to our fellow architects, within the Institute, and to the broader public.

-To educate architects about the environmental and energy-related impacts of design decisions & about how to incorporate sustainable design into daily practice.

-To define and promote the cutting edge of sustainable design for our profession.

-To foster leadership among architects in all facets of environmental decision making.

-To recognize environmental leadership of architects in practice, education, industry, and government.

-To influence the direction of architectural education to place more emphasis on ecological literacy , sustainable design and building science

-To maintain, refine, and strengthen alliances with professional and trade associations and other leaders in environmentally responsible design to coordinate our sustainable agendas to make our message stronger.

-To maintain, refine, and strengthen alliances with other AIA Knowledge Communities and committees, and serve as a resource to Institute initiatives and projects that promote sustainability in the built environment.

-To green AIA convention venues and meetings.

-To communicate the AIA’s environmental and energy-related concerns to the public and private sectors and influence the decisions of the public, professionals, clients, and public officials on the impact of their environmental and energy-related decisions.

-To educate architects on regulatory, performance, technical and building science issues and how those issues influence architecture. Educate the architectural profession on programming, designing, and managing building performance.

-To investigate and disseminate information regarding building performance best practices, criteria, measurement methods, planning tools, occupant-comfort, heat/air/moisture interfaces between the interior and exterior of buildings.

-To promote a more integrated practice in order to achieve environmentally and economically efficient buildings. One of the tools we will plan to promote to achieve this integration is Building Information Technology (BIM).

COTE Toolkit

Please check out this resource rich document. It's absolutely incredible and this is only Version 1! More great improvements to come. If you're not an AIA member and can't access it, write us and we'll see what we can do about getting you a copy. The more people who can work with the tools provide here, the better outcomes our projects will be. podcast@positiveenergy.pro

"Why We Let Ourselves Do Mediocre Work"

Great article from Building Green Magazinethat dispels the myth of the "unicorn client" that will come around and make all your wildest dreams come true to design and build sustainably.

The Shape Of Green

Does going green change the face of design or only its content? The first book to outline principles for the aesthetics of sustainable design, The Shape of Green argues that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and feel is as important as how they’re made.

In addition to examining what makes something attractive or emotionally pleasing, Hosey connects these questions with practical design challenges. Can the shape of a car make it more aerodynamic and more attractive at the same time? Could buildings be constructed of porous materials that simultaneously clean the air and soothe the skin? Can cities become verdant, productive landscapes instead of wastelands of concrete?

Drawing from a wealth of scientific research, Hosey demonstrates that form and image can enhance conservation, comfort, and community at every scale of design, from products to buildings to cities. Fully embracing the principles of ecology could revolutionize every aspect of design, in substance and in style. Aesthetic attraction isn’t a superficial concern — it’s an environmental imperative. Beauty could save the planet.

The Last Auto Mechanic

Great blog post by Tom Price (renewable energy entrepreneur. A-EV cheerleader. Founder Black Rock Solar. Recovering journalist, middling mountain biker. Formerly of Capitol Hill, SLC, & BRC) about the ways America’s transportation economy and landscape is about to be utterly transformed into a world beyond driving. Or drivers. Or even car mechanics. Enjoy the ride.

Game of Thrones

New Yorker article about the intricate design of seating on commercial flights and the impacts it has on travelers.

Habits of High Performing Firms

AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) released a report called “The Habits of High-Performance Firms” whichfollows up on the previous “Lessons from the Leading Edge," which is a comprehensive study of two decades of AIA COTE Top Ten Award winners. Launched in 1997, the annual awards are the profession’s longest-running and “best known recognition program for sustainable design excellence,” according to the AIA.

Biophilic Design

Biophilic Design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn. We need nature in a deep and fundamental fashion, but we have often designed our cities and suburbs in ways that both degrade the environment and alienate us from nature. The recent trend in green architecture has decreased the environmental impact of the built environment, but it has accomplished little in the way of reconnecting us to the natural world, the missing piece in the puzzle of sustainable development. Come on a journey from our evolutionary past and the origins of architecture to the world’s most celebrated buildings in a search for the architecture of life. Together, we will encounter buildings that connect people and nature - hospitals where patients heal faster, schools where children’s test scores are higher, offices where workers are more productive, and communities where people know more of their neighbors and families thrive. Biophilic Design points the way toward creating healthy and productive habitats for modern humans.

Architecture 2030

Edward Mazria, FAIA, Hon. FRAIC
Founder and CEO

Edward Mazria is an internationally recognized architect, author, researcher, and educator. Over the past decade, his seminal research into the sustainability, resilience, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions of the built environment has redefined the role of architecture, planning, design, and building, in reshaping our world. He is the founder of Architecture 2030, a think tank developing real-world solutions for 21st century problems, and host of the AIA+2030 Professional Education Series and 2030 Districts movement in North American cities.

Mazria issued the 2030 Challenge and introduced the 2030 Palette, a revolutionary new platform that puts the principles behind low-carbon/zero carbon and resilient built environments at the fingertips of architects, planners, and designers worldwide. In 2014 he presented the Roadmap to Zero Emissions at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change calling for zero emissions in the built environment by 2050, and drafted the 2050 Imperative, endorsed by professional organizations representing over 1.3 million architects in 124 countries worldwide. In 2015 he launched the China Accord, which has been adopted by key international firms pledging to plan, design and build to carbon neutral standards in China; and delivered the opening presentation at the UNFCCC COP21 “Buildings Day” titled The 2 Degree Path for the Building Sector.

Recently, he developed Achieving Zero, a framework of incremental actions that cities and governments can put in place to ensure carbon neutral built environments by mid-century, and the Zero Cities Project (with the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, Urban Sustainability Directors Network, New Buildings Institute, and Resource Media) to implement the framework.

Mazria speaks nationally and internationally on the subject of architecture, design, energy, economics, and climate change and has taught at several universities, including the University of New Mexico, University of Oregon, UCLA, and the University of Colorado-Denver.

Mr. Mazria’s awards include AIA Design Awards, American Planning Association Award, Department of Energy Awards, American Solar Energy Society Pioneer Award, Equinox Award, National Conservation Achievement Award, Mumford Award from Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, inaugural Hanley Award, Distinguished Career Award from Pratt Institute, Zia Award from the University of New Mexico, Game Changers Award from Metropolis Magazine, 2011 Purpose Prize, and the 2015 Kemper Award from the American Institute of Architects. He is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council, Honorary Fellow of the RAIC, and received an Honorary Doctor of Architecture degree from Illinois Institute of Technology.

COTE Toolkit Contributors

Tate Walker, AIA, Project Co-Lead OPN Architects, Madison, Wisconsin, COTE Advisory Group
Corey Squire, AIA, Project Co-Lead Lake|Flato Architects, San Antonio, Texas, COTE Advisory Group
Anne Hicks Harney, FAIA, Long Green Specs, Baltimore, Maryland
Betsy del Monte, FAIA, Cameron MacAllister Group, Dallas, Texas
David Hincher, AIA, Kieran Timberlake, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Gunnar Hubbard, FAIA, Thornton Tomasetti, Portland, Maine, COTE Advisory Group
Helena Zambrano, AIA, Overland Partners, San Antonio, Texas
Mary Ann Lazarus, FAIA, Cameron MacAllister Group, St. Louis, Missouri, COTE Advisory Group
Stephanie Horowitz, AIA, ZeroEnergy Design, Boston, Massachusetts, COTE Advisory Group
Stephen Endy, AIA, Mahlum, Portland, Oregon
Vikram Sami, AIA, Olson Kundig, Seattle, Washington, COTE Advisory Group
Z Smith, FAIA, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, New Orleans, Louisana

Welcome To The Filtration Station Jun 15, 2018

Strap in, y'all - this is one is... technical. Capturing particles, even and especially the ones too small for you to see, are where the rubber meets the road for IAQ. This all-important task is the role of the often-overlooked air filter. Today we talk about one of the most important building science topics that many folks don't know enough about - air filtration. Who knew there was so many important considerations for this often overlooked and ignored component of our industry.

John Bloemer

John is Director of Engineering for Aprilaire. Aprilaire is the leader in Residential IAQ products offering solutions that create a Healthy Home. Aprilaire designs, engineers and manufactures products that control aspects of IAQ – temperature, humidity, fresh air and air purity.

John graduated with a BSME from the University of Akron. His 34-year carrier has been focused on product development and he has worked for Scott & Fetzer and Kohler before finding his home at Aprilaire 19 years ago.

Through his carrier, he has been awarded over 15 US and foreign patents. He sits on many committees in ASHRAE and AHRI and is actively involved in the Building Science community. With Aprilaire, John is responsible for leading a team of highly talented engineers and experts in IAQ product design and testing at the main office Madison, WI.

He promotes healthy buildings as a system where all products work together to ensure the highest level of air quality possible while maintaining ease of use, energy efficiency and of course, the health and comfort of the occupants.

Let's Get Legal-ish Jun 01, 2018

When we think about building science, we're thinking about systems and the unseen forces that contribute to the success or failure of a building. Some of the largest and most complicated systems and unseen forces in the AEC industry are the contracts that make or break a project. Join Kristof as he interviews construction attorney, Joe Basham, on all things funky and legal in the AEC industry.

Joe Basham

Joe Bashamgrew up in Monahans, a small town in West Texas, where he worked in the oil fields in 115 degree weather. He then traveled nearly 500 miles to Texas A&M University, where he graduated, cum laude, with a degree in Construction Science from the College of Architecture and dunked his ring in Shiner Bock.

He worked as runner for a big law firm in Austin, and then moved to the high plains where attended Texas Tech School of Law. He graduated in 2002, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, and was the Technology Editor of the Texas Tech Law Review.

After law school, Joe joined Allensworth & Porter as an associate, was made a partner in 2007. He has been listed in Texas Super Lawyers from 2005 – 2018, and Best Lawyers 2014 – 2015, and Legal 500. He is now themanaging partner at Austin-based construction law firm, Allensworth & Porter, and partners with clients from all facets of the construction industry, including owners, contractors, architects, and engineers to consult on contract negotiations, dispute management and resolution, and litigation and arbitration. Joe focuses on building long-term, strategic relationships with clients who care about working with a lawyer who knows the law, their business, and their industry.

Joe is a member of the Rotary Club of Austin, and is on the board of the Austin Chapter of the Building Enclosure Council (BEC). He served on the Rollingwood City Council for 5 years, and was president of the Rollingwood Community Economic Development Corporation. He is married to Karla, and they have two boys, Joe (9) and John (7).

Joe can be contacted at (512) 708-1250 and at jrb@aaplaw.com.

Big thanks to Aprilaire for their continued and generous support of the podcast!

Circus Or Symphony May 18, 2018

Construction is a serious and unforgiving business. The best minds in the business are masters of seeing connections and systems thinking. If you are really trying to make a difference in this industry the good news is that there’s a lot of work to do and questions to answer.

-How do you successfully organize and deliver high quality construction on time and within budget?

-How do you handle communication flow?

-How much do you rely on external consultants for expertise?

-How do you set and manage expectations with your client?

In this episode, Kristof interviews Trevor Brown, the Quality Control Manager of JE Dunn Construction to discuss war stories and the inside baseball of commercial construction.

Dirty Socks & Your HVAC Coil May 04, 2018

The original episode was meant to feature both Graeme Marsh, who we heard on the last episode, as well as Greg Long. None of us could have prepared for the fact that in the middle of the episode, Greg's ceiling had water pouring out of it. It was unexpected, to say the least!

Fortunately for us, we got to catch up with Greg for a more in depth discussion. So what do dirty socks have to do with the lungs of our homes and buildings? Listen to this episode to learn more about smelly biofilms, probiotic cleaners and the tip of the thermodynamic spear - the all-powerful, but often-ignored HVAC coil.

The heat exchanger coil in our HVAC system is where the magic of heat transfer happens - this is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to "conditioning" air. If the word "coil" is not connecting to a mental image, you can think of the radiator in your car. Just as in a car, when it's working you don't give your radiator much thought - we often ignore our HVAC coils, and at our peril. All of the indoor air we heat and cool flows through our HVAC coil. Unfortunately sometimes our magic, all-powerful coils are coated with a smelly, gelatinous, living glop in the form of an unwanted biofilm.

Listen to this episode to learn more about the under-reported reality of biofilms in HVAC equipment and what to do about them to keep your coil and conditioned air clean and odor-free.

Earl Gregory (Greg) Long, CIEC, ASCS

Mr. Long is president of IAQ Consulting Services Inc. in Belton, TX (not far from the Positive Energy and Building Science Podcast headquarters). IAQ Consulting Services Inc, is a consulting firm that offers estimating, project management, specification writing, investigations services and project oversight specializing in HVAC system restoration and cleaning, coil cleaning, structure restoration and dehumidification, and content restoration, with focus on restorative processes over replacement when applicable.

Areas of additional experience include rust eradication and prevention within HVAC systems, fiberglass insulation removal and replacement with closed cell insulation within HVAC systems,drain pan restoration, water and air leakage and odor control. It is Mr. Long’s belief that there is apractical and logical solution for most building related projects and indoor air issues and it has always been his goal to find the most reasonable solution for the situation at hand.

Among his credentials are:

Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant (CIEC) by American Council for Accredited Certification

Certified Mold Remediator (CMR) by American Council for Accredited Certification

Air System Cleaning Specialist (ASCS) by National Air Duct Cleaners Association

Certified IAQ Technician (CIAQT) by Texas Tech University

Certified Mold Investigator Professional (CMIP) by Texas Tech University

Certified De-flooding Specialist by Cleaning De-flooding Restoration Network Trained and practiced in Commercial Kitchen exhaust system cleaning

It gets better. This guy's everywhere!

Board of Directors of the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) – 6 years

President of the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) – 2 terms

Standards writing committee, National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) – past 23 years

Inducted into the first class of the Hall of Fame for the National Air Duct Cleaners Association

Chairman, Indoor Air Quality Advisory Council, Texas Tech University – 2 years

Standards writing committee Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) – 1 year

Board of Directors of the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) – 6 years in past Board of Directors of the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) – currently

Board Officer of the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) – 2 years

Chairman of the finance committee of the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) – past 5 years

We're impressed by the list.

Architectural Yogurt Apr 20, 2018

Put on your microbiology hats, folks. This episode of The Building Science podcast will dive into the great unseen world of microorganisms all around us inside our buildings down to the level of the ecosystems that grow on our HVAC coils. We're truly at a time when the health sciences and the building sciences are becoming more closely related than ever before and the future is a weird, wonderful world of intersectional and interdisciplinary scientific inquiry. Join us as Kristof interviews, Graeme Marsh about the weirdness of biofilms that you can't even see right before your very eyes.

Graeme Marsh is the Managing Director of Z Bioscience and has somewhat of a polymathic career path. He spent 20 years working for global investment banks in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and the UK, going on to found Future Business Concepts, Inc. in 1998; helping companies with Business Development, Product and Sales Strategy, Financing and Re-Structuring.
The initial focus was on the Internet. His firm was involved in the creation of the JV between Melbourne IT and NeuStar that successfully established the .biz generic Top Level Domain. More recently Graeme assisted a client in the million dollar plus sale of its IP / Patent portfolio, and is currently assisting with a "Next Generation" data encryption firm, and a new Project Management system provider that goes beyond the Agile approach.
He has also worked with firms in the Oil & Gas sector, focusing on environmental projects including air and water remediation, as well as New Materials, especially in the concrete space, Manufacturing Technologies, and Corrosion Prevention.
His firm expanded its work with clients that focus on Environmental related areas, including companies that have a range of revolutionary Certified Green cleaning products (many of which are also Organic) that are having a profound impact on the bottom line in multiple industries, including HVAC applications (improved system energy performance and IAQ), Agriculture (Poultry, Hogs & Dairy), and All Purpose Cleaning (Assisted Living, Schools, Healthcare, General Janitorial and Retail).
From 2002 to 2006 Graeme was on the Board of The Japan Pragmatist Fund, a Japanese hedge fund specializing in small to medium capitalized companies. It closed in Dec 2006 and all investors received their initial capital back plus above market returns. Graeme is also serving on the Board of number of other ventures.

Z BioScience

Email Graeme

Special thanks to The Humid Climate Conference for their generous and continued support for the show. If you haven't got tickets for this May's conference, they're nearly sold out!

Our Homes, Our Health Apr 06, 2018

It's normal these days to pay attention to what we eat. But what about the steady diet of air we breathe and soak ourselves in? The impact of homes on health somehow manages to stay below the radar. Even our language is a bit evasive. Why do we say "sick building syndrome"? The buildings aren't sick, the people are.

This episode is a step toward helping this important topic get some long-overdue and much-needed attention. Join us for an interview with Bill Hayward and Carl Grimes that took place at the 2018 IAQA Conference in Chicago, IL. as we discuss the Hayward Healthy Home Score. We hope you enjoy, take the quiz yourself, and share with your friends and families.

Learn More About The Hayward Scorewith this great, informative video.

Bill Hayward

Bill is the founder of Hayward Score as well as the CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer of Hayward, a 95-year-old California lumber and building material supplier. Since 2008, when he, his wife, and their newborn daughter became sick in their “dream home,” Bill has been focused on combining building science and medical science into a compelling strategy to transform home construction so that homes will no longer degrade human health.

In addition to his work on Hayward Score, he has also recently assumed the role of Chief Innovations Officer of H3, a subsidiary focused on cutting-edge products that transform the indoor environment.

LMB Journal, the leading magazine for the lumber/building material distribution channel, named him Entrepreneur of the Year (2015). In addition, he was named “20 Most Influential Leaders in the Industry” and Hayward was named “Dealer of the Year” for their work in driving sustainability in the industry. On the non-profit side, Bill is currently Chairman Emeritus of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and previously served as Chairman for the 5 years. He received his BS from UCLA and graduated from the Stanford Executive Program.

Carl Grimes

Carl joined the Hayward Score team in 2013 and brings more than 30 years of professional expertise to identifying and addressing the most critical issues to transform homes to healthy environments that fit individual needs. In addition, he has personally experienced living in unhealthy homes and has a deep understanding of the uncertainty, exhaustion, and skepticism inherent in the struggle that many face – that his home was not a safe and secure “castle,” but was instead contributing to his declining health and sense of well‐being.

He is nationally recognized as a professionally accredited Healthy Home Specialist (HHS) and a Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant (CIEC).

Since 1987, he has worked nationally as a private consultant guiding people who suffer from unhealthy houses. He has developed action plans and verification methods designed to eliminate health issues in homes. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the national Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) in 2002, and recently served as their President. Carl is now the Vice President of Practice for the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate. Carl has served on, created, and chaired a variety of committees writing industry consensus standards. He has collaborated with leading experts and researchers, analyzing the best approaches for restoring the indoor environment. He has chaired a committee that developed the course, Healthy Home Assessment: Principles and Practice, which is the follow‐on to the Essential Healthy Home Practitioner course by the National Center for Healthy Housing (www.nchh.org). He is also the author of “Starting Points for a Healthy Habitat,” based on his and his client’s experiences of living in unhealthy homes and speaks both nationally and internationally on topics related to indoor air quality.

More Info

See this powerful video about Bill’s wife’s own story and journey of discovering the impact of indoor air quality on her life and the life of her family.

Check out the Breezometer app for outdoor air quality monitoring. Fun fact, the Foobot outdoor air reference is fueled by the Breezometer data feed.

Also be sure to check out Jessica Green’s fascinating Ted Talk on the Indoor Microbiome. She talks about the simple (or complex) fact that our bodies and homes are covered in microbes -- some good for us, some bad for us. As we learn more about the germs and microbes who share our living spaces, TED Fellow Jessica Green asks: Can we design buildings that encourage happy, healthy microbial environments?

For an expanded discussion, check out the Ted Blog.

Respect The Trade, Build The Craft Mar 23, 2018

What do you really know about construction trades and their role in projects? Are their voices heard in the design process? Join us as Miguel interviews Kimberly Lewellyn live from the annual ASHRAE Conference and AHR Expo in Chicago for a wide ranging discussion on re-framing our perceptions of construction trades.

For decades, the housing industry in the United States has become increasingly first cost oriented while energy codes simultaneously become more demanding. The implications of this dynamic have played out across design organizations and construction firms, but nowhere has it been felt more poignantly than by sub-contracted trade crews. Often these laborers are considered low-skill, interchangeable, and are thus exploited. And due to this unnecessarily assigned status, they are rarely involved in early design conversations to contribute their wealth of knowledge of construction realities.

This dynamic can change with willing participants, but it takes more than just thought-experiments. We have to put into action new ways of thinking about contractural relationships, economic value, and design processes and collaboration. That's what this episode is all about. We'll explore a few simple ways to change the conversation and hopefully our minds about how trades are involved in our project teams.

Kimberly Llewellyn was a Building Science consultant for the Positive Energy team for many years and is now both a Performance Construction Manager at Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating and a PHIUS Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC). Between her formal post-grad education in environmental engineering at Columbia University, Kimberly has an intimate understanding of how the HVAC industry relates to well designed and delivered homes and continues to advocate for better practices and collaboration in her work with Mitsubishi.

Big thanks to The Humid Climate Conference for their generous and continued support of this show.

The Future Of Water Heaters Is Here Mar 09, 2018

If you think you don’t need to worry about water heating, think again! In this episode, Kristof interviews John Miles of Sanden Hot Water Heaters live on the AHR Expo floor in Chicago about the future of water heating. Learn why this technology can make a massive impact on the housing and energy sectors.

When most people think of a quality water heater (which rarely happens) they think of gas tankless or electric resistive tanked systems. But that's nowhere near the full story. Water heaters are the second highest energy users in most homes and most home owners have never been presented with a good accounting of the available options.

Heat pump water based water heating is here to stay and split system water heaters are the next step forward in the evolutionary up-cycle. Add to the equation an incredible refrigerant, CO2, and you've got yourself a high performing, low exergy, and low Global Warming Potential (GWP) water heating unit that could actually change energy consumption at the grid level.

Here's the breakdown (these are generalized for simplicity):

-Gas Tankless Systems - 90% Efficiency

-Electric Resistive Tanked Systems - 95% Efficiency

-Conventional Non-Split Heat Pump - 250% Efficient

-Split System CO2 Based Heat Pump - 520% Efficient

Big thanks to Sanden for supporting the show and for talking with us at AHR and to The Humid Climate Conference for their continued and generous support of our show.

Forget What You Know About Buildings: An Interview With Kiel Moe Feb 23, 2018

In this episode, Kristof interviews Kiel Moe of Harvard's GSD about the energy flows and multiple re-thinkings necessary to change the future of construction and design. You may remember reading about Kiel's inspiration to us at Positive Energy in our blog post about the thermally active surface system we installed in our office, compliments of the fine and wonderful people at Messana and SpacePak. This episode is definitely headier than most of ours, so buckle in and be ready to hit pause, rewind, and take notes if you need. We couldn't be more thrilled that he stopped by the office to chat.

Kiel Moe

Kiel is a registered architect and has taught architecture and energy at University of Illinois at Chicago, Syracuse University and Northeastern University. He holds positions as Associate Professor of Architecture & Energy and Co-Director of Master of Design Studies program in Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Moe received the B.Arch from the University of Cincinnati, M.Arch from University of Virginia, and a Master in Design and Environmental Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design Advanced Studies Program.

Professor Moe's research and pedagogy focuses on an agenda (theories, techniques, and technologies) for energy that is at once more ecologically and architecturally ambitous: Maximum Power Design. A such, he focuses on both buildings as manifestations of large scale energy systems as well as overlooked and discrete thermal parameters in buildings that yet have great impact on the power of a building.

Ideas To Unpack

Material Ecology: coined byNeri Oxman (Architect, Designer, Inventor), focuses on andconsiders computation, fabrication, and the material itself as inseparable dimensions of design. In this approach, products and buildings are biologically informed and digitally engineered by, with and for, Nature.

Energetics Of Urbanization: deals with the relationship between energy flows, urbanization, and how they relate to economic practices and theories. Learn more about Neil Brenner and his work here.

Pedagogy: how we relate to, study, and implement teaching.

Planetary Urbanization: thinking about how we urbanize at a planetary level, how that affects resource and energy flows, and how life on the planet is shaped by it.

Howard Odum: a brilliant ecologist who had a profound impact on the economic theories of energy flow. He coined the term and developed the theory of emergy, which deals with the embodied energy of any given object or structure.

Epistemology: how do we know what we know? Pretty much.

Political Economy: the study of production and trade and their relations with law, custom and government as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth.

Adrian Bejan: a brilliant mechanical engineer who first stated the notion of Constructal Law, which is the law of physics that accounts for the phenomenon of evolution (configuration, form, design) throughout nature, inanimate flow systems and animate systems together.

"For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live), it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier access to the imposed currents that flow through it."
-Adrian Bejan, The Constructal Law

The constructal law places the concepts of life, evolution, design and performance in physics, which is in the broadest scientific arena. The constructal law is the law of physics of life and evolution.

Forest Ecology: how do you get the wood that you use?

Big thanks to the Humid Climate Conference for their generous support of our podcast and to Brittney Spears for the music that's stayed with us all these years.

The Secret Life Of Concrete Feb 06, 2018

Concrete is everywhere. We all see it every day but what do we really know about concrete? This seemingly simple material is any but simple. Listen and learn about the past, present and future of this evolving technology. Prepare to have your mind blown in this episode of the show as we explore the incredible history and composition of concrete with Matt Carlton and Lee Lawrence of WJE. You'll never see concrete the same way again.

Notes From The Episode

Rheology

(/riːˈɒlədʒi/; from Greek ῥέω rhéō, "flow" and -λoγία, -logia, "study of") is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a liquid state, but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force. It is a branch of physics which deals with the deformation and flow of materials, both solids and liquids.

Flying buttress

(arc-boutant, arch buttress) a specific form of buttress composed of an arched structure that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall outwards, which are forces that arise from vaulted ceilings of stone and from wind-loading on roofs.

The defining, functional characteristic of a flying buttress is that it is not in contact with the wall it supports, like a traditional buttress, and so transmits the lateral forces across the span of intervening space between the wall and the pier. To provide lateral support, flying-buttress systems are composed of two parts: (i) a massive pier, a vertical block of masonry situated away from the building wall, and (ii) an arch that bridges the span between the pier and the wall — either a segmental arch or a quadrant arch — the flyer of the flying buttress.

The Pantheon (Was Built Out Of Concrete)

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 142 feet (43 m).

Portland Cement

Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the mid 19th century, and usually originates from limestone. It is a fine powder, produced by heating limestone and clay minerals in a kiln to form clinker, grinding the clinker, and adding 2 to 3 percent of gypsum.[clarification needed] Several types of Portland cement are available. The most common, called ordinary Portland cement (OPC), is grey in colour, but white Portland cement is also available. Its name is derived from its similarity to Portland stone which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. It was named by Joseph Aspdin who obtained a patent for it in 1824. However, his son William Aspdin is regarded as the inventor of "modern" Portland cement due to his developments in the 1840s.[1]

Concrete Petrography

Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The classification of rocks is based on the information acquired during the petrographic analysis. Petrographic descriptions start with the field notes at the outcrop and include macroscopic description of hand specimens. However, the most important tool for the petrographer is the petrographic microscope. The detailed analysis of minerals by optical mineralogy in thin section and the micro-texture and structure are critical to understanding the origin of the rock. Electron microprobe analysis of individual grains as well as whole rock chemical analysis by atomic absorption, X-ray fluorescence, and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy are used in a modern petrographic lab. Individual mineral grains from a rock sample may also be analyzed by X-ray diffraction when optical means are insufficient. Analysis of microscopic fluid inclusions within mineral grains with a heating stage on a petrographic microscope provides clues to the temperature and pressure conditions existent during the mineral formation.

Event - Not Your Father’s Concrete!: A breakfast seminar and networking opportunity

Join WJE for a presentation and discussion of the perils of ready-mix concrete and the state of practice. We will also discuss self-consolidating concrete, the advantages and disadvantages as well as new-age additives and what works best when.

This program will qualify for AIA/AICP Continuing Education Credits.

RSVP NOW!

Special thanks to The Humid Climate Conference for their generous support.

Design & Construction In Humid Climates Jan 26, 2018

Yes. We're going to have a chat about humidity. If you live in a heating dominated, dry climate you might be thinking "what good is this for me to hear?" and I wouldn't blame you. But frankly, the more we know about humidity, the better we can understand how things work without it too. So dig in and think about how moisture affects the things we design and build. In this episode of The Building Science Podcast, we’ll explore the potential upside and downside of designing and building in humid climates.

If you're serious about building high performance homes in humid climates, you don't want to miss this year's Humid Climate Conference in Austin. Tickets are on sale now and we at The Building Science Podcast are thrilled to sponsor this year's conference. Don't miss it! The Humid Climate Conference is organized entirely by volunteers from the PHAUS (Passive House) Chapter in Austin with support from the national organization, PHIUS.

What Is A Climate Zone?

“One of the fundamental principles of building science is that buildings must be suited to their climate. When they're not, problems can ensue. Maybe it's just that they're not as efficient as they should be. Maybe it's worse. Put plastic between the drywall and framing of your exterior walls in Ottawa, and it can help control vapor drive from the interior air and its associated moisture problems (rare in all but except in extremely cold climates). Put that plastic in the same place in Georgia, and you're going to rot the walls.

The first thing to know about climate zones is that we divide them up based on two parameters: temperature and moisture. The map at the top of this article, from Building Science Corporation, is one that seems to be in a lot of the curricula for home energy rater and other energy auditor classes. The fancy word for this type of division is hygrothermal, and Building Science Corp. has a nice interactive map of hygrothermal regions.

The map above divides all of North America into broad regions based on temperature and then humidity. The International Code Council has a more fine-grained approach to climate zones,† as shown below in the map of the US from the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). Each zone has a number, starting with 1 for the hottest US climate, the southernmost tip of Florida, and going up to 8, the coldest parts in Alaska.”

-Dr. Allison Bailes, III

For more images mentioned in the episode, check out the show’s webpage.

Don't Wait For The Market Jan 12, 2018

In our first episode of season 4, Kristof interviews James Geppner of Erase40 and Big Yellow Cab on the topic of behavioral change and market transformation. Building Science stands poised to change the way we deliver conditioned space to society. There are many angles by which we can dissect exactly how to do that. In this episode, we're going to explore how YOU can change the market.

James Geppner

James has advised and developed initiatives for nonprofits, new ventures and mature companies in infrastructure, technology, media, education, health and housing. Following his years in Project Finance, where he evaluated companies and studied markets, he has applied social science (and competitive theory) to a range of issues in order to see what’s shaping a market, a cause or a behavior.

He founded Big Yellow Cab in order to apply social science research and the procedures of behavior change to important social and environmental issues. He has advised nonprofits, new ventures and global companies. Most recently he did an extensive analysis of the market for passive buildings and the decision-making process of buyers, funders and end users in order to find clues as to how to increase the size of the market and how to reduce the barriers to widespread adoption of passive technology. He founded Erase40 in order to develop market based initiatives that drive up demand for passive buildings and in order to serve as a decision lab for different players in the building ecosystem. He is a graduate of NYU and of SGIB’s investment banking program.

Links

Erase40
Big Yellow Cab
Freakanomics Radio Episode (Mentioned)

The Beauty Of Hot Water Dec 22, 2017

Live from the Texas Society of Architects 2017 Expo and Convention, we're proud to bring you a series of episodes exploring "the multiple dimensions of beauty" through interviews with some phenomenal architects, builders, and consultants.

In this episode we interview water engineering expert, Gary Klein of Gary Klein & Associates.

Gary Klein

Gary Klein, President of Gary Klein & Associates has been intimately involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy since 1974. One fifth of his career was spent in the Kingdom of Lesotho, the rest in the United States. Mr. Klein has a passion for hot water: getting into it, getting out of it and efficiently delivering it to meet customers' needs.

After serving 19 years with the California Energy Commission, he has provided consulting on sustainability since 2008. Mr. Klein received a BA from Cornell University in 1975 with an Independent Major in Technology and Society with an emphasis on energy conservation and renewable energy.

Special thanks to Bautex Systems for their generous support of our live recorded episodes at the 2017 TxA Expo & Convention. Be sure to stop by their website, learn about their innovative product, and say hello for us.

The Beauty Of A Healthy Building Dec 20, 2017

This episode features an interview with Dr. Jules Elkins of The University Of Texas at Austin and The East Wall Consulting.

Dr. Jules Elkins

Dr. Elkins’s research and teaching is in environmental health, and healthy indoor environments. She is particularly interested in low-dose chemical exposures, especially during the period from preconception to early childhood. Her interests focus on how exposures can be practically and cost-effectively reduced or prevented based on evidence-based models of what interventions measurably work. Specific projects and work includes exposures in schools from poorly ventilated classrooms, exposures from proximity to highly trafficked roadways, and maternal and child exposures from the food they eat. Dr. Elkins is particularly interested in the concept of the Healthy City. Given that we increasingly live in an urbanized world, how can we design away our environmental health problems, and what are the evidence-based outcomes from such design, considering both health and economic metrics? Dr. Elkins also speaks and consults on constructing healthy buildings. This includes choosing healthy materials, optimizing healthy design, and evidence-based outcomes of exposures in indoor environments. This work ranges from green buildings to building for clients with chemical sensitivities.

Big thanks to the Texas Society of Architects and our sponsor Bautex.

The Beauty Of Climate Appropriate Design Dec 18, 2017

This episode features an interview with Peter Pfeiffer of Barley Pfeiffer Architecture.

Peter L Pfeiffer, FAIA

Peter Pfeiffer wears many hats. He is a LEED accredited professional Architect, a licensed Interior Designer, Building Scientist and Property Developer & Manager, who has spent the past 36 years designing and developing pragmatic high performance buildings and homes.

EEBA, the national Energy Efficient Building Association, awarded Mr. Pfeiffer the Conference Chair’s Award in 1994 for his career accomplishments pioneering environmentally sensitive architecture. In 2004 he was one of the first architects in America to be named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects for his life-long commitment to "mainstreaming green building in North America”. He is a founding principal of Barley | Pfeiffer Architecture, a firm recognized nationally for its pioneering use of environmentally responsive design and construction techniques. Their work has been published both in the United States and abroad in such diverse venues as the Washington Post, The New York Times, Fine Homebuilding, Better Homes & Gardens magazine and on-line where they have been awarded “Best Of Houzz” in the Design and Service categories for two consecutive years. He has been a guest on National Public Radio, the HG-TV network, as well as on The Discovery Channel and This Old House.

The National Association of Home Builders honored him as the “National Green Advocate of the Year” in 2003 for his life-long achievements in “mainstreaming” green building. Peter has been an active charter member of the NAHB Green Building Subcommittee since its inception in 1999 and has been active in the US Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes program. In 2006 Residential Architect cited him as one of the 10 most influential residential architects of past decade. Recently Peter was nominated for the prestigious Hanley Award for his meaningful efforts to advance green building in America.

The Beauty Of Urban Infill Dec 15, 2017

This episode features an interview with Kristen & Michael Padavic of PSW Real Estate.

PSW Real Estate

PSW Real Estate, LLC is a Texas real estate developer that designs and builds communities of high-quality green homes in urban areas. PSW creates homes that offer proximity to work, school and other important resources while implementing energy efficient construction methods and materials. These key elements promote urban density and conservation, reduce waste, and engender social connectivity.

Michael Padavic

Michaeljoined PSW in late 2011 to develop and lead the newly created design and planning group within the office as part of an initiative to move the architectural development of PSW Homes in house, an aim for greater efficiency and unified vision.
After achieving a Master in Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Michael honed his skills working for several small to mid-size firms in Chicago, managing a variety of projects from high-rise residential towers and high-end renovations to school restoration and public libraries. He currently holds architectural licenses in both Illinois and Texas.
Specialties: Single family, multi-family and commercial architecture; Sustainable design; Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Kristen Padavic

Kristen moved her family (with Michael, above) to Austin, Texas to join PSW, and Austin-headquartered urban infill home builder after working in Chicago, IL for nearly a decade. Over the past several years, her architectural team has grown to nearly ten employees, as the PSW team has grown into multiple markets in Texas and Seattle. The team is comprised of a variety of disciplines, including architecture, civil engineering, construction and sales, that all bring unique expertise to the process of designing urban infill communities.

Season 3 Reflections | Season 4 Preview Dec 12, 2017

Pour yourself a hot drink, grab a blanket and sit near the crackling logs for this holiday special episode. We're looking back at the last 3 years and looking ahead to our 4th season of the show. Be sure to check out our end of year survey and submit your ideas for episodes in season 4!

Thank you so much for listening to our show for the last 3 years. We plan on delivering more great episodes in 2018 and hope you'll join us for the ride!

The Beauty Of Performance Dec 07, 2017

This episode features an interview with Darrell McMaster, a builder from Boerne, TX who runs a company called Sustainable Homes of Texas.

Darrel has been building homes for over 40 years. He comes from a family of builders, with three generations still active in the home building industry. He is a Master Builder, proud of his craft, and forward thinking in his application of systems and processes.

Darrel says, “the theory is simple if you have to frame on top of the concrete you set up, or build the cabinets that are attached to the wall that you framed you are going to do it right the first time”.

He's experienced in production, multi-family and custom home building and endeavoring to show that sustainable homes are not only affordable but possible, not only in custom homes but in production homes, as well as multi-family communities.

Knowing & Using VRF Nov 11, 2017

Update:

Apologies for the inconvenience with the last audio file - it appeared to be fine on our side, but was corrupted in the upload process. We appreciate all the feedback and are so thrilled you couldn't wait to hear more! As requested, a new file has been uploaded on a solid connection. Please let us know if you're experiencing any issues and enjoy the episode!

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Positive Energy has built its success around deeply understanding enclosures and how they interact with mechanical systems. We intimately know the HVAC equipment out there. And it hasn’t been easy to get architects, builders, and installers to adopt a new and “unknown” technology. But that’s exactly what we endeavor to do with each project. And you’ve probably guessed by now that we’re talking about VRF here.

It’s a big deal. It’s the way our industry is headed. And it’s worth understanding and using on your projects.

In this second of the two part series on VRF, The Building Science Podcast brings you a whole host of information on VRF systems to help you better know, understand, and implement this technology in your projects with a great conversation between our host Kristof and guest John Chavez. Thanks to the generous support of Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating, we're proud to bring you this latest installment of The Building Science Podcast focused on VRF technology and how to bring it to your projects.

Stucco - (Much) More Than Meets The Eye Oct 06, 2017

Special Edition - Just Released. Listen and learn why you don't want to miss this event! Coming up next Friday 10/13/2017 here in Austin.

Join Kristof Irwin and guest experts Matt Carlton and Brian Roeder for lively discussion on the surprisingly rich topic of stucco cladding systems. You'll never look at a stucco wall the same way again.

Special thanks to UltraAire for their generous support.

Symposium Details

Hosted by: AIA BEC: Austin & RCI, Central Texas
Date & Time: Friday, October 13th, 8:30am-5:30am, registration opens at 8:00am
Location: JJ Pickle Research Center, Commons Conference Center, 10100 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78758
Price: Early Bird (unitl 9/15) $150/person, General Admittance (9/16-10/12) $190/person, Day Of (10/13) $225
CEUs: 6.5 LU AIA HSW Credits

Intelligent Environments: Building Science & Predictive Analytics Collide Aug 18, 2017

Join Kristof for a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Zoltan Nagy on intelligent environments and how building science principles are guiding predictive analytics to shape the future of building and home operations. As more intelligent buildings emerge, occupant-centric solutions to IAQ issues, mechanical issues, and energy issues can be addressed.

The Intelligent Environments Laboratory (IEL), led by Prof. Zoltán Nagy, is an interdisciplinary research group within the Building Energy & Environments (BEE) Program of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) in the Cockrell School of Engineering of the University of Texas at Austin.

The aim of their research is to rethink the built environment and define Smart Buildings and Cities as spaces that adapt to their occupants and reduce their energy consumption.

Hitting The Reset Button Aug 07, 2017

It's time to find the reset button. Time to re-examine our view of what we know about delivering conditioned space to our clients, to ourselves. The upside potential in buildings is staggering. From some vantage points, it's astounding and inexplicable why the very places we live continue to be held in a laggard state of performance relative to what's possible. Our industry transition is held captive to an outdated vision. Without a proper vision, our mission, strategy and tactics are ineffective.

We are all front line advocates, operating within our spheres of influence. What creates effectiveness is knowing why we are engaged in a particular next action and how that relates to moving the industry and the market forward. Why comes first, then what. Many of us can't effectively advocate for best practices in homes/buildings- not because we don't know what to do. Rather it's because we don't know why we need to do what we want to do. If we don't know why then we can't effectively advocate for change with our project teams and the pent-up transition will continue to move forward at a languished pace; albeit inexorably. In this episode Kristof shares some ideas to help us find our reset buttons, or at least pose the idea that hitting reset is worthwhile.

Everything You Never Knew About Earthen Construction Aug 01, 2017

Join us for a fascinating conversation with Stephen Colley on earthen construction.

Stephen currently practices architecture and runs his own architecture firm and is a long-time practitioner of green design and sustainable living. From 2010-2012 he served as the Program Manager in Green Initiatives for Palo Alto College in San Antonio developing training courses related to sustainable design and construction.

Stephen also participated in the Alamo Colleges Chancellor’s Council on Sustainability helping to write a new more sustainable policy for the Alamo College District. The new policy was approved by the Board of Alamo Colleges in August of 2012. In his previous position as the Green Building Coordinator for Build San Antonio Green, he developed the criteria for San Antonio’s residential green building program, Build San Antonio Green, recognized by the National Association of Homebuilders as the Green Building Program of the year in 2009, and served on the Mayor’s (San Antonio, Texas) task force on Sustainable Policy as the City charted a significant shift away from conventional building, development, and transportation policy. Stephen was chosen by the National Association of Home Builders as one of the original stakeholders to write the Green Policy for the organization as basis for their nation-wide residential green building program, National Green Building Standard™.

In 2005, he co-authored the Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting for the Texas Water Development Board (3rd edition). The Manual is widely distributed and used as a reference for potable and non-potable rainwater harvesting system publications. He is also the former Chair of the San Antonio Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment, a LEED® Accredited Professional, and President of Earthen Construction Initiative, a non-profit organization to advance and promote earthen construction.

IEQ Series - Hearing Architecture & ISQ Jun 19, 2017

Noise can have an adverse impact on people in offices, classrooms, hospitals and other commercial buildings (European Agency for Safety & Health at Work, 2005), interfering with their daily activities at work or school and at home. People’s performance levels and ability to concentrate can be negatively affected by noise and it can make it harder for them to share knowledge with one another.Join Kristof in this continuation of our IEQ series as he discusses acoustics and sound quality across the architectural spectrum with Keith Simon and John Poesnecker.

Be sure to check out this wonderful TED Talk by David Byrne on sound and architecture.

Efficiency Is Not Enough - The Science Of Sustainability May 23, 2017

How good should the building envelope be? How much energy should a building use? Finding answers require putting the building in context with the complex, interconnected, global networks of materials and resource flows in which they exist. Join Kristof for a wide ranging and slightly geeky discussion w Dr William Braham on systems ecology, exergy, emergy, and why a climax forest is a model for power and efficiency.

Dr. William W. Braham FAIA is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Chair from 2008 to 2011 and is currently Director of the Master of Environmental Building Design and Director of the TC Chan Center for Building Simulation and Energy Studies. He received an engineering degree from Princeton University and an M. Arch. and Ph.D. Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught since 1988. At Penn, he teaches graduate courses on ecology, technology, and design. At the Chan Center, his most recent projects have been the Sustainability Plan, Carbon Footprint, and Carbon Reduction Action Plan for the University of Pennsylvania.

See more of Dr. Braham's work on his website.

Ducts & Sealing & Health, Oh My! Apr 25, 2017

In this episode, Kristof interviews Sean and Ian Harris, the owners of a duct sealing company called Aeroseal of Austin in Austin, TX. You'll hear discussion on why duct sealing is such a crucial component of healthy delivered air and energy performance of mechanical systems.

An Interview With John Semmelhack Of Think Little Apr 04, 2017

Join Kristof in a wide-ranging discussion of building science topics with consultant John Semmelhack of Think Little.

IEQ Series - Seeing Architecture & ILQ Mar 06, 2017

In the continuation of our Indoor Environmental Quality series, Kristof discusses Indoor Light Quality with Keith Simon and Matthew Tanteri. This episode is sponsored by Risinger & Co.

Keith and Matt are so appreciated for being such rock stars and for appearing on the podcast more than once. We couldn't do it without your expansive minds!

Why VRF Matters Feb 13, 2017

In this first of a two part series on VRF, The Building Science Podcast brings you a compelling argument for why VRF technology matters and will follow up with an episode about how to consider and utilize VRF technology on your projects. Thanks to the generous support of Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating, we're proud to bring you this latest installment of The Building Science Podcast focused on VRF technology and why it's important.

Humidity, Attics, & Spray Foam, Oh My! Dec 01, 2016

In today's episode, we are joined by Keith Simon of BES/Terracon and Dr. Allison Bailes of Energy Vanguard to discuss moisture issues associated with the use of spray foam insulation in attic assemblies. There's a little bit of background information on Joe Lstiburek's article called "Ping Pong Water & The Chemical Engineer" that you'll want to check out if you're trying to better understand where this conversation is coming from, as well as a few other Energy Vanguard articles to help wrap your head around it.

We also mention some cool RHT sensors in the show, which you can check out here. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for updates on The Humid Climate Conference 2017 in the new year. Big thanks to Ultra Aire Whole House Dehumidifiers for sponsoring this great conversation.

A Haunting HVAC Tale - Halloween Special Short Oct 31, 2016

In this special Halloween short episode, we explore a frightening tale of invisible specters in an otherwise beautifully designed home... all because nobody wanted to look at the mechanical design.

IEQ Series - Thermal Comfort With Robert Bean (Part 2) Oct 21, 2016

In the continuation of our Indoor Environmental Quality series, Kristof interviews Robert Bean in a 2 part series on thermal comfort. Robert Bean is an industry leading thinker and engineer. We think you're going to love this interview. This episode is sponsored by Ultra-Aire Whole House Ventilating Dehumidifiers

IEQ Series - Thermal Comfort With Robert Bean (Part 1) Oct 11, 2016

Robert Bean is president of Indoor Climate Consultants Inc. and director of www.healthyheating.com. He is a Registered Engineering Technologist in Building Construction and a Professional Licensee in Mechanical Engineering and provides services related to the design of buildings and indoor environmental quality systems. He serves on numerous advisory boards and technical committees including ASHRAE 6.1, 6.5, 7.4, SSPC 55 and the new ASHRAE Presidential Residential Building Committee.

Big thanks to Risinger & Co. for sponsoring this episode!

IEQ Series - An Introduction Aug 22, 2016

This introduction marks the beginning of a series on Indoor Environmental Quality. It's one of the most important topics we can discuss because we're exploring intersections of the inextricably linked fields of health and building sciences. We will discuss the constituent parts of IEQ in detail in hopes that you come away more informed to make better decisions for your clients.

Water, Water, Everywhere (In Its Fourth State Too) Jun 23, 2016

In this episode of The Building Science Podcast, Kristof explores all the great mysteries of water (especially the water you don't see).

The Commonly Known Stages of Water

Pure water is tasteless, odorless, and colorless. Water can occur in three states: solid (ice), liquid, or gas (vapor).

Solid water—ice is frozen water. When water freezes, its molecules move farther apart, making ice less dense than water. This means that ice will be lighter than the same volume of water, and so ice will float in water. Water freezes at 0° Celsius, 32° Fahrenheit.

Liquid water is wet and fluid. This is the form of water with which we are most familiar. We use liquid water in many ways, including washing and drinking.

Water as a gas—vapor is always present in the air around us. You cannot see it. When you boil water, the water changes from a liquid to a gas or water vapor. As some of the water vapor cools, we see it as a small cloud called steam. This cloud of steam is a miniversion of the clouds we see in the sky. At sea level, steam is formed at 100° Celsius, 212° Fahrenheit.

The water vapor attaches to small bits of dust in the air. It forms raindrops in warm temperatures. In cold temperatures, it freezes and forms snow or hail.

But what about this mysterious fourth state? Tune in to find out!

Also, be sure to check out this psychrometric app to run your own humidity experiments.

Better Shelter - An Interview With Jason Ballard Apr 29, 2016

In this episode, Kristof interviews TreeHouse CEO Jason Ballard on his path into creating a more sustainable building supply retail space.

Growing up in a small town in Southeast Texas, our co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard developed a personal connection with the pine forest, coastal prairie, and “big thicket.” In exploring nature, he learned the intricate ways in which humans and the planet rely on each other. At the same time, nearby petrochemical refineries clearly demonstrated the degradation that people can bring to the environment and their own health.

Jason studied ecology and biology to understand the underlying causes of environmental and human health issues. He learned that our impact on the natural world and our own lives are immediately affected by our approach to one of our most basic needs, shelter.

While working in green building along the front range of Colorado, Jason sprouted the idea for TreeHouse. He wanted to build a place that enabled and empowered people to reimagine their homes toward a true north of sustainability, beauty, and health.

Delivering Better Buildings - A Discussion On Integrated Project Delivery Mar 28, 2016

This episode will focus on the practical and philosophical motivations to shift the industry focus to a more comprehensive building process that integrate teams, systems, and deliver better results. We will attempt to provide clarity for creative and logical solutions that can enable architects and builders to make this kind of philosophical shift toward a more outcome based future. Join us as Kristof interviews Corey Squire from Lake|Flato Architects for a great conversation!

COREY SQUIRE,

LEED AP O+M
Sustainability Coordinator
Corey works with all Lake|Flato teams to establish sustainability goals, analyze designs with simulation software, and collects post-occupancy performance data. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and a Master of Architecture from Tulane University. In 2012, Squire was awarded the Eskew+Dumez+Ripple Research Fellowship to study building post-occupancy energy performance and sustainable design processes.

On The Road Again - The Basics Of Vapor Compression Mar 11, 2016

In this brief episode, Kristof runs down the basics of the vapor compression cycle existent in many HVAC technologies with which we're familiar. And the episode takes place in a van. So prepare yourself for the soothing background hum of the open road while Kristof records his thoughts with a mobile microphone.

Bearing Witness & The Path To Better Construction Mar 11, 2016

In this episode, Kristof interviews Keith Simon and John Posenecker of Building Exterior Solutions on how we can do better work in the construction and design industry.

Keith A. Simon is a Registered Architect, Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC), and Legacy LEED AP with over 10 years’ experience in architectural design and building enclosure consultation. Mr. Simon is a Senior Architect at Building Exterior Solutions, Inc. and adjunct faculty at the University of Texas School of Architecture (UTSoA) in Austin. His consulting experience includes investigation, analysis, repair design, construction administration, testing, and peer review of design phase documentation. Mr. Simon was the founder of the Austin Building Enclosure Council (BEC: Austin) and currently serves as a board member for both
BEC: Austin as well as the Austin Passive House Alliance US (PHAUS). Mr. Simon is also a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE), and the Texas Society of Architects (TSA) Codes and Standards Committee. Mr. Simon was awarded the 2012 Emerging Professional Honor Award by the Austin AIA.

John Posenecker is also an incredibly talented and accomplished engineer, but we couldn't find his professional biographical information. We'll update once he sends it.

Construction Practices & Public Health Jan 26, 2016

In this episode of The Building Science Podcast, Kristof interviews Adam Reiser of Shelter Builders. We'll explore why construction practices aren't considered a public health issue and hear from Adam's personal story with a house that caused serious health issues.

In 2013, Adam and his family found out that their beloved house was filled with a dangerous toxin that was making them sick. After deciding to tear it down, they were unable to find a builder to help them rebuild a healthier, safer home – so they did it themselves. Today, their house is the Shelter model home – and one of the healthiest houses anywhere in America.

Adam has spent his entire professional life as a champion for health and health education. He has spent the last six years working with the Engine 2 program and Whole Foods Market, developing healthy eating education curriculum, programs and events. He is the founder of FoodCoaching, a national training program for people helping others make healthier diet & lifestyle choices. He is the co-founder of Jack & Adam’s Bicycles in Austin, one of the leading cycling and triathlon lifestyle stores in the country.

Married with two children, Adam is a graduate of Rice University, where he was a captain of the Track & Field Team. He also has a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, and gave up a perfectly good career as a Assistant District Attorney in Houston in order to help people find and sustain their health. He is currently working on a Master’s Degree in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Texas School of Public Health.

Radiant Heating & Cooling With Messana Jan 15, 2016

Join The Building Science Podcast on a California adventure to learn about radiant heating and cooling panels made by Messana.

Messana is a small company based in Italy and California with big ideas. They are passionate advocates of RADIANT COOLING, committed to change the way spaces are conditioned to improve the thermal comfort of their occupants, all while lowering the carbon footprint.

We were lucky enough to mix things up and change our episode format with some live interviews with the Messana team!

An Interview With Dr. Allison Bailes III Jan 12, 2016

In this episode of The Building Science Podcast, we interview the great Dr. Allison Bailes of Energy Vanguard Blog about all things HVAC.

From Dr. Bailes world renowned blog, Energy Vanguard:

Allison Bailes, III, Ph.D.

"It took me a while, but I've finally figured out how best to use my PhD in physics (University of Florida, 1998). I've always loved science, and I started off on the traditional academic path after graduate school, but that wasn't really enough for me. I loved teaching, but I needed to find a way to use my interest in energy and the environment as well as my love of buildings, especially houses.

A lot of little steps along the way brought me to where I am now:

Reading The Integral Urban House in the '80s

Buying the Real Goods compendium the Alternative Energy Sourcebook (now called the Solar Energy Sourcebook) in the early '90s

Subscribing to Home Power magazine in 1994

Building and using a solar cooker

Serving on the Gainesville Energy Advisory Committee while in grad school

Watching (and helping a little bit) my PhD thesis adviser build an off-the-grid solar house in Florida

What really started the ball rolling for my new career and the founding of Energy Vanguard, though, was when I built a house myself. In 2001, I bought a piece of land and spent the next two years building a green home that's beautiful, efficient, and comfortable. Having never built anything bigger than a bookcase prior to taking on this project, I had a steep learning curve in front of me—and I loved it!

After finishing the house in 2003, I became a home energy rater and left academia for my new career in the field of high performance homes. My first business was called ab3 energy, and I offered home energy ratings and building science consulting. When that turned out not to be enough to keep the business afloat, I started offering Manual J heating and cooling load calculations, and I even got into the contracting business. I did air-sealing, duct-sealing, insulation, and crawl space encapsulation to provide homeowners with a comprehensive package to improve their home's performance.

That business was going well when life threw some curve balls at me, so I ended up going to work for another home performance contractor (The Hoots Group) in Atlanta. I learned many new business and contracting skills, and then got the opportunity to work for one of the premier energy efficiency and green building organizations in the country—the Southface Energy Institute. At Southface, I started off as the regional manager for the EarthCraft House program and then also became the manager of Southface Energy Rated Homes, their HERS rating providership. Again, I learned a lot there that would have been much harder to learn on my own.

In 2008, I decided that I really wanted my own company again, so I left Southface and started Energy Vanguard. In some ways, this company is a continuation of ab3 energy, but it's also a lot more than that. Energy Vanguard is more about teaching and less about fixing, although we do offer HVAC design services. It's focused more on the big picture—creating markets, spreading the word (such as for Energy Efficient Mortgages), expanding networks—and less on individual components. I see this company as being on the forefront of change—the vanguard—in the way we see and use energy in our homes.

It's been a bit of a winding path, but I'm doing what I love now and feel that I've finally figured out how to combine my interests, skills, experience, and education in a way that lets me serve clients to the best of my ability. The fact that Energy Vanguard is growing in a down economy is testament that I've made good choices. It's also evidence that you can succeed in this field as well. There's plenty of room for growth here.

Please let me know how Energy Vanguard can help you, whether it's with training, as your HERS rating provider, or with some other building science related need you have."

-- Allison A. Bailes III, PhD

Living Inside Anywhere, Part 5 Dec 09, 2015

In this episode of The Building Science Podcast, we dive into part 5 of 5 on the control layers that we use to separate ourselves from the external environment. This episode explores the thermal barrier and how it interacts with the other control layers.

Living Inside Anywhere, Part 4 Nov 24, 2015

In this episode of The Building Science Podcast, we dive into part 4 of 5 on the control layers that we use to separate ourselves from the external environment. This episode explores the vapor barrier and how it interacts with the other control layers.

Living Inside Anywhere, Part 3 Nov 19, 2015

In part 3 of our 5 part series, Living Inside Anywhere, we dive into the Air Control Layer of the building assembly. Although understanding the assembly as a fully integrated system is crucial, breaking things down can be useful.

Living Inside Anywhere, Part 2 Nov 12, 2015

In part 2 of our 5 part series of Living Inside Anywhere, we explore the air control layer and what it means for your project.

Living Inside Anywhere, Part 1 Nov 04, 2015

The building enclosure is a complex system that is configured differently for every project. In this 5 part series, we'll break down each control layer and hopefully demystify it!

Attic Ventilation Sep 30, 2015

Join Kristof as he discusses the ins and outs of attic ventilation. If you find this topic helpful or interesting, take a moment to dive into the resources below!

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/all-about-attic-venting

http://buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-102-understanding-attic-ventilation

http://builditgreendallas.org/sites/builditgreendallas.org/files/www/files/rr-9801_vented_sealed_attics.pdf

http://www.structuretech1.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Early-History-of-Attic-Ventilation.pdf

Comfort, Health & The Basics of HVAC Sep 01, 2015

What do you really know about your HVAC system? Well wonder no more. We've got you covered!

At Positive Energy, we design high performance HVAC systems. Just to be perfectly clear, we design systems that rely on Variable Capacity (VRF) HVAC equipment.

Simply put, installers and mainstream MEP engineers launch into designs thinking about air handlers, plenums and ducts, while we start by thinking about your enclosure, your pulmonary system and health, and how your body perceives comfort. Having a carefully designed, high performance HVAC system is the most sensible way to deliver health and comfort in your home or building. Positive Energy has a team of passionate, creative, and thoughtful engineers and we love what we do. Learn more about our process, outlining the architectural and mechanical design processes to see where we’ll intersect along the way.

A quick reference mentioned in the podcast on humidity and asthma:

Micro/Macro Perspectives: Short Aug 31, 2015

In our very first short episode, the show's producer rambles while gives a brief overview of building science's role in societal change and how it could affect our lives.

Passive House At A Glance Jul 17, 2015

The PHIUS+ 2015 Passive Building Standard provides the climate-specific sweet spot where aggressive energy and carbon reduction overlap with cost effectiveness. It accounts for a full range of variables including climate zone, source energy, and costs.

In cooperation with Building Science Corporation under a U.S. DOE Building America Grant, the PHIUS Technical Committee developed passive building standards that account for the broad range of climate conditions, market conditions, and other variables in North American climate zones.

In this week's episode, we explore the above code practice of Passive House and its role in American architecture and building.

Special thanks to the Austin PHAUS Chapter for their generous support of this episode.

Radiant Heating & Cooling Jun 19, 2015

"“Why do we heat and cool buildings with air? How did a thermodynamically and physiologically irrational medium of heat transfer - air - become the dominant method of heating and cooling buildings?

Water is 832 times denser than air. Energy Density is directly related to the density of a material. Water can capture and channel far more energy per unit volume than air. Thermally active surfaces are built around this basic principle.

The human body is a hydronic, thermally active surface system. Heat energy is transferred in and around a body through the hydronic circulatory system. The heart circulates heat through the blood back and forth between the core of the body to its skin, a thermally active surface. Its thermal system is decoupled from its ventilation system.

Thermally active surfaces in buildings follow this logic, literally. This alters energy consumption and amends human comfort. Thermally active surfaces in buildings are not metaphors for the body and do not mimic a natural system. Rather, they share the same thermo-dynamical system. In this century, building science and systems will follow how the body actually functions.

The human body uses radiant transfer to exchange most of its thermal energy. Buildings based on this logic will significantly amend current patterns of energy consumption and human comfort.

Achieve greater human comfort with low air temperature heating and high air temperature cooling. Thermally active surfaces utilize low-supply temperature heating and high-supply temperature cooling to achieve human comfort. This can save an immense amount of energy in the next century of building.

Cooling is a deceptive concept. If a building does not get hot, it does not need to be ‘cooled.’ Thermally active surfaces ‘cool’ by continuously removing heat energy. This is fundamentally different from air based approaches to cooling. If a surface is cooler than the bodies and objects in its space, it is removing heat from those objects and has the effect of cooling. There is no circumstance when the surface temperature should be near or at the dew point temperature to heat or ‘cool’ a space. As such, condensation is not an impediment to thermally active surfaces.

De-fragment buildings and the building industry. Integrated practices must occur on societal levels in how teams and projects are structured as well as on material levels in the form of simplified, yet higher performing, building systems.

Thermally active surfaces engender more deeply integrated design of material and energy systems for more robust buildings.

What would change if we heated and cooled buildings with water rather than air?

Thermally active surfaces stand to advance architecture’s practices and performances: its techniques, technologies, professional and ecological sustainability, budgets, and formal possibilities.”

-Kiel Moe, Thermally Active Surfaces In Architecture

In this episode of The Building Science Podcast we explore one of the world's most potent and revolutionary technologies - thermally active surfaces, or radiant heating and cooling.

A Brief History Of Air Conditioning Jun 19, 2015

We take the air conditioner for granted, but imagine what life would be like without it.

Once considered a luxury, this invention is now an essential, allowing us to cool homes, businesses, hospitals, data centers, laboratories and other buildings vital to our economy and daily lives. In fact, air temperature is so important to us that 48 percent of all energy consumption in American homes is a result of cooling and heating, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Like most important breakthroughs, modern commercial and residential air conditioning technology is a result of a series of advancements by scientists and inventors who challenged themselves to come up with creative solutions to problems of the day.

How much do you really know about where air conditioning comes from?

From Benjamin Franklin to the vast scientific HVAC advancements of the future - in this episode of The Building Science Podcast, we explore the rich and fascinating history of air conditioning and discover something fascinating about the difference between air and water.

Glazing & Comfort Jun 10, 2015

In this episode, Kristof interviews world renowned lighting consultant Matthew Tanteri on the complexities of the windows in architecture.

Matthew Tanteri runs Tanteri + Associates to provide architectural lighting design services to architects, designers, building owners and developers. We work on light projects large and small that include retail, residential, commercial, institutional, landscape and much more.

For 25 years, their collaborations on lighting projects all over the world have been recognized by many of the lighting industry’s most distinguished awards. With natural and electric light they seek to enhance and define the visual experience. They are constantly exploring new methods, materials, and applications in which to use light.

Join us for a wonderful conversation and enjoy!

Phase Change Materials May 27, 2015

In our first ever episode of the building science podcast, Kristof & Michael introduce a wild product that could change how your home can passively handle heat loads. A phase change material (PCM) is a substance with a high heat of fusion which, melting and solidifying at a certain temperature, is capable of storing and releasing large amounts of energy. Heat is absorbed or released when the material changes from solid to liquid and vice versa; thus, PCMs are classified as latent heat storage (LHS) units.

Join us as we begin this wild adventure with very little knowledge of how to make a podcast. We hope it goes well and that you enjoy!

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