Single family

Do you understand moisture dynamics? Do you have a comprehensive plan to control moisture in your buildings? If you answered no to either question, then you run the risks of occupant discomfort, mold growth, excessive maintenance and/or premature building failure. This session will help you avoid these risks. A veteran building scientist and co-author of the EPA Moisture Control Guide will share key measures—from design through operations—for controlling water and moisture in buildings.

This session will explore the building science implications of achieving the Passive House metrics for larger buildings and will highlight the difference in design strategies compared to single family Passive House homes. Multifamily projects of all types, but especially affordable housing developers, appreciate the benefits of achieving Passive House, such as increased durability, low operating and maintenance costs, assured comfort, and superior indoor air quality.

As low energy, super insulated enclosures become more prevalent, some industry leaders question the continued relevance of passive solar design. Should we use the sun to help meet our heating needs, or have newer design tools, construction techniques and materials rendered passive solar strategies obsolete? This session's speaker believes that solar optimized design remains important and will show how an integrated approach to solar design can and should support optimal performance and occupant comfort.

High-R or super-insulated walls are a common component of high performance housing. However, in cold climates, these walls run the risks of cold-weather condensation, and general durability issues due to reduced heat flow. Two practitioners have been monitoring the moisture performance of several high performance walls, and will share their results. Chris Corson has been examining highly vapor-open walls based on classic European Passive House designs, without the use of plastic foams.

Never get the R-15 wool insulation pulled over your eyes again! Separating green from greenwash is getting harder as standards proliferate. Tristan and Paula from BuildingGreen bring you the latest in clever greenwash with this lively and interactive chat on what makes a label truly green. Even if you come knowing nothing about green building labels, you'll leave with new knowledge--as well as new wisdom. We'll show you how to ask the right questions and make your own judgment next time a company tries to convince you that its pet metric or label is the greenest of them all.

Americans say energy efficiency and renewables are important, and that they’re worried about their ability to pay for energy in the future, our dependence on foreign countries and depleting resources. But what are they doing about it?
Research shows Americans’ propensity to act on energy generation and efficiency options is in a three-year decline. Why?

Why do we need to ventilate homes? How much air do we need to do it? Once we’ve figured that out, what systems should we install? These are big questions, but this session will hopefully provide useful answers. We’ll begin with a discussion of health impacts of ventilation and different ventilation rates. The latter part will explore various ventilation systems: pros and cons, costs and benefits, and tips for installing the best systems for your project.

With the drop in envelope loads and the rise in efficient heat pumps (even in cold climates), quite a few homes are moving away from fossil fuels towards electric HVAC. One recurring question is: what to do about water heating? This session covers various options - simple electric tanks, tankless electric heaters, solar thermal, heat pump water heaters, etc. - and presents real cost and energy data from several research & evaluation projects.

For many teams, it is an almost impossible challenge to simultaneously deliver high performance and cost efficient buildings while maintaining high customer satisfaction and profitability. Integrated design/build delivery providing single responsibility, from schematic design to construction through commissioning and monitoring has proved to be a viable model for successful delivery of cost efficient high performance buildings. This session will examine aspects of planning, marketing, estimating, system development, project management, human resources, accounting, and legal concerns.

This session will delve into two wide-ranging case studies representing the few Northeast LBC projects (only 50 active LBD nationwide). The Smith College Bechtel Environmental Classroom field station building is on track to receive full certification by early 2014. The Kellogg House at Williams College, a repurposed and expanded historic building, currently in construction (Fall 2013).

This session will explore the actual performance over the past few years of 2 completed Deep Energy Retrofits in Massachusetts which successfully achieved the ACI Thousand Homes Challenge in 2011-12. From the combined perspective of a builder and an architect experienced with a variety of strategies for achieving energy efficient homes, we will compare the approaches in these two cases with other building techniques and programs such as Energy Star, Energy Plus, Net Zero, and Passive House.