Better Homes, Better Future

In this session, the NAACP brings you an overview of the Centering Equity in the Sustainable Building Sector (CESBS) Initiative and the stories of two members at the intersection of energy, equity, and housing. Lonnie Feemster, President of the Reno-Sparks Branch of the NAACP and former energy inspector, is known around town as “Solar Man.” With immense care, he built his own passive house that provides a 100% electric, low-consumption, and comfortable place for work and play for three generations. Daphany Rose Sanchez, founder of Kinetic Communities Consulting (KC3) and proud New York native, leverages partnerships and resources to help close the gap between the affordable housing and energy efficiency industry for diverse New York communities. Lonnie and Daphany share a passion for supporting Black and brown communities to understand the human cost of energy, save money, feel safe, and live in a cleaner environment. They will share a call to action through stories and lessons for building professionals to design projects, policies, and programs first and foremost for people and for justice.

Episode 3 in this exclusive 4-part series with Doug Tarry of Doug Tarry Homes concludes our review of the 11 critical steps involved in building a house as a ‘system.’ We look at managing occupant comfort and indoor air quality through system design by addressing such topics as building a better basement wall, reducing the A/C size, and creating greater comfort in the house by the windows we select, to name a few. Watch full webinar here. Listen to special podcast series here.

Episodes 2 and 3 in this exclusive 4-part series with Doug Tarry, of Doug Tarry Homes, explore the 11 critical steps involved in building a house as a ‘system.’ Customer comfort is paramount and we have to consider how the client will use their home. We must ask ourselves one simple question: “Am I making the homeowner’s life easier or harder?" Episode 2 looks at how to avoid improper planning and design from the outset, both of which can impact the entire home and create costly errors and rework. Watch full webinar here. Listen to special podcast series here.

This is the first installment in an exclusive 4-part series with Doug Tarry, President of Doug Tarry Ltd., an award winning, leading home building company in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Having built and labeled more Net Zero / Net Zero Ready homes than any other builder in Canada, Doug is currently developing a book called “From Bleeding Edge to Leading Edge: A Builders’ Guide to Net Zero Homes.” This discussion will provide an overview of Doug’s book and delves into what he believes are the 4 principles of modern design. Watch full webinar here at the EEBA Academy.

Joseph Molina and Rene Carter join us for a "Better Homes, Better Future" podcast discussion on the benefits and strategies for hiring veterans. The National Veterans Chamber serves both the individual Veteran and the organizations that support our Veterans and military families. Veterans and military families are able to access resources to find jobs, start a business, and obtain advice in current employment. Employers benefit by accessing resources to help them create a welcoming military-friendly workplace, free training programs and access tax benefits when hiring military Veterans. Watch full webinar at the EEBA Academy here.

This episode will cover strategies and elements of radon mitigation with Randy Nicklas, Senior Engineer at Huntsman Building Solutions. Building codes are steadily increasing the requirements for building envelope airtightness, along with mechanical ventilation. One aspect that is critical in tighter building construction is the need for maintaining a healthy indoor air environment. Outdoor pollutants entering the building include not only allergens and various chemical compounds, but also radon gas. This presentation will outline the advances in radon control. View full webinar in the EEBA Academy here.

High performance zero energy homes provide many benefits including cost savings, energy resiliency, durability, comfort, and sustainable operation. While these types of homes have been built for a long time, the knowledge of how to build them has historically been kept by few. Now with increasingly stringent building codes across the U.S., driven by long-term energy policy and growing demands on the energy grid, all builders and implementers need to know how to build high performance. This session will review key strategies to build high performance zero energy homes discussing measures that impact building envelope, heating, cooling, ventilation, water heating, and other loads. The episode will highlight electric technology including heat pumps. Learning Objectives: Understand key strategies to build high performance zero energy homes Examine strategies to reduce building heating and cooling loads Examine common mechanical systems Identify key system interactions in high performance zero energy homes Watch full webinar here at the EEBA Academy. www.eeba.org www.teamzero.org

Do you know how a properly installed rainscreen makes your building envelope more durable? In the first part of this webinar, Peter Barrett of Dorken Systems will look at how rainscreens work to add drainage and drying capacity to a typical residential wall. In the second part, Chris Donatelli of Donatelli Builders will discuss the real-life building and renovation of a home in Chicago. As original builder, Chris will tell his story of constructing the original home, issues he discovered, and his road to sustainable repair of the walls. You will hear his actual experience managing the moisture issues along with amazing details about when, where, and how damage occurred and was remediated. You will learn to: · Easily design rainscreen principles into your walls · Evaluate the long-term benefits of added drainage and drying · Understand the impact of moisture management issues · Apply appropriate remediation techniques View full webinar here at the EEBA Academy.

Healthier Homes Awareness for Building Professionals educational program is now LIVE! The course designed by experts from Allergy Standards, Construction Instruction, and EEBA teaches builders how to build a better air quality environment for customers. Taking care of customers health and helping them make better, more informed decisions when specifying and purchasing products and services that effect the very air they, and their loved ones, breathe. Episode guests: Dr. John McKeon, CEO of Allergy Standards and Gord Cooke, President of Building Knowledge Canada and Partner of Construction Instruction.  Register and learn more about the course here in the EEBA Academy. Watch full webinar here.

"Decarbonization" and "electrification" are becoming household words in some parts of the country. This discussion will demystify these terms, covering the motivations, benefits, and nuts and bolts of making the switch -- transitioning mixed-fuel homes to 100% electricity. If you have concerns about indoor air quality, resiliency, or the changing climate, there's something for you in this podcast. Learning objectives: Explain the benefits of electrifying homes to clients, friends, and family Understand how electrification supports resiliency goals Differentiate between the two electric alternatives to each of the four typical residential gas appliances Create a customized home electrification roadmap Episode guest: Ann Edminster, Founder and principal of Design AVEnues LLC Watch webinar here at the EEBA Academy.

This special Team Zero episode explores the current and evolving definitions of high-performance homes, their components, and how they affect global populations. For this episode, we are joined by Ken Johnson, Senior Manager of Performance Construction at Mitsubishi Electric Trane US and Rich Williams, Vice President of Alliance Green Homes. The discussion tackles the growing topic of the role that Indoor Air Quality plays in the construction and maintenance of high-performance homes. Listeners will learn about the critical green certification programs related to energy efficiency, and how they can move towards creating a high-performance home.

We’ve all heard that we need to “Build Tight and Ventilate Right,” but do we have the approaches that we need that are cost competitive, bring sales opportunities, and are beneficial to resiliency, comfort, and IEQ? In this podcast, we’ll briefly cover why it’s important to use balanced ventilation in tighter homes, but we will then move on to the most common strategies for getting each component right. This includes strategies for achieving tighter buildings and then a review of the seven most common balanced ventilation strategies with some tips and tricks along the way to make it work. Join Dan Wildenhaus, Technical Advisor and Industry Liaison for BetterBuiltNW on this journey to getting homes dialed in for our codes, certification programs, and most importantly our homebuyers’ future experience. Instructor: Dan Wildenhaus Watch on the EEBA Academy.

Chef Rachelle Boucher of Kitchens to Life cooks her favorite Chinese New Year dishes as two of the top experts in Indoor Air Quality bring a fresh perspective to traditional cooking and the vital role of ventilation in today's homes. Speakers: Rachelle Boucher, Chef & Induction Expert at Kitchens to Life Alex Siow, San Francisco Showroom Director Watch webinar

This 1924 Colonial home had fallen into severe disrepair before coming up for sale. As part of the much needed renovation, the new homeowners (two Steven Winter Associates, Inc. employees) wanted to eliminate onsite combustion and produce as much of their operating electricity as possible. Other goals included lower embodied energy materials and a healthy indoor environment. LEED v4.1 for Homes offered one platform to address energy, health, and materials. The home was gutted down to the foundation, framing, and floors before the year-long renovation. After the first 8 months of occupancy (July—February), the home produced 14% more energy than it consumed. Homeowners: Maureen Mahle and Steve Klocke Moderator: Aaron Smith Learn more

Part of what happens on the power grid starts in the homes we build. Meeting the rising demand for electricity presents a challenge, but also an opportunity to transform our homes from energy consumers into energy producers and distributors. In this session you'll hear from builders who have communities enrolled in Virtual Power Plant (VPP) programs and are deploying battery storage at scale. The session will be moderated and led by California’s largest VPP company with over 53,000 customers and 200 megawatts capacity- comparable to a medium-sized gas power plant.Learning Objectives: Understanding our electrical grid and its history.Learn how we can meet today’s and tomorrow’s growing electrical demand.Understand what role homebuilders are playing in stabilizing the grid and turning their homes from energy consumers into energy producers. Discover the benefits homebuyers are experiencing from battery storage and virtual power plant programs.Presenters: Megan Cordes, Director Sustainability and Building Science, Beazer HomesJoel Abney, Vice President of Operations, SH Residential Holdings, LLCMatt Brost, Vice President New Home Sales, SunrunChip Silverman, Senior Manager, Grid Services Business Development, SunrunLearn More and Register for the 2026 Summit: https://summit.eeba.org

Panasonic OASYS™ Concept Home Sets a New Standard for Whole Home WellnessPanasonic recently introduced its revolutionary OASYS™ Whole Home Air Quality Management Solution through the launch of the first-ever Panasonic OASYS Concept Home in Houston, TX. This milestone project, showcases how advanced HVAC technology can transform indoor environments, delivering superior comfort, energy efficiency, and wellness. The Concept Home has also earned the prestigious Indoor airPLUS certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), affirming its commitment to healthier indoor air and safer living conditions.The Panasonic OASYS™ system is more than a traditional HVAC setup—it’s a fully integrated air quality management solution that combines ventilation fans, energy recovery ventilators (ERVs), and HVAC units into a single, seamless system. Working in tandem with a tightly sealed building envelope, OASYS continuously delivers fresh, filtered air throughout the home, actively removing pollutants, allergens, and excess humidity.In this webinar you will learn how the Panasonic OASYS System provides:1) Uniform temp and humidity with fresh, healthy air 2) 4x air change per hour; controlled airflow 3) Its energy efficiency 4) How it is comprised of reliable and individual components (easy to install and maintain)

Science-based methods that link the chemical contents of building products with human and environmental health hazards have become well-established over the past decade. Product ingredient disclosures that report this information, as well as information tools to select products with desired health characteristics, are now affordable and easy-to-use by any design project team member, without the need for advanced training. This session will explain the industry standard methodology of the Health Product Declaration (HPD) and how, using web-based tools, project teams can easily make informed decisions that promote the use of healthier building products, backed up by the full transparency of open standards and publicly available information. An end-to-end example of how this information is created by manufacturers and used in product selection by project teams will be demonstrated, using two important products in residential construction: roofing and insulation. It will also demonstrate how this information provides documentation to support many green building certifications, such as Indoor AirPlus, LEED, Living Building Challenge and others with a focus on healthier materials.Learning Objectives: 1. Participants will understand the science-based methods for linking the chemical contents of building products with human and environmental health hazards.2. Participants will learn how manufacturers collect and report health information about their products, and how it is made transparent and publicly available with the demonstrated web-based information tools.3. Participants will learn about the information that is required to evaluate the human and environmental health hazards in building materials, the affordable tools now available to building project teams that make it possible without the need for expert training, and how builders can easily incorporate this step into their product selection process.4. Participants will learn how product content and health information disclosures simplify providing documentation for green building certifications such as Indoor AirPlus, LEED and Living Building Challenge.Presenters: Paul Shahrairi, Green building and the application of technology in the real estate, design, engineering, and construction industries.Andrew Guido, VP of Sustainability & Innovation, Empire CommunitiesAaron Smith, CEO, EEBACory White, Technical Director, Health Product Declaration CollaborativeColin Harrington, Program Manager of Sustainability Marketing & Communications, Saint-Gobain North America

Conversation with Sean ContaWe all know that the right way to build a high performance, low carbon home starts in the design phase, right? Early and careful planning, research, estimating and coordinating with trades during design is the way to achieve the project goals. But wait, what if we land a project that has already been designed and permitted? And what if, for example, the plans are missing any sort of HVAC or water heating information and essentially just meet code? Can we still do high performance? This session will dive into a specific project in Seattle where the 2 person Targa Homes team was presented with just this scenario. Hear how we achieved a high performance, ZERH certified home and ADU through air tightness, robust assemblies, great windows, careful HVAC design and installation, and lower embodied carbon material choices.Learning Objectives:1. Choosing and executing high performance wall, roof, and floor assemblies that aren't on the plans2. Designing and fitting an HVAC system in an existing structural layout3. Convincing your client to care about upgraded windows4. Finding what your "non-negotiables" are as you budget and build a project

Conversation with Christopher SalemIt’s not enough to simply offer great craftsmanship. High-performance builders often face the challenge of standing out in a crowded market and converting leads into loyal clients. Too many struggle with marketing that doesn't truly resonate with their target audience, leaving them chasing after business instead of attracting it effortlessly.This webinar will help you unlock the marketing strategies that transform your business from invisible to irresistible. In this session, you’ll learn how to craft a compelling message that builds trust, positions you as the go-to expert in your field, and makes clients eager to hire and refer you.This isn’t about simply getting more leads; it's about getting the right leads who trust your expertise and want to work with you. You’ll discover how to position your brand to ensure prospects see you as their ideal choice, learn how to structure your sales process for smoother conversions, and most importantly, how to turn satisfied clients into your best marketing tool: referrals.By the end of this session, you'll have actionable insights to fine-tune your messaging, streamline your sales processes, and grow a client base that not only hires you but keeps coming back and recommending you to others.Ready to stop chasing clients and start building a reputation that drives steady, repeatable business?Key Takeaways:Reposition your brand messaging to speak directly to the pain points and desires of your ideal clients, so you stop blending in and start standing out as their trusted choice.Streamline your sales process to convert more leads into loyal, long-term clients—without the constant back-and-forth or uncertainty that holds your business back.Leverage satisfied clients to fuel your growth by turning them into your most powerful marketing asset: the repeat referrals that keep your pipeline full and your brand thriving.

Sustainability progress in the residential market has been tremendous over the past decade, but current federal deregulation actions are posing significant new challenges for continued progress. Building codes, energy efficiency, electrification, and decarbonization are specific areas facing new headwinds as result of current federal actions. While these regulatory actions may seek to halt progress in these areas, many organizations are continuing to advance their sustainability goals as part of a long-term strategy. In this lively panel discussion, we will share the latest perspective on what has changed, and what has not, with respect to our collective journey to advance sustainable building practices.Learning Objectives1. Learn what is changing at the federal level that may impact a builder’s sustainability journey2. Gain the latest knowledge on actions impacting building codes and energy efficiency tax incentives3. Understand what current federal actions mean for electrification and decarbonization in the residential market4. Learn what leading organizations are doing to continue advancing sustainability and sustainable building practices in the present eraPresentersAaron Smith, CEO, EEBAShawn Hunter, Global Sustainability Director, DuPontMegan Cordes, Director Sustainability and Building Science, Beazer HomesTim O'Brien, President, Tim O'Brien HomesDoug Tarry, Doug Tarry HomesStephen Myers, CEO, Thrive Home Builders2026 SummitJoin us September 16th-18th, 2026, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for our High Performance Home Builder Summit — the premier event for building professionals dedicated to advancing high-performance, healthy, and resilient homes!Learn more and register at the lowest rates today at summit2026.eeba.org!