#22 – 2021 Jonah Schein, WaterSense National Program Manager for Homes & Buildings

October 26, 2021

Since his college days, Jonah has worked on national and international water issues. He has spent over a decade leading the technical direction and development of WaterSense which is the EPA’s water efficiency program and has established himself as an expert in the field of water efficiency, conservation, and sustainability with numerous published articles and speaking engagements. Our conversation tracks his path and what the WaterSense program is doing in the built environment today.

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EPA WaterSense Program

Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

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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.