Blog

QUICK PRIMER: Thermal Bridging, Dew Points, and Exterior Insulation/Air Barriers

Shawna HendersonDecember 17, 2014

Insulated sheathing materials can provide an air barrier along with a thermal barrier, and solve the biggest challenges of thermal bridging. The challenge of using insulating sheathing as an air barrier is to ensure that the R-value of the sheathing is high enough that it moves the dew point outside...

Know the issues around Solar Ready in your area

Shawna HendersonDecember 08, 2014

Solar ready sounds pretty groovy. But what does it mean? There is no uniform definition. At one level, it applies to minor changes in the design and construction of individual houses or buildings to ‘rough-in’ the necessary elements to accommodate a future photovoltaic (PV) or solar hot water (SHW) system....

Feedback is Good

Shawna HendersonNovember 27, 2014

It's always gratifying to hear that you're doing good things --  Jon Eakes did an article on web-based learning for trades in the November issue of the Canadian Home Builder Magazine that talks about the long-recognized need for more trades training in building science and energy efficiency measures that relates...

So much to know...

Shawna HendersonNovember 18, 2014

It's hard to wrap your head around the amount of number crunching that goes into energy analysis, and how to prioritize your time and effort when working on a project. There are energy modelling tools that can be used that make it easier, but in a lot of cases, the easier the modelling tool is to use, and the less actual, real-world performance testing data you input, the more likely the result will be a ball-park figure that doesn't relate to actual energy usage, or actual heating or cooling loads.

Sustainable Features Profiles

Shawna HendersonNovember 06, 2014

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation recently released a series of Sustainable Features Profiles. These fact sheets provide useful guidance on innovative technologies that can be used to make housing more energy and water efficient and reduce the environmental footprint. The research and modelling for the profiles was carried out...

Shawna Henderson is Home Energy Magazine's New Canadian Correspondent!

Shawna HendersonOctober 02, 2014

Hey hey -- you are in the virtual presence of the new Canadian correspondent for Home Energy Magazine. Tell me your big reno/new build/zero energy/innovative cold climate house stories, peeps!Will provide news on events and activities around the committees and teams we're involved with at the Net Zero Energy Coalition...

A deeper discussion of deeper energy efficiency measures

Shawna HendersonSeptember 25, 20142 comments

    Here's a good read from Nate Adams from Energy Smart Ohio, on problems associated with energy efficiency programs, single-action bias and low-hanging fruit. It comes with the above GREAT graph showing the fallacy of diminishing returns on energy efficiency measures. The red line indicates what we think happens...

Sales and Marketing

Shawna HendersonSeptember 22, 2014

It's a hard thing sometimes, to wear so many hats. Contractors and trades people are often the brains, brawn and bean counters of their small businesses. Who has time to do sales and marketing? And how do you sell what you do? And when do you find the time to...

A day in the life...

Shawna HendersonSeptember 18, 2014

So I'm researching the background material for our HVAC course, which of course, includes heat pumps. Ducted, ductless, combination duct/ductless. Air-to-air, ground-to-air, ground-to-water, air-to-water. Integrated space conditioning and DHW. Heat pump water heaters. SEER, HSPF, COP. And what comes across my desk but the summary from Home Energy Pros. And...

Building Science and HVAC stuff

Shawna HendersonSeptember 16, 2014

There is this disconnect in our industry. It's around building science and the ways that all the systems in the house work together or against each other. It looks like this: evaluators and raters know about house-as-a-system and can look at a house and see some solutions and fixes that...

Explaining Concepts without Using Your Hands.

Shawna HendersonSeptember 11, 2014

There's a fine line to walk between simplifying information and dumbing it down so that it's useless. Concepts need to be understood. That's the challenge for anyone in training, but especially so for on-demand training, where there is no direct contact between a learner and the trainer. In face-to-face situations,...

Hold the phone...Infrared camera?!?

Shawna HendersonSeptember 04, 2014

This video demonstration by Ben Gromicko at InterNACHI shows a very cool addition to an iphone...an infrared camera. $350 cost, about 1/10 the cost of an IR camera (without the training). Flir is marketing them to the DIY market, but I think it would be fantastic for use to qualify...

Producing online training

Shawna HendersonJune 06, 2014

We've been in the depths of production of our own courses for several months now, and we are now working with a few clients on some custom courses. We've ironed out a lot of the kinks along the way. Key to a successful and on-time deliverable? A strong project manager...

ACI 2014 -- Bridging the Gap

Shawna HendersonJune 03, 2014

Reflecting on last month’s adventure to Detroit and the ACI national conference... Biggest takeaway: I love building science wonks and home performance fanatics. They know how to discuss, argue, collaborate and host a wicked party (talking ‘bout you Mike Rogers and zymurgy accomplices). We kicked off our collaboration with Bill Spohn and TruTech Tools at ACI. And standing at the booth, surrounded by all the testing equipment, I certainly had a yearning to get back into fieldwork full time! (I tried to be discreet about fondling air flow meters and such.) I’m very happy Blue House Energy is associated with TruTech. Bill and his crew are knowledgeable, likeable guys, with a great reputation in the industry. So many good sessions to hit, not one person could take them all in. I’m happy to read recaps of the Great Ventilation Debate on the Energy Vanguard and OMStout blogs. I have to turn some focus back onto the state of ventilation standards in Canada to grock how the ASHRAE changes will impact F-326, or not (will post what I find out sometime). I got a lot out of the speed dating session on on-line tools and resources. I took in the sessions around bridging industry gaps, because that’s what I’m all about right now. Identifying the places where understanding energy efficiency and building science are blocked, or are blocking, uptake by any segment of the value chain.

Out of the Classroom and Into the Box

Shawna HendersonMay 20, 2014

We're pleased to be presenting at a free webinar hosted by BPI on online learning systems that support building science and home performance training. We're in a line up with: Chris Compton, HVACRedu.netDarrel Tenter, Saturn Resource ManagementDoug Donovan, Interplay LearningRyan Bennett, Everblue From BPI: This webinar will introduce several on-line...

ACI 2014

Shawna HendersonApril 30, 2014

Motown is full of building science wonks and home performance fanatics. I'm loving it. X