Blog » energy efficiency

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 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.

By designing for the future and retrofitting with climate in mind, buildings can be made more resilient and better equipped to handle changing temperature regimes. By taking a holistic approach and considering factors such as climate types, average temperatures, and precipitation, we can ensure that our buildings are not only code-compliant but also energy-efficient and comfortable for their occupants.

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.

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.

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

There are lots of horror stories out there about mold, rot, stink, decay, health problems and even death associated with energy efficiency measures and airtight houses. Most of them come from the early days of 'live' experiments where good things were done, with all the right intentions but only half of the concept was in place...house-as-a-system was not the by-word of the late 70s/early 80s homebuilding/renovating world. And in many instances where new horror stories appear, it's pretty obvious to those who are conversant in building science that 'house-as-a-system' is ***still*** not the by-word of the homebuilding/renovating world.X

Training in building science and energy efficiency is essential to moving the house building industry forward into Net Zero Energy, successfully. Many people in our industry do not see the entire value chain. It’s a complicated one – easy to see in this diagram how the home building industry is a hot, fragmented mess of experts and expertise, completely at odds with itself sometimes.