For many years SIPA and the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) have been collaborating to inspire and educate the building industry towards environmentally friendly material choices. For decades, we’ve showcased the incredible energy performance of impressive homes and commercial structures while placing an emphasis on the materials used, not solely the photograph-worthy finished product. EEBA has emerged as an industry leader, library and informant on ‘green-edge’ products, introducing the next generation of building professionals to an enthusiastic, resource-driven, planet-first platform. SIPA is delighted this objective has always included SIPs, a performance-driven building envelope choice attaining the industry’s highest sustainability and energy performance awards for decades.

A Partnership of High-Performance Training
EEBA’s online academy offers lessons from SIPA’s Building Education with SIPs Training (BEST) program and the Master SIP Builder curriculum for builders who have already constructed their first SIP structure. The EEBA Academy offers courses on solar and energy storage, HVAC systems, indoor air quality and prescriptive pathways to high-performance, zero energy or passive homes. The 2021 Phius Prescription for Better Buildings course provides a ‘recipe’ of checklists and step-by-step instruction for building Passive House certified homes. A passive certified house is an extraordinary building accomplishment with a nearly airtight building envelope providing better indoor air quality and overall energy performance. Despite elevated building codes and vigorous performance tests, becoming passive certified is not an unusual accomplishment with SIPs. EEBA’s Phius course cites SIPs as a leading choice in high-performance building envelopes because these precision-cut panels provide an efficient and effective exterior barrier and insulant.

Here are three passive certified SIP examples listed in the SIP Project Library:

From the SIP Project Directory filter by “Passive House” in the Awards/Certification dropdown for more project information.

A Package of Membership Perks
In a generous show of our strong alliance, EEBA is currently offering SIPA members* free EEBA membership for a limited time. SIPA members can begin accessing all the member-only content on EEBA’s website today. This $150 valued membership includes event discounts, free or discounted EEBA Academy courses, discounted professional and corporate training packages, access to the EEBA Member Community and access to the podcast and webinar series. Complete your EEBA membership application today and use the code EEBAPARTNER at checkout. 

An Energy Performance Directory
Did you know that Team Zero is an EEBA branch company dedicated to tracking, charting and cataloging zero energy homes? The Inventory to Zero is a directory of high-performance zero energy, zero energy ready homes and net positive homes across North America. There are almost 28,000 structures included in the directory (including many projects built with SIPs), offering project stats and inspiration to builders and homeowners alike. Adding qualified structures to the map can be done with or without membership. Submit your project here. 

Three SIP zero energy examples from the SIP Project Library:

The Boards of Innovative Building Design
The synergy to inspire a high-performance movement requires spokesmen and women placing building science and innovation over typical construction techniques. SIPA and EEBA’s Board of Directors are pioneering engineers, business leaders and entrepreneurs from across the building industry. SIPA’s CEO Jack Armstrong has been serving on EEBA’s board for many years. Jack’s lifelong commitment to sustainability challenges traditional construction practices with factual product case studies and performance ratings. This approach ties seamlessly with EEBA’s mission.

The balance among housing needs, building science and eco-friendly materials has grown tremendously in these last 20 years. Consumer-conscious purchases and environmental product declarations have created a shift in the mindset of many buyers, and this has created an appetite for accurate, timely and unbiased information. EEBA offers an array of resources from podcasts to project directories, as well as the EEBA Academy which introduces green-practicing professionals to an array of inspiring techniques. For today’s planet and the generations to come, learn about and implement transformative building methods by visiting EEBA.