Building Science: Volume 1, Issue 6

Building Science: Volume 1, Issue 6 SEON’s Sustainable Energy Outreach Network Newsletter  Building Science Wonders: Member Projects, Meerkats go High-Performance, and Grasses for a Sustainable Future!

In this issue: • Message from the Executive Director • Member Project Spotlight • Our members in action • SEON Social Media Takes • Interesting Links: ◦ Zoo’s high-performance meerkat habitat exhibit ◦ Processed Perennial Grasses ◦ A Microgrid Community ◦ New England State-to-State Migration Flows ◦ Interesting Report on High-Performance Doors◦ Maine’s History with Mass Timber ◦ Art Museum uses Vermont Marble ◦ Wastewater Pretreatment Grants in Vermont ◦ and more • Meetings & Conferences • Job Opportunities • Thank you, Members

From SEON’s Executive Director

May and June have been a busy month for SEON and its advocacy efforts and public outreach.

• First, SEON members made big waves in the VTDigger Spray Foam article.
• Then SEON made news speaking at the Vermont House about Combating Construction Home Fraud and the new Registry Program. (NBC News 5, Mountain Times, My Champlain Valley,  Vermont Business Magazine.)
• Following that, our opinion piece The Housing Crisis Challenge for the Residential Home Building Industry – Vermont Needs Quality Builders, was picked up (The Battleboro Reformer, Manchester Journal, Vermont Business Magazine).
• Then, with our efforts in public outreach, the Mountain Times published an article I wrote entitled: A New England Dream Home Should be Sustainable.

Whew. We’ve been busy.

This month we are planning our SEON Board Retreat were our theme will be “How to ensure SEON’s financial stability.” I’ve created a survey – with the link below – in the hopes that we can take your voices to the Retreat to be heard.

With a backdrop of news about building failures and the 1-year delay of the implementation of the Updated Energy Code (because of the lack of knowledge and skills of our residential workforce to apply the Code), SEON will be announcing our Fall Training schedule. Discounts will apply for SEON members as well as multiple attendees from the same company. Details to follow. 

Until July.

Guy Payne
Executive Director

Member Project Spotlight – GPI

Exciting to see our long-term member GPI Construction involved with many key projects in SE Vermont. They continue to maintain a strong commitment to the social fabric of the region. See the partners with whom they’ve collaborated. 

Our Members in Action

All Vermont Wood All the wood in this Shelterwood Construction’s Instagram reel came from Vermont.

Oh HELM! HELM organized a Design & Construction Industry Compensation Survey last year, and 50 companies from the Northeast responded. Read the Survey Results here.

Best Place to Work Second times the charm! For the second year in a row Housewright Construction has been recognized as one of Vermont’s Best Places to Work by VermontBiz.

Efficiency Vermont, Unity Homes and Habitat for Humanity… Oh Yeah! Getting more people into home ownership quickly is the only real way to solve the housing crisis in Vermont.

Jim Bradley in VTDigger – Again! In yet another VTDigger article, Jim Bradley, a SEON member and building science instructor, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of a meeting with Vermont lawmakers and state government officials to increase regulation and oversight in Vermont’s building industry. He highlighted the decision’s significance, considering it a substantial victory for consumers, the building industry, and the environment. Read more here.

SEON Social Media Takes

For the Professionals Architectural Sketch Friday Instagram TikTok

Public Awareness What to Know Before You Build or Remodel Instagram

Public Awareness Looks Can Be Deceiving (don’t go on recommendations. Hire a certified high-performance builder) Instagram TikTok

Public Awareness How to Save Money on High-Performance Homes Instagram TikTok

Young Professionals Greening Your Career – High-Performance Building Careers Instagram TikTok

Interesting Links

► Zoo’s meerkat habitat exhibit was recently certified as a high-performance example of a green roof/wall application.

►  Wastewater pretreatment grants are up for grabs in Vermont >  $3.6 million is available . Submit applications by July 21.

► A firm has developed a material consisting of processed perennial grasses that it says will be lighter and stronger than traditional timber boards while capturing more carbon.

► Peer-Review on novel temperature-control coatings.

► A Swedish furniture designer presents an exhibition that illustrates the climate impact of common architectural and furniture design materials.

►Will this inspired construction pave the way for the global expansion of colorful communities that thrive in secluded colonies?

► An interesting report on High-Performance Doors.

► An architectural proposal for a design that aims to honor Maine’s history through the use of mass timber.

► Fairbanks Museum Home to Vermont’s First Demonstration Mass Timber Building,

using hemlock from the Northeast.

► New Englanders now pay more than twice the price for natural gas than most other US residents pay, and that gap is growing.

►It’s time to pay attention to Energy Codes – the Keene, NH way.

► Lawmakers warn Canadian hydropower isn’t as plentiful as it used to be – what does this mean for New Englanders?

► A housing development in Vermont will be “completely free of fossil fuels and will function as its own microgrid community.”

► Vermont is moving from fuel oil to clean heat.

► Extreme Precipitation in Northeast to Increase 52% by 2099

► Vermont’s climate policy has “nudged” a local gas utility into the heat pump business.

►The largest underground marble quarry in the world, the Danby Quarry in Vermont now covers this new building.

►Are you interested in being a pilot test taker for the BPI Total Building Performance Certificate of Knowledge? The certificate is meant to test competencies around whole building retrofit projects from customer engagement, to design, to implementation.

► New England State-to-State Migration Flows.

Connecticut > migrates to:

1. New York
2. Florida
3. Massachusetts

Maine migrates to:

1. Massachusetts
2. Florida
3. New Hampshire

Massachusetts migrates to:

1. New Hampshire
2. New York
3. Florida

New Hampshire migrates to:

1. Massachusetts
2. Maine
3. Florida

Rhode Island migrates to:

1. Massachusetts
2. Connecticut
3. California

Vermont migrates to:

1. Florida
2. New York
3. New Hampshire

Meetings & Conferences

• Event: Beer with Builders at Burlington Beer Co.
  Date: July 13
  Place: Burlington, VT
• Event: Building Science and Beer Series
  Join a lively, mostly informal discussions about Building Science issues and questions facing builders, designers, and homeowners in Vermont. Plus – a panel of local experts and provide a discussion topic for each gathering.
  Date: July 30
  Place: Bristol, VT
• Event: Hempcrete Basics @ Yestermorrow
  Date: Aug. 19-20Place: Waitsfield, VT
• Visit Yestermorrow Design Build for their on-site classes
  yestermorrow.org/learn/courses
• Visit Efficiency Vermont’s website for listing of their upcoming courses. efficiencyvermont.com/events

Job Opportunities

• Experienced Estimator, Project Manager, Experienced Site Supervisors, Carpenters, Carpenter Helpers, Laborers
  All Seasons Construction Corp: Springfield, Vt
• Experienced Carpenter, Weatherization Professional, Energy Auditor, Project Developer
  Earthshare Construction: Lebanon, NH
• Experienced Carpenter
  GPI Construction, Brattleboro, VT
• Experience Carpenters, Working Foreman/Lead Carpenter
  House Wright Construction, Inc., Newbury, VT
• Experienced and General Carpenters
  Mathes Hulme Builders, Brattleboro, VT
• For more jobs, check out Helm’s Job Board

Thank you, Members

• Duane Case, Bellows Falls, VT
• Efficiency Vermont, Winooski
• Farnum Insulators, Dummerston, VT
• Friendly Homes, Brattleboro, VT
• GPI Construction, Inc, Brattleboro, VT
• Green Mountain Enclosure Consulting, llc (Nate Gusakov)
• HELM Construction Solutions, LLC, Brattleboro, VT
• Housewright Construction, Inc, Newbury, VT
• Integrated Solar Applications Corp. Brattleboro, VT
• JA Saccoccio Workshop PLLC, Brattleboro, VT  
• Junio Anthes-Moody
• Mindel & Morse Builders, Brattleboro, VT
• Owl’s Head Builders, Guilford, VT
• Shelterwood Construction
• Sierra Pacific Windows, Red Bluff, CA
• The Wadsworth Company LLC, Jamaica, VT
• Wright Builders, Inc, Northampton, MA