- Publisher |
- Steven Winter Associates
- Media Type |
- audio
- Podknife tags |
- Design,
- Interview,
- Society & Culture,
- Urban Development
- Categories Via RSS |
- Science
- People |
- Country Of Origin |
- USA
- Produced In |
- Norwalk, CT
- Premiere Date |
- 2018-07-11
- Frequency |
- Weekly
- Explicit |
- No
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Episode Guest
Gayathri Vijayakumar
Gayathri is a Principal Mechanical Engineer at Steven Winter Associates. For over 18 years, she has specialized in evaluating residential and multifamily buildings with an emphasis on high-performance construction and renewable energy systems.
Early in her career, Gayathri provided technical assistance to sustainability projects by performing energy modeling and conducting cost-benefit analyses of energy efficient measures in both new and existing residential construction. She leveraged that experience for her current role: providing consulting to federal, state, and local agencies, codes, and programs to develop emerging standards and procedures that involve energy efficiency and indoor air quality requirements. This includes the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Multifamily New Construction Programs, where she has provided technical support since 2008, and more recently, their Indoor airPLUS program.
Gayathri is also an active contributor to various technical committees that share a goal of improving codes and standards. She currently is a voting member of the 2024 IECC Residential Consensus Committee and Chair of RESNET’s Standards Development Committee, SDC300.
Episode Information & Resources
Prevous episodes on energy code:
- How Codes Get Made with Gayathri Vijayakumar (Apple Podcasts | Spotify)
- Answering the Tough Questions About Energy Codes (Apple Podcasts | Spotify)
IECC resources:
- Find the 2024 IECC intent statement on pages 3-4 of this document: Leading the Way to Energy Efficiency [PDF]
- 2021 IECC intent statement and Committees’ response when asked for clarification on this intent statement
-
2024 IECC Appeals
- Submitted appeals
- Results from the Appeals Board
- Results from the Board of Directors
- Graph comparing 2021 IECC energy savings versus other codes since 2012
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas
The post 2024 IECC – What Happened? appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..When is it the right call to improve the energy efficiency of existing building systems, or upgrade and electrify them?
Though electrification is important to reduce carbon emissions, electrifying buildings is not straightforward. Factors like cost, existing infrastructure, compliance needs (and we’ll say it again: cost!) can keep building owners from going all-electric.
In this episode, Buildings + Beyond co-host Robb Aldrich catches up with Ryan Merkin, Vice President of Business Development at BlocPower (and a SWA alum). They discuss the eight areas Ryan considers when deciding to focus on efficiency vs. electrification:
- Building height
- Planned capital expenditures (CapEx)
- Current system condition and remaining useful life
- Heating energy source: oil and electrical resistance
- Existing systems: Individual/unitized vs. central
- Packaged terminal ACs (PTACs) and through-wall sleeve ACs
- Regulatory drivers (LL97, ESG, etc.) and incentives
- Metering: who pays what now; who would pay in the future
Note: This episode was recorded in December 2023. Mentions of “next year” are referring to the year 2024.
Episode Guest
Ryan Merkin
Ryan Merkin is Vice President of Business Development with BlocPower. He is an experienced leader with over 20 years in the building science and energy consulting industry. Ryan has a demonstrated history developing decarbonization projects for new builds and retrofits. He is skilled in the delivery of consulting services for low energy building design, electrification, engineering and retrofit studies, energy code adoption and compliance, DER strategies, solar design, smart building system integration, utility and incentive programs, and professional training.
Prior to joining BlocPower, Ryan was a Vice President and Director of Multifamily Energy Services for 13 years with Steven Winter Associates. Ryan is active in the New York metropolitan area engineering community as board member and former President of Association of Energy Engineers New York City Chapter.
Ryan received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from University at Albany, State University of New York and Master of Science in Geosystems from MIT.
Episode Information & Resources
BlocPower projects:
- Clean Heating for a Beloved Preservation Organization
- Multifamily, Low-Rise Home With Heating System at the End of its Cycle
- A Solar & HVAC Retrofit for a Multifamily Building
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas
The post Choosing Electrification or Efficiency (When Both Aren’t Possible) appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..Buildings are complicated. There’s a bigger learning curve than ever for the people who construct, operate, and manage high-performance buildings—and there’s more demand than ever for skilled workers across the sustainable building industry.
In this episode, Ellen Honigstock, Senior Director of Education at Urban Green Council, sits down with Kelly Westby, Managing Director of the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at Steven Winter Associates. They chat about what it takes to effectively educate the workforce to ensure occupant comfort, energy and carbon reductions, sustainability, and the overall performance of a building.
This is a crossover episode! Go to the Building Tomorrow: Conversations with Climate Solvers podcast feed to hear Ellen interview Kelly about all-things building commissioning.
Episode Guest
Ellen Honigstock
Ellen is the Senior Director of Education at Urban Green Council. She oversees the development of Urban Green’s Public Programs and develops the curriculum for its signature programs, including Green Professional Training (GPRO) and Crushing the Energy Code.
Ellen has 28 years of experience as an architect and volunteered for Urban Green for several years before joining the staff. She previously served as the first Residential Green Building Advocate, working to increase green building and LEED for Homes certification in the New York residential marketplace, and as a committee chair of the Green Codes Task Force. Ellen is a co-founder of Solarize Brooklyn and Sustainable Kensington Windsor Terrace.
Episode Information & Resources
Crossover Episode
Listen to our crossover episode featuring Kelly Westby on Urban Green Council’s Building Tomorrow podcast:
- Building Tomorrow: Conversations with Climate Solvers (website)
- Apple Podcasts
- Spotify
- And on all major podcast platforms
Urban Green Council Trainings
Explore these trainings mentioned in the episode:
- Green Professional Training (GPRO)
- GPRO Operations & Maintenance Essentials
- GPRO Construction Management
- GPRO@Work
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas | Lucy Koch
The post Mind the Gap – Addressing the Skills Gap in the Sustainable Building Industry appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..At the baseline, “healthy” materials should not have a negative impact on people living or working inside of a building. Beyond that, there are materials that have a low impact on people and the planet throughout their entire lifespan—and then there are materials that can have a net-positive impact, such as those that absorb carbon from our atmosphere.
Jonsara Ruth, Co-founder and Design Director of the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design, joins this episode of the Buildings + Beyond podcast to discuss the spectrum of materials and resources available. Jonsara chats with guest host Sarah Nugent about how to phase out toxic ingredients and select materials that are healthy and affordable.
Episode Guests
Jonsara Ruth is Co-founder and Design Director of Healthy Materials Lab (HML) at Parsons School of Design, where she is an Associate Professor and Founding Director of the MFA Interior Design program.
At HML, Jonsara brings creative leadership to the goal of improving the health of underserved communities through the transformation of design and material practices. At Parsons, Jonsara cultivates new understandings of design through her teaching, research, and convening experts from a wide variety of fields to explore and debate intertwined, cross-disciplinary topics at large-scale symposia and public events. Material curiosities drive her research.
Jonsara is a designer, artist, and founder of Salty Labs, a collaborative studio improving human and environmental health through imaginative design. She has led creative and production teams to achieve award-winning designs and mass-produce the healthiest, environmentally friendly children’s furniture available in America to improve indoor air quality and overall health. Elevating everyday human experience is her underlying pursuit. Her designs have been published widely.
She serves on the board of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, Mount Sinai’s Stakeholder Advisory Board for Community Engagement Core, and regularly participates as a guest lecturer at design industry and academic events. Jonsara was recently awarded, with Alison Mears, the 2022 Women in Architecture Innovation Award from Architectural Record, and together co-edited Material Health: Design Frontiers, released in February 2023.
Sarah Nugent is a Sustainability Director at SWA’s New York City office, within the Sustainable Building Services (SBS) group. She oversees building certifications for high-rise residential and a variety of commercial building project typologies.
Sarah’s professional knowledge helps guide architects, owners, developers, and building management staff on green and high-performance building and site design strategies, healthy design strategies, cost-effective building system operations, and energy-saving maintenance practices.
She has project experience with LEED® Building Design + Construction Rating System (including New Construction
, Core + Shell, and LEED for Schools), Fitwel for Communities, Multifamily Residential, the WELL Building Standard, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools guidelines, and the NYC SCA’s Green School Guidelines. Sarah was integral in SWA’s pursuit and receipt of LEED Proven Provider status, awarded in September 2016. She has served as a subject matter expert for GBCI and USGBC as an exam writer and course reviewer for LEED BD+C v4 exam materials.
Sarah provides documentation, research assistance and consulting in the following areas: sustainable building materials planning and procurement; sustainable site location/planning; water conservation; environmental and healthy material specifications and procurement; green education; and indoor environmental health and safety.
Episode Information & Resources
Sarah’s Buildings + Beyond podcast debut:
Healthy Materials Lab:
- Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design
- Healthy Materials Lab | Material Collections
- Healthy Materials Lab | Education
Affordable, healthy housing:
- collaborative.org/">Health Product Declaration (HPD) Collaborative
- Healthy Materials Lab | Affordable Housing
Robin Guenther:
- guenther-dead.html">The New York Times: Robin Guenther, Architect of Healthy Hospitals, Dies at 68
- Perkins Will: Robin Guenther (1954-2023)
- Building Green: Materials Rules for Going Beyond the Red List
Microplastics from paint:
- Architizer: What do Plastic and Paint have in Common? Everything.
- a.earth/plastic-paints-the-environment/">Earth Action: Plastic Paints the Environment
PFAS:
- EPA: Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFOA and PFOS
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Stricter federal guidelines on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water pose challenges
- PBS News Hour: Minnesota poised to ban non-essential uses of PFAS, or ‘forever chemicals’
Board insulation alternative made with wood cellulose:
HomeFree:
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas
The post Healthy Materials 101 – A Realistic Approach to Creating Healthier Buildings with Jonsara Ruth appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..Over the lifespan of a building, operations and maintenance staff arguably have the biggest impact on system performance and energy efficiency. With the right training, staff can keep a building running as it was designed to run and “create the change” to reduce energy usage, reduce repairs, and upgrade vs. replace equipment.
So how do project teams create O&M training programs that achieve all this?
In this episode, producer and guest host Dylan Martello chats with Luis Aragon and Heather Nolen—two O&M training experts at SWA—about balancing in-person and digital education, accounting for every learning style, breaking down language barriers, sustaining the training for the long term, and much more.
Episode Guests
Luis Aragon, Senior Building Systems Engineer on SWA’s Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team
Luis focuses on Passive Building commissioning as well as commissioning for energy code compliance. Luis also provides training for multifamily building operators on, ventilation, air sealing, hydronic heating and domestic hot water distribution.
Heather Nolen, Building Systems Director on SWA’s Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team
Heather focuses on using data to design long-term capital plans for energy conservation. She works with multifamily property owners and managers to evaluate, manage, and improve building energy consumption across their portfolios.
Host: Dylan Martello, Senior Building Systems Consultant on SWA’s Passive House team
Dylan has experience working on high-performance projects ranges from Passive House consulting on large scale multifamily, commercial, institutional projects; net zero consulting on mid-rise multifamily; and envelope commissioning on mid-sized commercial projects.
Episode Resources
- academy.com">SWA Academy
- NYSERDA’s Building Operations & Maintenance Training Program
- 32BJ Training Fund
Episode Sponsor
The Passive House Network Conference 2023
September 28 and October 4+5
The Passive House Network Conference 2023 is a hybrid event for builders, designers, and community members to connect, learn, and plan for a decarbonized future. Over 2.5 days and thirty sessions, attendees will reflect on how Passive House bolsters climate resiliency, environmental justice, and everyday health. Share your ambitions. Bridge the connections. Register now, join the conversation, and start building your Passive House Network today: phnconference.org
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr
The post The Real Secret to Energy-Efficient Buildings? Operations & Maintenance Training appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..What happens when you put four sustainable building experts involved in energy code development in a room and ask them to bring their favorite—and sometimes, most controversial—topics for discussion? You end up with more questions than answers!
In this roundtable episode hosted by Robb Aldrich, our guests ask each other these tough questions related to our nation’s energy codes:
- Performance Metrics: How can energy codes be simplified? Is energy use intensity (EUI) a viable alternate metric?
- Gas Bans: If jurisdictions cannot ban gas, how can we put electrification in the energy code?
- Embodied Carbon: How should embodied carbon accounting be incorporated into energy codes?
- Robb’s Bonus Question #1: How are building inspectors dealing with complicated energy codes?
- Robb’s Bonus Question #2: Should there be electric vehicle (EV) charging requirements in energy codes?
Episode Guests
- Gayathri Vijayakumar, Principal Mechanical Engineer on SWA’s Residential Building Services Team
- Karla Butterfield, Sustainability Director on SWA’s Residential Building Services Team
- William Zoeller, Director of Building Enclosure Services at SWA
- Dylan Martello, Senior Building Systems Consultant on SWA’s Passive House Team
- Host: Robb Aldrich, Principal Mechanical Engineer on SWA’s Residential Building Services Team
Episode Information & Resources
IECC:
- 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) – CHAPTER 4 (iccsafe.org)
- Getting Ready for the 2024 IECC: The Requirements Proposed for Residential Buildings
Massachusetts:
- 225 CMR 22.00: Massachusetts Stretch code and specialized code for low-rise residential — 2023 residential low-rise amendments to IECC2021 and IRC 2021 chapter 11: energy efficiency
- Cambridge Article 22 Green Building Requirements
- Boston Article 37 Green Building and Climate Resiliency Guidelines
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by SWA Academy!
Have you checked out the new on-demand training program, academy.com/#/public-dashboard">Air-Source Heat Pumps: Achieving Comfort and Efficiency in Cold Climates?
Our episode host, Robb Aldrich, has been researching, consulting, and providing training on heat pump technology for over 20 years. During that time, heat pumps have evolved to meet the demands of residential heating in cold climates—resulting in significant implications for decarbonization and electrification goals.
Robb is sharing practical applications, important considerations, and real-world examples of the good and the bad (and the sometimes ugly) in Air-Source Heat Pumps: Achieving Comfort and Efficiency in Cold Climates available exclusively through SWA Academy.
This user-paced training program features eight chapters with short video lessons that deep-dive into elements of inverter-driven air-source heat pump implementation, from pre-design to installation to operations and maintenance.
academy.com/#/public-dashboard">Click here to browse the training series, watch a video overview, and enroll.
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr
The post Answering the Tough Questions About Energy Codes appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..The ideal building is cost-efficient, energy-efficient, and comfortable for its occupants. But executing all three of these elements to perfection can be complex and costly. Can there ever be a win-win-win across all three?
In part two of our roundtable episode with Michelle DeCarlo, Saeideh Kirby, Erin McElwee, and Buildings + Beyond host Kelly Westby, our guests discuss how to find a balance between meeting project objectives and creating sustainable and healthy buildings. They also share how they’ve seen the COVID-19 pandemic change project priorities and building operations.
Did you miss part one of this roundtable? Go to the previous episode to hear our guests’ moving discussion on gender equity in the building industry.
Episode Guests
Michelle M. DeCarlo, PE, LEED AP BD+C, serves as an Associate Partner at Jaros, Baum & Bolles (JB&B). Since joining the firm in 2007, she has led the HVAC design for JB&B on a variety of projects, including the new core and shell office design for 30 Hudson Yards, the commercial office redevelopment of the landmarked Moynihan Train Hall, and The New Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Michelle is also committed to the advancement of women in the industry. In 2018, she launched the JB&B Women’s Initiative, an in-house membership group whose mission is the empowerment of women to position them as leaders inside and outside the firm, and to promote the retention of women through leadership and professional development. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Commercial Real Estate for Women (CREW) of New York, currently serving as the President. She recently completed four years of service on the ASHRAE New York Board of Governors, serving as chairperson of its Women in ASHRAE Committee.
Saeideh Kirby is the Senior Director leading Energy and Sustainability Services for multiple industry verticals within the Americas at JLL. In this role, she is responsible for the service delivery in the region and assisting more than 50 sustainability professionals in executing energy and sustainability programs for various clients to meet their sustainability goals. These programs include support in providing roadmaps and implementation towards carbon, energy, water, and waste goals through carbon and energy forecasting, benchmarking, energy conservation projects, energy procurement, alternative energy evaluation, investigation into new technologies, sustainable supply chain, and incorporating sustainability into the full lifecycle of facility management. Prior to joining JLL, Saeideh was senior energy project engineer at SourceOne and was responsible for conducting Cogen feasibility studies and design reviews for multiple clients based in New York.
As a Building Systems Consultant at SWA, Erin McElwee provides commissioning (Cx) services for NYC ECC code compliance, LEED Fundamental and Enhanced Cx, and Passive House projects. Erin assists teams with reviews of design drawings and project submittals, conducts commissioning tests on-site, verifies equipment specifications, and provides recommended corrective actions.
Kelly Westby leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting. The BODE team is focused on optimizing performance and reducing energy use and carbon emissions of building systems for new construction and existing buildings across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. The team offers benchmarking, capital planning, energy management, implementation, commissioning, research, program management, and policy advisory services. Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices.
Episode Information & Resources
- Your building might be making you sick. Joe Allen can help. – The Harvard Gazette
- JLL acquires Envio Systems to accelerate smart and sustainable building capabilities
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr
The post Cost vs. Conservation vs. Comfort – Roundtable, Part 2 appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..To mark Women’s History Month, we wanted to get firsthand perspectives from women in the building industry. We invited Michelle DeCarlo of JB&B and Saeideh Kirby of JLL to join SWA’s Erin McElwee and Kelly Westby for a two-part episode tackling different topics—starting with gender equity.
In part one of their discussion, the group explores gender equity in male-dominated fields such as construction, HVAC, and engineering. They cover a range of topics, including microaggressions, implicit bias, authenticity in the workplace, and mentorship and sponsorship, and offer actionable takeaways for people of all gender identities to help advance gender equity across our industry.
We thank our guests for sharing their personal experiences!
Look out for part two of their discussion on balancing cost, conservation, and comfort in sustainable buildings.
Episode Guests
Michelle M. DeCarlo, PE, LEED AP BD+C, serves as an Associate Partner at Jaros, Baum & Bolles (JB&B). Since joining the firm in 2007, she has led the HVAC design for JB&B on a variety of projects, including the new core and shell office design for 30 Hudson Yards, the commercial office redevelopment of the landmarked Moynihan Train Hall, and The New Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Michelle is also committed to the advancement of women in the industry. In 2018, she launched the JB&B Women’s Initiative, an in-house membership group whose mission is the empowerment of women to position them as leaders inside and outside the firm, and to promote the retention of women through leadership and professional development. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Commercial Real Estate for Women (CREW) of New York, currently serving as the President. She recently completed four years of service on the ASHRAE New York Board of Governors, serving as chairperson of its Women in ASHRAE Committee.
Saeideh Kirby is the Senior Director leading Energy and Sustainability Services for multiple industry verticals within the Americas at JLL. In this role, she is responsible for the service delivery in the region and assisting more than 50 sustainability professionals in executing energy and sustainability programs for various clients to meet their sustainability goals. These programs include support in providing roadmaps and implementation towards carbon, energy, water, and waste goals through carbon and energy forecasting, benchmarking, energy conservation projects, energy procurement, alternative energy evaluation, investigation into new technologies, sustainable supply chain, and incorporating sustainability into the full lifecycle of facility management. Prior to joining JLL, Saeideh was senior energy project engineer at SourceOne and was responsible for conducting Cogen feasibility studies and design reviews for multiple clients based in New York.
As a Building Systems Consultant at SWA, Erin McElwee provides commissioning (Cx) services for NYC ECC code compliance, LEED Fundamental and Enhanced Cx, and Passive House projects. Erin assists teams with reviews of design drawings and project submittals, conducts commissioning tests on-site, verifies equipment specifications, and provides recommended corrective actions.
Kelly Westby leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting. The BODE team is focused on optimizing performance and reducing energy use and carbon emissions of building systems for new construction and existing buildings across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. The team offers benchmarking, capital planning, energy management, implementation, commissioning, research, program management, and policy advisory services. Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices.
Episode Information & Resources
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr
The post Take Action: How Everyone Can Help Advance Gender Equity in the Building Industry – Roundtable, Part 1 appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..Building on the 25-year foundation of the ENERGY STAR Residential New Construction program, the EPA is gearing up to launch a new certification program for efficient single-family and multifamily homes: ENERGY STAR NextGen Certified Homes and Apartments. Based on initial energy and emissions modeling, ENERGY STAR NextGen certified homes will achieve an average of 47% greater carbon savings than homes built according to 2021 residential energy code.
In this episode, Robb chats with two members of EPA’s ENERGY STAR Residential Branch, Asa Foss and Elliot Seibert, about what home builders, raters, and buyers can expect from ENERGY STAR NextGen and its electric-forward—not all-electric—focus. They discuss each of the program’s requirements and the rationale and goals behind them.
Episode Guests
Asa Foss joined EPA’s ENERGY STAR Residential Branch in 2020, where he’s managing ENERGY STAR NextGen, an operational decarbonization-focused new construction specification. He’s been in the residential efficiency industry since the early 2000s, including a decade at the U.S. Green Building Council where he was responsible for the development of the LEED for Homes rating systems. He renovated and lives in a designated-historic ENERGY STAR and LEED Platinum certified rowhouse in Washington, DC.
Bio coming soon!
Episode Information & Resources
The 5 NextGen Requirements for Climate-Friendly Homes:
Note: time stamps below in parenthesis
- Highly energy-efficient construction (12:17)
- ENERGY STAR certified heat pumps for space heating (16:47)
- ENERGY STAR certified heat pump water heaters (22:38)
- Induction cooktops and electric ovens (Yes, we address the elephant in the room—the gas stove.) (29:38)
- EV charging infrastructure (37:30)
NextGen Resources:
ENERGY STAR NextGen Certified Homes and Apartments
ENERGY STAR NextGen National Rater Field Checklist (PDF)
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com.
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr
The post ENERGY STAR NextGen: 5 Requirements for Climate-Friendly Homes appeared first on Steven Winter Associates, Inc..Description: The average homeowner is aware that energy efficiency is important in the fight against climate change. The people who are most passionate about energy conservation are making upgrades to their homes and setting a good example for their neighbors. But how can we get more homeowners excited about doing the work (and navigating the cost) to improve their home’s performance?
On this episode, Robb chats with Adam Stenftenagel and Christine Liaukus (a SWA alum!), two experts on improving existing buildings, about what it’ll take to reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of single-family homes on a much larger scale than we are today. They discuss data, strategies, technologies, and of course, financing that can help get millions of homeowners on the path to net zero energy.
Episode Guests:
Christine Liaukus, RA, CPHC
Christine Liaukus, RA, CPHC, is the Housing and Community Development Program Manager for the Center for Building Knowledge at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. At the Center, Christine’s research is focused on improving the energy performance of existing buildings during typical retrofit projects, most recently with Re-Side Right. Christine has developed training for various New Jersey Clean Energy programs through the NJ Clean Energy Learning Center and has taught high-performance building enclosure coursework at the Hillier College of Architecture and Design at NJIT. Prior to joining NJIT, Christine was a Project Architect with the New York firm Chris Benedict R.A. creating environmentally responsible affordable housing. Christine is a member of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association and was the first Certified Passive House Consultant in New Jersey.
Adam Stenftenagel
Adam Stenftenagel has been working in the green building industry since 2004. He co-owns four Boulder, Colorado-based businesses that focus on helping new and existing homes use net-zero energy, including Snugg Home and Radiant Labs. He is also co-founder and CEO at both of these companies. Adam focuses on keeping the businesses running efficiently as well as business development and sales. He specializes in building science, energy modeling, and cost-benefit analysis. Adam’s passion is helping to prevent runaway climate change. He also enjoys live music, gardening, and hiking.
Episode Resources:
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Episode Sponsors:
Organizations enrolled in SWA Academy can build custom training programs with accredited courses on topics from building design and construction to operations and maintenance.
Sign up for new course announcements and more SWA Academy updates.
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit www.swinter.com.
Hosts
Production Team
Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello
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Transcript coming soon!
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