In 2017, CGSB stopped supporting the Canadian standard for blower door testing, yet it’s referenced by many voluntary programs and building codes including the NBC.
Four Ways to Get More Training for Less Money
Shawna HendersonJanuary 17, 2018
Blue House Energy: committed to training that is pain-free, cheap & cheerful. We supply & manage on-demand training for home construction & renovation.
The 2018 Round Up
Shawna HendersonJanuary 11, 2018
An update for January 2018 on Blue House Energy Continuing Education and Professional Development Credits.
Total Cost of Ownership - Why Reinvent the Wheel?
Shawna HendersonDecember 12, 2017
Thinking of developing and delivering online or blended learning? Your Total Cost of Ownership will be high. Let Blue House Energy reduce it for you.
The Benefits of Blended Learning
Shawna HendersonDecember 05, 2017
Thinking of developing and delivering online or blended learning? Your Total Cost of Ownership will be high. Let Blue House Energy reduce it for you.
The Value of Communication
Shawna HendersonNovember 30, 2017
Communication is key to a successful project. So why are construction projects often run like bad games of ‘telephone’?
Five Ways Trickle-Down Education Fails the Building Industry
Shawna HendersonNovember 28, 2017
Trickle-down education isn't helping the homebuilding industry as it moves from old school construction to high performance housing. Here are 5 ways it fails.
The Value of Continuing Education
Shawna HendersonSeptember 14, 2017
To be successful in residential construction, you need skilled hands on the tools. That’s the main reason people hire a contractor, a builder, or a renovator with knowledge and experience. But know-how is not the only reason a firm gets hired. To be successful, your construction firm needs the same strong skills as any other thriving business.
Why Competencies Matter - A Big Yawn and A Big Wake-Up Call
Hal RichmanSeptember 08, 2017
The right combination of skills, knowledge and behaviours that meet the requirements of a job is important for the success of your company and staff.
Three Things You Need to Know About Energy Efficiency in Houses
Shawna HendersonFebruary 20, 2017
If you work in home construction and renovation, you know about energy efficiency measures. But do you really know it? If you’re trying to figure out if you need this course or not, take a shot at answering these questions: What happens to the neutral pressure plane when you air...
What Grade Does Your Insulation Belong In?
Shawna HendersonFebruary 01, 2017
In the US, there’s a requirement for HERS raters to determine if batt insulation has been installed properly. There are three ‘grades’ of batt installation, with a Grade 1 installation being the best and Grade 3 being the worst. When batt insulation is installed properly, it touches all six sides...
Presenting? Use Adult Education Techniques To Up Your Game
Shawna HendersonSeptember 26, 2016
When you're presenting at a conference, you have a limited amount of time to engage your audience and offer experience or participation, but you can certainly engage your audience more directly by knowing something about adult education. This was part of the session I presented at RaterFest! The thing is,...
RaterFest! 2016
Shawna HendersonAugust 31, 2016
We're excited. Shawna's leading a session at EnergyLogic's un-conference, RaterFest, this year (Sep 15-18). She gets to talk about her favorite subject: the knowledge gap.Its been a constant thread through the last couple of decades: leaps and bounds in the understanding of building science, leading to a bunch of well-trained...
Building an Industry With No Capacity
Shawna HendersonMay 20, 20161 comment
After reading many reports and white papers on energy efficiency and the housing industry in North America, I am continuously stunned at how many times references to need for comprehensive trades training in energy efficiency comes up, yet there is little more indicated than it should be considered. Reducing energy...
11 Flavours of Sustainability
Shawna HendersonMay 19, 2016
This blog article first appeared on Shawna's Bfreehomes blog in April 2016. Please reblog as you want! Keeping track of what's going on in the world of low-impact, sustainable housing is, and was, a challenge. It's something that our CEO, Shawna Henderson, has been passionate about since the early 1990s....
Fort MacMurray - How to Help, How to Find People
Shawna HendersonMay 05, 2016
Info about donations, contacting evacuees, check in on FB, etc. #ymm fire I cut & pasted this from a Greenpeace email. Helpful Info. Donate: The Red Cross has set up an emergency ‘Alberta Fires’ appeal. Click here to donate. Supplies: Here’s a crowdsourced Facebook page to connect Fort McMurray residents...