For this episode of the BS* + Beer show, we turn the floor over to industry firebrand Christine Williamson, founder of Building Science Fight Club. As always, her delivery of gold-nugget information is pitch-perfect and entertaining. She talks about her course, “Building Science for Architects,” and why she created it; and she advises industry pros on two key capabilities: technical know-how and an attitude of humility, noting that intellectual honesty is helpful for deep learning. She shares some valuable resources, as well as her thoughts on spray foam, her involvement with ASHRAE, and the role of social media in disseminating building science information. Anecdotals include a “forensic carpenter’s” diagnostic cigarette, and we enjoy appearances from four-legged Pancake and her jealous companion.

Enjoy the show!

Join us on November 11 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. ET for a discussion around the topic of “Developers Who do Good” with guests Declan Keefe and Lois Arena. Declan will share a presentation explaining how he has approached the topic as an architect, builder, developer, and community organizer; and Lois will offer her perspective as an engineer and Director of Passive House Services at Steven Winter Associates.

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Bios

Declan Keefe has over a decade of experience in architecture, construction, and real estate development. Declan is an entrepreneur and has a passion for triple-bottom-line businesses (people, planet, prosperity). His focus has been on creating high-performance, sustainable buildings at a low cost. He founded CoEverything to bring cooperative ownership to the real estate industry. He was also a founder and owner of the design/build/development cooperative, Placetailor, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Through his work, he designed and built the first Passive House–certified building in Massachusetts, lead Placetailor through a co-op conversion, and contributed his expertise to city-wide policies for compact housing and net-zero energy initiatives. His life’s goal is to have a net-positive impact, and he believes that will only be possible through collaboration and cooperation.

Lois Arena, Director of Passive House Services at Steven Winter Associates, Inc., possesses over 25 years’ experience in the building science field and has extensive related knowledge of new and existing buildings. Lois holds both U.S. and international Passive House consultant certifications and is currently consulting on some of the largest and most difficult Passive House projects in the world. She has co-authored and presented training programs about energy-efficient building practices to professionals in all sectors of the building industry, and is regularly invited to present at conferences and private firms around the world to discuss the benefits of and roadblocks to Passive House adoption. Lois has a BS in Forest and Wildlife Management and an MS in Civil, Environmental, & Architectural Engineering.

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Kiley Jacques is senior editor at Green Building Advisor. She can be reached at [email protected]. Image courtesy of Christine Williamson.