The Building Science Podcast

Industrial hemp is poised to proliferate across many verticals in the construction materials marketplace. It’s a raw material with an unfortunately politicized history and so many potential applications it’ll make your head spin. Join Kristof and Miguel in conversation with Mattie Mead and Henry Valles as we explore the many intersections of industrial hemp and the built environment.

Join Kristof as he interviews Dr. Joshua Rhodes and Dr. Charles Upshaw, of IdeaSmiths (and of Positive Energy if you don't mind the bragging). In this episode we discuss what happened in Texas, separating myth from fact and understanding the role of buildings in the equation.

Join Kristof as he interviews Anjanette Green, Director of Standards at RESET.

Join Kristof as he interviews Chris Ermides of the This Old House team and the Ask This Old House podcast about leveraging stories to create meaning and context for anyone building a home.

"Some people say give the customers what they want, but that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, 'If I'd ask customers what they wanted, they would've told me a faster horse.' People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page." - Steve Jobs When Ken Gehring began his career servicing dairy equipment, who would have guessed that he would go on to pioneer some of the most important equipment to hit the HVAC market? But that’s exactly what he did, leading the charge in the development and creation of the Therma-stor product lines, which include the Santa Fe and Ultra-Aire dehumidifiers that you’ve heard us talk about many times. Join Kristof as he and Ken explore a range of topics on human health, indoor air quality, dehumidification, ventilation, building envelope leakage, and more. Just FYI, we curse a little on this episode so if you’re around sensitive ears, be sure to stick some ear plugs in them.

What do we actually know and have available to us in the United States market when it comes to high performance windows? The answers may surprise you. Join Kristof as he interviews Sam McAfee of Zola Windows in a wide ranging conversation of window performance, market dynamics, and the future of high performance windows.

How well do we understand the behavior of the novel coronavirus in our homes? What can we do to make our homes healthier? What is a CERV? Join Kristof as he interviews Ty Newell to find out!

For the first time in its 24 year history, the Westford Symposium on Building Science was forced to take a hiatus by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (it would have began as of the release of this episode). If you’ve never heard of this conference, you’ve been missing out. It’s one of the most incredible hubs of building science knowledge exchange and community building in North America. Obviously, we were sad about missing it so we decided to ask the founders and hosts of the conference for an interview. Join us as Kristof interviews Joe Lstiburek and Betsy Petit about the history, meaning, and impact of “Building Science Summer Camp.”

Kristof interviews Pamela Cabrera about the expansion of humid climate zones in the future and the development of passive, membrane-based dehumidification.

In a very entertaining and fascinating departure from our usual discussion of building science, we dive deeply into the concepts underlying Contstructal Law with its discoverer, Professor Adrian Bejan of Duke University.

Join Kristof in an interview with members of the Engineering Change Lab USA.

If you’ve never heard of the Passive House Accelerator, that all changes now. For too long, there has not been a centralized place to find information on all the Passive House resources and efforts. The Passive House Accelerator changes the game by  aggregating the already fantastic content from other existing sites while also creating a new platform for people to share new ideas. Join Kristof as he interviews Zack Semke and Michael Ingui of Passive House Accelerator on all the great work they’re doing to build community in the building science field.

Allison Bailes is writing a book! Allison writes the popular Energy Vanguard Blog. With a PhD in physics and thousands of hours spent in attics and crawl spaces, he knows a thing or two about houses. Join Kristof in a discussion with his old friend and colleague as they explore common myths about houses and talk about your next book purchase.

Now, more than ever, there is a tremendous amount of attention on how interconnected we are to our immediate environmental conditions (and to each other). As building science consultants. Our family, friends, colleagues and clients have asked us for years about information that will help them reduce their exposures to pollutants, like viruses, in their homes, offices, and other indoor spaces. So as we began contemplating this episode, we heavily considered talking more about the Novel Coronavirus and how our work can help prevent potentially worse future outbreaks. What we realized in the process is that creating the future we want to see is the only way out of the old paradigm. We have to internalize the fact that buildings can improve health outcomes, both for us as human beings and also for the health of our planet. This podcast episode is the first of a five part series exploring what we see to be The 5 Principles Of A Healthy Home. Join Kristof and Miguel as we explore what it means to “start with a good enclosure.”

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It’s been an incredible year. Let’s unpack it together and take a look at what’s coming your way in Season 6 of the show. Join producer Miguel & host Kristof for a fireside chat as the winter settles in around us.