As Zero Net Energy Mandate Draws Near, EEBA Announces High Performance Home Summit in San Diego
Plymouth, MN (PRWEB) May 15, 2018 -- What does the future of U.S. homebuilding look like? According to The Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA), builders who dominate their markets in the next decade will be those that can provide customers with affordable and well-designed, high-performance homes.
EEBA’s High Performance Home Summit, to be held in San Diego, October 16-18, will be a clearinghouse of knowledge that builders need to succeed. This year’s Summit theme, “Building the Future: Solutions for Healthy, Resilient and Affordable High-Performance Homes,” will feature topics ranging from energy-efficiency and cutting-edge building technology, to home health, water conservation and more.
No matter where builders are on the path to energy efficiency, the Summit provides a wealth of information. “We can teach any pro how to build an energy-efficient, high-performance home,” says EEBA Executive Director Nancy Bakeman. “Wherever a builder is on the path, we can teach them to get to the next level.”
A substantial early bird registration discount is available for a limited time at http://summit.eeba.org. The site will be continuously updated with news about Summit topics and speakers. This year, one of those topics will be a new track focusing entirely on the Zero Net Energy mandate taking effect in less than two years. “We’re in San Diego this year, so we’ll be right in the pathway of that march to Zero Net Energy by 2020 in California,” says Gene Myers, CEO of Thrive Home Builders and President of the EEBA Board of Directors.
New at the High Performance Home Summit
In addition to the new Zero Net Energy track, the High Performance Home Summit will also offer the following new additions for 2018:
- Certification Program: Starting this year, builders who complete EEBA’s three most popular training classes will earn the title of “EEBA Certified High Performance Builder.” There will also be a shorter, two-day certification available.
- Home Health: Also new to the Summit, a session on achieving WaterSense certification for your homes, as well as a dedicated educational track on indoor air quality. And, for the first time, EEBA will be hosting the Environmental Protection Agency’s Indoor airPLUS Leader awards.
- Showcase: This year’s event will also include the return of the Summit showcase expo, featuring a select number of manufacturers to display new building technologies and products of particular interest to builders.
Some of the most popular classes, including Houses That Work™, will also be returning. This session offers builders training on how to build homes that are energy-efficient, durable, healthy, aesthetically pleasing and respectful to the environment — and how to make money doing it.
Built on a Foundation of Building Science
EEBA was born in 1982 when a group of building professionals assembled in Minnesota with a mission to develop criteria for more energy-efficient buildings. From the start, the organization’s focus was on the budding field of building science.
EEBA’s High Performance Home Summit began in 1985 as an effort to disseminate the building science knowledge the organization had curated. Since its inception, 13,000 builders, raters, analysts, and architects have attended. The Summit continues to use the principles upon which EEBA was founded to help solve tough industry issues.
One of this year’s most important issues, and a topic on every builder’s mind, promises to be Zero Net Energy.
Zero Net Energy Mandate Looming
Indeed, with California’s Title 24 less than two years away from taking effect, California builders are perhaps more keenly aware of the urgency around high-performance home building than anyone else. This mandate says that, by the year 2020, all new homes built in that state will need to produce as much energy as they consume, in part through the use of energy-efficient construction.
The California Energy Commission has put teeth behind this requirement: The builder will be issued a permit only if the home is designed to meet this requirement, and will receive a Certificate of Occupancy only if the finished home complies.
The EEBA High Performance Home Summit will address this topic at length, dedicating a learning track to the move toward Zero Net Energy.
This topic and energy efficiency in general are just as important to builders around the rest of the country as they are to their California counterparts. In fact, according to a USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) 2018 study, there are seven states ahead of California on a list of the top 10 states for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the world’s most widely used green building rating system.
On ENERGY STAR’s list, while California has about an eight percent market penetration of ENERGY STAR rated homes, states like Maryland at 38 percent and Texas at 21 percent are way ahead of the Golden State.
“It’s not a question of if you’re going to be doing this stuff. It’s a question of when. It’s inevitable,” says Gord Cooke, Partner with Construction Instruction Inc. and an experienced building engineer.
Strength in Numbers
In addition to the invaluable all-access badge to the most cutting-edge, building-science information available, the Summit offers something else: the opportunity to become part of a community of pros who are committed to helping one another build better homes and grow their businesses.
“You can’t do this by yourself. The edge comes from hearing the latest and greatest, and then talking to others to ask how it worked for them. Nobody likes to be the guinea pig,” says Construction Instruction’s Cooke.
The High Performance Home Summit will be held at the Bahia Resort in San Diego, October 16-18. For more information, visit http://summit.eeba.org. Visitors to the site can also subscribe to EEBA’s newsletter and blog. Readers looking to register will find the registration form at this direct link: https://www.eeba.org/conference-registration. Early bird Summit pricing is available through August 31. Registration continues through October 8, and is also available on-site.
- For more information on the EEBA High Performance Home Summit, please visit: http://summit.eeba.org/
- For a video on the High Performance Home Summit, please click here.
- For more information on EEBA, visit EEBA.org.
- For editorial assistance, contact Wendy Calcaterra at O’Reilly DePalma, 28 West Kansas Street, Suite 2C, Frankfort, IL 60423; tel.: 815.469.9100; e-mail: [email protected]
Hi-res versions of photographs to accompany this release are available for immediate download by using this link: http://eeba.oreilly-depalma.com/2018/hphs-2018.shtml.
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THE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING ALLIANCE (EEBA) is one of the oldest and most respected residential building education organizations in the U.S.A. Our history of providing insight, collaboration and education to builders and designers seeking to construct resource-efficient, durable, healthy homes spans over 30 years.
The EEBA High Performance Home Summit presents the latest in building science, combined with real-world application and problem-solving. The Summit is for builders, raters, analysts, and architects who are committed to finding solutions for producing high-performance buildings.
Wendy Calcaterra, O'Reilly DePalma, http://www.betterpr.com, +1 (815) 469-9100, [email protected]
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