Webinar Archives

Browse presentation slides and videos from past Building America webinars below. You can register to attend upcoming webinars on the meetings page.

Past webinar titles:

Building America Solutions Center: October 11, 2012

This updated webinar provides an overview of the DOE Building America Solution Center—a digital communication tool designed to serve building industry professionals, researchers, and market transformation programs by making world-class building science research and information quickly and easily accessible. View the presentation slides and webinar recording (video).

Building America Solutions Center: April 25, 2012

This webinar provides an overview of the DOE Building America Solution Center—a digital communication tool designed to serve building industry professionals, researchers, and market transformation programs by making world-class building science research and information quickly and easily accessible. View the webinar recording (video).

Advanced Envelope Research for Factory Built Housing: December 14, 2011

This webinar, presented by research team ARIES Collaborative, discussed the Advanced Envelope Research project, which aims to develop new methods of factory-built high-performance thermal envelope systems. The webinar reported on interim findings including selection of materials, potential for reducing energy use, ability to moderate and control moisture levels within the wall, compliance with the building codes and standards, ease of integration into the factory production process; and cost of implementation.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 20 MB). 

Hybrid Foundation Insulation Retrofits: November 30, 2011

This webinar, presented by research team Building Science Corporation, discussed insulating foundations and controlling water leakage as a critical measure for reducing heating load in homes in cold climates. This overview of "hybrid" type of insulation and water control interior retrofit to foundations included discussion of the physics of insulating below-grade walls, potential durability risks associated with these measures, material selection, and code issues.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 20 MB). 

An Intro to the Cool Energy House Retrofit Demonstration Project: November 14, 2011

This webinar presented a demonstration project in progress by the Building America Research Alliance (BARA) and the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB). The Cool Energy House will be educational demonstration home in Windermere, Florida. Builders, remodelers, and the general public will have an opportunity to tour the home and learn about deep-energy remodeling during the 2012 International Builders show. The webinar provided attendees with a tour of the cost/benefit approach the project is taking to build healthy, comfortable, and energy-efficient homes.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (video). 

Opportunities to Apply Phase Change Materials to Building Enclosures: November 11, 2011

This webinar, presented by research team Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE), reviewed basic physical characteristics and thermal properties of phase change materials (PCMs) and provided guidance on how to effectively apply PCMs in buildings in the United States. PCMs as building materials components have the potential to achieve significant reductions in space cooling energy consumption and peak cooling loads.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 21 MB). 

Ductless Hydronic Distribution Systems: November 8, 2011

This webinar was presented by research team Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), and reviewed findings from a feasibility study of ductless hydronic distribution systems in new homes and deep retrofits. The potential to eliminate ducting in homes using hydronic heating and cooling holds promise for energy savings, especially for new high-performance buildings and deep retrofits with low heating and cooling loads. Presenters discussed the advantages of hydronic distribution over traditional forced air systems.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 15 MB). 

Ventilation in Multifamily Buildings: November 1, 2011

This webinar was presented by research team Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), and discussed ventilation strategies for multifamily buildings, including how to successfully implement those strategies through smart design, specification, and construction techniques. Presented from a building science perspective, common shortcomings in conventional design practices, and pros and cons of different mechanical system solutions, and solutions for existing buildings that currently have no ventilation were discussed.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 23 MB). 

Dual Integrated Appliances as an Energy and Safety Solution for Low-Income Weatherization: October 19, 2011

This webinar was presented by research team NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership, and provided technical information from Building America research on dual integrated appliances (DIA) or combination systems. Presenters discussed how they work, the benefits of these systems for low-income weatherization programs and homeowners, how to size a DIA system, and areas of potential improvement in the design and installation.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (video). 

Sealing of Home Enclosures with Aerosol Particles: October 14, 2011

This webinar was presented by research team Building Industry Research Alliance (BIRA), and provided information about a project that uses existing aerosol duct sealing technology to seal the entire building enclosure in order to achieve greater airtightness and energy and cost savings.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 12 MB). 

Energy Star Hot Water Systems for High-Performance Homes: September 30, 2011

This webinar was presented by research team Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), and provided information about how to achieve energy savings from solar water heating, electric dedicated heat pump water heating, and gas tankless systems.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (video). 

Saving Energy in Multifamily Buildings: July 26, 2011

This webinar introduced the Building America team Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit (PARR) and its partners, outlined team objectives, and highlighted their current research program, Energy Savers.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 16 MB). 

An Introduction to the EnergyValue Housing Awards (EVHA) – Everything You Should Know to Complete a Quality Application: July 7, 2011

This webinar reviewed the history and goals of the EnergyValue Housing Awards (EVHA) Program, including comments from past winners and an overview of how to complete a quality application.

View the presentation slides and webinar recording (WMV 24.3 MB). 

HVAC Right-Sizing Part 1—Calculating Loads: April 28, 2011

During this webinar, Building America Research Team IBACOS highlighted the key criteria required to create accurate heating and cooling load calculations. Current industry rules of thumb, perceptions and barriers to right-sizing HVAC were also discussed.

View the presentation slides and recording (WMV 16 MB). 

National Residential Efficiency Measures Database Unveiled: January 18, 2011

This webinar presented an overview of this database of residential building retrofit measures and associated estimated costs, and progress to date.

Building Energy Optimization (BEopt) Software Tool: November 2010

This two-part webinar series provided an overview of the BEopt tool, which is designed to identify optimally efficient designs for new and existing homes at the lowest possible cost:

  • Part 1 focuses on the basics of using BEopt in analyzing buildings for new construction applications, as well as reviews of inputs, outputs, and the library manager. View the webinar (WMV 50 MB).
  • Part 2 outlines the retrofit analysis and optimization capabilities of BEopt. View the webinar (WMV 49 MB).