September 26, 2024 • 29 mins
Alison and Mark are joined by Beth Campbell, a contractor who teaches curriculum for the Passive House certification organization, Phius. Join them as they break down the most common certification and rating systems in construction, including LEED, Passive House, Energy Star, HERS, and more, exploring how each can potentially benefit homeowners. Learn more about Phius by visiting: https://www.phius.org/
Learn more about Bensonwood by visiting our website: bensonwood.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alison Keay (00:00):
Music, welcome to a new era of
(00:05):
homebuilding, where we exploresustainable home building, high
performance design, innovativeoffsite construction and
groundbreaking practices thatare transforming the
homebuilding industry. Thispodcast is produced by Unity
homes, a brand of bensonwin, andwelcome to another episode of a
new era of home building. Todaywe're talking about building and
home certifications. I'm yourhost. Alison Kaye, Sales Lead at
(00:29):
Unity homes,
Mark Hertzler (00:32):
and I'm your co host. Mark Hertzler, Director of
unity homes. Our guest today isBeth Kimball. Beth is a self
described high performanceconstruction evangelist. She got
her start over 20 years ago inconstruction while helping
homeowners that were buildingtheir own funky homes using
natural materials like straw andclay, she started her own
construction business at thatpoint. Has been working in
(00:53):
healthy homes industry eversince she began working
specifically with highperformance such as passive
house and Zero Energy homes 10years ago, and has been helping
project teams deliver greathomes as a project manager,
estimator and Constructoreducator in more recent years,
Beth actually worked with us atUnity homes for three years on
some R and D projects unity wasdeveloping. Currently, Beth is
(01:14):
an instructor for the PassiveHouse certification organization
theus. She is laser focused onhelping teams learn to build the
passive building standards,especially in Massachusetts,
where Passive House is now codefor larger multifamily
buildings.
Alison Keay (01:28):
Welcome Beth.
Beth Campbell (01:30):
Thank you so much good to be with you all again.
Alison Keay (01:33):
So today we're going to hear a lot of different
words out there. So lead,passive house, energy, Star hers
ratings, zero energy, readyhome. Maybe you've heard some of
those words. Maybe not at all.
So these are just a few of thecommon certifications or ratings
systems that are out there fornew construction. And today
(01:54):
we're asking questions like,What are all these rating
systems. Why are there so manyof them? Why might a homeowner
be interested in one of thesecertifications, and how might
they be leveraged by utility orstate incentive programs that
might be out there as well?
Mark Hertzler (02:16):
So let's start with a HERS rating, since that
is one of the qualifications forsome of the other
certifications. So Allison, youknow you have some experience in
this, explain to us what hersmeans and what's involved in it,
right?
Alison Keay (02:33):
So the HERS rating itself isn't really a
certification, but a score foryour home. It stands for home
energy rating, score, and thingslike design, location,
orientation, the HVAC all playinto a HERS model, a particular
energy model for that, thatscoring system that spits out a
(02:55):
number between zero and 100where 100 is equal to current
energy code, minimum buildingand zero would mean that it's
not using any energy at all,usually meaning net zero with
renewable energy. And so itallows us to look at the energy
(03:17):
performance of a house beforeit's built. It's really focused
on that energy model, and youknow, different codes are
adopting that now to confirmthat the homes are designed to
meet a certain energy standard.
Some
Beth Campbell (03:31):
some states are now requiring it, and it might
depend on your localjurisdiction, but they're now
requiring it for all newconstruction, and some states
and jurisdictions are evenrequiring it for the sale of
existing homes. So Portland,Oregon, for example, where I
used to live now, requires that,I believe, for the sale of many
(03:52):
single family residences, sothat homeowners have an actual
comparable example ofunderstanding what it is they're
buying, and it will help themunderstand what their utility
bills might be.
Mark Hertzler (04:06):
And I know we'll probably get into this a little
bit later, and some of the othercertifications, but just in
general, a score of zero to 100100 being the code minimum, zero
being no energy. What's a what'sa good score? I mean, obviously
I think everybody would love tosee a zero, but what, in
(04:27):
general, what's a good score? A
Beth Campbell (04:29):
good score, from my perspective, is going to be
in the 30s or 40s. So forexample, one home that I was
managing when I was working withUnity homes got a herd rating of
34 so it still sounds like it'skind of high, but if you think
about it, that's 70% more energyefficient than a home that is
like a code built minimum. Andso even if you're delivering a
(04:53):
passive house, which might be anextremely energy efficient
building, you're probably unlessit has renewables. Probably not
going to see something muchlower than than a hersting in
the 20s.
Alison Keay (05:05):
Yeah. So the value that a HERS rating might bring
to a project is going to be likeBeth said, in that real estate
information for resale of thehome and code or confirmation
for code requirements as well.
Yeah,
Beth Campbell (05:20):
yeah. And right now, out there in the landscape,
you know, you could havebuilders who are billing
themselves as green builders, orsomething like that, and you
don't, as a consumer, you don'treally understand what that
means or how that is going toapply. It could be greenwashing.
It could be super legitimate.
And so for companies, you know,like, like Unity homes, that
really are delivering anexceptional product. And I swear
(05:42):
I'm not a plant for unity, righthere, I just am. I'm a former
employee that very much believesin the product. You know, you
guys are delivering excellenthomes. And the HERS rating kind
of evens the score so that sothat homeowners can really, you
know, on a more granular level,really understand what it is
they're getting in a newconstruction home. One other
(06:04):
thing to note about herd ratingsis that it is completed by a
third party certification, soyou always have an outside
entity that is delivering yourher score, meaning that it's
going to be legitimate and innot just, not just decided upon
by the builder or the architectthemselves.
Mark Hertzler (06:26):
Yeah, that's a good point that you can have
confidence in the number thatyou're getting because it's a
certified hers Raider. There wasa third party that's giving that
number, and you're getting areally good comparison of the
performance of one buildingversus another building. So
moving on to some of the actualcertifications. One that is out
(06:48):
there a lot, and you see invarious places, is Energy Star.
So Beth, can you tell us alittle bit about what ENERGY
STAR is and how it's used? Yeah,
Beth Campbell (06:59):
absolutely. So a lot of consumers are used to
seeing the word ENERGY STAR showup on your appliances. Right?
They launched a large program anumber of years ago where you
might have a sticker that showsup or maybe on a window package,
something like that. But ENERGYSTAR is an initiative of the
Department of Energy, which gotstarted I don't know, you know
(07:21):
the full background history ofit, but it's been up and running
for many, many years. Andsimilar to how there are code
cycles that change, you know,the ENERGY STAR requirements
have also progressed and changedthrough the years. So ENERGY
STAR is a program that you know,helps homeowners make good
(07:43):
buying decisions, perhaps at themarketplace, but it also is a
certification program for homes,which similar to what we were
talking about, with a hardrating, allows homeowners to
understand that this home thatthey're buying has met certain
qualifications and standards,and that they can trust that
it's it's going to be, atminimum, better home than than
(08:06):
what is code standard in manyplaces. Now that is to say, let
me, let me say one caveat ingeneral, that code across the
United States is varied, notonly by state, but also by
jurisdiction. So some states andjurisdictions now have energy
standards and codes that areactually higher than even, than
(08:28):
even ENERGY STAR. There aresome, you know, certain energy
qualifications, as well as somehealthy home initiatives that
need to be followed in order toget that rating. And then,
similar to what we were speakingabout with the herd rating, the
Energy Star certification isalso completed by a third party
certification. And I believeeverything that we're talking
(08:50):
about today is going to be athird party verified and just to
speak a little bit to why thatis important, you know, as we
mentioned, it not only instillsconfidence, but it also gives,
you know, I use the term levelplaying field before, and I
think maybe that's that's apretty good one, is that you
have now a baseline for whichyou can compare other projects
(09:12):
to. So one thing that is arequirement when you're getting
an Energy Star certification isactually getting a HERS rating.
So anytime a home is Energy Starcertified, it already is going
to come with with a HERS ratinginvolved. And I believe that
many of these certificationtypes we're talking about today
(09:33):
also share that in common.
Alison Keay (09:35):
Yeah, one of the things that ENERGY STAR did, and
I'll add that ENERGY STAR is aninitiative of the EPA, and it
was started to do two things,provide the guidance that Beth
talked a lot about forhomeowners, but it also was
intended to change themarketplace in terms of the
delivery of homes and the levelof construction that was being
(09:59):
offered. Yeah, and it's reallydone a great job in that. So
some of the other things thatare part of energy. Star is it
deals a lot in moisturemanagement, best practices for
the exterior of the house, andalso with interior moisture
sources and proper ventilationfor the houses. It deals with
LED lighting. There's some waterefficiency measures. And it's
(10:21):
it's overall, it's to guide theimprovement of construction
practices. And I think it's justdone a great job of that. It's
been around for quite some timenow. And I think what we'll get
into next is that there areprograms that build onto it as
well. So it's used in otherprograms. It's used in the lead
certification that we'll talkabout later. And there's all
(10:43):
these great add ons that you cango even further, building on
that with. And one
Mark Hertzler (10:49):
of those add ons, I believe, is the indoor air
plus, is that correct? Yes. Sothat's an add on certification
to the ENERGY STAR.
Alison Keay (10:58):
Yep. So it's usually optional. Is what that
means you can stop at ENERGYSTAR, or you could add indoor
air plus onto your Energy Starcertification. So this one is
another actual certification,and it focuses more on indoor
air quality and reducing VOCs,which means volatile organic
compounds and other airbornecontaminants from the products
(11:20):
that we're using in theconstruction of our homes. Yeah,
Beth Campbell (11:23):
and one great example that I like to use when
I'm instructing about, like,what's considered a voc would be
formaldehydes that might be usedin some press boards that are
part of, you know, more costeffective cabinets,
unfortunately, aren'tnecessarily going to be good for
our health, because they will,over time, slowly release some
(11:44):
of those chemicals into the air.
Mark Hertzler (11:46):
Yeah, so that's the key, is having a balanced
ventilation but also eliminatingsome of those contaminants as
well. And
Alison Keay (11:54):
for those who suffer from allergies or
sensitivities, chemicalsensitivities, this is an
important one to pay attentionto, because this, again, is
third party verified. So there'sactually going to be a checklist
and things that are verified onsite so that the homeowner knows
that the builder followed, youknow, certain requirements that
are going to result for them ina healthier indoor air quality
(12:16):
environment for them.
Mark Hertzler (12:19):
And then another add on to energy. Star is the
Zero Energy Ready Home. What'sthat about?
Beth Campbell (12:25):
Great. Before we talk about the Zero Energy Ready
Home certification, I thinkwhat's important is to define
what this term net zero energymeans. And what that means is
essentially that the home isgoing to produce. And this could
be a building too, right? I'musing, I'm using the term home
right now pretty loosely, so wecould say zero energy ready.
(12:47):
Buildings are buildings thatproduce as much energy as they
consume over the course of ayear. So for example, in the
northern hemisphere, in thesummer, we're probably going to
be producing more energy on sitethan we would in the winter
months, when we have shorterdays and more cloud cover. And
that is to say that during thosesummer months, a building might
(13:11):
be overproducing in terms of theenergy that's used on site, and
during the winter it might beunder producing. However, when
you average the annual usecompared to the annual
production. The production isgoing to meet or exceed the use
by that building. So we'veestablished what net zero energy
is on a project. So the ZeroEnergy Ready for Homes program
(13:37):
is based on this concept ofachieving a Zero Energy Ready
Home. So what I just describedis you probably have PV
installed on site. You mighthave some some rec credits where
you're producing off site, butgenerally speaking, we're
installing solar on site inorder to get a building to be
(13:59):
net zero. And what theDepartment of Energy wanted to
do with a Zero Energy ReadyHomes program is use that
excellent foundation of energystar and then build on it. So in
order to get this extraqualification, it is going to
have, like you already talkedabout, the indoor air Plus
program. So it's already goingto follow those guidelines. It's
(14:20):
going to follow a couple of theelements of the WaterSense
program, which is another one,which is about, you know,
reducing overall water use in abuilding. And then it's going to
look at some of the buildingscience aspects of making sure
that, you know, when you'remaking an airtight home that is
(14:41):
going to be comfortable,resilient, durable, energy,
efficient, all of these thingsthat it also is is going to be
capable of getting that, thatnet zero energy rating. And so
it's called the Zero EnergyReady Homes program, because
it's saying that you just haveto be ready. You don't actually.
They have to install PV or solaron your roof, but you have to
(15:05):
have a few elements that make itvery easy, so that when and if
you decide to go net zero onyour on your home, that
everything's kind of ready inthere, so that the solar can
just be installed.
Alison Keay (15:17):
Yeah, what I like about the Zero Energy Ready Home
certification is that it sets uppeople up for future renewable
energy. So you might not beinstalling it with the immediate
construction of the home, butyou know, it being a doe
program, it's looking to thefuture of housing stock and its
readiness for that as well.
Good.
Mark Hertzler (15:38):
So let's now move into your area of expertise.
Beth, tell us a little bit aboutpassive house.
Beth Campbell (15:46):
Well, I'm going to try and make this as succinct
as possible, because I couldlaunch into my regular 24 hours
of instruction here to get intoreally the nuts and bolts of
passive house. No, so passivehouse is a term that kind of
unfortunately got directlytranslated from the German
Passive House, which meanspassive building. So it is not
(16:08):
specific to single family homes.
Just to set that straight, it isa certification that is
available worldwide, and is oneof the highest certifications
that you can get for anybuilding. Now, it's not to say
that it is kind of high in thesky or some type of
certification that would beunattainable. In fact, the
organization that that I workfor, FIAs, really sets their
(16:31):
standard at the intersection ofan excellent building that's
going to maintain durability andresilience and healthy indoor
air quality while taking thecost into consideration.
Because, as we all understand,if we actually want to, you
(16:52):
know, positively impact climatechange, we have to, we have to
greatly improve our buildingstock. And so as we're building
new buildings, we want to makesure that passive building
principles are scalable, andtherefore they also have to
meet, you know, pretty stringentfinancial mechanisms that are
(17:12):
out there. So it is acertification that, again, is a
third party certification. Bs isone of the organizations. The
other organization that alsocertifies projects in North
America and throughout the worldis called phi Passive House
institute that was originallystarted in Germany. And so both
organizations will mandatecertain air tightness levels and
(17:36):
one of the hallmarks of apassive house certification, or
a passive buildingcertification, is that the
building is modeled. It isenergy modeled ahead of
construction. And instead ofbeing prescriptive, like code is
often prescriptive, like we haveto have an R 21 insulation in
the wall, for example, passivebuildings will say, as long as
(18:00):
you meet these energy targetsand we don't have any
condensation issues that mightcause risk to the building, then
you can mix and match yourbuilding style with whatever's
going to meet your buildingtypology, whether that's a
single family home or perhaps amultifamily home, multifamily
building or commercial building,school, church, you know,
(18:23):
whatever it is, whateverbuilding type it is, as long as
you can hit those metrics, thenyou can use the materials that
you like and build it in thestyle that makes sense for your
local region. So
Mark Hertzler (18:38):
just for clarification, and it's a great
explanation of how Passive Houseis trying to get to a certain
overall energy modeling. But Ido know there are some specific
qualifications, like a certainair tightness level, a certain
hair HERS rating, right?
Beth Campbell (18:56):
So the means and methodologies of getting to a
passive a passive building arethat the building needs to be
three things. It needs to beairtight, it needs to be super
insulated, and it needs to bewhat we call thermal bridge
three. So in terms of airtightness, a lot of code around
the country right now mightrequire a rating of around three
(19:18):
air changes per hour, that is tosay, naturally through the
cracks and crevices in yourhome, that the air volume inside
a building would naturally beexchanged about three times an
hour. But again, that's gettingpulled in through the garage or
through your foundation crawlspace, and it's you don't you
don't control at all where thatand that airs is air exchanges
(19:41):
coming from and the FIA standardfor building certification is
about six times as efficient asthat, five to six times as
efficient as that. So this is avery, very tight envelope. And
the reason why it it reallyencourages a healthy indoor air
quality is because you have.
Have a low flow of continuous,filtered fresh air coming into
(20:04):
the building at all times.
Mark Hertzler (20:08):
Yeah, good. Thank you. So the next certification
that we often hear about isLEED, L, E, E, D,
Alison Keay (20:18):
yes. So that stands for Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design, and thisgoes a little ways back in and
how, how new it is. It is It wasestablished by the US Green
Building Council, and it is whatwas intended to be a pretty well
rounded green building orsustainability program. So it
(20:42):
includes and pays attention tothings like energy use, but also
materials and sourcing thosematerials, but also the
operation costs of the building.
Thereafter, it takes intoaccount things like community
and location and walkability andsite management during the site
prep as well. So maintaining orprotecting from runoff and
(21:05):
things like that that are badfor the environment around the
house site. So it's going tolean on a HERS Raider for a HERS
rating as well, and a leadconsultant, potentially in the
design of the house, and thenit'll have just like passive
house has a LEED Green Raider,is that third party entity
(21:28):
that's coming on site to verifythings throughout the process.
One of the things that lead hasdone a really great job of just
like ENERGY STAR is transformingthe marketplace, so all kinds of
product companies ormanufacturers began to tailor
their offerings to meet certainpoints and credits in the lead
(21:48):
system. And so that did a goodjob of, you know, turning the
corner in the constructionmaterials marketplace to to kind
of meet the needs of greenbuildings and sustainability a
little bit better.
Mark Hertzler (22:04):
One last rating or certification we have is
Living Building Challenge andthe well, building standard.
What's that about?
Alison Keay (22:12):
Yeah, so these are two different certifications,
but I thought it'd be neat totalk about them, because they
they happen to be more in thecommercial realm, but they're
kind of considered the moststringent building certification
programs out there right now,the Living Building Challenge
has a list of banned materialsthat they've determined are
(22:34):
unsafe for use in terms of theirmaterials entire life cycle, the
way something is produced, thematerials that are sourced to
produce it, and then also whathappens to it after it's end of
life. And you know, wouldtypically end up in a landfill,
like, what is its recyclabilityand or what are the
(22:56):
environmental detriments thatcould happen from that
decomposing in the ground aswell. So it's taking into
account a lot of those things.
And another thing above theLiving Building Challenge is
that it requires one year postoccupancy data to get the
certification. So you not onlyhave to model that you can meet
those requirements, you have toprove that you've actually
performed, or your building hasperformed that way for a year.
Mark Hertzler (23:22):
That's interesting. I you know, that's
one thing to show it on paper,but it's one thing to actually
show it in real life. Yeah.
Alison Keay (23:30):
And the well, building standard is a more of a
healthy building certificationprogram, and it's really mostly
based in commercial at thispoint, but it's looking at
physical and social environmentsand how they impact health. So
designing things like officebuildings and schools with
paying attention to the airquality, water quality, the
(23:51):
light of the spaces that peopleare in for a good amount of
their day, comfort. So that'seven things like furniture and
layout and are do they haveaccess to see, you know, outside
environment from where they are.
So it's really taking in a lotof the physical, social,
psychological health impacts ofour built environment.
Mark Hertzler (24:15):
Great. So now we have a long list there of
different programs,certifications and so the really
big question is, and I'm goingto throw out a little teaser
here as well. The big questionis, what does this mean to the
homeowner? What certificationsshould they be going after? What
(24:36):
things in play that they need toconsider with these and the
teaser that I'm gonna throw outthere is stay tuned for upcoming
episodes, because we are goingto get a little bit farther into
this. But while we have Bethhere, Beth tell us why a
homeowner needs to be concernedabout these things
Beth Campbell (24:53):
absolutely. So I used to think that as a builder
who knew how to build a highquality home and a high perform.
At home that that was goodenough. And what I have seen
time and again is that when youhave that third party on site
checking these different aspectsof the building and actually
verifying that what you'veintended to build is what has
(25:15):
actually been built, is reallycritical. And you know, one of
my colleagues that I teach withis a verifier for the state of
Rhode Island, and he said that,you know, and it's not to
disparage Rhode Island,everybody's doing their best to
get caught up with all of thesechanges that are happening in
the industry. But when he goesin and verifies, sometimes even
(25:38):
a code built building to makesure that it's keeping up with
even just the basic coderequirements that sometimes
ventilation rates will betotally way, way, way off, and
they'll see that maybe aventilation hose hasn't even
been connected to their energyrecoveries, ventilator or
something like that. And it'shaving that that third party set
(26:01):
of eyes on things is is a majorsupport system really is what it
ends up being to the builder tohelp think through when issues
arise, or make sure that youknow the project as DeLong as
designed is what is as deliveredand
Mark Hertzler (26:17):
Allison, some of these programs come With
incentives for the state or thefederal level, correct? Yeah,
Alison Keay (26:24):
so that's that might be another value to the
homeowner, is that achievingsome of these certifications
will allow you kind of a highertier in some of the state rebate
and incentive programs. So hersratings are already being
adopted into a lot of theprograms for the basic rebates
(26:44):
that utility programs areoffering and building on that.
So right now, the state ofMassachusetts is even
incentivizing Passive Housecertification, actual
certification. So that's a bigjump in terms of what the
marketplace might have been usedto getting rebates or incentives
for that level is increasing.
Beth Campbell (27:05):
Yeah, and just to piggyback on that concept of
what's happening in the state ofMassachusetts, which is really
at the forefront of energyefficiency code regulations in
the United States right now. Sopassive building certification
has been adopted by about athird of the jurisdictions
within this the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, meaning that, and
(27:29):
that's only for multifamilybuildings. So meaning that if
you're building, I believe thethreshold is 12,000 square feet
and up. So that's really large,medium to large multifamily
buildings. It's required acrossabout a third of Massachusetts
right now to actually getpassive house certified. So to
be clear, passive house is notrequired for single family
(27:50):
construction in Massachusetts,but the state has really adopted
it as a best practice fordelivering projects that are
going to be resilient in theyears to
Mark Hertzler (28:02):
come. Beth, thanks a lot for joining us. We
appreciate you coming back andoffering your expertise. It
Beth Campbell (28:09):
was it was so fun. It was so fun to, you know,
be able to dive into thisconversation with you all. And
again, you know what Unity isdoing out there to transform,
transform the housing market.
I'm just an enormous fan, so Ican't wait to see where this
podcast progresses, andhopefully, hopefully someday be
a unity homeowner myself. Great.
Mark Hertzler (28:30):
And if people want to find out more about
FIAs, or you, where should theygo? So
Beth Campbell (28:36):
yeah, if you'd like to find out more about
FIAs, you can go to theirwebsite, fias.org, similarly,
passing house Institute, you canjust Google that. You'll come up
with it. And if you'd like tofind me, you can I'm within the
builder database on the FIAswebsite. You could also search
for me on LinkedIn as a FIAsinstructor, and I'll probably
pop up there too.
Alison Keay (28:57):
Thank you.
Thanks for listening to a newera of home building. If you're
passionate about highperformance homes like we are,
be sure to subscribe to ourpodcast and stay tuned for our
next episode on designefficiency and sustainability
with guest Amanda wagunski fromthe bensonwood design group. You
can also visit unityhomes.com tolearn more about our upcoming
(29:20):
events. Subscribe to ournewsletter. Check out our home
plans and get in touch. Thanksto George Peavey, Jason reamer
and Josh Riemer of our company'svery own plum Gable band for the
music you hear on this podcast,and thanks to Damaris Graham for
the production and editing ofthe podcast. We hope you enjoyed
this episode. Until next time,I'm Allison Ken and I'm Mark
(29:40):
Hertzberg, and here's to betterbuilding you.
Music, welcome to a new era of
(00:05):
homebuilding, where we exploresustainable home building, high
performance design, innovativeoffsite construction and
groundbreaking practices thatare transforming the
homebuilding industry. Thispodcast is produced by Unity
homes, a brand of bensonwin, andwelcome to another episode of a
new era of home building. Todaywe're talking about building and
home certifications. I'm yourhost. Alison Kaye, Sales Lead at
(00:29):
Unity homes,
Mark Hertzler (00:32):
and I'm your co host. Mark Hertzler, Director of
unity homes. Our guest today isBeth Kimball. Beth is a self
described high performanceconstruction evangelist. She got
her start over 20 years ago inconstruction while helping
homeowners that were buildingtheir own funky homes using
natural materials like straw andclay, she started her own
construction business at thatpoint. Has been working in
(00:53):
healthy homes industry eversince she began working
specifically with highperformance such as passive
house and Zero Energy homes 10years ago, and has been helping
project teams deliver greathomes as a project manager,
estimator and Constructoreducator in more recent years,
Beth actually worked with us atUnity homes for three years on
some R and D projects unity wasdeveloping. Currently, Beth is
(01:14):
an instructor for the PassiveHouse certification organization
theus. She is laser focused onhelping teams learn to build the
passive building standards,especially in Massachusetts,
where Passive House is now codefor larger multifamily
buildings.
Alison Keay (01:28):
Welcome Beth.
Beth Campbell (01:30):
Thank you so much good to be with you all again.
Alison Keay (01:33):
So today we're going to hear a lot of different
words out there. So lead,passive house, energy, Star hers
ratings, zero energy, readyhome. Maybe you've heard some of
those words. Maybe not at all.
So these are just a few of thecommon certifications or ratings
systems that are out there fornew construction. And today
(01:54):
we're asking questions like,What are all these rating
systems. Why are there so manyof them? Why might a homeowner
be interested in one of thesecertifications, and how might
they be leveraged by utility orstate incentive programs that
might be out there as well?
Mark Hertzler (02:16):
So let's start with a HERS rating, since that
is one of the qualifications forsome of the other
certifications. So Allison, youknow you have some experience in
this, explain to us what hersmeans and what's involved in it,
right?
Alison Keay (02:33):
So the HERS rating itself isn't really a
certification, but a score foryour home. It stands for home
energy rating, score, and thingslike design, location,
orientation, the HVAC all playinto a HERS model, a particular
energy model for that, thatscoring system that spits out a
(02:55):
number between zero and 100where 100 is equal to current
energy code, minimum buildingand zero would mean that it's
not using any energy at all,usually meaning net zero with
renewable energy. And so itallows us to look at the energy
(03:17):
performance of a house beforeit's built. It's really focused
on that energy model, and youknow, different codes are
adopting that now to confirmthat the homes are designed to
meet a certain energy standard.
Some
Beth Campbell (03:31):
some states are now requiring it, and it might
depend on your localjurisdiction, but they're now
requiring it for all newconstruction, and some states
and jurisdictions are evenrequiring it for the sale of
existing homes. So Portland,Oregon, for example, where I
used to live now, requires that,I believe, for the sale of many
(03:52):
single family residences, sothat homeowners have an actual
comparable example ofunderstanding what it is they're
buying, and it will help themunderstand what their utility
bills might be.
Mark Hertzler (04:06):
And I know we'll probably get into this a little
bit later, and some of the othercertifications, but just in
general, a score of zero to 100100 being the code minimum, zero
being no energy. What's a what'sa good score? I mean, obviously
I think everybody would love tosee a zero, but what, in
(04:27):
general, what's a good score? A
Beth Campbell (04:29):
good score, from my perspective, is going to be
in the 30s or 40s. So forexample, one home that I was
managing when I was working withUnity homes got a herd rating of
34 so it still sounds like it'skind of high, but if you think
about it, that's 70% more energyefficient than a home that is
like a code built minimum. Andso even if you're delivering a
(04:53):
passive house, which might be anextremely energy efficient
building, you're probably unlessit has renewables. Probably not
going to see something muchlower than than a hersting in
the 20s.
Alison Keay (05:05):
Yeah. So the value that a HERS rating might bring
to a project is going to be likeBeth said, in that real estate
information for resale of thehome and code or confirmation
for code requirements as well.
Yeah,
Beth Campbell (05:20):
yeah. And right now, out there in the landscape,
you know, you could havebuilders who are billing
themselves as green builders, orsomething like that, and you
don't, as a consumer, you don'treally understand what that
means or how that is going toapply. It could be greenwashing.
It could be super legitimate.
And so for companies, you know,like, like Unity homes, that
really are delivering anexceptional product. And I swear
(05:42):
I'm not a plant for unity, righthere, I just am. I'm a former
employee that very much believesin the product. You know, you
guys are delivering excellenthomes. And the HERS rating kind
of evens the score so that sothat homeowners can really, you
know, on a more granular level,really understand what it is
they're getting in a newconstruction home. One other
(06:04):
thing to note about herd ratingsis that it is completed by a
third party certification, soyou always have an outside
entity that is delivering yourher score, meaning that it's
going to be legitimate and innot just, not just decided upon
by the builder or the architectthemselves.
Mark Hertzler (06:26):
Yeah, that's a good point that you can have
confidence in the number thatyou're getting because it's a
certified hers Raider. There wasa third party that's giving that
number, and you're getting areally good comparison of the
performance of one buildingversus another building. So
moving on to some of the actualcertifications. One that is out
(06:48):
there a lot, and you see invarious places, is Energy Star.
So Beth, can you tell us alittle bit about what ENERGY
STAR is and how it's used? Yeah,
Beth Campbell (06:59):
absolutely. So a lot of consumers are used to
seeing the word ENERGY STAR showup on your appliances. Right?
They launched a large program anumber of years ago where you
might have a sticker that showsup or maybe on a window package,
something like that. But ENERGYSTAR is an initiative of the
Department of Energy, which gotstarted I don't know, you know
(07:21):
the full background history ofit, but it's been up and running
for many, many years. Andsimilar to how there are code
cycles that change, you know,the ENERGY STAR requirements
have also progressed and changedthrough the years. So ENERGY
STAR is a program that you know,helps homeowners make good
(07:43):
buying decisions, perhaps at themarketplace, but it also is a
certification program for homes,which similar to what we were
talking about, with a hardrating, allows homeowners to
understand that this home thatthey're buying has met certain
qualifications and standards,and that they can trust that
it's it's going to be, atminimum, better home than than
(08:06):
what is code standard in manyplaces. Now that is to say, let
me, let me say one caveat ingeneral, that code across the
United States is varied, notonly by state, but also by
jurisdiction. So some states andjurisdictions now have energy
standards and codes that areactually higher than even, than
(08:28):
even ENERGY STAR. There aresome, you know, certain energy
qualifications, as well as somehealthy home initiatives that
need to be followed in order toget that rating. And then,
similar to what we were speakingabout with the herd rating, the
Energy Star certification isalso completed by a third party
certification. And I believeeverything that we're talking
(08:50):
about today is going to be athird party verified and just to
speak a little bit to why thatis important, you know, as we
mentioned, it not only instillsconfidence, but it also gives,
you know, I use the term levelplaying field before, and I
think maybe that's that's apretty good one, is that you
have now a baseline for whichyou can compare other projects
(09:12):
to. So one thing that is arequirement when you're getting
an Energy Star certification isactually getting a HERS rating.
So anytime a home is Energy Starcertified, it already is going
to come with with a HERS ratinginvolved. And I believe that
many of these certificationtypes we're talking about today
(09:33):
also share that in common.
Alison Keay (09:35):
Yeah, one of the things that ENERGY STAR did, and
I'll add that ENERGY STAR is aninitiative of the EPA, and it
was started to do two things,provide the guidance that Beth
talked a lot about forhomeowners, but it also was
intended to change themarketplace in terms of the
delivery of homes and the levelof construction that was being
(09:59):
offered. Yeah, and it's reallydone a great job in that. So
some of the other things thatare part of energy. Star is it
deals a lot in moisturemanagement, best practices for
the exterior of the house, andalso with interior moisture
sources and proper ventilationfor the houses. It deals with
LED lighting. There's some waterefficiency measures. And it's
(10:21):
it's overall, it's to guide theimprovement of construction
practices. And I think it's justdone a great job of that. It's
been around for quite some timenow. And I think what we'll get
into next is that there areprograms that build onto it as
well. So it's used in otherprograms. It's used in the lead
certification that we'll talkabout later. And there's all
(10:43):
these great add ons that you cango even further, building on
that with. And one
Mark Hertzler (10:49):
of those add ons, I believe, is the indoor air
plus, is that correct? Yes. Sothat's an add on certification
to the ENERGY STAR.
Alison Keay (10:58):
Yep. So it's usually optional. Is what that
means you can stop at ENERGYSTAR, or you could add indoor
air plus onto your Energy Starcertification. So this one is
another actual certification,and it focuses more on indoor
air quality and reducing VOCs,which means volatile organic
compounds and other airbornecontaminants from the products
(11:20):
that we're using in theconstruction of our homes. Yeah,
Beth Campbell (11:23):
and one great example that I like to use when
I'm instructing about, like,what's considered a voc would be
formaldehydes that might be usedin some press boards that are
part of, you know, more costeffective cabinets,
unfortunately, aren'tnecessarily going to be good for
our health, because they will,over time, slowly release some
(11:44):
of those chemicals into the air.
Mark Hertzler (11:46):
Yeah, so that's the key, is having a balanced
ventilation but also eliminatingsome of those contaminants as
well. And
Alison Keay (11:54):
for those who suffer from allergies or
sensitivities, chemicalsensitivities, this is an
important one to pay attentionto, because this, again, is
third party verified. So there'sactually going to be a checklist
and things that are verified onsite so that the homeowner knows
that the builder followed, youknow, certain requirements that
are going to result for them ina healthier indoor air quality
(12:16):
environment for them.
Mark Hertzler (12:19):
And then another add on to energy. Star is the
Zero Energy Ready Home. What'sthat about?
Beth Campbell (12:25):
Great. Before we talk about the Zero Energy Ready
Home certification, I thinkwhat's important is to define
what this term net zero energymeans. And what that means is
essentially that the home isgoing to produce. And this could
be a building too, right? I'musing, I'm using the term home
right now pretty loosely, so wecould say zero energy ready.
(12:47):
Buildings are buildings thatproduce as much energy as they
consume over the course of ayear. So for example, in the
northern hemisphere, in thesummer, we're probably going to
be producing more energy on sitethan we would in the winter
months, when we have shorterdays and more cloud cover. And
that is to say that during thosesummer months, a building might
(13:11):
be overproducing in terms of theenergy that's used on site, and
during the winter it might beunder producing. However, when
you average the annual usecompared to the annual
production. The production isgoing to meet or exceed the use
by that building. So we'veestablished what net zero energy
is on a project. So the ZeroEnergy Ready for Homes program
(13:37):
is based on this concept ofachieving a Zero Energy Ready
Home. So what I just describedis you probably have PV
installed on site. You mighthave some some rec credits where
you're producing off site, butgenerally speaking, we're
installing solar on site inorder to get a building to be
(13:59):
net zero. And what theDepartment of Energy wanted to
do with a Zero Energy ReadyHomes program is use that
excellent foundation of energystar and then build on it. So in
order to get this extraqualification, it is going to
have, like you already talkedabout, the indoor air Plus
program. So it's already goingto follow those guidelines. It's
(14:20):
going to follow a couple of theelements of the WaterSense
program, which is another one,which is about, you know,
reducing overall water use in abuilding. And then it's going to
look at some of the buildingscience aspects of making sure
that, you know, when you'remaking an airtight home that is
(14:41):
going to be comfortable,resilient, durable, energy,
efficient, all of these thingsthat it also is is going to be
capable of getting that, thatnet zero energy rating. And so
it's called the Zero EnergyReady Homes program, because
it's saying that you just haveto be ready. You don't actually.
They have to install PV or solaron your roof, but you have to
(15:05):
have a few elements that make itvery easy, so that when and if
you decide to go net zero onyour on your home, that
everything's kind of ready inthere, so that the solar can
just be installed.
Alison Keay (15:17):
Yeah, what I like about the Zero Energy Ready Home
certification is that it sets uppeople up for future renewable
energy. So you might not beinstalling it with the immediate
construction of the home, butyou know, it being a doe
program, it's looking to thefuture of housing stock and its
readiness for that as well.
Good.
Mark Hertzler (15:38):
So let's now move into your area of expertise.
Beth, tell us a little bit aboutpassive house.
Beth Campbell (15:46):
Well, I'm going to try and make this as succinct
as possible, because I couldlaunch into my regular 24 hours
of instruction here to get intoreally the nuts and bolts of
passive house. No, so passivehouse is a term that kind of
unfortunately got directlytranslated from the German
Passive House, which meanspassive building. So it is not
(16:08):
specific to single family homes.
Just to set that straight, it isa certification that is
available worldwide, and is oneof the highest certifications
that you can get for anybuilding. Now, it's not to say
that it is kind of high in thesky or some type of
certification that would beunattainable. In fact, the
organization that that I workfor, FIAs, really sets their
(16:31):
standard at the intersection ofan excellent building that's
going to maintain durability andresilience and healthy indoor
air quality while taking thecost into consideration.
Because, as we all understand,if we actually want to, you
(16:52):
know, positively impact climatechange, we have to, we have to
greatly improve our buildingstock. And so as we're building
new buildings, we want to makesure that passive building
principles are scalable, andtherefore they also have to
meet, you know, pretty stringentfinancial mechanisms that are
(17:12):
out there. So it is acertification that, again, is a
third party certification. Bs isone of the organizations. The
other organization that alsocertifies projects in North
America and throughout the worldis called phi Passive House
institute that was originallystarted in Germany. And so both
organizations will mandatecertain air tightness levels and
(17:36):
one of the hallmarks of apassive house certification, or
a passive buildingcertification, is that the
building is modeled. It isenergy modeled ahead of
construction. And instead ofbeing prescriptive, like code is
often prescriptive, like we haveto have an R 21 insulation in
the wall, for example, passivebuildings will say, as long as
(18:00):
you meet these energy targetsand we don't have any
condensation issues that mightcause risk to the building, then
you can mix and match yourbuilding style with whatever's
going to meet your buildingtypology, whether that's a
single family home or perhaps amultifamily home, multifamily
building or commercial building,school, church, you know,
(18:23):
whatever it is, whateverbuilding type it is, as long as
you can hit those metrics, thenyou can use the materials that
you like and build it in thestyle that makes sense for your
local region. So
Mark Hertzler (18:38):
just for clarification, and it's a great
explanation of how Passive Houseis trying to get to a certain
overall energy modeling. But Ido know there are some specific
qualifications, like a certainair tightness level, a certain
hair HERS rating, right?
Beth Campbell (18:56):
So the means and methodologies of getting to a
passive a passive building arethat the building needs to be
three things. It needs to beairtight, it needs to be super
insulated, and it needs to bewhat we call thermal bridge
three. So in terms of airtightness, a lot of code around
the country right now mightrequire a rating of around three
(19:18):
air changes per hour, that is tosay, naturally through the
cracks and crevices in yourhome, that the air volume inside
a building would naturally beexchanged about three times an
hour. But again, that's gettingpulled in through the garage or
through your foundation crawlspace, and it's you don't you
don't control at all where thatand that airs is air exchanges
(19:41):
coming from and the FIA standardfor building certification is
about six times as efficient asthat, five to six times as
efficient as that. So this is avery, very tight envelope. And
the reason why it it reallyencourages a healthy indoor air
quality is because you have.
Have a low flow of continuous,filtered fresh air coming into
(20:04):
the building at all times.
Mark Hertzler (20:08):
Yeah, good. Thank you. So the next certification
that we often hear about isLEED, L, E, E, D,
Alison Keay (20:18):
yes. So that stands for Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design, and thisgoes a little ways back in and
how, how new it is. It is It wasestablished by the US Green
Building Council, and it is whatwas intended to be a pretty well
rounded green building orsustainability program. So it
(20:42):
includes and pays attention tothings like energy use, but also
materials and sourcing thosematerials, but also the
operation costs of the building.
Thereafter, it takes intoaccount things like community
and location and walkability andsite management during the site
prep as well. So maintaining orprotecting from runoff and
(21:05):
things like that that are badfor the environment around the
house site. So it's going tolean on a HERS Raider for a HERS
rating as well, and a leadconsultant, potentially in the
design of the house, and thenit'll have just like passive
house has a LEED Green Raider,is that third party entity
(21:28):
that's coming on site to verifythings throughout the process.
One of the things that lead hasdone a really great job of just
like ENERGY STAR is transformingthe marketplace, so all kinds of
product companies ormanufacturers began to tailor
their offerings to meet certainpoints and credits in the lead
(21:48):
system. And so that did a goodjob of, you know, turning the
corner in the constructionmaterials marketplace to to kind
of meet the needs of greenbuildings and sustainability a
little bit better.
Mark Hertzler (22:04):
One last rating or certification we have is
Living Building Challenge andthe well, building standard.
What's that about?
Alison Keay (22:12):
Yeah, so these are two different certifications,
but I thought it'd be neat totalk about them, because they
they happen to be more in thecommercial realm, but they're
kind of considered the moststringent building certification
programs out there right now,the Living Building Challenge
has a list of banned materialsthat they've determined are
(22:34):
unsafe for use in terms of theirmaterials entire life cycle, the
way something is produced, thematerials that are sourced to
produce it, and then also whathappens to it after it's end of
life. And you know, wouldtypically end up in a landfill,
like, what is its recyclabilityand or what are the
(22:56):
environmental detriments thatcould happen from that
decomposing in the ground aswell. So it's taking into
account a lot of those things.
And another thing above theLiving Building Challenge is
that it requires one year postoccupancy data to get the
certification. So you not onlyhave to model that you can meet
those requirements, you have toprove that you've actually
performed, or your building hasperformed that way for a year.
Mark Hertzler (23:22):
That's interesting. I you know, that's
one thing to show it on paper,but it's one thing to actually
show it in real life. Yeah.
Alison Keay (23:30):
And the well, building standard is a more of a
healthy building certificationprogram, and it's really mostly
based in commercial at thispoint, but it's looking at
physical and social environmentsand how they impact health. So
designing things like officebuildings and schools with
paying attention to the airquality, water quality, the
(23:51):
light of the spaces that peopleare in for a good amount of
their day, comfort. So that'seven things like furniture and
layout and are do they haveaccess to see, you know, outside
environment from where they are.
So it's really taking in a lotof the physical, social,
psychological health impacts ofour built environment.
Mark Hertzler (24:15):
Great. So now we have a long list there of
different programs,certifications and so the really
big question is, and I'm goingto throw out a little teaser
here as well. The big questionis, what does this mean to the
homeowner? What certificationsshould they be going after? What
(24:36):
things in play that they need toconsider with these and the
teaser that I'm gonna throw outthere is stay tuned for upcoming
episodes, because we are goingto get a little bit farther into
this. But while we have Bethhere, Beth tell us why a
homeowner needs to be concernedabout these things
Beth Campbell (24:53):
absolutely. So I used to think that as a builder
who knew how to build a highquality home and a high perform.
At home that that was goodenough. And what I have seen
time and again is that when youhave that third party on site
checking these different aspectsof the building and actually
verifying that what you'veintended to build is what has
(25:15):
actually been built, is reallycritical. And you know, one of
my colleagues that I teach withis a verifier for the state of
Rhode Island, and he said that,you know, and it's not to
disparage Rhode Island,everybody's doing their best to
get caught up with all of thesechanges that are happening in
the industry. But when he goesin and verifies, sometimes even
(25:38):
a code built building to makesure that it's keeping up with
even just the basic coderequirements that sometimes
ventilation rates will betotally way, way, way off, and
they'll see that maybe aventilation hose hasn't even
been connected to their energyrecoveries, ventilator or
something like that. And it'shaving that that third party set
(26:01):
of eyes on things is is a majorsupport system really is what it
ends up being to the builder tohelp think through when issues
arise, or make sure that youknow the project as DeLong as
designed is what is as deliveredand
Mark Hertzler (26:17):
Allison, some of these programs come With
incentives for the state or thefederal level, correct? Yeah,
Alison Keay (26:24):
so that's that might be another value to the
homeowner, is that achievingsome of these certifications
will allow you kind of a highertier in some of the state rebate
and incentive programs. So hersratings are already being
adopted into a lot of theprograms for the basic rebates
(26:44):
that utility programs areoffering and building on that.
So right now, the state ofMassachusetts is even
incentivizing Passive Housecertification, actual
certification. So that's a bigjump in terms of what the
marketplace might have been usedto getting rebates or incentives
for that level is increasing.
Beth Campbell (27:05):
Yeah, and just to piggyback on that concept of
what's happening in the state ofMassachusetts, which is really
at the forefront of energyefficiency code regulations in
the United States right now. Sopassive building certification
has been adopted by about athird of the jurisdictions
within this the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, meaning that, and
(27:29):
that's only for multifamilybuildings. So meaning that if
you're building, I believe thethreshold is 12,000 square feet
and up. So that's really large,medium to large multifamily
buildings. It's required acrossabout a third of Massachusetts
right now to actually getpassive house certified. So to
be clear, passive house is notrequired for single family
(27:50):
construction in Massachusetts,but the state has really adopted
it as a best practice fordelivering projects that are
going to be resilient in theyears to
Mark Hertzler (28:02):
come. Beth, thanks a lot for joining us. We
appreciate you coming back andoffering your expertise. It
Beth Campbell (28:09):
was it was so fun. It was so fun to, you know,
be able to dive into thisconversation with you all. And
again, you know what Unity isdoing out there to transform,
transform the housing market.
I'm just an enormous fan, so Ican't wait to see where this
podcast progresses, andhopefully, hopefully someday be
a unity homeowner myself. Great.
Mark Hertzler (28:30):
And if people want to find out more about
FIAs, or you, where should theygo? So
Beth Campbell (28:36):
yeah, if you'd like to find out more about
FIAs, you can go to theirwebsite, fias.org, similarly,
passing house Institute, you canjust Google that. You'll come up
with it. And if you'd like tofind me, you can I'm within the
builder database on the FIAswebsite. You could also search
for me on LinkedIn as a FIAsinstructor, and I'll probably
pop up there too.
Alison Keay (28:57):
Thank you.
Thanks for listening to a newera of home building. If you're
passionate about highperformance homes like we are,
be sure to subscribe to ourpodcast and stay tuned for our
next episode on designefficiency and sustainability
with guest Amanda wagunski fromthe bensonwood design group. You
can also visit unityhomes.com tolearn more about our upcoming
(29:20):
events. Subscribe to ournewsletter. Check out our home
plans and get in touch. Thanksto George Peavey, Jason reamer
and Josh Riemer of our company'svery own plum Gable band for the
music you hear on this podcast,and thanks to Damaris Graham for
the production and editing ofthe podcast. We hope you enjoyed
this episode. Until next time,I'm Allison Ken and I'm Mark
(29:40):
Hertzberg, and here's to betterbuilding you.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com