Patrick Nielsen is the Global Technical Products Manager for Broan Nutone, a leading manufacturer of residential ventilation solutions. Patrick has 20 years of experience with Broan including roles in product development, where he used his engineering background to launch a wide range of innovative ventilation products to solve a variety of IAQ and customer challenges. More recently his focus has been codes and standards, projecting longer-term product needs/opportunities and training.  He serves as chair on the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) Board of Directors, chairs their Codes and Standards committee and is active in multiple other committees addressing industry issues, including ASHRAE, RESNET, EEBA and IAQA.

Patrick Nielsen on LinkedIn

BROAN NUTONE

In 1982, a group of building professionals from around the world gathered in Pine Island, Minnesota for the first Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) meetup with the goal, to develop criteria for the construction of what we now call high performance and sustainable homes.

 For over 40 years now (EEBA) has been a trusted resource for building science information and education in the construction industry.  To serve the EBBA mission to advance the leading edge of building science knowledge and sustainable business practices in the residential construction community, EEBA delivers educational resources and events including an annual high performance building summit, their free webinar and podcasts, an online construction academy, and training events held around the country. You can learn more at EEBA.org 

I went to my first EEBA home building summit in the mid 1990s as I chased building science education and was introduced to a group of passionate individuals who are now called the legends of EEBA. In this podcast which was recorded at the 2025 EEBA Summit opening session titled State of our industry: Perspective from the EEBA Legends, you will hear first from Mark Laliberte with Construction Instruction then Joe Lstiburek from Building Science Corp, Gord Cook from Building Knowledge Canada and Construction Instruction, Sam Rashkin, former director of the EnergyStar program and Gene Meyers with Thrive Homebuilders. You will also hear a bit from Pat Heulman recently retired from the University of Minnesota.

Enjoy

Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA)

Over a 30-year career in construction, Fernando Ruiz has become a dedicated proponent of building innovations and their relationship with affordable housing. He is the author of Building an affordable house which became clear in our conversation is not the same as building a cheap or poorly performing house. Fernando’s fundamental goal is to use his understanding of the rules contained in building codes, science, and value engineering to break the norms of our traditional thinking, to build homes that are attainable yet still essentially meet the needs and aspirations of his clients. It became clear to me that our building philosophies are aligned with each other. First, set a goal for each project, develop design parameters and principals for the project, and determine the most cost-effective way to achieve the goal. My goals often revolve around how the home performs and Fernando’s revolve around affordability, but you will see that regardless, our paths intersect.

Fernando on LinkedIn

Building Affordable Website

Building Affordable on YouTubeFernando on Facebook

Farndon on Instagram

Moly Butz is the Managing Director of the Structural Building Components Association; she is also the hosts the Lumber connection podcast. The Lumber Connection Podcast focuses on the latest trends in the North American lumber markets. Each week, experts Justin Binning and Ken Timmins, lumber traders with American International Forest Products, provide insight into the latest trends and many factors impacting the supply and demand of the lumber used in structural components.  Although I don’t buy lumber or build roof or floor trusses and the like, I began getting the SBCA newsletter and started listening to the Lumber Connection podcast during the pandemic. I have found the information and insights in both have helped me better understand the supply chain issues in the lumber industry, as well as those facing the entirety of the construction industry. In the podcast specifically, Molly, Justin, and Ken, break down the current issues impacting lumber sales in about 15 minutes, so a quick listen has broadened my ability to speak to builders in a more educated way. I was really pleased to be able to speak with Molly, Justin, and Ken on the buildCAST to learn more about how they came together and are using their expertise to connect their listeners to lumber, but also the broader economic issues that are impacting the construction industry on a lager level. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Lumber Connection Podcast

SBCA Structural Building Components Association

Moly Butz, Managing Director, Structural Building Components Association on LinkedIn

Ken Timmins, Lumber Broker at American International Forest Products on LinkedIn

Justin Binning, Lumber Trader at American International Forest Products on LinkedIn

Brian Iverson is the CEO of US Engineered Wood, the manufacturer of the Tstud™ products. He is a character and was a joy to speak with. Brian brought the Tstud™ to market, an Innovation in framing materials that is impacting the energy performance of house and the construction of high-performance homes. Please enjoy this episode of the buildCAST.

Brian “Tstud” Iversonon LinkedIn

Tstuds™

I have been involved with the development of the IECC since the 2015 code cycle. Traditionally the International Code Council develops construction and public safety codes through a governmental consensus process. For the 2024 IECC and Chapter 11 of the IRC, which is the residential IECC reprinted in the International Residential Code, has changed. An ANSI standard development process and consensus procedures will now be used for the development of the 2024 IECC.  The resulting document will still be called the international Energy Conservation Code and will still be considered a Code, but the process of getting the next updated code is quite different.  

In this episode I explains the traditional code development process and the new development process and then speak with Gill Rossmiller, Hope Medina, Jay Crandell, Jim Meyers, Rob Salcido, and Tom Culp who are all deeply involved in the current 2024 IECC development to see how they think the new ANSI process is working.

IECC Committee website information:

Code Development Process:

IECC Committee Procedures including Scope and Intent of the development process:

ICC - LEADING THE WAY TO ENERGY EFFICIENCY, “A Path Forward on Energy and Sustainability to Confront a Changing Climate”

Solar Decathlon Build Challenge Teams will compete to earn points by operating their house successfully, and by showcasing the excellence of their solutions to industry expert jurors in the 10 focus areas which include: Architecture, Engineering, Market analysis, Durability and Resiliency, Embodies Environmental impact, Integrated performance, Occupant Experience, Comfort and environmental quality, Energy performance, Presentation.

The University of Colorado team has won the last few changes and we speak with Kyle Biega and Wes (MAC-EVOY) Mcevoy,  the team leaders to learn what they have planned for the 2022-2023 Challenge.

Solar Decathlon Build Challenge

2022 CU Team Website

CU Solar Decathlon fundraising through crowdfunding

CU Boulder’s #1 finish in 2020 Solar Decathlon Build Challenge

Flatirons Habitat for Humanity

ElektrikGreen - 100% emission-free energy storage

To me Mark Willie burst onto the seen during the height of Covid when all kinds of building educational content was being created and distributed through social media. During this time, I learned about BS and Beers, Building Science Fight Club, Delta and rockwool training, and all the folks on Instagram I call the “Instagram builders”. Mark is in the mix of these people that came into my world at that point, and I was drawn to try and have a conversation with him. He works and promotes TStud, is a host of the Passive House Accelerator Construction Tech Tuesdays, as well as the Dave Cooper Friday building science show. Mark graciously spoke with me, and I hope that you enjoy this episode of the BUILDTank/buildCAST.

On LinkedIn

Passive House Accelerator

TStud

Dave Cooper Building Science Friday

Sandra Adomatis is an appraiser, consultant, and educator. Her story is one of love which also led her to her work passion, residential appraisals, specifically green appraisals. She has pioneered the art of valuation of the energy and green building features in homes that is behind the drywall. She wrote the first drafts of what, through the help of the Appraisal Institute, became the Residential Green and Energy Efficient addenda. A systematic approach for gathering the data needed to add the value of energy efficient and green building features incorporated in modern homes into the appraisal. I have seen Sandra speak several times at RESNET or EBBA conferences but never realized how important it is for builders to talk about and market their homes in a way that truly highlight the programs, energy rating index scores, and other features of value they build in. If you aren’t talking about it you are just giving it away and now thanks to Sandra we can quantify the dollar amount that builders have been giving away.

Sandra Adomatis on LinkedIn 

Residential Green Valuation Tools

Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum Fillable PDF

A Guide to the Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum

Mark LaLiberte almost needs no introduction to the buildCAST audience. In the world of building science there are a few superhero promoters of doing the right thing in the houses that we build. Mark is definitely one of the Rockstar's. He is President of Construction Instruction, a tremendous educator and speaker and works with nearly 5,000 builders and architects a year. His particular gift is being able to communicate building physics in a fun and attainable way that is engaging and informative for the average nonscientist. He is now building a net zero home, and in Mark fashion, using it as a demonstration project to continue the promotion of proper applied building science. If you are a going to attend the 2022 EBBA Summit in Scotts dale Arizona, take the opportunity to tour the house.

I really enjoyed my conversation and want to thank Mark for taking some time out of his busy schedule to be on the buildCAST. Please enjoy.

Construction Instruction

Mark LaLiberte on LinkedIn

To me, Bill Rose has single handily written the most about historical forensic building science and analysis that explains why we build things the way we do. This historical perspective reveals why we have wrongly and myopically focused on class one vapor retarders to stop vapor diffusion when we should be focusing on vapor transport through air leakage, for example. I feel we can't loose this historic perspective if we want to move forward with making applied building science part of everyday building.  Thank you Professor William B. Rose for all that you have brought to light.

More about William B Rose

“Water in buildings: an architect’s guide to moisture and mold” by Bill Rose

Green Builder Advisor Article with bill Rose

Search the internet for the following papers that I found particularly interesting:

“Early History of Attic Ventilation” By William B. Rose

"A review of the regulatory and technical literature related to crawl space moister control"  By W.B. Rose

"Moisture Control in the Modern Building Envelope: History of the Vapor Barrier in the U.S., 1923-52" By William B. Rose

Drew Lindsay owner of Hammerwell Construction is the only builder in Colorado that I know of that has a full staff of Passive house certified tradespeople. The have learned building science and passive house principles that they are wrapping into all their projects, certified or otherwise, with an aim of continuing to build beautiful homes that their clients love living in. I learned of Hammerwell while I was training to become PHIUS certified passive house consultant, and continuing to learn more as I watch how they are approaching helping people rebuild from the Boulder County Marshall Fire.

As you will hear, Drew came up in the trades and worked his way to a position where he could take over hammerwell and continue to grow the company. It is clear that family is important to Drew and his business is like a family, but a family of professionals, experienced in a range of fields that allow them to bring creative solutions to projects that are now layered with passive house principles.

HammerWell

Colorado State University Institute for the Built Environment

Mark Attard, operations manager at HammerWell Custom Homes, and I have a candid conversation about rebuilding after the Marshall Fire. Applied building science and better performing homes needs to be at the heart of the conversation of rebuilding. 1st costs vs. opportunity cost vs. cost of ownership, resiliency, health, fire resistance and more. Cost of construction can’t be laid on the back of energy codes only.

Boulder County Marshall Fire Web Page

Town of Louisville Marshall Fire Updates

Town of Superior Marshall Fire FAQs, Resources and Recovery Dashboard

Beau Brown is the founder of C & H inspection, a family owned and operated home inspection company located in Salt Lake City Utah. Beau started his career in the construction industry with his father and grandfather at the age of 10, building houses and garages all through his teens and early 20’s.  He then gained experience leading teams as a Chemical Technician conducting waste clean-ups with hazardous spill response teams. He went to school for a business degree, and you will see that although college was not for Beau business is and he has been able to leverage his business, marketing, and people skills to make C & H inspection one of the most respected home inspection companies in Salt Lake City.

 Beau has a large presence on social media, and we spent the first half of our time together diving deep into how social media works and how it has helped his business grow. Next, I learned that Beau is a people person, with a strong work ethic and integrity is a field that can be potentially fraught with conflicts of interest.  Since I started my first company offering home inspections, I was particularly interested in how the industry is now managing these conflicts. We ended our conversation talking about a new building code reference app that Beau is helping to launch, that potentially has the power to demystify the building code by putting the answers to code related questions at one’s fingertip.

Beau Brown on Instagram

C&H Inspections

International Association of Certified Home inspectors InterNACHI

American Society of Home Inspections ASHI

Homeowners UniversityCode Pro App

Mark Attard Operations Manager at Hammer Well custom homes is helping to lead the company towards a commitment to building exceptional custom homes following passive house principles. In that effort, Mark gained significant building science knowledge that he has applied in a complete retrofit of his own 1990 vintage home. Starting at 17 ACH50, mark improved the thermal envelope, air tightness, mechanical and ventilation systems in his house following building principals he and his colleges at Hammer Well are now taking to all their projects. Mark however has gotten to see the fruits of his labor because the neighborhood where his house is located ended up protecting downtown Louisville from the recent Boulder County Marshall Fire. One house burned in Mark’s neighborhood as firefighters defend the aera to ensure that the fire did not reach downtown Louisville. As you can imagine houses with air leakage in the 17 ACH50 range, All were smoke damaged. Mark’s house faired differently, and it’s story is the basis of this episode of the buildCAST. I can’t say I hope you enjoy this episode, but I do hope we listen well and learn a lesson of the byproduct of resiliency that can come from applied building science and better performing buildings.

Hammerwell, LLC

mark@hammerwell.com

(720) 201-2418

PHIUS

Colorado Public Radio Boulder County Marshall Fire coverage

Denver Post Marshall Fire Coverage

City of Louisville Building Codes

*EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 23, 2021* The city has adopted the 2021 IECC with amendments and electric vehicle charging requirements. All residential homes must comply with Appendix RC, Zero Energy Residential Building Provisions. Projects submitted after November 23, 2021 will be subject to the new regulations.

From Tragedy to Triumph: Rebuilding Greensburg, Kansas

Chief Builder and Owner of Sterling Enterprises, Peter Stuart values creativity, uniqueness, and perfection. Sterling builds for comfort and longevity while believing that advancing their craft leads to innovation and high performance. Peter is leading his team in building their first PHI passive house duplex, applying building science and critical passive house strategies that integrate with their company philosophy and working toward certification.

Sterling Enterprise Website

Sterling Enterprise on Instagram 

Part II of my conversation with Justin Wilson concentrated more on the creation of Construction Instruction and how it has grown. CI provides leading building professionals with the tools needed to apply building science principles while integrating cost-effective, practical solutions to build better, longer lasting, healthier homes. They offer hands-on training at their Colorado Experience Center, continuous online learning through our Ci App and help connect builders with solutions to improve build quality, make fewer mistakes and stand-out from the competition, all while remaining cost-competitive.

Construction Instruction

LinkedIn Profile

Download the CI App

Justin is an experienced building consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry. Skilled in energy efficiency, construction, sustainable design and applied building science. He is a principal partner with Construction Instruction and in part 1 of our conversation, reveals unique experiences that lead him to where he is.

LinkedIn Profil1

Construction Instruction

Download the CI App

EEBA

Martin Drake, a coal fired power plant located in downtown Colorado Springs, has burned coal to generate electricity since 1925. It burned its last piece of coal, however, on August 27, 2021 And it will transition to being fully decommissioned on December 31st, 2022. For now, Drake will operate by making electricity using a large natural gas generator. The generator is actually portable and can be repurposed after Drake is fully shut down.

Jim, is retired from the United States Air Force and from running an independent Home Energy Rating company, I first met Jim as a student in one of the Rater certification classes I taught while with EnergyLogic. He is now involved in the heart of his community’s energy future and is going to help describe what it takes to decommission a coal fired power plant. I hope you enjoy your listen!

Jim welcomes direct questions Reach out to him at rigginsJ110@gmail.com

Colorado Springs Indy article, “Drake Power Plant’s glory days are over” By Pam Zubeck Sep 29, 2021 Updated Oct 6, 2021

Colorado Springs Utilities Sustainable Energy Plan

Colorado Springs Utility Electric Generation 2030 Chart

Xcel Energy commits to net-zero carbon goal by 2050

Southeastern Colorado Renewable Energy Society

Passive House Institute United States

Creating an Airtight Shaft Liner Area Separation Wall

The IECC requires that town homes and duplexes achieve 3 or 5 ACH50 depending on the climate zone the dwelling is built in. My experience is that attached housing is 2-3 time leakier than detached even though detached is generally twice as large. In the past creating airtight attached dwellings has been quite difficult and costly do to the 1” to ¾” gap between the area separation and structural components of the assembly. Two recently completed UL and ICC/NAT tests are changing how we should think about construction and air sealing this assembly. This BUILDCast, explores what fire separation means and how air leakage can now be addressed.

Energy & Environmental Building Alliance

EEBA 2021 Summit

Reach out to me directly if you would like a copy of the slides for this presentation robby@btankinc.com

Bill Rectanus is chief operating officer, or COO, at Thrive Home builders, and today he will walk us through his journey to becoming a COO at this regional production builder, how the company began building only DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes, and the planning and economics that need to happen years in advance before a house can go vertical and be brought to market. I learned a lot about the business of building, for example the lead time and planning that goes into a project before going vertical. I hope you will learn as well and that you enjoy!

Bill on LinkedIn

Thrive Home Builders

Nigel Watts is successfully bringing the new RHEIA HVAC airtight compact air distribution system to market. Rheia's compact air distribution system is significantly faster to install, located entirely within the home's conditioned space, without using unsightly, expensive bulkheads and chases. Rheia improves comfort and helps maximize efficiency, at a competitive price.

NIgel's LinkedIn 

RHEIA Website 

Article on RHEIA 

The Coanda effect explains how air can is thrown into a room from a high interior supply registers across the room to the exterior wall creating more mixing of air within a room. Differences between Bernoulli's Principle and the Coanda

RHEIA on LinkedIn

Chef Rachelle Boucher with KitchenToLife.com , and Chef Andrew Forlines with ChefAF.com speak to with me about one of the biggest roadblocks to the electrification of a home. Getting ride of the gas cook top.

Chef Rachelle Boucher KitchenToLife.com

In 2018, when the city of Berkeley, CA announced the first all-electric building codes, I immediately knew that this was a huge moment for the planet, for the appliance industry and, frankly, for me. As a self-described "induction cooking and electric kitchens super-fan" and chef, I knew that I could make a big difference. It was an "A-ha moment".

My partner Robert Roth and I started "Kitchens to Life" with the mission to:

ELEVATE the electric kitchens conversation, ENGAGE stakeholders with today’s inspiring cooking options and FACILITATE the adoption of kitchen electrification for performance, people and planet.

Chef Andrew Forlines ChefAF.com

I’m Chef Andrew Forlines and I offer insights on the newest technology available to the residential home cook. As a chef, I have spent my career at the nexus of food science, fine dining, appliance technology, refined customer service, and culinary education.  For the last several years, I have worked in the residential appliance retail industry as a chef presenter, retail sales, and kitchen design trainer focused on advanced technology in the modern home kitchen. I am certified by both the NKBA and IDCEC to give accredited Continuing Education Unit presentations in person or via webinar.

Since his college days, Jonah has worked on national and international water issues. He has spent over a decade leading the technical direction and development of WaterSense which is the EPA's water efficiency program and has established himself as an expert in the field of water efficiency, conservation, and sustainability with numerous published articles and speaking engagements. Our conversation tracks his path and what the WaterSense program is doing in the built environment today.

EPA WaterSense Program

Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

LinkedIn profile

Brian Shanks is the Manager of National Accounts and Governmental Affairs for Beazer Homes.  Beazer is a production home building company based in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is the 11th largest homebuilder in the United States and now operates in 13 states.

Brian’s construction career has been aligned with energy-efficient and performance building in the world of large production builders, and now he is part of the team at Beezer Homes that is continuing the home builder’s evolution from building 100% EnergyStar home to committing to build and certify DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes. 

When they had a presence in Colorado, my former companies did all the energy code and EnergyStar compliance work for Beezer Homes, so it was particularly interesting for me to learn more about Beazer’s continued efforts to build high performance homes in the production building arena. 

Thank you, Brian, for sharing your building journey with us and for explaining some of the unique issues that production builders face.

Brian Shanks on LinkedIn

Beezer Homes

DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Program

Leading Builder of America

National Home Builder Association

SouthFace Institute

Welcome to this bonus session of the BUILDCast. I am happy to bring to you A conversation about Zero Energy homes that took place at the 2021 EEBA (Energy & Environmental Building Alliance) High performance Home Summit. I had this conversation as a session at the conference with individuals that have been working to build, promote, and educate us about building science based construction that results in zero energy homes.

Gord Cooke - President at Building Knowledge Canada & Partner at Construction Instruction

Bill Rectanus - Vice President of Homebuilding Operations at Thrive Home Builders

Justin Wilson – Principal Partner Construction Instruction

Seth Hart - Associate Principal at DTJ Design

Energy & Environmental Building Alliance 

2021 EEBA High performance Home Summit

EEBA Ultimate ZEN HOME

Greg D. Fisher, Architect is a design and service-centered practice focusing on simple, progressive, authentic and responsible designs since the firm’s inception in 1993. In 2020 Greg started down the road of designing and building a Passive house for him and his wife in Fort Collins Colorado. Listen to his journey to architecture and then to Passive house.

Advantage Architectural Woodwork This is the window company located in Kolby, KS and is owned by Bob Holloway. They are represented here locally by AE Building Systems 

Colorado State University Institute for the Built Environment 

Revive community

EMU Systems - Passive House consultation and training 

Fisher Passive house presentation links

AE Building Systems

Spring 2021 presentation given to NAPHN Live

December 2020 presentation to BS+Beer Show

November 2019 episode of the Build Show

Performance Construction Manger Mitsubishi Electric Tane US HVAC, Shawn has focused his worked in Energy and resource efficiency, sustainable buildings, and community abundance. He enjoys contributing his experience and intuitive problem-solving skills to what he calls a history-changing industry. He believes there are countless opportunities as we face the nexus of energy, water, food, transportation, technology, and economic sustainability. The time is now to meet our energy and carbon challenges head-on.

Shawn's LinkedIn 

PCD Engineering and Lightly Treading Join Forces

An assortment of short conversations I had with the sponsor exhibitors at the 2021  EBBA High Performance Summit

EEBA

Aprilaire

Dettson

Energy Panel Structures SIPS

Graphen Stone

Panasonic

Resideo

RetroTec

Sonnen USA

Dupont

An assortment of short conversations I had with the sponsor exhibitors at the 2021  EBBA High Performance Summit - Part II

BOAN-Nutone

Etopia USA

Extreme Panel Technologies 

Mitsubishi Electric Tane US HVAC

R-Control Panel

Santa-Fe Dehumidifiers 

Stego Industries 

SunNova

Huber ZIP System

I had a great conversation with Corbett who is juggling all things that his company Building Performance Workshop is doing. Performance Testing and home diagnostics, a home diagnostics book, training, podcast, TV show and YouTube Channel. All in an effort to help homeowners live their best life in the homes they have chosen.

Corbett introduces himself on his website this way. “Hi. I am Corbett Lunsford, and sometimes I’m an idiot. I wasn’t always a home performance expert – I used to play piano for ballerinas. For a living. So, in 2008, I started this career with Grace (my wife) and we learned a few things very quickly: construction is unbelievably messy, most pros are over-rushed and under-paid, and homeowners end up suffering in small ways, for their entire lives in the house. None of this has to be so we can opt out of the whole thing with performance testing.” Performance testing, gathering data in the home is the mission that Corbett has chosen as the backbone for his different platforms to educate industry and the public on what we should expect of our housing.

Building Performance Workshop

Home Diagnostics TV Series

You Tube Channel 

Building Performance Podcast

Home Performance diagnostics book

Tiny House/Tiny Lab

The story about how Gary Klein got into hot water is a long one which we delve into in this episode of the BUILDCast. It takes us from the east cost of the United State to Lesotho in Africa, back to the United States and on to California. Throughout his journey Gary took his own path and followed what interested him the most while looking for big problems to solve. Gary is passionate about helping people and looking at social issue through a lens of environmental ethics which has led him first to renewables, then energy efficiency, and now to hot water. Why Hot water? Well take a listen and find out.

Gary Klein and Associates

Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa, is crisscrossed by a network of rivers and mountain ranges including the 3,482m-high peak of Thabana Ntlenyana.

California Energy Commission – Water Heating

C.R. Herro, Vice president of Innovation at Meritage Homes, leads Meritage’s Business Innovation Program which combines design, efficiency, sustainability, and new technologies to establish a new standard in home building that provide better comfort, healthier air, and cost less to own and operate.

C.R. earned a Bachelor of Science at Arizona State University in Physical and Life Science, master’s in environmental science from Governors State, and Doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, and a master’s in philosophy from Arizona State University. CR has spent 20 years within Fortunate 500 companies driving innovation and the supporting change management.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cr-herro-39725514/

https://www.meritagehomes.com/

MC2 Mathis Consulting Company

National Fenestration Rating Council 

Architectural Testing Inc.  

NAHB Research Center now Home Innovation Research labs 

ASHREA 

ASTM 

About 23 years ago I almost created a sister company to my energy rating company BUILTWright that I was going to call WasteWright. Construction waste recycling was all the rage and there were all kinds of ideas regarding how to offer production builders solutions that fit within there building process. I almost bought a Packard Grinder which was portable and would allow me to grind construction waste on site. The theory was that the waste could then be used as mulch and soil amendment.

As you may well know, I did not buy a grinder or start a construction waste recycling business. Now I am helping the City of Denver with their new code adoption which includes a Green Building Code, and I began to wonder what has happened with regards to construction waste recycling in the past 23 years. Not sure if it is surprising or not, but little has happened. However, there are a number of people in industry and in Cities that are continuing to try and solve this environmental problem. This includes my guests Laurie Johnson of 5280 Waste Solutions and Emily Freeman of the City of Boulder Colorado. Take a listen and get a glimpse of where we are currently at.

Construction Wastes: Types, Causes, and Recycling strategies https://theconstructor.org/concrete/construction-waste-recycling/1088/

5280 Construction Waste Recycling Solutions https://5280waste.com/recycling-leed/

Lisa Morey is a professional engineer and architectural designer who starting building with adobe bricks while living and working in New Zealand in the early 2000’s. While there she worked with a design/build firm that constructed nearly 50 earth block homes that was the catalyst for her company Colorado Earth.  Lisa is now a champion for earth block construction, not only how to make the earthen block and build the house, but also to understand how the science of thermal mass works. Lisa continually demonstrates the efficiency, resiliency, and carbon neutrality that can be gainusing earthen blocks and was recently recognized as a woman making contributions to reduce carbon emissions within the building sector.

Thanks for explaining earth block construction to me and for all you do in the construction industry Lisa.Lisa on LinkedIn

Colorado Earth

Perlite Insulation Institute

Energy I-corps

Lisa’s white papers

BOOK: Adobe Homes for All Climates

Joe Medosch took a wide and varied route to become the Healthy Building Scientist. On his journey he became an artist, electrician, home inspector, and professor. He did marketing and sales and now is on a small team at Hayward score tasked with developing questions and providing best practice advice to homeowners to address indoor health issues that they are facing.

Hayward Score: Of the 23,000 breaths you take each day – about 90% of them are indoors. Breathing poor quality air has consequences. At Hayward Score both substantial scientific research and our personal journeys have led us to the knowledge that homes can (and should) be health supporting, not health degrading.

Joseph G. Allen is Director of the Healthy Buildings program and an Associate Professor at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Building Performance Institute's Healthy Home Evaluator (HHE) certification builds on the BPI Building Analyst (BA) and other BPI certifications. The HHE was developed in partnership with the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI). A Healthy Home Evaluator assesses home-based environmental health and safety hazards and provides a prioritized list of recommendations to address those hazards

National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA)

EPA Indoor Air Plus Program Version 2

In his spare time, as he claims to be retired, Steve Andrews is an energy consultant, free-lance writer, and mentor to many of us in Colorado. He worked primarily in the residential sector and was very active with the Denver Homebuilders' association and the development of Colorado’s home energy rating system in the early 1990’s, called E-Star Colorado. This was when states were the RESNET provider. His work ranged broadly from research with the State of Colorado’s Energy Office, co-chairing CORE's World Oil Forum in 1998, to working with the Fort Collins Utilities, code officials, Habitat for Humanity, and writing for Fine Homebuilding and local HBA publications. He also co-authored a draft report to the Colorado Legislature, for the Colorado PUC, regarding the findings by the state's Electricity Advisory Panel about whether or not to restructure the state's electricity industry. He has moved off the front range into the mountains of southern Colorado, but his impact on residential energy efficiency lives on.

Currently writing for Resilience an Online newsletter that is Building a world of resilient communities.  

https://www.resilience.org/latest-articles/

Co-Founder of ASPO-USA The Association for the Study of Peak Oil & gas.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspo-usa/about/

http://www.aspousa.org/

David B. Goldstein has worked on energy efficiency and energy policy since the early 1970s. He currently codirects Natural Resource Defense Council’s Energy program. Goldstein has been instrumental in the development of energy efficiency standards for new buildings and appliances that are currently in effect at the regional and national levels in the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan, and China. He was a founding director of the Institute for Market Transformation, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and the New Buildings Institute. Goldstein received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the recipient of its Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002 and is the recipient of the California Alumni Association’s 2003 Award for Excellence in Achievement. The author of the books Saving Energy, Growing Jobs and Invisible Energy.

ASHRAE 90.2-2018 Energy efficient design of low-rise residential buildings: This standard provides minimum requirements for the energy-efficient design of residential buildings, including new dwelling units, new portions of dwelling units and their systems, and new systems and equipment in existing dwelling units.

Eric Holt is an Assistant Professor at University of Denver - Burns School of Real Estate & Construction Management. He teaches Construction Building Systems, Architectural Design Management & Planning, Construction Project Management, and Residential Development. Our conversation revealed his beginnings in the construction world, what education looks like in the COVID world, and the field work Eric is exposing his students, including the DOE Solar Decathlon.  Come take a listen.

University of Denver Franklin Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management https://daniels.du.edu/burns-school/

Solar Decathlon https://daniels.du.edu/burns-school/support/solar-decathlon

University of Denver Showcases First-of-Its-Kind Project for Solar Decathlon https://www.du.edu/news/university-denver-showcases-first-its-kind-project-solar-decathlon

RED Angle – Construction Spanish and more. Red Angle partners with construction leaders to attract, retain, and communicate effectively with the Hispanic workforce to improve retention, safety, and productivity. https://www.redangleinc.com/

Today I am speaking with Zane Bishop of Bishop Built Construction based in Grand County Colorado Climate Zone 6. Zane and the Bishop Built team are the builders of the Kirsch/Stroup Passive house that we have been exploring over the past few episodes. Today we will be exploring Zane’s path to becoming a builder and what it took to dive deep into building a passive house. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Bishop Built a premier home builder based in Grand County Colorado Climate Zone 6, Bishop Built takes pride in their craftsmanship, relationships, and attention to detail. Bishop Built caters to the individual needs of their clients’ budgets, aesthetics, and goals. When asked they jumped in full speed to learn and execute the Passive House standards on the Kirsch/Stroup house.

EMU Systems  #RunWildBuildPassive | Empowering the construction industry to build for the future through simplified, standardized, Passive House systems. Learn from our experienced passive house building trainers through online, interactive training. We have courses throughout the year. View our training schedule for the next available class.

A&E Building Systems provides products that help builders, architects, home and building owners create comfortable, energy efficient and healthy environments to live, work, study and play. We look forward to helping you on your next project.

Arctic Cold Climate Heat Pumps

ENERsign Windows from Germany

David Barns took one career as an Industrial Technology Teacher, teaching classes in welding, AutoCAD drafting, STEM pre-engineering, and building construction, to his second carrier as a site construction manager for Bishop Built. He is one of the managers of the Kirsch/Stroupe Passive House. Our discussion ranged engaging young people in the trades, training the trades, to specifics on this passive house.

https://bishopbuiltconstruction.com/

Scott Munn Principal of Munn Architecture: https://munnarch.com/

Scott Munn’s warm-hearted and positive demeanor, coupled with a genuine love of his craft, translates directly into client satisfaction time and again. He is a Colorado native with ties to Grand County extending longer than 50 years. His family still has a home on Grand Lake, an incredible place that engendered in him a love for water. A graduate of architecture from the University of Washington, Scott achieved greatness in 1994 as World Champion in rowing, competing in Tampere, Finland, preceded by a fourth place in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He now channels his passion for water in the sport of competitive sailing and as an avid fly angler. Munn's architectural career launched in Vail and continued to Grand County in 2000. As founder of Munn Architecture, LLC, in 2007, he has brought together a team of talented individuals who share his unique perspective for innovative architecture and how it relates to the mountain vernacular. He resides in greater Grand Lake with his wife Tonya, daughter Ashlyn and son Zayden.

University of Washington school of Architecture: https://arch.be.uw.edu/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ching

Joe Mautz joined the Munn Architecture team with a strong background in sustainable studies and an accreditation in high performance efficiency in construction. Originally from Pennsylvania, Mautz moved to Colorado in 2010 to finish his B.A. degree, then earned an Associate Architectural Engineering degree at Luzerne County Community College in northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as a B.A. in Sustainability Studies at Colorado Mountain College. Mautz went on to achieve a Master of Architecture at the University of Colorado Denver. He brings to Munn Architecture substantial experience as an energy auditor at a nonprofit community design center and from employment at smaller firms in the Denver area, where he gained considerable knowledge working on multifamily projects. With an official LEED AP BD+C accreditation, Mautz enriches the Munn team with his passion and authority on sustainable architecture. His appreciation of this place extends to his free time, in skiing, wakeboarding, hiking and camping.

University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture and Planning: https://architectureandplanning.ucdenver.edu/

Joe Mautz did hi energy auditing with High Country Conservation Center: https://highcountryconservation.org/home-energy-audits/

EMU Systems is empowering the construction industry to build for the future through simplified, standardized, Passive House systems. They are the primary passive house consultant for the Kirsch-Stroupe passive house, and the reason the house is moving forward to certification.  Join our conversation.

Enrico Bonilauri and Marinara Pickering of EMU Systems offers professional training, consulting services, and component/systems analysis for all aspects of the design and construction of high-quality building envelopes and healthy indoor environments. They have extensive knowledge and experience in the international Passive House standard for building construction and performance and are on a mission to close the gap between mainstream construction practices and research based Passive design/build dwellings.

EMU Systems: https://emu.systems/about/

Passive House Institute (PHI): https://passivehouse.com/

Passive House Components: https://database.passivehouse.com/de/components/

Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS): https://www.phius.org/home-page

Passive House Rocky Mountains: https://www.phrockymountains.com/

Kerri Stroupe and Matt Kirsch How they got to Passive House.

Kerri and Matt have built an environmental ethic over the years starting at an early age yet it was a journey to find passive house when they decided to build their future retirement home in Tabernash Colorado Climate Zone 6. This conversation tracks that journey and some of the decisions that they made to embrace the building of a Passive house. They introduce us to their passive house consultant (Emu Systems), their Architect (Munn Architecture) and Builder (Bishop Built) who I will be speaking with on future episodes. 

Emu Systems https://emu.systems/

Munn Architects  https://munnarch.com/

Bishop Built Construction https://www.bishopbuiltconstruction.com/

https://www.arcticheatpumps.com

Cold Climate Heat Pumps capable of operating continuously in weather as cold as -30°

More show notes at https://btankinc.com/buildcast-podcast/

A great conversation with Jeffrey Rhodin focusing on his deep knowledge of of lean thinking and six-sigma methodologies and the construction industry.  He is currently focusing on assisting builders and homeowners maximize their discretionary income and value of their homes by saving on heating, cooling, and electric expenses.  He Bring to bear the problems facing the construction industry while working directly on access to, and affordability of, all forms of renewable energy. To learn more, go to LinkedIn  

Michael Hammer’s work has been influential on Jeffery. “Dr. Michael Hammer's groundbreaking research and visionary thought leadership galvanized the business world—beginning with his leadership of the reengineering movement and continuing with his brilliant formulation of the process-centered organization. Hammer's ideas have become integrated into the DNA of businesses and organizations worldwide and continue to be relevant today.” To learn more http://www.hammerandco.com/index.htm

Harvard Business Review that "started" the reengineering wave. https://hbr.org/1990/07/reengineering-work-dont-automate-obliterate

Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution https://books.google.com/books/about/Reengineering_the_Corporation.html?id=dbqTHjKL0RMC

True North “a global provider of lean process and methods to the construction industry” is company mentioned during the episode that you might what to check out. https://www.truen.com/

The Lean Six Sigma method was discussed. To learn more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Six_Sigma

The Lean Enterprise Institute Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Boston, MA, with a mission to make things better through lean thinking and practice. Founded in 1997 by management expert James P. Womack, PhD, LEI conducts research, teaches educational workshops, publishes books and ebooks, runs conferences, and shares practical information about lean thinking and practice. https://www.lean.org/

How did Sam Myers become the building scientist at Retrotec? Find out in this episode of the BUILDTank / buildCAST. Like most of us, the industry found Sam and a passion for building science blossomed. Unlike most of us Sam has created and grown his position in the industry on the back of his passion for finding unique ways of educating everyone that he comes in contact with. During the COVID most of the industry’s conferences and tradeshows moved to online platforms. To keep providing the industry with quality educational material, Sam built a virtual training lab athis home where he has taught and trained contractors and consultants all over the world. I enjoyed my conversation with Sam geeking out on building science and diagnostic testing and I think you will as well.

Sam Myers on LinkedIn

Retrotec

Retrotec on YouTube

Advanced Energy Raleigh, NC 

Green Building Advisor ZPD Testing

A compelling conversation with Sam Rashkin, currently Chief Architect of the Building Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy.  How did Sam get to were he is today and what is he doing in his spare time with "Housing 2.0"

• Energy Star website - https://www.energystar.gov/newhomes?s=mega
• DOE Solutions center https://basc.pnnl.gov/    https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/solutions
• DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes  https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-homes
• Team Zero Website https://teamzero.org/
• IECC code https://codes.iccsafe.org/public/collections/I-Codes

Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry http://www.samrashkin.com/

Housing 2.0 Green Builder Medial Web site https://www.greenbuildermedia.com/housing-2.0

I am Robby Schwarz, and I’ll be your host on the BuildCast, therefore I would like to spend this first episode telling you my story before I go out and seek others.

Thanks for listening to the buildCAST. In this episode we hear from Steve Baden, the founding Executive director of the Residential Energy Services Network or RESNET. RESNET is the governing body of the HERS home energy rating industry which was established in 1995 by the National Association of State Energy Officials, Energy Rated Homes of America, and the National Mortgage Industry Association to develop a national market for home energy rating systems and energy-efficient mortgages.  I was in the first energy Rater training and became the 32nd certified rater in Colorado in 1995.  Soon after I met Steve at the first RESNET conference held at the Florida Solar Energy Center when I was on the board of directors of Energy Rated Homes of Colorado.

Even before Jimmy Carter’s infamous, wear a sweater speech from the oval office Steve’s path to energy efficiency came though politics. He found himself in Alaska at the state energy office leading an initiative called “Warming Homes for Alaskans” which received the 1993 national award for the most outstanding state housing program, and which set the stage for a national home energy rating program that RESNET grew out of.

Steve has worked in the residential energy efficiency field for 30 years, including eighteen years with home energy ratings and energy mortgages on both the state and national levels, and ten years administering the Alaska State Energy Office. Steve is the founding executive director of RESNET and has just announced that he will be retiring on December 31st, 2025.  I have known Steve from the beginning of the founding of RESNET and my time as a board member of Energy Rated Homes of Colorado and was so happy to have the opportunity to recap his career on the buildCAST before his last day. 

Thanks for all you have done for the Industry Steve.

Steve Baden on LinkedIn

RESNET - Residential Energy Services Network