Better Homes, Better Future

Better Homes, Better Future

By Energy and Environmental Building AllianceBusinessNon-Profit
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Better Homes, Better Future episodes

  • EEBA’s New Sustainable Products Database: ecomedes.com

    Discover EEBA’s new sustainable products database - eeba.ecomedes.com. Easily search by product category, brand, certifications, ecolabels, or greenest products to streamline how you source and specify. You can also add products to a project and start to calculate impact and evaluate how those selected products help you achieve your project's preferred rating system. Sourcing and specifying sustainable building materials just got easy!


    Want to learn how? Join Ecomedes’ Founder Paul Shahriari for training and insights into making the most of EEBA’s ecomedes portal. In this first of five webinar series, Paul will showcase how home builders, subcontractors, and manufacturers get value from eeba.ecomedes.com.

    57 min
  • Sustainable Is Attainable: Building Affordable Zero Energy Ready Homes and Providing Missing Middle Housing Opportunities

    Explore the challenges faced when building sustainable, affordable housing and providing Missing Middle Housing opportunities in existing neighborhoods. It will feature two case studies of affordable Zero Energy Ready Home developments in Western North Carolina. These include the Northstone mixed income community in Hickory and the Duke Street Cottages pocket neighborhood in Granite Falls.


    Learning Objectives:
    1. Define the terms "Missing Middle Housing" and "Pocket Neighborhood."
    2. Explore challenges to building sustainable, affordable housing in existing neighborhoods with restrictive zoning ordinances.
    3. Identify affordable strategies for meeting DOE Zero Energy Ready Home requirements.
    4. Discuss high performance heating, cooling, ventilation, and dehumidification systems for low load homes.

    1 hr 1 min
  • Heat Pumps, Mini-Splits & Air Conditioners - Commissioning with Smart Tools to Get It Right the First Time!

    Over a dozen studies confirmed most H/AC systems have either an air flow or refrigerant charge faults (or both). A 2018 DOE study found heating and air conditioning installations had at least one fault in 70–90% of homes, and when duct leakage is considered, this number increases to 90–100%. Improper installation leads to increased energy use, comfort issues, warranty claims, call backs and higher HVAC repair costs over the lifetime of the equipment. 


    Fixing these two faults alone has the potential to decrease residential cooling energy loads by 5–10%. Researchers at NREL estimate that central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps in the US waste 20.7 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy per year due to equipment faults. Convert that to energy generated by hydroelectric - it’s 5.7 times the volume of Lake Mead at its highest level, which is 8.5 trillion gallons of water. 

    PNL believes that Smart Tools + Smart Apps. make for a system with fewer faults. Combine this with the new ANSI/ RESNET/ACCA/ICC RESNET Standard 310 and you have real solutions.

    This webinar will cover practical solutions for reducing air flow and refrigerant faults using Smart Probes & Apps and we will simplify Standard 310 into bite size chunks. We will share the latest Building America study that confirms the use of these Smart Tools and Apps.

    Join us to learn how to achieve installations that provide optimum efficiency and provide installations that meet the manufacturer guidelines that reduce energy use, increase comfort, and eliminate call backs.


    Presented by Joe Medosch & Shawn LeMons

    1 hr 8 min
  • February Builder of The Month - Clare Homes, Isaac Scott

    Aaron Smith sits down with our February Builder of The Month, Isaac Scott, owner of Clare Homes along with his business partner Kendall Gilmore. They discuss what motivated Isaac to enter the construction field, start his own business in 2021 as a sustainable builder, how he connected with EEBA, and more!

    28 min
  • EEBA Summit Call for Presentations: Share Your Knowledge & Connect with Our Community

    The EEBA High-Performance Home Builder Summit attracts an audience of highly engaged attendees from across North America - the innovators and early adopters who believe the way we build our homes is the way we build our future. We are now seeking proposals for presentations on healthy, resilient, electrified, net zero, zero carbon homes. New this year will also be an executive educational track devoted to best business practices to help your company thrive in this challenging time. Our goal is to continuously grow and strengthen the high-performance building community.  


    Join CEO Aaron Smith and the EEBA team to learn more about the content our audience is looking for and submit your proposals before the deadline of March 1st!

    24 min
  • Marketing Economic Value for Green Homes

    Green Energy Money, Inc. (GEM) offers Builders, Developers, REALTORS® and appraisers “high-performance” financing and valuation solutions to advance green building practices in their markets. GEM’s strategic alliances of certified energy raters, investors, and our qualified “green” appraisal panel provides economic solutions and quantified analysis that recognizes and applies a green premium value in homes.

    We support education and tools to achieve exceptional results in translating green-economic, cost benefits for all stakeholders in the real estate transaction cycle.

    The session will cover:  

    1. Case Studies of high-performance demonstration projects and communities incorporating SIPs, rainwater harvesting and solar;
    2. Identifying types of information and data appraisers and lenders need to support value and underwrite loans;
    3. Marketing, listing and selling a green home – write an effective, targeted green features listing;
    4. Market Differentiation for Builders and REALTORS® - Stand apart from competitors; become a trusted, recognized “TRUE GEM” in your community!

    Watch Now

    57 min
  • EEBA 2023 Summit and Sponsor Updates

    Join EEBA CEO Aaron Smith and the team as they share exciting news around EEBA’s 2023 High Performance Home Summit. The event will be at a new venue, with a new Summit Exhibit area and floorplan. Additionally, the team will discuss the call for proposals and how to get your information in front of the attendees. Looking for reach outside of just the Summit? Our team will also touch on EEBA’s full-year sponsorship opportunities for manufacturers, service providers and others looking to reach the building market.

    28 min
  • Inventory of Zero Report

    Join Aaron Smith as he reviews the 7th EEBA Inventory of Zero Energy (ZE) Homes. EEBA Team Zero started tracking the proliferation of U.S. and Canadian ZE homes in 2015. Since then, the yearly report has shown a consistent upward trend. In the past, the multifamily sector led the pack. In the 2022 report, we see single family homes making up the majority for the first time. The report tracks Zero Energy single and multifamily home trends and leaders across the U.S. and Canada, and shows 190% in growth in total projects as well as 440% growth in single family houses.

    The report sheds light on North American ZE growth patterns, high-performance technologies used, top rating systems, as well as the major players who are adopting ZE design and construction as a profitable business model.

    23 min
  • Understanding Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) Construction
    Understanding Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) Construction & How It Affects Thermal Envelopes


    Instructor Brian von Allworden

    If used correctly, SIPs can be the foundation of a great environmental envelope. This presentation will explain what SIPs are and how they work, what they can do and what they can't do, and how to use them efficiently. By looking at SIPs through both a structural and environmental lens, it is possible to develop strategies to help maintain the superior environmental envelope that SIPs can provide while not compromising the structural integrity of the SIP structure.

    Learning Objectives:

    - Gain a workable understanding of what Structural Insulated Panels are.
    - Understand the two most important ways SIPs provide a superior environmental envelope.
    - Learn what construction details and methods reduce the environmental effectiveness of SIPs and why they should be avoided.
    - Discover tips and tricks to maintain the environmental envelope when designing and building with SIPs.

    1 hr 8 min
  • Lifestyle Home Virtual Tour

    WHAT IS LIFESTYLE HEALTHSMART?

    LifeStyle HealthSmart is a brand-new health-centric program initiated by LifeStyle Homes in response to COVID-19. The pandemic quickly and drastically changed the world, forcing all of us to take a closer look at the role clean indoor air plays on long-term health.

    With a better understanding and sharper focus on the importance of indoor air quality, LifeStyle Homes launched HealthSmart in October 2020 to markedly improve the homes we build. LifeStyle HealthSmart homes include an array of building products and practices that help stop the formation of mold and mildew, as well as keep other indoor pollutants at bay.

    LifeStyle HealthSmart represents a healthy addition to our longstanding SunSmart program, which bolsters energy efficiency and structural durability. Together, these two programs provide LifeStyle homeowners superior levels of quality, comfort, and cost savings.

    2 min

About Better Homes, Better Future

From the publisher's feed

In the "Better Homes, Better Future" podcast, Aaron Smith, CEO of EEBA, hosts conversations with key players in the industry to break down the principles, issues, technologies and history of the…

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