Brendan Kavanagh
Username
Brendan Kavanagh
Proposer First Name
Brendan
Proposer Email
brendan@byggmeister.com
Proposer Last Name
Kavanagh
Proposer Company/Organization
Byggmeister
Proposer Phone
(978) 505-7174
Proposer Job Title
Project Manager & Performance Manager
Boston 2023 Areas of Focus
Proposer Additional Info
Among other things I served as the lead verifier for the National Grid Deep Energy Retrofit program from 2013 until it ended a few years later, then I was the lead program manager for the Massachusetts DOER Home MVP Pilot from it's start in 2017 until I joined Byggmeister in 2019. I've been involved in both new construction and retrofit residential projects here in Massachusetts since 2013 and feel I have a lot to bring to this conversation and the NESEA community.
Proposed Session Description
After completing many Deep Energy Retrofit projects (DERs) in the late 2000s early 2010s here in Massachusetts, our residential design-build remodeling company's approach to energy retrofit work has shifted towards lighter envelope improvements and a greater focus on getting homes off of on site fossil fuel consumption. While the DER approach was successful in substantially reducing energy consumption, among other improvements, it often came at a high cost both in terms of our clients investment and the embodied carbon impact of the work itself. In this session we will talk through our current more moderate approach to energy retrofit work, how we got here, and why we don't expect to be super-insulating many existing homes going forward.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
I'm not sure this does much if anything to address diversity, equity, and/or inclusion. We would be open to any suggestions on ways to include these important issues but I wouldn't want to shoehorn it in either.
Learning Objectives
Identify the pros and cons of the traditional Deep Energy Retrofit approach
Consider both the current condition of the home and the goals of the homeowner when developing an energy retrofit package
Evaluate the difference between reducing energy cost, energy consumption, and global warming impact
Help determine how homeowners can best spend their next dollar towards achieving their goals
Has this session been presented before?
No
Additional Comments
We may use some elements from Rachel's 2020 presentation but will also bring new projects and data to flesh these ideas out further.
Session Format
Presentation followed by facilitated discussion or breakout groups
Session Format Details
A 40 minute collaborative presentation followed by either a Q&A or break out groups
Recommended Length
60-minute session
Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2023
Comments about your speaker roster
Rachel and I will present together as co-presenters. Rachel is a talented speaker and curator of content that sparks important discussions in communities like NESEA, she has presented on similar topics at BE Boston a couple of times in the past. I have not yet presented at a NESEA conference but I have attended the BE Boston conference for around 10 years. I am a comfortable public speaker and I look forward to the opportunity to speak at BE Boston hopefully this year, if not at some point soon.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about your session proposal?
Apologies for the late submission, I had thought I saved 2 session proposals under drafts and when I went to submit them on Friday couldn't find them. I was able to rewrite one on Friday and couldn't get to rewriting this until today.
Reviewer 1
Heath, Anna
Reviewer 2
Baumann, Lauren
Curator
Baumann, Lauren
Proposal #
197
Session #
101
Committee Decision
Accepted
Presenters
Full Description
This session will attempt to address the question of how to best spend your next dollar towards reducing your homes carbon impact. We still regularly hear both clients and fellow practitioners saying things like, "you can't convert old homes in cold climates to all electric unless you super insulate your home" among other ideas that we feel are not true. We have seen homeowners become crestfallen when they realize they may not be able to achieve the DER that they either wanted or were told they needed. We worry that our industry has misaligned expectations when it comes to super-insulating existing homes and we don't want that to hinder the substantial improvements that can still be made. We have a fairly deep catalogue of past projects from the last 10-15 years with pre/post energy consumption data along with other data points that will help us ground this conversation in the real world. This relates directly to the conference theme in that we unfortunately don't feel DERs are scalable, but we do feel there are other more attainable approaches towards reducing your homes carbon footprint that are scalable and can still have a large impact.