Adirondack Building Conference

Our Work

Thursday, March 23 at The Wild Center

9am to 5pm

View LIVE sessions at:

WildCenter.org/LIVE

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Join your fellow building and trades professionals to learn about the latest in building and home electrification, hear about case studies from our region, network with each other and speak directly with vendors.

The Adirondack Building Conference is a day-long conference and vendor exposition designed to showcase ultra-efficient, sustainable building practices being used in residential and commercial building projects in our region. Topics at this year’s conference include, heat pumps, marketing your business, funding opportunities and how to meet the growing demand of electrifying buildings. Featured speakers include Jacob Deva Racusin (New Frameworks), Tansy Massey-Greene (RMI), Jesse Schwartzberg (Black Mountain Architecture) and many more industry experts. The intensive break-out sessions showcase powerful local and regional success stories so that we may begin building the houses and buildings of tomorrow, today.  The $50 registration fee includes access to all workshops, lunch at The Wild Center, entry to door prizes, and end-of-the-day Raquette River Brewing beer tasting. 

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Keynote Presentations

  • The Clean Energy Transition in NOW: What's coming your way and how to get ahead of it

    Presented by:

    • Tansy Massey-Green – Rocky Mountain Institute
    • Alisa Petersen – Manager of Federal Policy Team at Rocky Mountain Institute
    • Jenny Jennings – ADK Solar
    • Courtney Moriarta – Director of Single Family Residential at NYSERDA
    • Erin Griffin – Director of NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Hub for the North Country Region, ANCA

    Congress just passed the largest climate bill in history, providing $370 billion towards sustainable and clean energy projects around the country. A huge portion of this money is going towards uncapped tax credits for businesses owners and consumers to electrify their homes and buildings. Demand for better insulation, heat pumps, home electric vehicle chargers, solar panels, and more is about to go up. This session will give you an overview of the new tax credits, rebates, and other incentives, and how you can prepare to meet the demand.

  • Buildings and Carbon: The Context for Climate Action

    Presented by Jacob Deva Racusin – New Frameworks

    Buildings are a central part of human life. How can they be intentionally managed as a carbon sink, in a way that improves human and environmental health. Jacob Deva Requsin in collaboration with Builders for Climate Justice, has worked to develop the BEAM Carbon estimator tool, which informs professionals about embodied carbon-related choices in building materials during the design process.

Breakout Sessions

  • Heat Pumps 101*

    Presented by Broc Jennings – ADK Solar
    Make an informed decision while selecting a new heating system for your home, businesses, or clients. This session includes heat pump efficiency, install, and maintenance debunking common myths along the way. There are a variety of incentives/rebates available right now and an increasing demand for heat pump systems regionally. Get ready for this regional shift in heating and cooling systems.

    *American Institute of Architects CE approved

  • Speak Your Mind - Tell the experts what it’s REALLY like to find, hire, train and keep great workers

    Facilitated by Jeremy Evans – Franklin County Economic Development Corporation
    There is a lack of people entering into the trades in our region. How can we promote workforce growth, recruit, train, and retain skilled employees? This session invites you to an open conversation with representatives from North Country Community College and North Country Workforce Development Board.

  • Marketing Your Business

    Presented by Nick Gunn – The Wild Center
    Marketing doesn’t have to be a headache. There are easy ways to leverage the reach your business has regardless of your budget. In this session find simple ways to solicit new business and connect with existing customers.

  • Local Low Carbon Buildings Case Study

    Presented by Jesse Schwartzberg – Black Mountain Architecture
    You can build cost effective low embodied carbon buildings here and now. We will review two case study projects in the Adirondacks – an office building at 16 Academy Street in Saranac Lake and a residence in Keene – to show projected embodied carbon accounting for both projects and highlight the material decision-making process. We will discuss how data was and can be used to make informed decisions about how to construct buildings to reduce carbon, as well as how to use the BEAM carbon calculator tool. Carbon and the environment are another lens, as are budget and aesthetics, to be used in creating good Architecture.

  • Top 10 Things You Really Need To Know - Energy Code

    Presented by Mike DeWein – North Branch Services

    “Top 10” Energy Code compliance issues and latest changes to the ECCCNYS- 2020, and what Code Enforcement Officials (CEO’s), Contractors, Builders and Design Professionals (Architects, Engineers, etc.) will need to know to help them with their work. These items are all part of the requirements of the Energy Code, including what is in effect from the last NY Supplement. The primary intent is to bring these stakeholders up to speed on what is in effect, and what will impact their businesses the most, as well as “Hot Topics” revealed during my research into training needs, and encourage them to begin thinking about how best to enforce or comply with these requirements. It also brushes upon Basic Building Science around these requirements, helping to show the advantages to compliance for all stakeholders. Special attention will be given to opportunities that exist to promote high performance compliance options for the Energy Code, including the HERS/Energy Rating Index Performance Path for compliance.

  • Contractor Round Table: Energy Efficiency

    Facilitated by Erin Griffin, The Adirondack North Country Association
    Join a discussion facilitated by North Country Clean Energy Hub staff on serving low and moderate income (LMI) customers in the region. Share your perspective on how to streamline and improve contractor participation in NYSERDA programs, with an emphasis on the Empower and Assisted Home Performance programs. Feedback will be utilized to identify barriers and solutions that improve the experience of contractors and LMI customers.

  • Deep Energy Retrofitting (The Old House Case Study)

    Presented by Matt Whitbeck- Whitbeck Construction & Building/Remodeling Education

    Construction in the Adirondacks often revolves around home retrofits and renovations. Our aging infrastructure can be given new life through intentional maintenance. In this session dive into a successful regional case study. A deep energy retrofit is different from building “new” but the goals are the same; in fact, remodeling an existing house is inherently greener than building a new one. Americans spend roughly $200 billion a year remodeling their homes. The scope of these projects varies from simply repainting a kitchen to gutting a house down to the studs. What all remodels have in common is that they are upgrading rather than replacing, rebuilding rather than building new.

  • Evolution of a Home Builder: From Lemming to Leader

    Presented by Brian Crowl – Crowl Construction, LLC., Owner
    How one builder struck out on a path to build a better house in a cold climate. See first hand the founding of a company, the mistakes that were made, the knowledge that was gathered, and the new methods of construction that evolved. Hopefully this story will empower you to become the change you want to see in the building industry.

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