Summary: I’m really excited about today’s show. We’re going to explore modular homes and the importance of energy efficiency in making affordable housing affordable. My guest is Lisa Iulo, an Associate Professor of Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University.<br> The homes were solar powered and self-sufficient and everyone got around, of course, in hovering vehicles and things like that. So I guess childhood visions catch up to you at some point in your reality whether it’s intentional or not I guess. ~Lisa Iulo<br> <br> Lisa Iulo, Associate Professor of Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University<br> My guest today is Lisa Iulo, an Associate Professor of Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University. She focuses on building a more sustainable future through residential green building practices, affordable housing, energy efficiency and incorporating renewable energy into buildings and communities. She was also heavily involved in Penn State’s 2007 and 2009 Solar Decathlon projects.<br> LI: Lisa Iulo. I’m an associate professor of architecture and I also have a courtesy appointment in architectural engineering.<br> DB: Okay. You gave a presentation yesterday about developing a system for delivering modular homes. So tell us a little bit about what’s involved in that. That seems, like delivering a home, a constructed home is a pretty big project.<br> LI: Well, yes it is and in fact the way that we look at it is perhaps even a bigger project because what we’re less interested in is the end result of the home or as you put it actually delivering the home and putting it on the site, but the process to get to a responsible design for a home that we know is going to be contextually appropriate in the existing fabric of a community, that’s going to enhance that community. And is also going to enhance the quality of life for the person that’s going to be living there. And so what we’re really interested in is how we can look at bringing down the cost of designing a really well-designed, well-insulated, high-performance if you will home that is ultimately going to bring down the expenses that a homeowner living in that home is going to pay over time to afford their utilities and things like that. So to that end we’re really thinking overall about the design process. How we can make sure, a) that designers are involved, that responsible choices are being made in the way that those homes are designed but facilitating a collaborative process that can allow better decisions to be made. One of the difficulties, especially with all projects, and I think you’ve seen some presentations that talk about this. With all projects but especially with housing, it’s very hard for projects to carry the soft costs that are associated with a very rigorous design process early on. So if we can help to disseminate information about just more responsible design choices, you know guiding people towards proper energy efficient wall systems and things like that. Then designers and project teams have perhaps the tools to be able to make better decisions and to design homes that can be site specific and meet those future needs and so that’s what with the kit of parts specifically what we were looking at was whether modular construction could be used to help to facilitate more energy efficient homes. And I think that there’s some research out there that says that this is possible because modular construction happens in a controlled environment. That there can be more oversight of the product. And making sure that things are sealed appropriately, insulated appropriately, that things that need to be done to make sure that energy efficiency is possible. And then by looking at what components technically are a part of that. They can be integrated into those modules so that the decisions and the oversight and some of the inspections happen in the plant, which is the way that modular construction works currently but now we’re focusing it much m...
