#21-2021 Bonus Conversation about ZERO Energy Homes with Gord Cooke, Bill Rectanus, Justin Wilson, and Seth Hart at the 2021 EBBA Summit

October 19, 2021

Welcome to this bonus session of the BUILDCast. I am happy to bring to you A conversation about Zero Energy homes that took place at the 2021 EEBA (Energy & Environmental Building Alliance) High performance Home Summit. I had this conversation as a session at the conference with individuals that have been working to build, promote, and educate us about building science based construction that results in zero energy homes.

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Gord Cooke – President at Building Knowledge Canada & Partner at Construction Instruction

Bill Rectanus – Vice President of Homebuilding Operations at Thrive Home Builders

Justin Wilson – Principal Partner Construction Instruction

Seth Hart – Associate Principal at DTJ Design

Energy & Environmental Building Alliance

2021 EEBA High performance Home Summit

EEBA Ultimate ZEN HOME

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Our expectations of the performance of houses has changes faster than how we build to achieve that performance. So, at the beginning of a conversation in the construction industry, when I hear, “I have been building for 30 year” I think to myself, there are only two outcomes from this conversation. First, the person is putting up a guard and will not be receptive to an applied building science approach. You know, houses have to breath or your telling me to tighten up the house and then pouch a hole in it for ventilation. On the other hand, the person may have amazing insights and experiences to share.

When I step back, I realize that I’ve almost been working in this industry for 30 years. With an emphasis on sustainable High-performance building I still struggle to integrate what I do into mainstream building, yet I tend to learn something new everyday that takes me one step closer. Having these difficult yet enlightening conversation is often were I learn the most.

At BuildTank, our mission is to use what we learn by applying building science in the field to affect meaningful change in the construction industry. This BUILDcast is the next step. By having broad conversations with the players in the industry we will learn something new from their story that will move us forward toward taking sustainable buildings to mainstream building.