Advanced Energy Hosts 8th Annual Residential Construction Summit

On October 5, Advanced Energy hosted the 8th annual Residential Construction Summit in Raleigh, NC. It was co-sponsored by Duke Energy and the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives. This one-day event, formerly known as Rater Camp, brings together local residential building science professionals to discuss current and upcoming developments and challenges.

The Residential Construction Summit began as an informal, hands-on networking event for home energy rating system (HERS) raters. These raters are independent professionals certified by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) to help builders achieve ENERGY STAR or other above code new construction compliance. The Summit allows raters to share stories and receive program, business, and technical updates. Although there is a national conference for HERS raters, Advanced Energy saw the need for a North Carolina-based version to support incremental improvements in the local industry. The event is typically held in Raleigh, as it was this year, but has been hosted in other cities throughout the state as well. Over the past eight years, the Summit has grown, and now in addition to HERS raters it brings in engineers, builders, contractors, and code officials.

Evidence of the success of the Summit comes from the development of similar events Advanced Energy has helped start in other parts of the country. For example, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance now holds its own version, and Advanced Energy has worked with Georgia Power to bring a rendition to Georgia as well. There is also a related conference in North Carolina hosted by the North Carolina Building Performance Association (NCBPA). In the future, Advanced Energy hopes to collaborate with more locations as code requirements become more stringent and more adopted.

This year’s event featured presenters from Advanced Energy, NC Alliance, ICF International, RESNET, Intangibles LLC, and NCBPA. Jonathan Coulter, Building Science Specialist at AE, co-facilitated a forum about hot topics and recent developments, and David Treleven, also a Building Science Specialist at AE, discussed best practices for building tighter homes using a variety of air-sealing products.

With the continued value that clients take away from the Residential Construction Summit, it will be exciting to see how the event further develops, expands to reach new audiences, and supports additional local infrastructures.