[Article] A New Chapter Begins

A version of this article appears in the Winter 2019 issue of Home Energy Magazine.

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After over 35 years of providing relevant, technical content to the building performance and weatherization communities, Home Energy will end its run after this issue. Starting with the Spring 2020 issue, the magazine will be called the Building Performance Journal. The goal of this rebranding is to hone our new format into a valuable benefit of the Building Performance Association’s (BPA’s) membership, serving as one of the organization’s flagship informational and educational resources. The new publication will become BPA’s technical journal, and work in conjunction with our newsletters and other media outlets to keep you abreast of the latest industry information that’s important to you.

Photo by IAQschool.online

BPA brought me onboard as HEM’s publisher a couple of months ago, just in time to pen this last editorial for the magazine. Coincidental timing? Hardly. My mandate is to be the agent of change. Not just for the sake of change, mind you. I’m here to help steward the evolution of a respected periodical into something more. My experience as a consultant, contractor, and trainer in the indoor environment industry for the past 30 years have prepared me well for the job.

In 2013 I founded Healthy Indoors Magazine, the magazine of the indoor air quality profession and became its publisher. My background also includes video production, marketing, and graphics design. I am as comfortable in a dingy crawl space or atop an oscillating manlift as I am on a computer keyboard. When I’m not playing journalist or producer, I still actively perform fieldwork in the IAQ industry, Tyvek suits and all.

Building Performance Journal will build upon Home Energy’s legacy of credible, technical content.

While the Winter 2019 edition will indeed be the last issue of Home Energy under that name, the magazine’s story doesn’t end here. Much of its content has already been archived in digital form on the publication’s HomeEnergy.org web site—and that’s not going anywhere. This array of information will be preserved and remain part of the BPA’s information resources for its membership going forward.

Building Performance Journal will build upon Home Energy’s legacy of credible, technical content. We will be incorporating new regular sections and departments, such as product spotlights and policy updates to cover the various industry sectors served by BPA. With an emphasis on the digital publication, we will incorporate rich media, such as videos, live social media streams, and existing assets, like direct linking to the Home Energy Pros Forum, to give you easy access to the news and information resources you need. We will also continue to publish a print edition that will include select features and columns from our digital edition for each issue in 2020.

Healthy Indoors Magazine will remain as a media partner for the organization and become another BPA-member resource, as a free informational pass-along to their clients. Advertisers will see some great opportunities to reach both industry practitioners and end-consumers as Building Performance Journal and Healthy Indoors Magazine team up to offer some special combined ad packages in 2020. This new publication advertising tandem will create an extended market reach and enhanced ROI for BPA’s advertising programs!

All of us simply cannot continue on our current unsustainable path in this world. Climate change is real. Our buildings are contributing factors in this crisis. How we design, operate, and maintain them can make a difference. The building performance industry has an opportunity to be one of the catalysts, to actually be agents of change by helping our nation reduce its carbon footprint and create healthier, more comfortable indoor environments. What we do as an industry is truly important. Bold thoughts? For sure. But necessary ones. We all need to up our games.

As we enter this new decade, fraught with challenges, filled with opportunities, we at the Building Performance Journal will be there to support your efforts, with our sincere commitment to providing you with the timely, credible information you need!

Bob Krell is publisher of Home Energy.

© Home Energy Magazine 2020, all rights reserved. For permission to reprint, please send an e-mail to contact@homeenergy.org.