We help design energy efficiency into buildings. |
Using state-of-the-art energy modeling tools, we analyze the energy efficiency of a building, make recommendations for improvements, and generate the documents necessary to achieve compliance with the energy code. We have a passion for our work, and take pride in the little part we play in reducing people's utility bills, greenhouse gas emissions, and reliance on foreign oil.
Experience
Services
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Why Heat Pump Water Heaters?
Find out in Izumi Tanaka's HomeGreenHomes podcast just released on Youtube and her website. We talk for 20 minutes about why we are specifying these super efficient water heaters on more and more projects across California. They're the #1 thing most homeowners can do to reduce their Carbon footprint and we just installed one for our new ADU and it's working great on less then 1 kWh a day.
Find out in Izumi Tanaka's HomeGreenHomes podcast just released on Youtube and her website. We talk for 20 minutes about why we are specifying these super efficient water heaters on more and more projects across California. They're the #1 thing most homeowners can do to reduce their Carbon footprint and we just installed one for our new ADU and it's working great on less then 1 kWh a day.
Build Smart Blog
Time to Break Up with Gas Tankless Water Heaters
They've become standard, but enter Climate Change. Heat Pump Water Heaters are more efficient and lower GHG emissions from water heating in homes 80% compared to gas tankless water heaters. It's the single biggest thing you can do to bring down overall home GHG emissions.
Now, the 2022 California energy code is making heat pump water heaters prescriptive standard in 12 of our 16 climate zones, along with many more provisions that will make heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) the emerging standard across the state.
We just installed one to serve our 1-bedroom ADU and it's working great and using about 1 kWh a day to serve the couple living there.
Read on to hear why we're ditching tankless in favor of HPWHs and you should consider it too.
They've become standard, but enter Climate Change. Heat Pump Water Heaters are more efficient and lower GHG emissions from water heating in homes 80% compared to gas tankless water heaters. It's the single biggest thing you can do to bring down overall home GHG emissions.
Now, the 2022 California energy code is making heat pump water heaters prescriptive standard in 12 of our 16 climate zones, along with many more provisions that will make heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) the emerging standard across the state.
We just installed one to serve our 1-bedroom ADU and it's working great and using about 1 kWh a day to serve the couple living there.
Read on to hear why we're ditching tankless in favor of HPWHs and you should consider it too.
Incentive Program for New Construction
Are you a builder or developer who is working on a new construction project? If so, the Energy-Smart Homes All-Electric or Mixed Fuel Residential Programs could help you lower your project costs. These programs were created to support California’s energy efficiency policy goals and help mitigate climate change. Want to learn more? Click here to read our blog post on the incentives offered by the program and how to apply.
Are you a builder or developer who is working on a new construction project? If so, the Energy-Smart Homes All-Electric or Mixed Fuel Residential Programs could help you lower your project costs. These programs were created to support California’s energy efficiency policy goals and help mitigate climate change. Want to learn more? Click here to read our blog post on the incentives offered by the program and how to apply.
Helping Homebuilders Innovate
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Housing Transformation Summit - Phoenix
In December 2021, we led a panel with C.R. Herro (Bettr Homes) and Mike Mancini (SoDella Construction), who are innovating the way they build new homes like their futures depend on it [and they do!] Building on what they learned at Meritage, they are using SIPS and ICFs to build air-tight, high-performance building shells without competing for scarce lumber raw materials. They make the case for embracing drastic changes to improve business performance in today's world of supply-chain shortages, rising prices, and the increasing presence of foreign competitors. Click here to watch the video! |
Build Smart in the News
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Builder
A project of ours, Gallery at Miralon, was featured on Builder in October 2021. Designed by Gallery Homes and developed by Freehold Communities, Gallery at Miralon is an "agrihood" community in Palm Springs comprised of 50 one- and two-story residences. Click here for the full article. |
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About Us
CABEC Conference-Cambria
We attended and presented at the 2023 CABEC conference in the Central Coast. As always, it was a vibrant and earnest group of high-performing professionals, and topics ranged from solar shading reports to multifamily central heat pump water heating systems. We presented on Small Homes and the Energy Code with Alea German of Frontier Energy and on Modeling Heat Pumps with Chris Bradt of Mitsubishi Electric. It was great learning for Isabella Brusco (left), who started with Build Smart in July 2023 and we got to catch up with Vanessa (right), now with TRC. As a first-timer at CABEC, Isabella had some useful takeaways from the conference, starting with "There is a well-established, passionate, close-knit community actively engaged with the California energy code ... I felt instantly welcomed and encouraged by others to stay in this work."
We attended and presented at the 2023 CABEC conference in the Central Coast. As always, it was a vibrant and earnest group of high-performing professionals, and topics ranged from solar shading reports to multifamily central heat pump water heating systems. We presented on Small Homes and the Energy Code with Alea German of Frontier Energy and on Modeling Heat Pumps with Chris Bradt of Mitsubishi Electric. It was great learning for Isabella Brusco (left), who started with Build Smart in July 2023 and we got to catch up with Vanessa (right), now with TRC. As a first-timer at CABEC, Isabella had some useful takeaways from the conference, starting with "There is a well-established, passionate, close-knit community actively engaged with the California energy code ... I felt instantly welcomed and encouraged by others to stay in this work."
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TecHome Builder Summit-Seattle
In October 2021, Nick and Vanessa attended the TecHome Builder Summit in Seattle to speak on a panel with Jacob Atalla of KB Home on Tech and All-Electric Homes. We enjoyed getting to connect with other professionals in the industry. |