Many builders, renovators, and homeowners use the terms air barrier and vapour barrier interchangeably, but they perform very different jobs, even when the same material can be one or both. Learn how each system controls air movement and moisture, why confusing them can lead to condensation and durability problems, and how understanding the difference leads to better building envelope decisions.
Blue House Energy Releases New Air Sealing Priority Guide for Canadian Homeowners
Shawna HendersonJune 09, 2026
Most homeowners know they want a more comfortable, energy-efficient home. Fewer know where to start, or how to get the biggest bang for their effort. The new Air Sealing Priority Guide: The First Five Places to Air Seal in Any House helps Canadians understand where houses typically leak air, why it matters, and what to tackle before investing in insulation, renovations, or mechanical upgrades. Designed for homeowners but equally useful for builders, renovators, and energy advisors, this practical 28-page guide helps people ask better questions, avoid costly mistakes, and make more informed decisions about their homes.
Top 7 Tips for Energy Efficient Home Building
Shawna HendersonAugust 20, 2024
Learning to build energy-efficient homes is not just about adopting a few green technologies; it’s about a holistic approach that integrates smart design principles, harnesses solar energy, employs energy modeling, pays attention to the details for air sealing, and uses efficient systems and appliances. By following the strategies outlined in this article, from sealing the building envelope to integrating renewable energy sources, you can help homeowners achieve significant savings, enhance comfort, and contribute to a more sustainable future.
There are 5 Cs in Success
Shawna HendersonJuly 07, 2024
In energy efficient home building and renovation, there are 5 Cs in success: Code, Costs, Clients, Callbacks, and Crews. This article looks at each of these Cs and how they contribute to your overall success as a builder, renovator, contractor or tradesperson.
12 Rockstar Retrofit Advisors
Shawna HendersonNovember 02, 2023
Our Whole House Energy Retrofit Course is a big deal! That’s why we amplified and expanded our in-house expertise with a squad of colleagues and peers to ensure that we could meet our goal of a Pan-Canadian course. Before we got really going on the content, the curriculum was reviewed...
Tags: advisory group, Andy Cockburn, building science, Built Green Canada, Casey Grey, climate types, construction industry, Cooper Le, Dara Bowser, deep energy retrofit, Don Fugler, energy conservation, Gail Lawlor, Gary Sharp, NAIMA, Peter Darlington, Richard Kadulski-Lion, Solar Homes Inc, Stephen Collete, The Conscious Builder, Tommy Byun, Whole House Energy Retrofits
The Importance of Whole House Energy Retrofits in Canada
Shawna HendersonOctober 20, 2023
As the demand for housing continues to grow, it is more important than ever to prioritize energy efficiency and sustainability in residential construction and renovation. Whole house energy retrofits play a crucial role in meeting these goals, while also addressing the need for resiliency in the face of climate change and upcoming regulatory changes.
This Must Be The Place, Season 3: Another 18 Episodes of BS*
Shawna HendersonJuly 06, 2022
Hard to believe, but 7 July is the launch of Season Three of This Must Be the Place: The Building Science podcast! With 36 great episodes under our belt, we decided to change things up a bit for this season. Our next 18 episodes will be broken into three themes,...
How 18 Building Science Podcasts Make Me A Better Person
Shawna HendersonJune 07, 20221 comment
Listening to podcasts is a great way to expand your understanding of the world. As a podcaster myself, I love to ask questions and then sit back and listen to other people’s stories and their takes on our industry, and how the built environment affects each and every one of...
International Women's Day
Shawna HendersonMarch 08, 2022
This year marks the second season of This Must Be The Place- The Building Science Podcast. Shawna has welcomed a number of women to the table for thoughtful, engaging conversation in all areas of the sector. Listen to how they inspire change and innovation to help create better building practices, policy, and guidelines that impact energy efficiency.
Adventures with Monitors, Humidifiers and Filters
Shawna HendersonMarch 03, 2022
What do building science wonks do in the vague days between Christmas and New Years? They eat and rest and eat and rest, and then get bored and start to wonder about things like relative humidity, indoor air quality, air cleaners and filtration, and how they relate to their own house. Well, that’s what I did this year.
Energy Advisor: What's the Business Case?
Shawna HendersonJune 24, 2021
Blue House Energy is inundated w/requests from folks interested in becoming an Energy Advisor. We’re not complaining! No, no, no, we’re super excited to answer all of your questions. So this is the first in a series on the business of being an EA, reflecting some of the common questions...
How Climate Impacts Home Construction in Canada
Shawna HendersonMay 19, 2021
Article updated May 2026 Understanding how climate zones impact energy loads in houses is crucial, especially as climate change continues to impact weather patterns and temperature extremes across the country. Climate zones, seasonal and daily fluctuations, wind patterns, hours of sunlight, solar energy potential - these are some of the...
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...
How much of a building science wonk is BHE CEO Shawna?
Shawna HendersonMarch 09, 20161 comment
When they think you don't know but you know Got to love Marisa Tomei Posted by Hardcore Italians on Wednesday, March 2, 2016
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...
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...