AIBD California Society 2014 Annual Conference, April 2nd - 4th 

AIBD California Society and Skyline College brings to you a dynamic conference for both Builders and Designers.

Thank you all for making this a great conference!  Check back here for information for next years conference.  Hope to see you there too.

 Attendance to this conference is open to all: Building Designers, Architects, Engineers, Building Contractors, Subcontractors, Energy Consultants and Students.  All are welcome. 

Thursday, April 3rd

Keynote Speaker Ann Edminster will present:

 Recipe for Having It All: How to successfully stir high environmental performance goals into the 1910 home + 2010 performance 

Historic walls and windows, 900 cases of wine, entertaining in comfort, near-zero energy. This session will show the results and describe how an integrated team approach successfully resolved the most ambitious and contradictory set of design goals Ann has yet encountered during her 35-year career.

 Full Monty in Pacifica

 For the second half of our “Having it All” morning, we’ll tour the Kremer residence in Pacifica, which was built by Pat Kremer’s dad in the 1930s on weekends, room by room, with salvaged materials. Fast-forward three-quarters of a century to Pat and Jim’s retirement plans, which included moving back into the family home … but not until it was brought up to contemporary design, comfort, and environmental performance standards while retaining the unique, cozy flavor of the original.

 The ‘Having it All’ Recipe

What the two morning projects have in common is a specific process – a way of approaching a design project – called integrated project delivery (IPD). IPD starts by establishing clearly prioritized goals, identifying the skill sets needed to achieve those goals, and assembling the team that possesses the needed skill sets. A key distinction between integrated design and IPD is that IPD acknowledges that delivering a finished project requires both design and construction … and that both need to be approached in an integrated fashion. This session will set out the requirements and steps for a successful integrated team approach, so that attendees – whether part of a design-build firm or not –can apply IPD principles to every project.

KEYNOTE: The Persistent Pursuit of Practical Passion 

Ann Edminster’s career path is the result not of planning, but of persistently pursuing her passions while – paradoxical though it may sound – perennially practicing practicality. In this keynote talk, she will share some lessons learned along that winding path that she hopes you can apply in your own professional practices. Practical: why mechanical ventilation makes sense … even if you think it doesn’t. Passionate: getting clients to embrace a sustainability agenda. Practical: how to get more value out of energy modeling. Passionate: wearing your values on your sleeve. Practical and passionate: green should never be about the points, always about the point.

Bruce Greenstein, Skyline College Dept. Lead, Building Performance Contractor, General Building Contractor, Residential and Multifamily Building Analyst, Envelope Specialist – BPI and Certified Green Builder will present:

EXPERIENCE THE BUILDING SCIENCE LAB ... 

Join Bruce Greenstein in the Solar & Building Science Learning Center for hands-on demonstrations and activities that will “blow” your mind.  Improve your designs and client satisfaction with this engaging introduction to the Building Performance approach.  We’ll run a blower door and duct test, evaluate the HVAC systems, and apply Building Science to determine the “actual” performance of the building.

Judy Rachel, HERS rater and BPI Building Analyst will present:

What does it take to specify energy efficiency features when you are not the person who does the work?

We will discuss:  What you need to know as the designer / specifier;  What acceptable levels of building energy performance are;  What the required outcomes for the building are;  How you protect the homeowner and work with the contractor to ensure success.

 Dane Olson,  Prosoco will present:

Managing Condensation, Water Intrusion and Energy in the Real World

Window opening air and water leakage has been a difficult problem for the construction industry. This course evaluates building failures, conventional construction approaches, and new developments in waterproofing techniques to show a path forward for designers seeking higher-performing wall assemblies.  Includes a short presentation of utilizing our testing chamber which is actually a Weatherization chamber that we can subject multiple window flashing and air barrier assemblies to great pressures.

Rick Blumenthal of Knauf Insulation will present:

Embracing the new energy code:  How to capitalize on elevated standards & differentiate your company from the rest of the crowd…before the crowd catches on

Don’t fight the new code.  Use it to your advantage by including money saving practices that add to your bottom line and increase value to your customers.  This can be accomplished by offering optional upgrades without any up-front risk to the builder.  Don’t wait to distinguish your company from brand X.  

Friday, April 4th

Keynote Speaker Rick Chitwood will present:

The State of Energy Efficiency in California

After 35 years of the most aggressive energy standards in the nation, licensing requirements for builders and their subcontractors, and layers of inspections by HERS certified verifiers and government building departments – how are we doing?  Every 5 years the California Energy Commission tries to answer that question by funding a research project that quantifies the energy performance of new homes.  Learn what this research showed from the person that actually performed the field data gathering – Rick Chitwood.  We will also investigate the underlying reasons for the pathetic delivered energy performance and low comfort levels, of new homes and “green labeled” homes.

 Designing Energy Efficient Building Enclosures

We too often assume that builders employ the most efficient, code compliant, and structurally sound framing details – the research shows they don’t.  Many details that are more efficient, as structurally sound, and code compliant – were developed in the 70’s but never adopted.  Other than getting through the “learning curve” these more efficient details are often less expensive since they require less material and less installation labor.  Help transform the industry by specifying and including details for these proven but seldom used energy efficient details and strategies.  One detail that must be immediately replaced with another more efficient strategy is using eave vents to provide attic ventilation – see why and what the options are.

Selecting Mechanical Systems

There are so many considerations when selecting the appropriate mechanical system for a project – that it is more “art” than “engineering.”  It is so complicated that too often the entire decision is left to the HVAC subcontractor – yet the research shows that they aren’t very good at it.  We will discuss the steps that help us select a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system that delivers both efficiency and comfort, and when installed by our workforce has a good chance of actually delivering both efficiency and comfort. 

 Moving Towards Zero-Net Energy Homes – the “Mandatory Measures”

The residential building industry has some deeply rooted flaws.  The most notable is the lack of quality control.  Residential buildings, unlike automobiles, have virtually no quality control.  In the last research sample 3% of the cooling systems didn’t operate at all, and the average cooling performance was only about half of what it should have been.  Imagine if the automobile industry delivered this product; 3% of new cars wouldn’t ever start, and all averaged half or the labeled mileage.

 Now the residential California Building Energy Standards intend to move us to ZNE new homes by 2020 – 6 years from now.  In this session Rick Chitwood will outline the kind of shifts in mindset that will be necessary to achieve these aggressive goals – the real “mandatory measures” to get us to where our industry should be.  

Sean Seymour of Simpson Strong Tie will present:

Videos and Your Business - The least expensive way to increase your Internet presence

Sean Seymour  will discuss how you can grow your sales by utilizing free Internet services like YouTube. As mobile devices become a mainstay of our daily lives, having a strong presence on the Internet is increasingly important to small business.  During workshop Mr. Seymour will discuss setting goals, creating videos on a budget, video editing software, setting up a YouTube channel, linking your videos to your website and social media, and using your videos to promote your business.

Graham Irwin, Certified Professional Building Designer and Certified Passive House Designer will present:

James Bill, licensed architect and president of Zero Impact Architecture (ZIA), Board Member of Passive House California, internationally Certified Passive House Designer, LEED Accredited Professional will present: