Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This webinar presents key points from the NAEBRS symposium, emphasizing design guidelines, components, and construction details for architects, engineers, designers, builders, and homeowners to create buildings that utilize ambient energy (from the sun, sky, air, and ground) rather than fossil fuels or electricity.
Can we design and build in this manner to reduce energy consumption, alleviate grid strain, and enhance comfort in all climate zones and across all projects?
Continuing Education Units (CEUS) submitted 1 hour in*
• NEW - International Code Council (ICC)
• Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)
• Building Performance Institute (BPI) NonWholeHouse
• American Institute of Architects - AIA (HSW)**
• Certified Green Professional (NARI & CGP) Certified
• GreenHome Professional (CGHP) Pillar(s): Energy, Health, Materials, Place
• American Institute of Building Designers (AIBD)
• Building Science Institute (BSI) Verifier
• Passive House Consultant US (CPHC) Society of
• American Registered Architects (SARA)
**State Architect / Builder License may be applicable
Lessons Learned:
1. **Understand** that utilizing ambient energy systems can significantly improve health by providing cleaner and safer indoor air quality through enhanced heating, cooling, and ventilation methods.
2. **Analyze** the safety measures necessary for integrating ambient energy systems to ensure structural integrity and minimize hazards during the construction process.
3. **Introduce** principles of sustainable design that promote welfare by creating comfortable living environments that reduce reliance on fossil fuels and enhance overall quality of life.
4. **Articulate** the importance of overcoming barriers to the widespread adoption of ambient energy solutions, which can lead to more equitable access to energy resources for all communities.
Need CEUS?
Take the Quiz here:
greenhomeinstitute.thinkific.com/courses/ambient-buildings-that-heat-by-nature-naebrs-conference
Speakers
Julian Wang, Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Architectural Engineering Department, Director of Research Integrity and Scholarly Ethics, Office of the Senior Vice President for Research, Affiliated Professor at Materials Research Institute, Affiliated Professor in the Architectural Design Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Julian’s research centers on sustainable building systems, advanced envelope materials, climate resilience, and indoor environmental health. Supported by the U.S. NSF and NIH, his team explores fundamental phenomena such as material-light interactions at the nanoscale, human visual and thermal responses, and solar photothermal and photovoltaic effects. On the applied side, his group develops and retrofits building envelope systems to enhance energy efficiency, integrate solar energy, and improve indoor and outdoor health outcomes—backed by support from HUD, USDA, EPA, and DOE.
M. Keith Sharp, Emeritus Professor, ASME Fellow, PE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Louisville (UL), received a BS from the University of Cincinnati in 1976, MS from Colorado State University (CSU) in 1978 and ScD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1987, all in Mechanical Engineering. He was Director of the Renewable Energy Applications Laboratory at UL, and is a past chair of the Solar Energy Division of ASME. He studied stratification in solar thermal storage at CSU. Current research includes heating and cooling of buildings entirely by ambient sources of energy. He has published articles in Solar Energy, the Journal of Ambient Energy, the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, the Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities, the International Journal of Sustainable Energy, the Journal of Energy, the Journal of Energy Engineering, and Solar Today.
Debbie Rucker Coleman, Sun Plans is a licensed architect, President of Sun Plans, and a Board Officer and Co committee chair of GreenHome Institute. She is a board member of the American Solar Energy Society, where she is Chair of the Solar Buildings Division. Her entire career has been focused on designing sun-inspired homes that incorporate passive heating and cooling strategies along with efficiency-first principles to create homes that are bright, comfortable, resilient, and nature-connected. She has designed 100’s of homes throughout the U.S. in a variety of climate zones. She received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona. Debbie authored The Sun-Inspired House, and her work has been published in Fine Homebuilding, Mother Earth News, Home Power, and Solar Today.
Mark Chalom, architect, specializes in blending handcrafted Traditional and Contemporary styles with sustainable technologies. Mark’s experience spans both design and construction of environmentally appropriate buildings.
This webinar presents key points from the NAEBRS symposium, emphasizing design guidelines, components, and construction details for architects, engineers, designers, builders, and homeowners to create buildings that utilize ambient energy (from the sun, sky, air, and ground) rather than fossil fuels or electricity.
Can we design and build in this manner to reduce energy consumption, alleviate grid strain, and enhance comfort in all climate zones and across all projects?
Continuing Education Units (CEUS) submitted 1 hour in*
• NEW - International Code Council (ICC)
• Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)
• Building Performance Institute (BPI) NonWholeHouse
• American Institute of Architects - AIA (HSW)**
• Certified Green Professional (NARI & CGP) Certified
• GreenHome Professional (CGHP) Pillar(s): Energy, Health, Materials, Place
• American Institute of Building Designers (AIBD)
• Building Science Institute (BSI) Verifier
• Passive House Consultant US (CPHC) Society of
• American Registered Architects (SARA)
**State Architect / Builder License may be applicable
Lessons Learned:
1. **Understand** that utilizing ambient energy systems can significantly improve health by providing cleaner and safer indoor air quality through enhanced heating, cooling, and ventilation methods.
2. **Analyze** the safety measures necessary for integrating ambient energy systems to ensure structural integrity and minimize hazards during the construction process.
3. **Introduce** principles of sustainable design that promote welfare by creating comfortable living environments that reduce reliance on fossil fuels and enhance overall quality of life.
4. **Articulate** the importance of overcoming barriers to the widespread adoption of ambient energy solutions, which can lead to more equitable access to energy resources for all communities.
Need CEUS?
Take the Quiz here:
greenhomeinstitute.thinkific.com/courses/ambient-buildings-that-heat-by-nature-naebrs-conference
Speakers
Julian Wang, Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Architectural Engineering Department, Director of Research Integrity and Scholarly Ethics, Office of the Senior Vice President for Research, Affiliated Professor at Materials Research Institute, Affiliated Professor in the Architectural Design Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Julian’s research centers on sustainable building systems, advanced envelope materials, climate resilience, and indoor environmental health. Supported by the U.S. NSF and NIH, his team explores fundamental phenomena such as material-light interactions at the nanoscale, human visual and thermal responses, and solar photothermal and photovoltaic effects. On the applied side, his group develops and retrofits building envelope systems to enhance energy efficiency, integrate solar energy, and improve indoor and outdoor health outcomes—backed by support from HUD, USDA, EPA, and DOE.
M. Keith Sharp, Emeritus Professor, ASME Fellow, PE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Louisville (UL), received a BS from the University of Cincinnati in 1976, MS from Colorado State University (CSU) in 1978 and ScD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1987, all in Mechanical Engineering. He was Director of the Renewable Energy Applications Laboratory at UL, and is a past chair of the Solar Energy Division of ASME. He studied stratification in solar thermal storage at CSU. Current research includes heating and cooling of buildings entirely by ambient sources of energy. He has published articles in Solar Energy, the Journal of Ambient Energy, the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, the Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities, the International Journal of Sustainable Energy, the Journal of Energy, the Journal of Energy Engineering, and Solar Today.
Debbie Rucker Coleman, Sun Plans is a licensed architect, President of Sun Plans, and a Board Officer and Co committee chair of GreenHome Institute. She is a board member of the American Solar Energy Society, where she is Chair of the Solar Buildings Division. Her entire career has been focused on designing sun-inspired homes that incorporate passive heating and cooling strategies along with efficiency-first principles to create homes that are bright, comfortable, resilient, and nature-connected. She has designed 100’s of homes throughout the U.S. in a variety of climate zones. She received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona. Debbie authored The Sun-Inspired House, and her work has been published in Fine Homebuilding, Mother Earth News, Home Power, and Solar Today.
Mark Chalom, architect, specializes in blending handcrafted Traditional and Contemporary styles with sustainable technologies. Mark’s experience spans both design and construction of environmentally appropriate buildings.
