2019 Buildings XIV International Conference

Monday, December 9 | 8:30 a.m.
Keynote Speakers, Lew Harriman and Hartwig Künzel

Metrics That Matter: A Modest Proposal for Improving Building Research Structure and Funding

If building industry decision makers don’t have key research results—in a form that is actionable—at their moments of decision, how can we justify the societal and financial costs of gaining that knowledge? The current political discourse provides evidence of contempt for scientific facts and methods on the part of a large percentage of university-educated decision makers. This must serve as a wakeup call for all who give a large portion of their lives to research and field investigations intended to make buildings better. If what we do does not really matter—and if it is not also understood to matter by the public and by decision makers—we won’t be doing it much longer. We need to refocus our attention. History shows that effective information presentation and distribution is just as important as the research results. Based on examples of effective versus ineffective information transfer, this talk proposes radical suggestions for better project structure and funding allocation for building research.

Speaker Bio:
Lew Harriman is Director Emeritus of Building Science at Mason-Grant Consulting. He is a Fellow and Life Member of ASHRAE. He served as the principal author and Project Manager for ASHRAE’s Humidity Control Design Guide and the ASHRAE Guide for Buildings in Hot and Humid Climates. He has also served as an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer and as committee chair for Technical Committee 1.12 (Moisture Management in Buildings). Lew was a member of the consulting team that helped the US EPA revise its landmark 2018 publication: Guidance for Air Cleaners in the Home and was inducted into the Indoor Air Quality Association’s Hall of Fame in January 2018.

Durable, Energy Efficient and Comfortable Buildings are No Science Fiction!

The construction sector could do more to reduce our carbon footprint and to save our natural resources. This means saving energy for building operation and addressing the CO2-emissions released during manufacturing, construction, remodeling and demolition. Enhancing durability and focusing on renewable resources have become further key issues. Preserving and maintaining building constructions is a continuous fight against moisture. Water impairs the thermal performance of building materials and may cause mold growth, damage and degradation. High indoor air humidity is uncomfortable and poses health risks. Therefore, water penetration, condensation and unfavourable humidity conditions in the building and its envelope have to be limited or prevented altogether. Appropriate heat, air and moisture control should not only govern the envelope design and installation process, it should also be guidance for maintenance, repair and retrofit measures.

Climate change poses new challenges for our buildings. They should be resilient to natural disaster such as flooding, power outage, strong winds and heavy rain or snowfall. They should also be grid interactive and accommodate renewable power fluctuations as well as intermittent operation. The necessary preference for renewable or recycled building materials poses additional challenges due to their general moisture sensitivity. Assessing the dynamic hygrothermal behaviour of buildings and construction assemblies as function of different impact parameters may be a way to demonstrate the risks involved and to find adequate solutions for optimum building design and operation.

Speaker Bio:
Hartwig Künzel is responsible for hygrothermal investigations sponsored by industry and government. During his PhD work, Hartwig developed the hygrothermal model WUFI® which has become an internationally recognized and widely applied simulation tool for moisture control in buildings. His research has helped to provide better understanding of the hygrothermal conditions in building envelope systems and their impact on building energy consumption, durability and human comfort. Hartwig has worked on numerous international projects supported by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the European Commission and several German Ministries. He is involved in the development of international guidelines and standards, e.g. chairing the national standard committee on moisture control and the CEN working group on hygrothermal performance of building components and building elements. Since 1999 Künzel has been a member of the American Society for Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), participating regularly in Technical and Standard Committee meetings on moisture management, insulation materials and climate data.

A written paper will be required for all presentations and the conference will present two tracks. The two tracks will focus on Principles (Devoted to Research and Development) and Practices (Focus on Practical Applications and Case Studies).

Papers should focus on the development of high impact technologies and processes to be life cycle cost effective, and reduce energy use and environmental consequences. Papers should demonstrate how their topics, on the thermal and moisture performance of the exterior envelope of whole buildings, will lead to high performance buildings. Papers on case studies need to be unique and new. Papers in the Practices Track should provide technologies ready for implementation; those in the Principles Track shall show the promise of short to mid-term adoption.

Suggested Paper and Presentation Topics

• Advanced Construction Practices
• Air barriers and Air Leakage
• Basements/Below-Grade Construction
• Building Envelope Commissioning
• Building Envelope Integrated Technologies
• Building Retrofit
• Building Sustainability and Resilience
• Cost Optimization
• Daylighting
• Design Tools
• Dynamic and High-R windows
• Envelope Related Indoor Environment
• Fenestration and Window Attachments
• Heritage/Historic Buildings
• HVAC-Envelope Integration
• Innovative Materials and Systems
• Insulation
• Low Energy Buildings
• Moisture Management, Durability and Service Life
• Monitoring, Modeling, and Simulation
• Offsite manufacturing
• Residential Single and Multi-Family Applications
• Roofs, Attics, and Walls
• Standards, Codes, Guidelines & Test Procedure Development
• Weatherization

Conference Program Schedule
Tuesday, December 11, 2018 Conference Paper Abstract Notifications 
Monday, May 13, 2019 Conference Paper Due
Monday, July 8, 2019 Peer Review Comments Due
Monday, July 15, 2019 Peer Review Comments Sent to Authors
Monday, October 7, 2019 Final Conference Paper and Updated Abstracts Due
Friday November 15, 2019 PPT Presentations Due
Sunday, December 8, 2019 Pre‐Conference Workshops
Monday, December 9 – 12, 2019 Conference

The Call for Abstracts closed November 14, 2018.
Conference Papers that received abstract approval are due Monday, May 13, 2019..

To submit a Conference Paper to the Buildings XIV Conference:

 UPLOAD PAPER

The conference will take place at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida. The conference will be Monday – Thursday. Pre-Conference workshops will be held Sunday prior to the conference.

Registration is not yet open for this conference.

Steering CommitteeChair: Andre Desjarlais
Steering Committee Vice Chair: Theresa Weston
Principles Track Co-chairs:  Samuel Glass and Simon Pallin
Practices Track Co-chairs:  Stanley Gatland and Fitsum Tariku
Workshop Track Co-chairs: Brian Stroik and Laverne Dalgleish
Members at Large: Fiona Aldous, Carsten Rode, Wahid Maref, and Marianne Touchie

Conference Program Session Chairs:

• Achilles Karagiozis, Principles
• Carl Eric Hagentoft, Principles
• Carsen Banister, Principles
• Charlie Curcija, Principles
• Cheryn Metzger, Principles
• Chris Mathis, Principles
• Danko Davidovic, Principles
• Diana Fisler, Principles
• Diana Hun, Principles
• Dominique Derome, Principles
• Hua Ge, Principles
• Jesper Arfvidsson, Principles
• Lisa White, Principles
• Mahabir Bhandari, Principles
• Manfred Kehrer, Principles
• Marc Lafrance, Principles
• Mika Salonvaara, Principles
• Paolo Tabares, Principles
• Par Johansson, Principles
• Ali Hajiah, Practices
• Bipin Shah, Practices
• Carsten Rode, Practices
• Emishaw Iffa, Practices
• Fiona Aldous, Practices
• Florian Antretter, Practices
• Graham Finch, Practices
• Ihab Elzeyadi, Practices
• Jasha Kistler, Practices
• Peter Adams, Practices
• Targo Kalamees, Practices
• Umberto Berardi, Practices
• Wahid Maref, Practices

All sponsors will have their company logo and name on the event flyer, the conference web site and recognition during the conference. A summary of the specific benefits of each sponsorship level is included. If have questions or are interesting in being a sponsor, please contact Ragan McHan, rmchan@ashrae.org.

SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES