Robert Lewis is the Radon Program Manager at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. He wrote a paper and presented on the History of Radon from 1470 to 1984 which I found to be an interesting way to approach the subject of Radon in our homes. Early in my career I combined home inspection with energy ratings and offered a radon measurement service. At the time I had to get an EPA radon certification and ever since I have been puzzled by how little builders think about radon...

Before dedicating his career to integrating solar energy into the new construction market Dennis Helblig worked for a variety of builders including Colorado’s favorite regional production high performance builder Thrive Homebuilders. Seeing the efficiency of the housing stock continue to improve, Dennis moved on from building and worked for industry leading solar companies like SolarCity, Sun Street, Sunnova, and now Colorado Based Pro Bid Energy to integrate solar into new home construction....

Scott Doyle is the managing director of quality assurance for the Residential Energy Services Network, or RESNET. RESNET governs the home energy rating system or the HERS® Energy Rating Index. Scott became a HERS® Rater in 2003 and since being certified has inspected and tested the energy performance of thousands of homes across a variety of construction types and climate zones. In 2007 he became a RESNET certified Quality Assurance Designee and Trainer and oversaw quality...

Early on in my carrier when working for a regional production builder, the president and owner suggested that indoor air quality was that path forward to communicate the benefits of applied building science, resilient, and energy efficient construction. I think he was right, but it still has taken living through covid to get the consumer to understand its importance to health in our homes.  Version 2 of the Indoor airPLUS program, which has just been released, will help us better understand...

Stephen Davis is the product manager and director of building science for Quadrant Performance Materials. Quadrant is a spray foam insulation manufacturer that produces the EnvironSeal line of spray foam. Stephen has been working in the industry for the past 25 years and has always offered himself as a resource for all questions regarding spray foam, from building science to manufacturing and installation. I decided to take him up on his offer and it was wonderful to catch up, learn more...

Rockwool Residential WarmBoard

I was able to speak with Dave Roberts just before he retired from the National Renewable Energy Lab after a full carrier leading a group of talented engineers and scientists who have been leveraging computer modeling and simulation to address pressing residential building efficiency, electrification, and carbon related issues in our country.   I first met Dave when he worked in software development with REMRate which at the time was the most widely used energy modeling software developed to...

Eric Werling spent 30 years in public service. First in the Navy, then as a consultant supporting EPA’s infant EnergyStar program, before helping to create and manage the EPA Indoor airPLUS program, and finally as the DOE Building America program manager. Those 30 years were well spent helping innovation in the residential construction arena grow, flourish and come to market. Eric lived and contributed to the history and introduction of applied building science and energy efficient...

Peter Yost is the principle of Building Wright, an applied building science consulting firm based in New Hampshire. Peter is the person you turn to if you want to truly understand how buildings work and is one of those people you keep track of all your carrier. To be honest I was a bit nervous about this conversation, but quickly learned that Peter is not only an expert in the field of applied building science, but humble and human as well. Although coming from a building background, Peter...

Eric Kaiser is the Industry Engagement Manager for TruTech Tools, which means that he is the conduit between the HVAC and home performance testing and commissioning industry keeping the pulse of their needs. As a former HVAC contractor Eric has learned the importance of commissioning and testing and its role in informing technicians about the performance of the products they are installing. Once again it goes back to is it there and does it work as it was installed. Eric has also become an...

⁠LG INVERTER HEAT PUMP WATER HEATER

Ben Bogie is a Principal at Building Performance Cooperative, an employe owned building company specializing in building high performance homes based out of Ridgefield Connecticut.  As you will hear, he is a third-generation high performance builder who has incorporated what his father and grandfather were doing into our modern construction practices. Ben remains curious about green high-performance buildings, while delving deep into the building science that surrounds it. In addition, he is...

Joe Medosch is the Director of training and all things knowledge-based for Measure Quick, an HVAC commissioning tool that helps guide HVAC technicians to ensure the system they install, and work, on perform. In conjunction with a properly sized and designed system, Measure Quick uses measurements of air flow, refrigerant charge, temperatures, and static pressure to leverage data and therefore performance of installed systems. Growing from visionaries in the field like John Proctor’s CheckMe...

Sara Guterman is the CEO Green Builder Media, an avid outdoors person, and a leader of change and innovation in our construction industry.  Many have moved on from the term, “green building”. Sara has embraced it, is conscious of the potential for green washing, and has built a network of builders, consumers, suppliers and trades people that are reframing green building to include the totality of the construction industry.  I am so focused on house performance, “is it there and does it work”,...

12 Minutes of concise information for you on Cold Climate Heat Pumps. Enjoy

Asa Foss is the program manager for the ENERGY STAR Nextgen Certified Homes program, which is the first federal new construction certification program focused on operational decarbonization. The program requires that the base home be labeled under EnergyStar for new homes, and then install a climate specific heat pump for heating and cooling, a hot water heating heat pump, an electric or induction cook top, and finally electric vehicle ready infrastructure. Asa explains these programs...

Alison Bailes has a PhD in Physics and tried academic life but found his true passion in building science while building his own house.  He has moved on and is now fully renovating his current house kind of in the same way that he moved on from home energy ratings, where I first met him, to concentrating on HVAC design. From the broad to the specific one might say. Applying building science through HVAC design led to this discussion on the buildCAST because I had the pleasure of hearing...

Emily Mottram often describes herself as a “little Nerdy” and as an architect that expresses itself in a focus on people and planet, through high performance design of residential buildings. Emily helped to define high performance construction, as one of the authors of the “Pretty Good House” book which states that the goal is a well thought-out, carefully crafted home, designed to maximize performance and comfort within a budget. Performance incorporates metrics like R-values and ACH50...

Dr. Robert Tino Sonora 10 Minutes on the Economics affecting the building industry

Dr. Ian Giammanco is the Managing Director for Standards & Data Analytics and a Lead Research Meteorologist at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety Center. He has been instrumental in the creation of IBHS’s Thunderstorm Ready Home program which was created in the wake of severe weather events. In 2023 alone 20 states were impacted by 19 severe convective storm events, each causing over $1 billion in damage.   Building from the Fortified Homes, Fortified, Roof, and...

The ability to take a deep dive into construction topics is never greater than at IBS. Because of the electrification of our home’s movement, my work in the Marshall Fire rebuild and the huge incentives that are now available to those electrify their homes, I chose to dive into heat pump water heating. Yes, they are more efficient at heating hot water, but several questions still needed to be answered. Are they loud, how much do they lower the ambient room temperature, what’s their recovery...

Haven IAQ I could not find a link to a Canadian 380 Ventilation Standard but I found this Ventilation and the indoor environment

Devon Tilly is a visionary who sought me out to partner on a deep dive series on his Art of Construction podcast. He speaks often about platforms and master facilitators, and it took me quite some time to better understand that he is a big thinker whose objective is to bring the construction community together. Platforms can be companies, networking groups, like BS and Beer Metro Denver that I started, or other such organizations that are the catalyst that bring people together to effect...

Navien Hydro