Dr. Theresa Weston is a building science research professional specializing in the durability and energy
efficiency of buildings.
Theresa started The Holt Weston Consultancy in November 2020 to foster innovation of building
materials, and products to improve the resilience and sustainability of buildings. Prior to starting the
Holt Weston Consultancy, Dr Weston was a DuPont Laureate with the Dupont Safety and Construction
business, having worked for DuPont for 35 years. DuPont Laureate is the highest technical professional
level in the DuPont company.
Theresa received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and Masters and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering, both from the California
Institute of Technology.
While at DuPont, Theresa demonstrated a track record of anticipating the need for new technology
through the strategic analysis of technology trends and driving the deployment of innovation in the
marketplace. She is an inventor on four patents, two of which introduced new product categories into
the construction market: 1) Development of industry’s first “drainage wrap”, creating a new waterresistive
barrier category [US6355333B1 “Construction Membrane” (2002)], and (2) Introduced the
category of “formable window flashing” [US7351296B2“Stretchable Flashing Materials and Processes for
Making” (2008)].
Dr. Weston is a 25-year member of ASHRAE, having served on the Technical Activities Committee, the
Standards Committee and as the Chair of the Residential Buildings Committee, as well as serving on a
number of Technical and Standards Project Committees. As chair of ASHRAE 90.2 ANSI/ASHRAE/IES
Standard 90.2-2018, Energy-Efficient Design of Low-Rise Residential Buildings, Theresa led the
committee to transform the standard to a leadership standard. She was also a member of the project
committee which produced the initial publication of ASHRAE Standard 160 Criteria for Moisture-Control
Design Analysis in Buildings.
Theresa is active with industry standard and code development activities outside of ASHRAE, including
with ICC, and ASTM. She chairs ASTM E06.41 the Performance of Buildings Subcommittee on Air
Leakage and Ventilation. She currently serves on the ASTM Committee on Publications and as a
member of the ICC Residential Code Interpretation Committee.
Dr. Weston is a prolific author and industry speaker. Recent activities include chairing an
ASTM Symposium and resulting special technical publication on Whole Building Air Leakage:
Testing and Building Performance Impacts (STP1615) as well as presentations at ASHRAE, EEBA
and RESNET Conferences. She is the Vice-Chair of the ASHRAE sponsored Buildings Conference
Series.
ASHRAE Standard 90.2-2018 and the Pathway to High-Performance Residential Buildings
ASHRAE holds a unique position through its standards to define and shape residential building
performance. ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.2-2018 (replacing the Standard 90.2-2007) is a leadership standard
that presents a new approach to deliver residential building energy performance and which results in
buildings with higher energy efficiency than those built to the IECC-R. Consequently, ASHRAE 90.2 is an
option as a turnkey residential stretch code.
The path to creating ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.2-2018 as a leadership standard was initiated by a Standards
Advisory Panel recommendation to the ASHRAE Technology Council that set goals for a leadership
residential energy efficiency standard. Key to meeting the leadership goal is the delivery of an accurate,
flexible, performance-based tool to enable user creativity in meeting performance objectives.
Additionally, ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.2-2018 provides leadership by incorporating detailed verification
requirements, thus ensuring that the intended energy performance results are achieved.
This presentation reviews the structure, requirements and potential applications of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES
90.2-2018. The standard’s development and future path will be discussed.
Defining and Assessing Resilience
The increasing threat to communities from storms, floods, wildfire, and extreme temperatures has
increased the focus on the resilience of the built environment. Merriam-Webster defines resilience as
“an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change”. While resilience is a simple
concept, incorporating resilience into buildings and communities can be extremely complicated. To
evaluate building and community resilience it can be useful to examine it through a series of lenses,
including personal or emotional experience, financial impact and community impact. This presentation
uses multiple lenses to discuss aspects of resilience (mitigation, disruptive events, response and
recovery) in order to understand the ecosystem of standards, specifications, and codes used to define
and assess resilience.
Government entities, industry organizations, and standards development organizations are developing
criteria with which to assess and improve resilience. Many of these criteria have grown out of past work
and existing standards that address energy efficiency, durability and sustainability. These criteria range
in scope from the individual building to the community level. This presentation will review the industry
activities currently underway to assess and improve the resilience of the built environment, including a
review of the progress of code, standard practice and guideline development.
Women and STEM: Enhancing Innovation and Sustainability through Diversity
We live in a world facing critical challenges from the effects of climate change. To meet these
challenges, we need to access the entire innovative potential of our industry. Important to activating
our innovative potential is enhancing the diversity of current and future professionals in the Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). A survey reported in the Harvard Business Review
found “that companies with 2-D diversity out innovate and out-perform others. Employees at these
companies are 45% likelier to report that their firm’s market share grew over the previous year and 70%
likelier to report that the firm captured a new market”.1 One focus of diversity is gender equality. This is
recognized as United Nations Sustainability Goal #5: Gender Equality. In describing this goal, it is stated,
“Ending all discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, it’s crucial for
sustainable future; it’s proven that empowering women and girls helps economic growth and
development.” 2
A review of the statistics reveals that there is work to be done to achieve equity and inclusion in the
technical world. While women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, they only
represent 28% of the science and engineering workforce. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
show the disparity is particularly stark in the Engineering and Architecture fields, where women make up
only 15.7%.3 While it is easy to focus on the numbers, my successful 35-year career as a woman
engineer has shown me that it is not about quotas. Rather it is about establishing a social and
intellectual environment that encourages personal growth and performance. This involves recognizing
role models and providing mentorship opportunities. It is about each of us increasing our acquired
diversity – the diversity we develop by working with people who are different from ourselves.
This presentation will combine the presenter’s personal experiences as a woman engineer and mentor
with data and findings from business and social science research to present an initial roadmap on how
to encourage diversity with the result in increased innovation.
