PNNL

There’s the old adage “what you don’t know won’t hurt you.”  PNNL’s Theresa Gilbride begs to differ. What she’s learned from decades of work in residential energy efficiency research makes her want to tear into the walls of her own home.

Literally.

But instead, she’ll share her knowledge in a more formal capacity with the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA)—an organization that supports and educates residential and commercial builders nationwide. EEBA recently invited Gilbride to a three-year term on its advisory board and join the board’s technical committee. She’ll be one of a dozen or so scientific professionals who oversee the operations of EEBA and shape its annual High Performance Home Summit.

“EEBA attracts innovative builders,” said Gilbride. “I’ve attended the summits and participated in the Department of Energy-hosted leading builder roundtable discussions that take place at the summit. I’m always impressed with builders’ willingness to learn about and use new techniques and materials. These builders are using innovations coming out of the labs and industry, together with their own ingenuity, to turn out some incredibly impressive energy-efficient homes. Serving on the board is really a natural extension of my daily work at PNNL.”  

Gilbride supports two U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored programs: Zero Energy Ready Homes and Building America. While each are unique, their commonalities—developing and sharing science-based building innovations—are Gilbride’s specialty, as well as her personal kryptonite.

When asked if her experience has driven her to make changes in her own home, she laughed and said, “that’s actually the most painful part of the job.”

“I’ve done a blower door test on my own home and I know all the things I’d like to fix. It’s made for some interesting conversations with subcontractors, especially when I’m the one teaching them what the code requires.”  

Sounds like she’s a perfect fit for the job, no?