National Institute of Building Sciences

What Should Drive the Sustainability Bus, IEQ or Energy?
2025-11-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Sponsored By:

Efficiency programs seem to ignore the fact that the only reason why society uses energy in buildings is to condition people and generate domestic hot water. One would then think that all design ought to begin with the physiological and psychological needs of the occupants. However, in the real world most energy efficiency programs focus exclusively on enclosures and equipment and have superficial Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) requirements. The hope is that the assembled systems will deliver the desired indoor climate with the modeled energy. The flaws in this approach are demonstrated in the poor results from thousands of post occupancy evaluations.
During this session, participants will learn the human sciences behind thermal comfort and air quality and how energy and exergy efficiency is the natural outcome from engineering the indoor environment using human factor design tools.
Learning Objectives:

Avoiding discomfort within the built environment is what drives energy use.
Occupants don’t care about energy models, they care about how they feel.
The body’s respiratory systems and how they are impacted by the quality of air.
The body’s thermoregulatory systems and how they are impacted by the architecture, enclosure and interior systems as the primary control points before mechanicals.

A Cooling Conundrum: Setting the Stage for Resilient Cooling
2025-12-09 14:00 - 15:00
Every region in the U.S. is experiencing record-breaking heat. More households now require home cooling solutions to maintain safe and liveable indoor temperatures. While air conditioning (AC) can offer immediate relief, the rapid scaling of AC has created new vulnerabilities: rising energy bills are straining people’s wallets, while surging electricity demand mounts pressure on an aging power grid increasingly prone to blackouts.
What Americans need to be prepared for more extreme temperatures is a resilient cooling approach. Resilient cooling works across three interdependent systems — buildings, communities, and the electric grid — to affordably maintain safe indoor temperatures during extreme heat events and reduce power outage risks.
This webinar will overview resilient cooling, implicated technology systems and the policies needed to affordably cool people and communities under extreme heat conditions. Participants will hear directly from experts about dimensions of access and affordability, public health, workforce development, and grid reliability.
Learning Objectives

Understand the Basics: Define extreme heat and the vulnerabilities created by the rapid scaling of air conditioning and mechanical cooling systems.
Clarify the Landscape of Need: Explore the essential imperatives to rethink the way we cool as heat waves increase in duration.
Explore Strategies for Action: Discover the concept of resilient cooling as a strategy to address existing cooling needs, while ensuring affordability, health, sustainability, grid resilience, and workforce development.
Clarify Stakeholder Roles: Learn how different levels of government and non-governmental organizations coordinate and play a role in advancing resilient cooling for both households and communities.

Understanding the Challenges of Preventing Construction Site Fires
2025-12-11 13:00 - 14:00
Sponsored By:

Construction sites present a unique set of fire safety challenges due to their dynamic nature, temporary infrastructure, and evolving occupancy. The session will delve into real-world case studies, regulatory frameworks, and emerging technologies that influence fire prevention efforts. This panel discussion convenes leading experts from the construction industry, fire service, code enforcement, and government agencies to explore the persistent issue of construction site fires. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the causes, consequences, and mitigation strategies associated with fire incidents during the building phase.
Learning Objectives

Identify the risk & hazards associated with construction sites.
Examine the codes & standards that govern buildings under construction.
Analyze how new technologies can help keep construction sites fire safe.
Explore enforcement strategies to safeguard construction.

Clearing the Air: Advancing IAQ Policy for Healthier Communities
2025-12-16 14:00 - 15:00
Indoor air quality (IAQ) has emerged as a critical public health and building performance issue, especially in the wake of rising temperatures, pandemics, and increasing urban density. This virtual session, hosted by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), brings together a panel of leading subject matter experts to explore the evolving landscape of IAQ policy, standards, and implementation strategies across the built environment.
Attendees will gain insights into:

Federal and state-level IAQ regulations and emerging policy trends such as The Indoor Air Quality and Healthy Schools Act
The role of codes, ventilation standards, and energy efficiency mandates
Access to IAQ improvements for schools, housing, and workplaces
Pathways for women in the industry to promote innovation in IAQ policy

Whether you’re a policymaker, architect, engineer, facility manager, or public health advocate, this session will equip you with actionable knowledge to shape healthier indoor environments.

Building-System Strategies for Resilient Cooling
2026-02-11 13:00 - 14:00
The existing building stock in the United States was not designed to cope with current extreme temperatures. Much needs to be done to fix aging housing, from upgrading poor insulation to fixing ineffective air conditioning, while also designing new buildings for future temperatures, if warming trends continue.
This webinar will focus on building-system strategies to reduce the impacts of extreme heat on buildings, showcasing cooling solutions beyond conventional air conditioning. Participants will hear directly from experts on the policies that will enable greater proliferation of resilient cooling solutions that offer co-benefits for energy efficiency, reduced household energy burdens, and greater energy reliability.
Learning Objectives

Understand the Link Between Heat and Housing Affordability: Scope how housing infrastructure is unprepared for current temperatures, impacting consumers costs to adequately cool their indoor environments.
Explore Technology Solutions: Discover how resilient cooling technologies can offer co-benefits for energy efficiency and reduced household energy burdens, as well as resilience during power brownouts and blackouts.
Examine the Policy Landscape: Understand how existing federal, state and local policy levers and strategies can increase access and affordability of resilient cooling technologies, and discover real-world examples of implementation.

Community-System Strategies for Resilient Cooling
2026-03-26 12:00 - 13:00
Community infrastructure, such as thermal energy networks, district geothermal, urban forests, shade structures, and smart surfaces, can have a collectively lower upfront cost and lower community-wide energy consumption and the costs of cooling. For example, strategic deployment of cool roofs in Atlanta, mandated by ordinance, are expected to cool the city by 2.4°F in peak summer, deliver $310 million in direct energy savings, and generate $760 million in net financial benefits
This webinar will explore community-system technologies and strategies for resilient cooling and their benefits for community-wide energy reliability, grid resilience, and extreme heat preparedness. Participants will hear directly from experts on targeted solutions and the policy levers needed to scale up their broad adoption.
Learning Objectives

Explore Technology Solutions: Discover the range of solutions that can be implemented at a community-system level to lower temperatures outdoors and indoors.
Clarify the Co-Benefits for Mitigation: Learn how shared cooling infrastructure can provide community-wide energy reliability, grid resilience, and extreme heat preparedness.
Examine the Policy Landscape: Understand how existing federal, state and local policy levers and strategies can increase access and affordability of resilient cooling technologies and discover real-world examples of implementation.
Understanding Traditions of Community Cooling: Connect Traditional and forward-thinking community-level cooling solutions.

Grid-System Strategies for Resilient Cooling
2026-04-30 12:00 - 13:00
The U.S. electric grid is straining to keep up with rising demand for electricity, creating potential risks to communities’ cooling systems in the face of intensifying extreme heat. This challenge presents an opportunity for policymakers to proactively identify potential vulnerabilities in energy systems’ ability to sustain safe indoor temperatures.
This webinar will explore grid system technologies and strategies for resilient cooling. Participants will hear directly from experts on how they prepare the electric grid for increased energy demand and ensure its reliability during extreme heat events as well as the policies needed to scale up these interventions.
Learning Objectives

Understand Grid Vulnerabilities: Clarify the current state of grid systems in the U.S. and the needs for extreme heat preparedness. Define resilient cooling as a solution and what it looks like for communities and energy officials.
Examine solutions for Grid Resilience: Explore how grid-enhancing technologies and demand-side management can prepare electric grid for increased energy demand and ensure its reliability during extreme heat events.
Clarify Roles for Utilities and Policymakers: Learn about the existing policy tools that utilities and policymakers have to advance grid resilience solutions that offer benefits for resilient cooling
Explore Opportunities for Action: Hear from energy and utility experts on real-world examples of policy implementation

Building Innovation 2026
2026-05-18 08:00 - 17:00
Building Innovation attendees come to explore challenges, possibilities, the latest tools, groundbreaking strategies, and more.
