Green Builder Media editor Cati O'Keefe recaps IBS 2026 in Orlando, where housing attainability outweighed the headline tech, and covers new state energy codes, resilient product launches, and a Babcock Ranch clip with Kitson & Partners' Lucienne Pears.
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Cati O'Keefe: 2026. IBS is just wrapped up in Orlando, and while AI, trendy colors and luxury appliances are grabbing headlines, one theme kept surfacing across sessions and show floor conversations housing attainability. Hi, I'm Cati O'Keefe and you're watching the Week in Sustainability on the Green Builder Media Network. So let's start with the big picture. On the technology side, the home is getting smarter and more electric.
00:00:30:19 - 00:01:03:10
Cati O'Keefe: As examples, span showcased its next generation smart electrical panel, expanded into AI driven laundry and induction ranges dominated cooking conversations. Electrification was clearly positioned as a premium and indoor air quality. It was everywhere smart EVs, wildfire ready filtration, automated, Iirc, monitoring, smart water solutions the same thing. But here's the tension. As innovation surges forward, affordability remains under strain.
00:01:03:12 - 00:01:29:14
Cati O'Keefe: At one of the early sessions in the show, build exact, The Farnsworth Group, AARP and homemade tackled the issue head on under the banner Attainable housing means simplifying and giving consumers what they want. The research they presented during this session was striking. Buyers believe in affordable homes should cost around $158,000. Let that number sit for a minute. How are we going to get there?
00:01:29:16 - 00:01:58:25
Cati O'Keefe: The panel emphasized simpler designs, smarter building choices, reducing the friction in the design to delivery process, and leveraging technology platforms like build exact to cut waste, improve estimating accuracy, and streamline construction workflows. Advocacy and collaboration were key themes, particularly with organizations like AARP and homemade, focused on vulnerable populations and aging homeowners. And the affordability conversation didn't stop there.
00:01:58:27 - 00:02:32:14
Cati O'Keefe: Sam rations educational session cut costs keep quality six proven strategies for attainable homes. Reinforce that affordability doesn't require cutting corners, and in fact, it requires smarter systems. He put out a number of ideas, including right sizing homes, simplifying forms, optimizing mechanical systems, reducing unnecessary complexity. You can learn more about Sam's presentation at the housing 2.0 tab on our website, and sign up for his next free webinar on the topic through the housing 2.0 program.
00:02:32:17 - 00:02:57:25
Cati O'Keefe: Then came one of the most provocative sessions of the week, Reclaiming Affordability, convened by Green Builder Media and moderated by our CEO, Sarah Gutman. The panel challenged one of housing's most sacred assumptions. Price per square foot. Here are some of the top line thoughts from the speakers. Todd Usher of Addison Homes summarized that the dollars per square foot of valuation is a lazy man's arithmetic.
00:02:57:27 - 00:03:33:16
Cati O'Keefe: Lucien Pierce of Babcock Ranch showed the resilience affordability when homes survive. Hurricanes without damage will that's avoided insurance claims and catastrophic loss. John Watson of IoT Mo demonstrated how smarter water systems, right size plumbing and leak detection can lower costs and improve performance simultaneously. Amanda Semigallia of Timber Tech said we have started to think about engaging specifically with insurance companies to drive awareness to help drive down premiums for homeowners that are selecting more resilient building products to fortify their homes.
00:03:33:17 - 00:04:04:09
Cati O'Keefe: And finally, our co-founder and president, Ron Jones, reminded the audience, this is about more than housing. It's about hope, about intergenerational stability. It's about dignity. Now here's where the show floor intersects with this conversation. Affordability wasn't absent from the product releases, but it wasn't front and center either. However, which is connected to affordability, was definitely on display. Our editors blanketed the show floor, and here's what stood out to them.
00:04:04:10 - 00:04:31:23
Cati O'Keefe: I'm going to whip through them quickly, but head to the links in the description to get more information. Photos showed off its three and one in-sync dishwasher, a compact, space saving dishwasher with a high temp sanitization and ultrasonic produce cleaning that uses less than two gallons to do the job. It's perfect for ADUs and smaller footprints. Cosentino Lowe's features zero crystalline silica and heat resistance up to 428°F.
00:04:31:24 - 00:05:06:25
Cati O'Keefe: Deck Amazon is carbon neutral, UV stable, scratch resistant, and built for indoor outdoor durability, and both these products were absolutely beautiful. Westlake Royal's New Point, Saxony 900 Slate Roofing is a class A fire rated, hurricane resistant, energy efficient, cool roof option. It's built for climate resilience and sports new ground tones. Now that gray has had its 15 minutes of fame, induction hardware's all electric induction ranges is all electric cooking with pro pizza, ultra high heat and built in temperature sensors.
00:05:06:27 - 00:05:34:17
Cati O'Keefe: LP rolled out Burn Guard Free OSB, which is launching this year. It's a fire retardant protection blended through the full thickness of the panel. Dow tile had Haddon Stone porcelain tile made in the USA, VOC free, hypoallergenic, moisture resistant and one of the lowest carbon footprint hard surface options available. Plus, I had this stunning tile laid mock hot air balloon for photo ops, which was a lot of fun.
00:05:34:19 - 00:06:07:18
Cati O'Keefe: Evoque G3 heat pump system operates for -22 Fahrenheit, all the way up to 122 Fahrenheit exceeds the C advanced tier specs. Its extreme climate performance with high efficiency, and it breaks down into pieces for tight insulation areas and can be conformed in those tight spaces in multiple ways. Water had a heyday at the show. LCC introduced an inline water filtration system, Nuvo H2O assault free water softening system, and most a whole home water filtration system.
00:06:07:26 - 00:06:32:29
Cati O'Keefe: We are covering these products and many more in the March April issue of Green Builder Magazine, so stay tuned. In our Energy Code watch, we've got our eyes on Illinois. Illinois adopted the 2024 ICC in November 30th of last year. That means tighter envelopes, better insulation, lower energy demand all statewide. And they're already working on a 2026 stretch code for communities that want to go even further.
00:06:33:05 - 00:06:56:20
Cati O'Keefe: Rhode Island is moving to the 2024 ICC, but with a twist. Their version includes electric ready provisions. That means new homes must be prepped for induction cooking, heat pump dryers and future electrification. New York is taking it a step further starting in January 1st of this year. Most new single family and low rise buildings must be all electric, with fossil fuel systems largely phased out by 2029.
00:06:56:21 - 00:07:21:11
Cati O'Keefe: And then there's Washington state, where voters approved initiative 2066, rolling back portions of electrification incentives and restricting limits on natural gas service. So what's the takeaway? Some states are tightening energy codes and building electrification into the future, while others are debating fuel choice and local control. For developers and builders, this means one thing the regulatory landscape is no longer uniform.
00:07:21:11 - 00:07:47:29
Cati O'Keefe: Efficiency baselines are rising, electric readiness is becoming standard, and all electric mandates are expanding. And in some markets, electrification is politically contested. Our policy watch this week is about zoning in Idaho. Lawmakers recently took aim at housing affordability with a bold set of proposals that would override local zoning rules to make it easier to build missing middle housing like duplexes, ADUs, small lots and mixed use developments.
00:07:48:01 - 00:08:10:11
Cati O'Keefe: The bills were pitched as a way to boost homebuilding in a state that is struggling with rising prices, where the median single family home price has jumped sharply in recent years. Like the rest of the country. But in a close 5 to 4 committee vote, the Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee voted down most of the package, saying the proposals went too far, too fast and risked usurping local control.
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Cati O'Keefe: A parallel set of bills in the house, covering mobile homes, multifamily and commercial zones and streamlined lot splits, is still awaiting hearings, leaving Idaho's approach to housing policy very much in flux. Now, what if the homes we built didn't just reduce harm, but actually improved health, well-being and the planet? Well, that's the question behind Living Places, a concept project from Velux under its build for life initiative located in Copenhagen.
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Cati O'Keefe: Living places is a full scale demonstration of what low carbon, healthy housing can look like. The goal cut the carbon footprint of a typical new home by up to three times without sacrificing comfort, beauty or affordability. The homes are built with bio based and low carbon materials. Structural systems are simplified. Components are modular and designed for disassembly. Materials are documented for future reuse as housing faces mounting pressure around carbon health and affordability.
00:09:07:24 - 00:09:34:24
Cati O'Keefe: Projects like living places raise an important question if we can build like this today, why aren't we building all homes this way? Can I make custom homes affordable? Well, a founder who already tried and failed to reinvent custom home building is back with a simpler idea. Nick Donahue, former CEO of Atmos, has launched drafted. It's an AI powered platform that generates custom home plans in minutes.
00:09:34:29 - 00:10:04:04
Cati O'Keefe: The model is trained on real permit approved house plans. Users simply enter specs like how many bedrooms, what square footage, layout, preferences and drafted instantly produces editable floor plans and exterior designs. The price point around 1000 to 2000 for a full set of custom ready plans. Significantly less than hiring an architect not has raised money from prominent tech investors who believe this time the model is leaner and more scalable.
00:10:04:04 - 00:10:29:27
Cati O'Keefe: So if AI can reduce design costs and timelines, could it expand the custom home market and make personalized housing accessible to more buyers? Drafted isn't building homes is trying to remove one of the biggest friction points in getting one built, though? And in today's housing market, reducing friction may be the real innovation. Have you checked out Sarah Gutman The Valuation Metric podcast in her first interview.
00:10:29:29 - 00:10:54:18
Cati O'Keefe: She sits down with Lucy and peers of Kitson and Partners to unpack the real story behind Babcock Ranch, America's first solar powered town, and a national case study in resilience, wellness and long term value. You'll hear how the community was designed from the land outward, and why it stayed standing and powered through major hurricanes, and why the next frontier isn't just better buildings, it's better metrics.
00:10:54:19 - 00:11:10:00
Cati O'Keefe: Moving from price per square foot to value per square foot. If you care about housing, climate resilience, and what high performance actually means in real life, and look at it in a real life community, this is one you'll want to hear. Here's a quick clip.
00:11:10:02 - 00:11:46:18
Lucienne Pears: Where you choose to build matters 30 miles inland, 30ft above sea level. Even with those considerations, every single parcel at Babcock Ranch, whether it's a commercial parcel, a residential parcel or a municipal parcel, is required to be elevated and secure. A Loma from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is a letter of Map amendment, which then says, we guarantee that our house is built to this modern elevation, which recognizes the risks of a 500 year storm.
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Lucienne Pears: So there is definitely a certain amount of personal responsibility that has to be borne by both the developer and the homeowner in just choosing type and location of construction. Now, because we were so serious about being storm resistant, we did require all of our builders do require all of our builders to build to Florida green building coalition standards.
00:12:11:28 - 00:12:35:19
Lucienne Pears: Today, the Florida Building Code has really caught up to those standards. But we started construction ten years ago, so ten years ago, that was a big difference and a big change that we had to justify to not only the builders and the homeowners. And what that is, is a long term approach. We weren't building the homes for the profit.
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Lucienne Pears: We're not building the town for the profit or building the town for the purpose. And when you have that purpose driven approach and that long term look at things, then the initial increased cost was nominal over time. I mean, even if it was and I'm making up a number here, even if it was $1 billion more on day one, the lack of damage, lack of claims, lack of power loss, lack of downtime, lack of of inoperable time was eliminated.
00:13:12:07 - 00:13:41:12
Cati O'Keefe: Our latest cognition Hot take shows that access to outdoor living space is strongly correlated with higher homeowner satisfaction and perceived home value. Features like patios, balconies and views of nature consistently rank among the top drivers of emotional well-being, often far ahead of purely ascetic upgrades. Buyers also report lower stress and stronger mental health benefits in homes with daylight, fresh air access and indoor outdoor flow.
00:13:41:16 - 00:14:10:11
Cati O'Keefe: Get more data on the cognition tab on our website. In. New report from the Conference Board finds that many US CEOs are dialing back public sustainability commitments in 2026, while international CEOs are doubling down on climate and ESG strategies. The shift reflects mounting political pressure and short term economic headwinds in the US, even as global markets continue integrating sustainability into long term growth strategies.
00:14:10:14 - 00:14:40:02
Cati O'Keefe: But there's an important nuance here. As sustainability becomes less about branding and more about operational performance tied directly to efficiency, risk reduction and profitability, it may actually grow stronger and more resilient over time. CEO Sara Gutmann says it's interesting to see international CEOs leaning into sustainable strategies while U.S. CEOs are retreating. But I do like the sustainability is becoming operational and tied directly to profitability.
00:14:40:03 - 00:15:13:21
Cati O'Keefe: That's how it will grow in the long term and with stand the headwinds. What if high performance housing wasn't just for luxury buyers, but for the workforce? It keeps our communities running. Our vision house, Hickory Grove Project explores exactly that. Located in Hickory, North Carolina, this project challenges the idea that sustainability and attainability are at odds. Instead, it demonstrates how thoughtful design, energy efficiency, and resilient construction can support workforce housing that's healthy, durable, and economically smart.
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Cati O'Keefe: Because teachers, health care workers, first responders, and skilled trades professionals deserve homes that have lower utility bills, improved indoor air quality and stand up to extreme weather, they don't need homes built just to the minimum code. You can read more about the vision House Hickory Grove project, and why workforce housing may be the most important sustainability story of the next decade.
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Cati O'Keefe: On our website on the vision House projects tab. Here are some events and reminders. The ResNet annual conference is March 17th through 20th in San Antonio. Eva is now accepting presentation abstracts for the 2026 Eva summit. The session should be science, forward, forward thinking and advanced high performance building. Go to IBA to submit. The 2026 New York State Green Building Conference will be March 5th and sixth in Syracuse.
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Cati O'Keefe: Thanks for listening. This news wrap up drops every Wednesday. Subscribe, share and help us grow the Green Builder Media Network.
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