Building Science Bulletin – September 2026
There’s a lot happening across the high-performance building industry this month. From mold putting construction quality and moisture management under scrutiny, to wildfire smoke testing building resilience, new policies making heat pumps easier to install, and millions in funding moving……
Insulation Thermal Capacity: A Better Metric for Thermal Insulation in Summer
Thermal capacity is the ability of an material to delay and reduce a heat wave as it moves through a building assembly. It works alongside thermal resistance, and it measures a complementary property. R-value quantifies how much an assembly resists……
The Passive House Hotel Amenities You Can’t Photograph
What staying at America’s only Passive House hotel taught me about comfort. From Interstate 95, a massive concrete block quietly emerges above the New Haven skyline. For many people, it probably goes unnoticed. Others might glance at it and wonder……
Wildfire Smoke Filter Isn’t Enough: How to Really Protect Indoor Air
Wildfire smoke is back in the headlines, and it’s not going away. Smoke drifting down from Canadian wildfires has blanketed New York City, New Jersey, Boston, and much of the East Coast, affecting millions of people. Out West, builders in……
Building Science Bulletin – July 2026
High-performance building isn’t standing still—and neither is the conversation around it. This month, we’ve seen Passive House principles show up in places you might not expect: protecting homes from wildfire smoke, reducing dependence on air conditioning during extreme heat, shaping……
Passive House, Warm, Hot, and Humid Climates, and Multi-Family Study.
Passive House strategies are gaining ground across the United States, though adoption remains slower in warm, hot, and humid regions. A significant factor is the persistent misconception that Passive House does not perform well in high-temperature or high-humidity conditions. The……
Title 24 Airtightness: Why Compliance Still Misses Performance
The Compliance vs. Performance Gap California likes to present Title 24 as a national leader. On paper, that sounds plausible. The code is long, technical, and full of mandates. But once you read it closely, the picture changes. The newest……
What if buildings could make us healthier?
What if buildings could make us healthier? We track steps, calories, heart rates—so why not architecture? When we talk about improving buildings, the conversation is usually cosmetic or mechanical: add a plant here, throw in some double glazing, maybe upgrade the……
Are You Ignoring the Biggest Thermal Bridge in Your Building?
American construction is currently undergoing a massive and necessary transformation. Builders, architects, and developers are rapidly adopting continuous exterior insulation to meet stricter energy codes and higher performance standards. We insulate our walls better than ever before, wrap our buildings……
The glass edge thermal bridge: the PSIg value
We continue our series of articles on thermal efficiency of windows, describing the glass edge thermal bridge. As far as thermal bridges go, this one is inevitable, and it represents the weakest point of a well designed thermal envelope. It…