BuildingEnergy Boston 2026 Sessions

Monday

Monday, March 23 - 10:30 to 12:00
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
Scaling Resilience Through Community & Collaboration We must create maximum positive climate and social impact as quickly as possible. This session explores a shared-services cooperative model (also called a producers’ cooperative)… Full Description
Operational and Embodied Carbon, Together at Last! The MA 100-Home Embodied Carbon Study The Massachusetts 100-Home Embodied Carbon Study was convened by a team of industry collaborators to explore the feasibility of adding embodied carbon analysis to the existing… Full Description
Breaking Thermal Bridges: A Guide to the Divide Join three experienced practitioners of thermal bridging mitigation as they share details that minimize thermal losses, reduce condensation potential and increase thermal comfort… Full Description
Connecting the Dots for Small Residential Decarbonization: Lessons from the Field Home decarbonization requires a multitude of decisions about how, when and what to invest in. Programs with customized guidance, expert technical assistance and affordable… Full Description
Comfort & Savings for All: Talking Decarbonization with Anyone Effective decarbonization depends on reaching households with the highest energy burdens — and on how we talk about energy efficiency. This interactive workshop draws from City of… Full Description

Monday, March 23 - 1:00 to 2:00
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
The Cost of Prediction: Where the Models End and Meters Begin As energy costs surge and buildings shift to all-electric systems, predicting and managing not just energy use but operating cost is essential. Using a series of real multifamily… Full Description
Deconstruction and Reuse in Fitouts: A Case Study Circularity in the built environment is more than a sustainability buzzword—it’s an opportunity to rethink how we build, renovate, and reuse. With landfills nearing capacity and… Full Description
Proof over Promises: Cold Climate Multifamily Retrofit Results This panel will feature post-retrofit results for multiple decarbonization projects across cold climates, with the results presented in a systematic way to show lessons about… Full Description
Cutting Ties: Designing to Reduce Reliance on Existing Utility Plants As institutions continue to decarbonize, project teams are being challenged with the question “How can we minimize reliance on existing central utility plants even if we do not… Full Description
Keeping it Cool! Toolkits and Strategies for Extreme Heat and Urban Heat Island Mitigation This session will present several new and emerging free-to-access resources for developing and advancing extreme heat and urban heat island mitigation solutions. These tools… Full Description

Monday, March 23 - 2:30 to 3:30
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
Scaling Heat Pumps for LMI Communities Through Trusted Local Partnerships In this session, we will discuss how community partnerships can accelerate heat pump adoption in underserved communities and promote equitable electrification. The session will… Full Description
Through The Details: Lessons learned from 50 Phius design certifications This session traces the evolution of Passive House detailing over the past decade, highlighting how simplification and improved modeling have made high-performance design more… Full Description
Deep Dive: Designing a High-Performance Pool and Community Center in Boston This session explores the design process of the new all-electric, high performance Grove Hall Community Center. It will showcase how community engagement, energy and daylight… Full Description
Building Better with What We Have: Balancing Carbon, Cost, and Housing Boston faces twin crises—housing and climate—and must leverage existing buildings in decarbonization efforts. This study evaluates four renovation pathways across multifamily… Full Description
Financial Statement Storytelling: Building Accountability and Engagement In uncertain times, resilient organizations don’t hide from the numbers—they share them! This interactive session introduces simple, powerful tools like the 6-line P&L to help… Full Description

Monday, March 23 - 4:00 to 5:00
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
Building the Energy Workforce: Hands-On Pathways from Campus to Community College of the Atlantic has created a model for building a diverse and skilled energy workforce. Through coursework, certifications, internships, and work-study, students gain… Full Description
More Good through Less Bad Join us for an honest reckoning of habits in building enclosures and structural systems with deplorable carbon consequences. Follow the logic toward design and construction… Full Description
Unlocking Residential Geothermal: How Builders are Overcoming Cost and Complexity Barriers Residential geothermal heat pumps are widely recognized for their efficiency and performance, yet adoption in housing has lagged due to perceived cost, complexity, and execution… Full Description
Onward to 2050! Two Existing Commercial Building Decarbonization Case Studies This session will share the results and lessons learned from two existing building decarbonization assessments: a large lab/office facility and a high school. Drawing on the Mass… Full Description

Tuesday

Tuesday, March 24 - 10:30 to 12:00
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
Less Carbon, Same Building: How Builders and Designers Can Cut Embodied Carbon Today Learn to assess embodied carbon in low-rise construction using the BEAM tool and other practical resources through guided, interactive examples. Using real project case studies,… Full Description
Spinach and Sustainability: Making Green Irresistible Everyone knows sustainable design is good for people and the planet—like spinach, it’s good for us, but not everyone wants a bite. This interactive session shows how to make… Full Description
From Building Decarbonization to Campus Decarbonization: Lessons, Pitfalls, Results To meet their Climate Action Goals, campuses are moving beyond individual net-zero buildings to portfolio decarbonization. An owner–architect–engineer panel shares planning-stage… Full Description
Decarbonizing Non-Profit Buildings via No-Cost Planning and Financing Resources Non-profit and municipal building owners have limited resources and expertise to drive existing building decarbonization. This session will present low-cost resources for them to… Full Description
Anti-Racism In Action Join us for a facilitated conversation around the topic of immigration and deportation with a connection to the design & construction industry, using a format that NESEA'… Full Description

Tuesday, March 24 - 1:00 to 2:00
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
From Model to Meter: What Can We Learn from the Massachusetts LBER Data Starting in 2025, Massachusetts buildings over 20,000sf were required to report their annual energy consumption. Now, those data have been released to the public. We will provide… Full Description
Mass Timber: Strategies for Carbon, Cost, and Constructability Learn from a two-year multifamily mass timber study, which took prototypical multifamily residential structures at different scales and reimagined them in mass timber. Key… Full Description
How to Make a House Levitate: The Accidental Deep Energy Retrofit What began as a planned new build took an unexpected turn when this prefabricated house, originally slated for demolition, was given a second life. Poor original detailing left… Full Description
Optimizing Passive Building for Cost Effectiveness: Tools and Methods This presentation focuses on strategies for multifamily passive building projects in cold climates. Topics include WUFI Passive optimization, thermal bridge mitigation and… Full Description

Tuesday, March 24 - 2:30 to 3:30
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
Retrocommissioning For Existing Buildings It’s no surprise that optimizing and maintaining building operations is crucial to achieving planned carbon and energy savings. And yet, a majority of HVAC systems and building… Full Description
From Gas to Electricity with Speed and Equity Our gas system is oversized for a future of clean electricity. To rightsize it as we transition to electricity for the least cost, greatest speed and with equitable outcomes, we… Full Description
Closing the Materials Gap: Practical Steps for Making Better Materials Choices Everyone wants lower-carbon, healthier materials. The hard part is execution: data gaps, risk management, substitution pressure, and the sheer volume of products. In this panel,… Full Description
Are You Smarter Than a Phius Reviewer? Think you can outsmart a Phius reviewer? Put your building science skills to the test in this “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader” style quiz show that combines technical insight,… Full Description
Who Pays and Who Saves? How Electric Rates Shape Equitable Multifamily Electrification Electric rate design and metering decisions determine who pays, who saves, and who benefits from building electrification, especially in affordable multifamily housing. In… Full Description

Tuesday, March 24 - 4:00 to 5:00
Session Title	Speakers	Areas of Focus
Deep Energy Retrofits, Round 3: A Holistic Cost Analysis This session offers fresh perspective on previous NESEA presentations, “Why We Stopped Doing Deep Energy Retrofits” (2023) and “The Deep Energy Retrofit Controversy Revisited” (… Full Description
Designing the Future of Learning: Insights from Passive Schools The Stretch Energy Code update focuses on passive building principles as an underpinning to all compliance paths, resulting in non-residential commercial use types assessing and… Full Description
The Balancing Act: Reducing Embodied and Operational Carbon in High-Performance Envelopes As codes become more stringent and low embodied carbon goals more mainstream, projects face sometimes contradictory priorities in balancing energy efficiency with embodied… Full Description
Multifamily Ventilation Systems: Do We Really Need CAR Dampers? Constant air regulators (CAR dampers) are instrumental to the success of central mechanical ventilation systems, assuring that fresh air gets to bedrooms and living areas while… Full Description