Buildings + Beyond Podcast

It’s been a while! Buildings + Beyond host Robb Aldrich is back with a quick update on a new (and free!) video series for anyone who wants to learn how to install an air-source heat pump. We hope to return with more full-length episodes soon, but in the meantime, say hello at [email protected].

Air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) can work great, even in cold climates, but they have to be designed and installed correctly to be high-performance. At Steven Winter Associates, we recently worked with Jon Harrod (a previous guest on the pod) to create a video series for NYSERDA that demonstrates each step of a real-life ASHP installation including:

Planning, locating, and setting equipment

Connecting everything, preventing refrigerant leaks, and charging

Setting you up for success – making sure everything works and facilitating good operation and maintenance

See below for how to access!

Featuring

Host: Robb Aldrich, Principal Mechanical Engineer at Steven Winter Associates

Episode Resources

VIDEO SERIES: Cold-Climate Air Source Heat Pump – Installation Refreshers Guide

The series includes 15 videos, each 2-5 minutes, that can easily be viewed at your desk, on your phone, and while in the field. Here’s how to access:

Watch and save the YouTube playlist: https://bit.ly/ashpplaylist

Watch online on the New York Clean Heat Connect website: https://cleanheatconnect.ny.gov/installation-materials/

Need CEUs? Enroll in the “Installing a Cold-Climate, Air-Source Heat Pump” course on SWA Academy: https://bets.swa-academy.com. This course is free to those who live or work in New York State.

If you’re looking for more info on designing and selecting ASHP equipment, check out the longer “Air-Source Heat Pumps: Achieving Comfort & Efficiency in Cold Climates” course on SWA Academy: https://ashp.swa-academy.com

KEEP LISTENING: The Role of Heat Pumps in Low-Moderate Income Homes with Jon Harrod

Listen to our full episode with contractor, author, and electrification advocate Jon Harrod: https://www.swinter.com/podcast/the-role-of-heat-pumps-in-low-moderate-income-homes-with-jon-harrod/

About Buildings + Beyond

Buildings + Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.

Buildings + Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.

Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby

Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr

Many of us take good acoustics for granted. But it’s common for acoustic efforts to be the first thing cut from commercial projects—or not included in the design phase at all, according to Graham Waks, founder of Music City Acoustics. And when a space has bad acoustics, it can negatively impact the occupant experience.

Buildings + Beyond producer and audio guru Dylan Martello invited Graham on the podcast to talk about the science behind room acoustics, how they affect the occupants of a space, and the most effective ways to improve acoustics for several types of commercial spaces. Plus, we have a special introduction with Dylan and B+B host Robb Aldrich!

Featuring

Graham Waks, founder of Music City Acoustics

Host: Dylan Martello, Senior Building Systems Consultant at Steven Winter Associates

Guest Bios

Graham Waks is the founder of Music City Acoustics, a company known for providing top-tier acoustic treatment solutions for musicians, producers, and audio professionals. With over a decade of experience, Graham is passionate about helping clients achieve the best possible sound environments, whether in studios, offices, restaurants, or churches. Graham’s commitment to quality and innovation has made his company a trusted name for clients looking to improve their acoustic performance and sound quality.

Learn more at musiccityacoustics.com/about.

Episode Resources

From Music City Acoustics:

10 Common Questions About Room Acoustics, Answered: https://www.musiccityacoustics.com/our-blog/10-most-common-acoustic-questions

Office and Workplace Acoustics 101: https://www.musiccityacoustics.com/our-blog/office-acoustics-101

Episode Sponsor

Passive House Accelerator

Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator!

Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings.

Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series.

Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos.

We Want to Hear From You!

Send your feedback and questions to [email protected].

About Buildings + Beyond

Buildings + Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.

Buildings + Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.

Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby

Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

Featuring

Chef Christopher Galarza

Christopher is a pioneering force in the culinary world, known for his unwavering commitment to sustainability and innovation in kitchen design. As the founder of Forward Dining Solutions LLC and co-founder of EcoChef, Chef Galarza has become a leading advocate for decarbonizing commercial kitchens and championing the Green Industrial Revolution within the foodservice industry. Read more

Chef Duke Gastiger (pictured with Monica Gastiger)

Duke and Monica bring specialized talents and passion to RE Farm Café at Windswept. Duke’s prior corporate life with Sheraton and Hyatt Hotels embraced training with master chefs from around the world, learning the essence and nuances of each of their cuisines. Read more

Host: Kelly Westby

Kelly leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting. Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices.

Commercial kitchens are one of the most challenging spaces to electrify, but we need to take on this challenge in order to decarbonize restaurants, hotels, schools, hospitals, and other buildings with commercial kitchens. Is another green certification program the answer?

In this episode, Chefs Christopher Galarza and Duke Gastiger are back to dive into EcoChef—the first electric kitchen rating system and certification program with the goal to standardize how commercial kitchens are designed, built, and operated. They discuss the origin story of EcoChef, the structure of the program, the pilot project with Duke’s RE Farm Café, and why commercial kitchens need a dedicated certification program for electrification.

Keep listening: If you missed it, listen to part one of our conversation with Chefs Christopher and Duke, It’s Getting Hot in Here! – Why We Can’t Stop Talking About Electric Kitchens.

Special update: Congratulations to Chef Christopher for becoming a Certified Executive Chef (CEC), making him the first chef in history to earn this certification in an all-electric kitchen! Read more

Sponsor

Passive House Accelerator

Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator!

Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings.

Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series.

Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos.

We Want to Hear From You!

Send your feedback and questions to [email protected].

About Buildings and Beyond

Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.

Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.

Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby

Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

Featuring

Chef Christopher Galarza

Christopher is a pioneering force in the culinary world, known for his unwavering commitment to sustainability and innovation in kitchen design. As the founder of Forward Dining Solutions LLC and co-founder of EcoChef, Chef Galarza has become a leading advocate. Read more

Chef Duke Gastiger (pictured with Monica Gastiger)

Duke and Monica bring specialized talents and passion to RE Farm Café at Windswept. Duke’s prior corporate life with Sheraton and Hyatt Hotels embraced training with master chefs from around the world, learning the essence and nuances of each of their cuisines. With a strong entrepreneurial drive, Duke returned to his college town in 1985 to acquire The All-American Rathskeller. In 1987, Duke opened Spats Café and Speakeasy, a themed “prohibition era” eatery. Read more

Host: Kelly Westby

Kelly leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting. Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices.

Remember when gas stoves became a political issue last year? While all that public debate was happening, there were chefs around the world embracing the concept of all-electric kitchens and getting past the learning curve to induction cooking.

We don’t hear about gas stoves in the news as much as we used to, but kitchen electrification will always be a hot topic here at Buildings + Beyond! In this episode, we invited Chef Christopher Galarza back to the podcast to talk about the progress being made to transform more commercial kitchens into efficient, safe, and climate-friendly spaces. Chris brought Duke Gastiger, who built a net zero, all-electric commercial kitchen at his farm restaurant, to join the conversation.

Keep listening: Our previous episode with Chef Christopher Galarza, It’s Time to 86 Fossil Fuels in Commercial Kitchens, is available here.

Coming soon: Look out for part two of this episode all about the EcoChef electric kitchen rating system and certification.

Episode Resources

From Christopher’s Bio:

Forward Dining Solutions

EcoChef – the first electric kitchen rating system and certification

American Culinary Federation Pittsburgh Chapter

Understanding the Green Industrial Revolution: An Interdisciplinary Look at the Hospitality Industry

From Duke’s Bio:

RE Farm Café at Windswept

RElearn Cooking Class: Pepper Condiments – Sunday, Sep 22, 2024 at RE Farm Café

Induction Cooking:

Martin Yan Talks Wok Induction Cooking – The Switch Is On YouTube Channel

Gas Stoves & Our Health:

Population Attributable Fraction of Gas Stoves and Childhood Asthma in the United States – RMI

Asthma in the Black Community – National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Study finds combustion from gas stoves can raise indoor levels of chemical linked to a higher risk of blood cell cancers – Stanford Report

Pennsylvania CHECK Program:

Sizzling News for Commercial Kitchens: Get Up to $8,500 to Learn About Sustainability and Electrify Your Cooking – Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Sponsor

Passive House Accelerator

Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator!

Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings.

Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series.

Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos.

We Want to Hear From You!

Send your feedback and questions to [email protected].

About Buildings and Beyond

Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.

Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.

Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby

Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

Featuring

Carlos Sevillano

Carlos is a Senior Accessibility Consultant at SWA focusing primarily on residential projects. His key responsibilities include conducting plan reviews, field inspections, and providing technical guidance to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulatory and building code requirements for accessible design and construction.

Jeff Heitert

Jeff is an Accessibility Consulting Director and a 15+ year veteran of the team at SWA. He has specialized expertise in the complex scoping and technical requirements of federal, state, and local regulations and building codes that require accessible design and construction. Jeff oversees quality control and consulting services for large multifamily and mixed-use projects throughout the country.

Jennifer Low

Jennifer is a Senior Accessibility Consultant at SWA. She provides accessibility compliance and consulting services through plan reviews, field inspections, due diligence and barrier removal surveys, remediation development, litigation consulting, technical assistance, and training with focus on healthcare.

Host: Kelly Westby

Kelly leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting.

Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices.

Accessibility consultants work at the intersection of architecture and social justice. It’s much more than checking the boxes on accessibility requirements of laws and codes; it takes precision, dedication, and creativity to solve problems and remove physical barriers to access that have historically marginalized people with disabilities.

To mark the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, we invited three members of the accessibility team at Steven Winter Associates (SWA) on the Buildings + Beyond podcast. Combined, they have almost 40 years of experience as accessibility consultants! We hope you’re as inspired as we are by their wisdom (yes, wisdom; we talk a lot about this), lessons learned, and stories from the field.

Episode Resources

More podcast episodes about accessibility:

(ENCORE) ‘All-Access’ with Peter Stratton

The Devil’s in the Details: Common Accessibility Oversights

Blog posts about accessible design and construction:

5 Misconceptions About the Americans with Disabilities Act & 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design

Trends in Healthcare: The State of Accessible Medical Diagnostic Equipment Standards

5 Misconceptions About Fair Housing Act (FHA) Design and Construction Compliance

Top 10 Accessible Design Oversights: Hotels

VIEW ALL

The book by Peter Stratton, Managing Director of Accessibility Services at SWA, discussed in this episode:

“A Basic Guide to Fair Housing Accessibility – Everything Architects and Builders Need to Know about the Fair Housing Act Accessibility Guidelines”

Interested in joining our team?

Careers at Steven Winter Associates

Sponsor

Passive House Accelerator

Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator!

Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings.

Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series.

Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos.

We Want to Hear From You!

Send your feedback and questions to [email protected].

About Buildings and Beyond

Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.

Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.

Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby

Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas