The Hidden Science Behind Decarbonizing Buildings

All around us, hidden inside our buildings, are a series of choices and tradeoffs — choices with direct impacts on our health, our money, and our energy use. 

Our buildings are wasteful and are filled with a lot of  “embodied” carbon. As a result, buildings directly and indirectly account for 40 percent of global emissions. 

How do we make those choices with better building science?

And how do we use that science to design carbon out of our buildings?

This week, Katherine and Stephen are joined by Christine Williamson, the creator of Building Science Fight Club. She is a building scientist who teaches architects how to think more intelligently about designing residential and commercial buildings to improve comfort and energy performance, while minimizing system failures.

She also has an unconventional take on the green building space — arguing that many of the “feel good” approaches are not necessarily the most functional. 

Christy has spent her career inside homes and commercial buildings using “building forensics” to identify problems with design and operation. So what does an on-the-ground practitioner think about what’s most effective for improving the performance of buildings, and what’s not?

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