Greg Whitchurch
The Problem: The majority of new homes are still built in the old ways, to outdated building code standards at best, and using “same-old, same-old” materials and techniques. How can we entice designers and builders to “up their game” and approach better efficiency standards without scaring them away with expensive and time-consuming trainings?
However, these people are doing just fine, thank you very much with the old techniques. LEED, Energy Star, BPI, Passive House and even Pretty Good House and others offer much better results for the owners, the occupants and the environment.
Green Builder Media boldly steps up to this challenge with a webinar featuring Sam Rashkin, an expert’s expert with a long tenure at the U.S. Department of Energy – working on, among other things, bringing home design and construction into modern times. And he can teach!
The importance of small details and how to avoid future problems. (“Housing 2.0” webinar on Green Builder Media)
In his book, Housing 2.0 – A Disruption Survival Guide, Mr. Rashkin presents a path forward for the designer wishing to catch up with the times. He gently guides the reader with carefully selected photos, well-defined terms, easy-to-understand graphs, and clear-as-glass narration. (Go to and check out the generous preview offered there!)
The webinar I attended was a valuable introduction for any designer who’s willing to dip their toes into the future of their industry, and into responsible building in particular. Raskin also addresses many broader operating challenges facing construction business owners these days. And he realizes, as we all do, that builders are often handed a set of plans with little wiggle room for efficiency improvements. The webinar is archived at .
Rashkin examines the gradual improvements of our national building energy code over the past 50 years. He presents examples of the incentives now available for better building practices. He points out the advantages of joining the high-performance home community of builders who are achieving “ultra-low energy bills; ultra comfortable; ultra convenient; ultra-low maintenance; ultra safe; superior health protection; superior resilience.” (This is missing only the ultra-high value of the finished home, in my view.)
In the video, Rashkin explains the why and how to build tighter and better-insulated enclosures, while solving the new issues that such improvements present to the designer and builder. For example, common practice allows so much air and heat to flow thru envelope assemblies that moisture-handling principles can remain ignored and seldom result in problems. In this video, we get the solutions needed to safely implement higher standards.
Cost is not the problem. As Mr. Rashkin points out, building to a higher standard can be cheaper than current practice. One reason for this is that a better envelope requires far smaller HVAC machinery; and energy modeling removes the imprecise formulae and just-in-case over-sizing of HVAC, so common for so long. This same benefit is even greater in the Passive House standard.
Most builders do want to improve their product, but without straying too far from their comfort zones — hence Rashkin’s book. He makes the path toward certifiable standards wide and clear. (See our article on the Winthrop Center on page 29 of this issue, .)
The certification plaques displayed outside a home on page 35 of his book are “Zero Energy Ready Home,” “EPA Indoor Air Plus,” “Energy Star,” and “Home Innovation NGBS Green Certified.” The first three of these are included within the Passive House certification. As Rashkin points out: “Home buyers will know certified performance vs. ‘Trust me’.”
Rashkin recommends an airtightness goal of 1.5 ACH@50P — where lower numbers are better. This number is almost three times higher than the old Passive House 0.6 ACH@50P requirement, and some homes these days come in at less than 0.3. Please note, though, that even 1.5 turns out to be much better than current run-of-the-mill practice!
Rashkin has picked an airtightness target that’s easy to hit, and makes a big difference when compared to the usual, costs insignificantly more, and provides a big boost to affordability and occupant health. Just getting builders to run a blower door test at all is a big step forward.
The importance of air sealing the envelope. (“Housing 2.0” webinar on Green Builder Media, and ecohome: 10/5/20)
For the skilled but somewhat-behind-the-times designers and builders who are the target audience of this webinar, Rashkin provides a panoply of real-world solutions for critical design problems which work “right out of the box.” It is important that those solutions be implemented as presented, without uninformed improvements. Without understanding the methodical basis of the design, changes might result in assembly failures, with rot and mold resulting.
Passive House — which is a cheap, easy and basic efficiency standard — provides improvements and guardrails which encompass this presentation. And even broader standards exist, such as LEED and Living Building Challenge. But for such standards the designer must have some specialized training in building science.
The importance of Rashkin’s presentation is this: when faced with the Full Monty of the actual necessary changes required of us, we tend to reject it simply because it looks like way too heavy a lift. Getting going is better than staying stuck.
I have seen several presentations on this topic. I highly recommend this webinar video as well as the book upon which it is based. Plus, even the common homeowner can understand most of the basics. Give the video a chance – it is free, and you won’t be sorry.
Greg Whitchurch lives in Middlesex, VT. Read more of his work at , , ,
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