Nerding out over insulation at BuildingEnergy10

Last week I attended the BuildingEnergy10 Conference put on by NESEA [the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association] at the World Trade Center in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a solid three days of lectures, workshops, and vendor booths, where industry experts commiserated about the bleakness of climate change, debated the merits of evacuated solar tubes vs. flat pv panels, and nerded out over insulation.

I'll do my best to summarize it all in the most interesting way possible, but first, here is a little background info about NESEA.

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, a chapter of the American Solar Energy Society, is a regional membership organization operating in 10 Northeastern states [from Maine to D.C]. According to their website, "NESEA has supported and inspired a growing network of professionals and sustainable energy advocates committed to responsible energy use." Members include architects, engineers, educators, builders, energy consultants, renewable energy manufacturers and installers, facilities managers, policymakers, planners, and students. NESEA holds an annual Building Energy conference where all of these diverse practitioners share their latest research, current opinions, and new products.

This year, sessions were organized into 9 tracks, each designed around a particular theme: climate change policy, emerging trends in renewable energy, new construction [commercial and residential], retrofits [commercial and residential], mechanical systems, building materials, and "Whole Systems in Action."

The keynote address was given by Dr. Samuel Baldwin, Chief Technology Officer and Member of the Board of Directors of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the US Department of Energy. Baldwin spoke to the frightening challenges the US is facing - climate change and resource security - but also addressed a hopeful range of new opportunities within the renewable energy sector.

Some take away sound bites:

- High performance windows aren't the be all and end all of green design. New studies show that they might not actually be worth the investment. Basically, the benefits of double pane over single pane are huge, but after that, much of the heat is lost not through the glass, but through the frame.

- Spray foam insulation isn't all it's cracked up to be. Yes, it works, but the blowing agent [i.e. the chemical additive that allows it to be sprayed] has such a high "global warming potential" in and of itself, that if you're worried about your carbon footprint, you're better off with EPS [extruded polystyrene] or better yet, insulation made from recycled newspaper, blue jeans, or sheep's wool. And for the record, yes, "global warming potential" appears to be an official, measurable value.

- "Green retrofits" are definitely the cool thing to talk about. I'm not sure if this is because of an ideological belief that reuse is greener than new construction, or a pragmatic realization that there isn't a lot of new building going on right now. Whatever the reason, the retrofit bandwagon is definitely gaining momentum.

In general, there was a definite [and refreshing!] emphasis on action over discourse at BuildingEnergy10 - people discussing what they have done and what they are planning to do, as opposed to what they think we should or could or might not do. However, even this action-focused crowd apparently has its limits. I don't mean to focus on the negative, but I was surprised to see bottled water served at lunch. I mean, maybe it's not that big of a deal in the scheme of things, but I expected more from this crowd. If we're aiming for massive cultural change, don't we have to be willing to start with our own behavior?