EEBA Academy

This class will explain how to use the various performance path options in the IECC (Section R405 and R406) – their structure, the flexibility allowed in each, and the limitations of each.

Once homebuyers purchase new homes often based on infatuation with community and design, bad home performance experiences can negate all the hard work earning customer satisfaction. It is critical to get high-performance right. This course begins that process with lessons-learned from decades of experience as a residential architect and work with thousands of home builders while serving as national director for ENERGY STAR Certified Home and Zero Energy Ready Home. The resulting framework for high performance homes includes five key strategies and over 40 best practices for applying them with substantial cost savings. Most importantly, this framework has been intensively researched, vetted, and refined over five years with hundreds of housing industry executives. The goal is not to dogmatically impose one solution for all, but to engage housing professionals to high-performance as a journey and how to get on their own path. 

This class will discuss code requirements found in the prescriptive window and insulation requirements and how these requirements have changed through various code editions (2009-2021). The audience will learn how to interpret the tables, understand different insulation types that comply and explore innovative examples. The class will discuss how the code tables are intended to control conductive heat flow, and will explain how the code treats concepts like "effective R-value" and U-value. The class will also discuss flexibility allowed through different compliance options within the prescriptive compliance path. This module will cover IECC Climate Zones 1 and 2 while other modules will cover other climate zones.

Consumers are more aware of their options and they demand better homes. Air sealing lies at the heart of any successful building, addressing 3 of the 4 major risk controls (vapor, air flow, and thermal controls).