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Building Moisture: Envelope, Materials and Safe Escalation
A humidity reading stops being the whole story when the building itself begins to change. Damp plaster, a cupped wood floor, one cold strip of wall, wet insulation or a stain that keeps returning all point toward the material, the assembly or the path water took to get there. An educational guide and worksheet for recording building-moisture observations before a professional discussion. Readers can distinguish visible symptoms, affected materials, timing, measurement context and unknowns, and record actions already taken. This may help readers organize a moisture concern before deciding on retrofit work. The worksheet does not diagnose a moisture source, establish a universal material-wetness threshold or replace an inspection. MaterialSignal is the publishing brand; the material was prepared with AI assistance and is not presented as independently certified or professionally endorsed.
Retrofit Navigators: Building Retrofit Programs that Advance Climate, Housing, and Community Goals
This report from BEI outlines the issue with traditional retrofit programs and how to design better programs, including examples from programs in Philadelphia, Madison, and New York City.
Split Systems: Coordinating Energy Policies for New and Existing Buildings
ACEEE and the National Energy Codes Collaborative examine conflicts and alignments between building codes and Building Performance Standards in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Seattle. The authors derive lessons for other cities to ensure policies to decarbonize new and existing buildings are measuring against similar performance metrics and minimizing unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.
Reforming Residential Energy Efficiency Incentive Programs: Best Practices and Legislative Options
This report presents best practices for program administrators, utility regulators, policymakers, and advocates to make energy efficiency programs more simple, market-friendly, durable, and equitable.
A Blueprint for HOA Electrification
This case study from TECH Clean California lays out how the Heather Village homeowner's association leveraged grants and utility financing to switch from gas boilers to heat pumps to heat its residents' water.
A Roadmap for Climate-Forward Efficiency
Roadmap providing advice to legislators, utilities, regulators, and others on how to align policy, prepare the market, deliver effective programs, and ensure equity.