Shows
Building HVAC ScienceEP226 Three Miracles and a Heat Pump: Fixing Retrofit Policy from the Ground Up with Abhi Katamneni & Nate Adams (June 2025)In this insightful episode, Bill and Eric are joined by Abhi Katamneni from Efficiency Canada and Nate Adams, also known as the House Whisperer, for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of home performance, policy, and how HVAC contractors can play a central role in the electrification and decarbonization of housing. Abhi shares lessons from his ride-alongs with contractors across North America, emphasizing how real-world experience shapes policy that actually works. Nate dives into his shift toward consumer education and the systemic problems he’s observed in program design and incentives. Together, they unpack how well-meaning policies ca...2025-07-1157 min
HVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastThe case FOR always including hybrids - the 9 use casesWe make the case for why hybrids should always be a part of the conversation at the kitchen table - by thinking through 9 different use cases : 3 types of houses (heatpump ready; heatpump + lite shellwork; heatpump + heavy shell work) X 3 types of budgets (high, medium, low)2025-01-2450 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS03E02 - The Case Against HybridsThe case AGAINST hybrids - dual fuel heating systems, eg: heat-pumps+furnace - from the perspective of contractors, homeowners and decarb policy. 2025-01-0441 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS03E01 - The Case for HybridsThe case FOR hybrids - dual fuel heating systems, eg: heat-pumps+furnace - from the perspective of contractors, homeowners and decarb policy. 2025-01-041h 13HVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS2E07: 9 Policies that Work for People Doing the WorkSick of stop-start incentive programs and 'contractor training' courses? Here are 9 policy ideas that - from the perspective of contractors themselves - can climate policy work for both contractors AND for homeowners. 2024-09-1352 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS2E06 The Sorting Hat: 3 buckets of homes and homeownersIs there an easier - and scalable - way to determine if a home and the homeowner are ready for electrification? 2024-09-0535 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS02E05: Can "free" energy audits help decarbonize homes?In theory, an energy audit can give homeowners a roadmap for planning home energy retrofits. But how does a "free" energy audit play out at the kitchen-table conversation between homeowners and contractors?
We outline a narrow - but perhaps crucial - role that (virtual) energy audits can play in catalyzing consumer awareness and education, leading to better outcomes for both homeowners and contractors2024-08-1649 minHVAC Boundary Spanners Podcast(Bonus Episode): Boundary-spanning is hardPersonal reflections on cultivating optimism while working on things that matter to us2024-07-3119 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS02E04: An accelerator for residential decarbonizatiom?Imagine - if you will - a national business accelerator with the mandate and responsibility for scaling residential decarbonization. What would it look like and what would its core activities be? 2024-07-3152 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS02E03: What the IRA does or doesn't do for home decarbThe Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US offers generous incentives for residential electrification. Will it move the needle? 2024-07-3132 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS02E02: Why rebates and incentives suckMuch policy attention is focused on providing generous (but short-lived) downstream incentive programs for homeowners - which have unintended consequences - shrinking value propositions for homeowners and contractors alike. Is there a better way? 2024-07-3123 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS02E01: Contractors are expected to perform miraclesHVAC and home performance contractors are expected to perform three miracles - technical, social and financial - to successfully execute residential decarbonization projects. Can policy help them achieve this consistently, comfortably and at scale? 2024-07-3134 min
Bars, Rhymes & Life54 - Eminem - Till I Collapse ft Nate DoggThis week we check out Till I Collapse by Eminem and Nate Dogg. Alan remembers the days of inescapable pop music. Abhi sheds some light on his top 5 rappers.2022-08-1134 min
HVAC Boundary Spanners Podcast(Bonus Episode): Tacit vs Explicit KnowledgeBonus episode on the epistemological challenge underpinning this podcast: how and what we know (or not) about what does (or not) work for residential decarbonization, and how do we get better at knowing better? If knowledge is socially constructed - i.e. we infer reality through jointly-constructed understandings of the world, what happens when white and blue collars communities inhabit different worlds?
The goal of this podcast is to span the boundaries of white and blue collar worlds to develop a shared understanding of reality, priorities, tools and solutions for decarbonizing homes. To this end, the Boundary S...2021-09-0419 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS01E03: The Four Horsemen of the HVAColypseFour massive selection pressures and existential threats are looming large on the horizon for the HVAC industry, namely:
Skills shortage. in part because trades as a career choice is undervalued by many families in a society where disdain for the undereducated is the last acceptable prejudice. Many companies in the HVAC industry struggle with recruiting, retaining and train a generation of talent that can lead the industry into meeting the challenges of today and tomorrow.
Commoditization of HVAC, where HVAC is sold on price and not on value or other distinguishing attributes. When the only thing left to d...2021-09-0350 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS01E02: The Church of the Kitchen TableThe locus of decarbonizing homes is the relationship between an HVAC contractor and the homeowner. We call this ‘The Church of the Kitchen Table’
Presently, all may not be well at This ‘Church of the Kitchen Table’. For one, the relationship has a lot of friction, because homeowners usually want the cheapest piece of equipment installed as fast as possible. Contractors - knowing this - have built a business model around turning a quick sale using only equipment they are familiar with. And when utility or government incentive programs layer on top of this, they end up simply a...2021-09-0245 minHVAC Boundary Spanners PodcastS01E01: The 85% ProblemThe road to decarbonizing every single home goes through HVAC contractors.
In North America, the perfect opportunity to decarbonize a home presents itself roughly once every six seconds when a heating or cooling equipment breaks down at someone's home. However, 85% of home heating and cooling replacements happen under duress. When equipment breaks during the warmest or coldest months of the year, homeowners making large budgetary decisions under duress default to picking the contractor offering the cheapest quote. This sets up a race to the bottom for contractors who are looking to make the fastest sale and the...2021-09-0138 min
Cosmic CutsIN SCREW WE TRUST VOL 4Welcome to Volume IV! This is a tribute to Robert Earl Davis, Jr. aka DJ Screw who was born on July 20, 1971. The homie blazed trails by slowing down tracks and chopping them up to fit the the vibe of Houston TX: humid hot days rollin in a slab, blunt lit. These tracks feature DJ Screw himself and a collage of artists from around the world who carry on the 3rd Coast tradition. Curated by @djdelsur
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artist - track
Houston ABC 13 Interview
DJ Screw...2020-07-281h 46