Highlights from the NESEA BE11 Conference

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), hosted its annual Building Energy conference at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, Massachusetts on March 8-9-10.

Bill Austin, Chris Farley, and Jacqui McCreanor of Austin Design attended the NESEA conference on Wednesday, March 9th for a full day of conference sessions and taking in the trade show.

Bill and Chris spent the day attending all three sessions of Track 8, titled “Regional Sustainable Models in Germany and Upper Austria”. The presentations and discussions were led by Andrew Shapiro, Chris Benedict, Paul Eldrenkamp, and Tom Hartman. The material was very fresh and the clarity of the material was even more impressive given the fact that these four had arrived back home just days before the conference.

We were struck by several things that were made clear over and over again as we looked at a wide array of building types and system approaches.

Firstly, there appeared to be a culture in these countries somewhat different than what exists here in the US. The government, financial institutions, and citizenry appeared to support the design industry and innovation in a strong way. It was clear that clients were willing to accept experimental ideas, approaches, and construction methods in their buildings. They were willing to be a part of the learning curve when it came to energy efficiency and new technologies.

Secondly, the number of new, energy-saving or energy efficient building materials, systems, and technologies far outnumbered those available in the US. The Europeans have clearly put more emphasis on energy efficiency than we have here in the US. The presenters described an enormous trade show at a Wels, Austria convention hall that highlighted hundreds and hundreds of companies manufacturing building products geared toward energy efficiency.

Thirdly, the energy retrofit industry is much more advanced than here in the US. Several large apartment building projects were highlighted where the envelope and mechanical systems were completely replaced while the inhabitants continued to occupy the building.

All in all, the 15 or so projects that were presented were inspiring for their overall design, their willingness to break new ground, and for their high degree of energy efficiency.

To view two of the three presentations in this track, please click on these links:

What's Happening in Saxony & Upper Austria: Presentation 1

What's Happening in Saxony & Upper Austria: Presentation 2

Jacqui attended three sessions in three different tracks, overlapping once with Bill and Chris in the first Germany/Upper Austria session. The other two she attended, "There's No Place Like Home" and "High Design & High Performance" were part of the "Whole Systems in Action" and "Residential Buildings -- Retrofit & New" tracks, respectively.

John Abrams, of South Mountain Company, led "There's No Place Like Home," discussing his arrival on Martha's Vineyard in the early 1970's and his personal and professional journey in developing and enhancing his sense of community on the Massachusetts island. After speaking for a while, John invited the audience to share their stories. One conference goer from the state of New York currently faces the prospect of hydrofracking in his community, a possibility which makes him nervous and frustrated due to the likely and irreversible contamination of the area’s aquifer. Additional audience members participated, sharing their personal stories of either struggling or succeeding in improving the quality of life in their communities -- oftentimes a combination of both.


“High Design & High Performance” was led by Jesse Thompson of Kaplan Thompson Architects, and Jordan Goldman and Stephanie Horowitz both of ZeroEnergy Design.

The presenters discussed several projects, mostly residential, that incorporated whimsical, quality design and high performance. Stephanie spoke first and talked about many of her firm’s high performing projects that were designed to a given standard – Energy Star, Passive House, or zero net energy – in varying climatic conditions. The next presenter, Jesse, was a very dynamic, energetic speaker and discussed, among many things, different window details in a home that was constructed of double walls. He designed some of this home’s windows flush with the exterior wall, others flush with the interior wall, and others located mid-wall. Lastly, when Jordan took the podium he came from an energy modeling and engineering perspective. He showed with thermal imaging how heat loss occurs through thermal bridging due to absences of thermal breaks in a building envelope.

Jordan took to task Jesse’s windows set flush with the exterior wall within the double wall system and showed how there were gaps in the insulation continuum, explaining how this condition contributes to heat loss. He also spoke of 66% heat loss in foundation details where there are 2” insulation underneath the slab but zero insulation between the slab and inside of the foundation wall, as well as zero insulation on the exterior of the foundation walls. (This 66% heat loss describes the difference between Passive House performance and actual performance.) A typical “fix” for this situation is to add 2” insulation to the outside of the foundation wall; however, this only reduces the heat loss to 31% -- substantial thermal bridging is still occurring.

The final solution, which creates a thermal bridge-free detail, is to disconnect the slab from the inside of the foundation wall and wrap the corner between with 2” insulation, keeping the 2" insulation underneath the slab. Next, extend the 2” insulation on the outside of the foundation wall upward just beyond the sill plate to protect against thermal bridging through this piece of wood. The result is zero thermal bridging and therefore zero heat loss.

At the NESEA conference, there was an overriding sense of commitment to best building practices and the environment. And though there are dismal facts to face, the conference imbued a sense of optimism. We saw momentum and inspiration in the alternative energy crowd.