Passive House Podcast

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 10th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Craig Stevenson of Auros Group and NAPHN.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 9th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Shannon Pendleton, principal of Sanderson Sustainable Design.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 8th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Bronwyn Barry, outgoing Board Chair of NAPHN and principal at Passive House BB.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Passive House Podcast cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Norm Horn, CPHC, CPHT and Design+Build Project Manager at Envinity in State College, Pennsylvania. They discuss Norm's path from landscape architecture student to builder to reluctant energy efficient building practitioner to full bore Passive House tradesperson and consultant. They also dive into Norm's current project, an EnerPHit Passive House retrofit of a 12,000 square foot, 3-storey masonry building in State College. Near the end of the episode, Matthew and cohost Zack Semke refer to upcoming events and programming. Find links to those here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-july-19Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 7th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews In Cho, founding principal at ChoShields Studio.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 6th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Derrick Tillman, President and CEO of Bridging the Gap Development.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 5th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews José Sosa, founder of the Panama Passivhaus Chapter at Latin American Passivhaus Institute.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 4th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Beth Eckenrode Co-Founder of Auros Group.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 3rd of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Edie Dillman, CEO and Co-Founder of B.Public Prefab.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 2nd of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Lois Arena, director of Passive House Services at Steven Winter Associates. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 1st of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Michael Ingui, principal at Baxt Ingui Architects and founder of Passive House Accelerator.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Passive House Podcast cohost Zack Semke interviews Chris Ballard, CEO of Passive House Canada. Chris took the helm of PHC in 2019 and he brings a timely skillset to the role: deep knowledge of and experience with the levers of policy and government action. He has a strong history of climate-related work, most recently as Ontario’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change. He also served as the Minister of Housing, the Minister responsible for Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, and the Executive Director of the 60,000 member Consumers’ Association of Canada (Ontario), among many other leadership roles during his career. Chris shares his path to Passive House and dives into Passive House Canada’s exciting policy and educational initiatives at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. Many listeners will be aware of the leadership that cities and provinces in Canada are taking in advancing Passive House adoption. Learn how that work is being ushered forward, and coaxed into being, by a key Passive House institution, its staff, and its leader.Cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh and Zack discuss several upcoming events at the end of the episode. More info at: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-july-12Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Mary James and Ilka Cassidy interview Grace Park-Bradbury, general manager west and head of strategic initiatives for Blocpower. Since Blocpower’s founding in 2014, the company has retrofitted more than 1,000 buildings in disadvantaged communities in New York City, with projects underway in 24 cities. Grace discusses her role in stitching together financing incentives for their customers, ensuring that health and comfort are not exclusively available to those with money.To access the links for upcoming events that cohost Zack Semke mentions, visit https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-july-5Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Co-host Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Shaun St-Amour, education and outreach expert at 475 High Performance Building Supply, Passive House evangelist, and a frequent fixture at Passive House Accelerator as Q&A Concierge at the Global Passive House Happy Hour and Co-host of Construction Tech Tuesday. Matthew and Shaun discuss Shaun's family legacy in construction, his background in prefab, his journey to Passive House, his work establishing the Ice Box Challenge in Vancouver and its subsequent tour across North America, and much more. Watch this video of Shaun St-Amour and the Ice Box Challenge team in Seattle, WA for the 2017 installation as part of the Seattle Design Festival: https://youtu.be/kZZM17L-uVcFor links to the events that Matthew and Co-host Zack Semke discuss at the end of the episode, visit: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-june-21Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, co-host Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews architect Kyle Mills, Director of BluKube Architecture in Sydney, Australia, and pioneer of both Passive House practice and education Down Under. Their conversation touches on Kylie's early builder apprenticeship with her father and the insights that has brought to her work with tradespeople onsite, her experience watching the trades in Australia ramp up on Passive House practice enough to start enabling deeper Passive House retrofits, and her thoughts about the future of Passive House in Australia.Near the end of the episode, Matthew and cohost Zack Semke discuss upcoming events, details about which can be found here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-june-21Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this, the first special Passive House Component episode of the Passive House Podcast, cohost Zack Semke speaks with Rob Conboy, CEO of Glavel, an industry innovator and founding sponsor of Passive House Accelerator. Rob and Zack dive into Glavel’s origin story, its commitment to 100% clean energy use in the production of its foam glass gravel, the firm's moves to weave equity and inclusion into its company DNA, and its quest to eliminate operational and embodied carbon emissions from buildings throughout North America. Glavel takes recycled glass and transforms it into a low embodied carbon, insulative gravel that replaces both gravel and foam board insulation at the foundations of Passive House buildings. It’s revolutionary stuff, and Rob and his team are harnessing that revolutionary spirit to build a manufacturing operation that will accelerate the transition to healthy, resilient, and climate-wise buildings. Have a listen!Check out the video version of this special episode here: https://youtu.be/w3inUmTDYv8Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Mary James and Ilka Cassidy talk with Meleny Thomas, executive director of the South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT), about the organization’s mission to create community-led development and her decision to target Passive House for their initial development of 10 new homes. The choice sets a precedent for healthy homes not being restricted to affluent communities, Thomas says, in discussing how she first heard about Passive House and why she chose it as a target. SBCLT grew out of a decade of grassroots and youth organizing in a community burdened by unsafe, unaffordable housing and toxic environmental hazards. Thomas has more than 15 years of experience building community-based organizations and serving families and has a Master’s in nonprofit management and leadership.Find links to upcoming events here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-june-13Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Passive House Podcast cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Brian Guinan, Certified Passive House Consultant, Certified Passive House Tradesperson, and Owner/Director of ISMART Building Group in Perth, Australia. The two discuss Brian’s apprenticeship as a builder in his native Ireland, his time in construction in New York City, and his journey to Passive House construction in Western Australia. Brian shares his insights around transforming industry practice, and the importance of focusing on improvements to existing technologies and construction approaches in order to achieve the most rapid change. He shares lots more about his work to build awareness about Passive House and to build examples as proof-of-concept for builders, trades, architects, and homeowners. Matthew and cohost Zack Semke talk about the upcoming NAPHN hybrid conference, Passive House For All, that will take place on June 10 and 11, 2021. For links to this event as well as many other upcoming Passive House gatherings and trainings, visit: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-june -7Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

José Sosa trained as a structural architect in Panama City before attending New York City College to complete a Masters in Sustainability in the Urban Environment. Professionally, he’s worked in both Panama and New York, often on high-performance projects. As well as working as an architect, José has also supported other designers with the specification and supply of high performance windows, often for Passive House projects. José became a Certified Passive House Designer in 2018 and the following year he founded the Panama Chapter of the Latin American Passivhaus Institute.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Guest co-hosts Mary James and Ilka Cassidy talk with architect Petra Wörner, managing partner of wörner traxler richter, about heading up the design of the world’s first hospital targeting the international Passive House standard. Klinikum Frankfurt Höchst, currently under construction in Frankfurt, Germany, will open its doors next year. The 839,585sf facility recently passed the all-important airtightness test with an impressive result of 0.13 ACH50, bringing the hospital a giant step closer to certification.Mary, Ilka, Matthew Cutler-Welsh, and Zack Semke refer to upcoming Passive House events at the end of the episode, which can be found here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-may-24Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this episode, Passive House Podcast cohost Zack Semke interviews Bomee Jung, recently of NYCHA (NY City Housing Authority) and now principal of Topsight Advisors. Bomee discusses her involvement in early efforts to address climate action and buildings, the role that affordable housing providers are playing to reset our collective understanding of what “housing quality” should mean (ie. Passive House), and the ways that Passive House practitioners and organizations can help advance racial equity both in the AEC industry and in the built environment. Don’t miss Bomee’s contributions to our Passive House Policy Summit and her recent interview with Chris Benedict about the health impacts of compartmentalization in multifamily buildings. Zack and cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh also discuss upcoming events that can be found in our Passive House Week in Preview: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-may-10Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Sixteen years in the UK Royal Navy not only gave John Palmer a sounds background in engineering, he also gained leadership and management experience within a large and structured institution. When he made the decision to leave his Commander role, he retrained and applied his technical and management skills to building and then energy efficiency. It was only a matter of time that he came across and then fully embraced the building science of Passive House. In 2018 he left his role as Managing Director of Enhabit to become the Research and Policy Director for Passivhaus Trust. During this interview, cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh questions John about his recommendations for Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), a common method of comparing theoretical building energy efficiency in Europe and the UK. Mathew and cohost Zack Semke discuss upcoming Passive House events that can be found here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-may-3Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

On Episode 37 of the Passive House Podcast, guest co-hosts Mary James and Ilka Cassidy interview Katie Faulkner, founder of WestFaulkner, an office with a mission for sustainable design. She is also a director at PT-Tech, a division of Placetailor in Boston whose initial focus is on the design and prefabrication of retrofit panels for triple decker homes.Katie has been working as an architect for more than 20 years and was named to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2020. Her work is motivated by an interest in sustainable, modular construction, centered on the intention to reduce risk and improve cost control. She was a founding partner of the Boston-based firm NADAAA, where her projects included the Daniels Building at University of Toronto, Rhode Island School of Design’s North Hall, and the R+D Center at the Beaver School. More recently, she was a Vice President of Design for Katerra, focusing on a mid-rise mass timber housing prototype. Mary and Ilka’s conversation with Katie ranges from the career opportunities that prefabrication opens up for women to the urgency of deep energy retrofits, and much in between. Her early work in healthcare design led to an abiding interest in optimized project delivery models, while always keeping sustainable design front and center. Katie’s decades-long experience is well suited to her current collaboration with Placetailor to bring to market cost-effective bio-based retrofit panels.Mary, Ilka, Matthew Cutler-Welsh, and Zack Semke discuss upcoming events that can be accessed here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-may-3Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

On Episode 36 of the Passive House Podcast. cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Robyn Wark, Manager of Advanced Demand Side Management at BC Hydro about the groundbreaking Energy Step Code in British Columbia. Robyn is a sustainability strategist, partnership builder, and coach on low carbon communities. Her sustainability work has won awards from Real Estate Foundation of BC, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canadian Institute of Planners, and the Planning Institute of British Columbia (PIBC). In 2013 she was awarded the PIBC Individual Award for Leadership in Advocacy & Innovation. The BC Step Code provides a roadmap of 5 steps to guide the AEC industry and BC cities from today's base building code to an endpoint of Passive House-levels of performance. This highest level of performance, “Step 5”, will become mandatory for all buildings in British Columbia by 2032. Because everyone knows exactly where code is headed, as well as the steps to get there, early adoption of higher levels of performance can be incentivized in a clear and rational way. In her conversation with Matthew, Robyn describes the BC Energy Step Code, how it came to be in British Columbia, and how its lessons might be applied elsewhere in the world. (She’ll expand upon these ideas at our Passive House Summit on Monday, April 26, too!) Read more about BC Energy Step Code here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/construction-industry/building-codes-and-standards/reports/bcenergystepcode_lessons_learned_final.pdfMatthew and cohost Zack Semke discuss upcoming events. Link to those in Passive Hosue Accelerator's Week in Preview: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-april-26Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In Episode 35 of the Passive House Podcast, cohost Zack Semke interviews architect Tom Eisele, recently of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Resiliency, and current policy advisor with New York Passive House. Zack and Tom discuss the momentous New York City Local Law 97 which caps greenhouse gas emissions for all buildings in New York that are 25,000 or larger—over 50,000 buildings. The caps step down to 80% reduction in GHGs by 2050, with hefty fines to be levied on building owners for buildings that do not comply. Local Law 97, assuming it persists, will compel all significant buildings in New York City to dramatically reduce energy consumption and emissions over the coming decades, and building owners will be looking for predictable and quantifiable means to achieve these reductions. Enter Passive House. This podcast interview previews ideas and themes that will be explored at Passive House Accelerator’s Passive House Policy Summit to be held on Monday, April 26, 2021. Learn more and register for the virtual event. Zack and cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh discuss upcoming Passive House events. Find links: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-april-19Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In Episode 34 of the Passive House Podcast, cohost Zack Semke interviews Passive House policy leader and accelerator Beverly Craig, Senior Project Manager of Low and Moderate Income Programs at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (Mass CEC). Zack and Beverly discuss the pivotal role that policy progress can play in spurring widespread adoption of Passive House design and construction. Beverly shares her firsthand experience instigating rapid Passive House uptake in her state, spurred along by programs like Mass CEC’s Passive House Design Challenge, Mass CEC’s Triple Decker Challenge, Mass Save’s Passive House incentives, and Massachusetts’ recently-passed climate law, and more. It’s safe to say that Massachusetts is lining up to become an epicenter of Passive House construction in North America, thanks in no small part to these programs and to the work of Beverly and other policy leaders. Listen to the podcast episode to hear her insights about what has made these programs successful and to take away lessons for use in your community. This podcast interview previews ideas and themes that will be explored at Passive House Accelerator’s Passive House Policy Summit to be held on Monday, April 26, 2021. Learn more and register for the virtual event: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/event-announcements/passive-house-policy-summit-i-new-constructionFor more about Mass CEC's Triple Decker Challenge: https://www.masscec.com/triple-decker-design-challengeZack and cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh discuss upcoming Passive House events. Find links: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-april-5A big "Thank You!" to our Sponsor of the Week, Sto Corp: https://www.stocorp.com/Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Ya’el Santopinto is an architect and associate at ERA Architects, where she leads ERA’s affordable housing retrofit practice. She is also the director of research and partnerships with the Tower Renewal Partnership, a non-profit sister organization to ERA that advocates for supportive policy frameworks around the preservation of Canada’s affordable apartment housing supply. Ya’el is the project architect on the inspiring Passive House retrofit of the Ken Soble apartment tower in Hamilton, Ontario—the largest EnerPHit outside of Europe.Mary James and Ilka Cassidy spoke with Ya’el about urban policies and the shape of cities, tower renewal, and the preservation of vital rental housing. Today about 800,000 Canadian households live in aging tower structures, which were built starting in the 1960s to accommodate post-war families. Tower renewals transform more than the buildings, as they breathe new life into the tight-knit communities that have sprung up in them, Ya’el points out. Taking a Passive House envelope-first approach to such retrofits creates a win-win-win for residents’ comfort, carbon savings, and for landlords. Listen in for more about ERA’s retrofits-only practice, its collaborative systems approach, and the primary research conducted by its sister organization, the Tower Renewal Partnership. For more tower retrofit details, read the Ken Soble Tower EnerPHit article: http://passivehousebuildings.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/PassiveHouseBuildings-Spring2020-Screen.pdf Or listen to the June 10, 2020 Global Passive House Happy Hour: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/video-graeme-stewart-and-yael-santopinto-ken-stoble-tower-retrofitThe publication, Tower Renewal: A Field Guide to Retrofits in Occupied Buildings, can be found here: http://towerrenewal.com/research-reports/tower-renewal-a-field-guide-to-retrofits-in-occupied-buildings/For links to the events that co-host Zack Semke mentions at the end of the episode, visit: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-april-05Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Kate Nason is a certified passive house designer in Melbourne, Australia. She works for the international environmental design consultancy, Atelier Ten. She's also a director of partnerships and major events on the board of the Australian Passive House Association and a part-time tutor at the University of Melbourne.Having had various architectural roles since graduating from her master's degree, Kate has collected a range of experiences, including working on some of Australia's earliest Passive House projects. Passive House Podcast cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh caught up with Kate to talk about her journey into architecture, how she discovered Passive House, and her vision for the future of her industry in Australia.Don't miss Kate's excellent report, Green Light: The Rise of the Energy Efficient Building: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/green-light-rise-of-the-energy-efficient-buildingView Kate's May 2020 appearance at the Global Passive House Happy Hour: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/video-kate-nason-melbourne-passive-houseSee the Gillies Hall project, Kate's first Passive House project, and the one that got the ball rolling for her: https://grunconsulting.com/project/944/ Listen to Andy Marlow (who Kate mentioned in the interview) and his conversation with Matthew for the Passive House Podcast: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-podcast-ep-15-andy-marlow-of-passivhaus-design-constructMatthew and cohost Zack Semke discuss upcoming Passive House events and trainings. Access those at: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-march-29Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Most Australians who know a bit about Passive House will know a bit about Clare Parry. If they haven’t met her personally, they will have been impacted by her leadership. In this interview, Clare shares with Passive House Podcast cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh how she had to travel to New Zealand to attend Passive House training because there wasn’t any available in Australia when she first became interested. And there wasn’t any Australia-based Passive House training until Clare herself set it up. She went on to become the founding Chair of the now well-established Australian Passive House Association and is one of only two Passive House Certifiers in the country. As well as being one of Australia’s leading Passive House professionals, Clare has extensive experience in a broad range of building rating tools, including LEED, Green Star, WELL and NABERS. She is currently the Better Buildings Lead at the innovative practice, HIP V. HYPE, in Melbourne. At the end of the episode, co-host Zack Semke refers to upcoming Passive House Accelerator events and the Accelerator's Sponsor of the Week, 475 High Performance Building Supply. Learn more at: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-march-22Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Laura Nettleton is the founder of Thoughtful Balance, an architectural and consulting firm based in Pittsburgh devoted to cutting-edge sustainable and high-performance design solutions. The firm has pioneered some of the most significant Passive House retrofit projects in the United States. Laura is dedicated to the idea that architecture should be simple, affordable, and available to everyone. She is actively involved in green initiatives in Pittsburgh, and in spreading the word about Passive House. She founded the PHWPA (Passive House of Western Pennsylvania) and was its first president. In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Nettleton joins cohost Zack Semke to discuss her reflections as an architectural innovator and Passive House exponent. This conversation touches on the role of buildings, particularly retrofits, in creating a better, more healthy future, even in the face of existential climate change challenges. Listen to the full episode of Laura Nettleton on your favorite podcast platform. After the interview, Zack and cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh discuss several upcoming events. Find links to those and more here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-march-15Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2021, we have something special in store for listeners of the Passive House Podcast. Guest cohosts Mary James and Ilka Cassidy launch their once-a-month series of interviews with women leaders and practitioners in Passive House with an interview with Nina Sharifi and Gabrielle Brainard. Mary James is Passive House Accelerator’s Director of Publications and the driving force behind Passive House Accelerator Magazine (formerly Passive House Buildings Magazine). Ilka Cassidy is co-founder of Holzraum System and specializes in offsite, prefabricated, low carbon Passive House buildings. For their first Passive House Podcast episode, Mary and Ilka interview two exciting guests who are collaborating on a retrofit guide for common building typologies found in cold climates. Nina Sharifi is an assistant professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture and the Director of the Applied Sciences and Technology Research and Architecture Lab. Gabrielle Brainard is an architect, facade specialist and educator. She consults on Passive House projects, conducts academic research, and teaches architecture and building science at Pratt Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.The envelope retrofit guide that they are collaborating on will provide technical guidance to architects in the early stages of net-zero retrofit projects. The guide focuses on the building envelope, a critical component of high-performance retrofits that is the primary responsibility of the architect. During their interview with Mary and Ilka, Nina and Gaby discuss the retrofit guide project, dive into an explanation of the field of architectural sciences and how Passive House design meshes with it, and explore the overlap of architecture, construction, and technology in Passive House project delivery. They also reflect on their experience as women in the fields of architecture and construction, and in working to catalyze the transition to high-performance, low carbon building. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Talina Edwards is a leader in regenerative architecture and Passive House design in Australia. She’s a leader of Australian Architects Declare as well as a board member of Australian Passive House Association. In 2013 she established her architectural studio, Talina Edwards Architecture, which has gone on to win numerous sustainable design awards, most recently for the striking Owl Woods Passive House project. In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Talina joins cohost Matthew-Cutler Welsh to discuss her journey as an architect and Passive House pioneer. This conversation takes us through Talina’s education at Melbourne University, her early connections to sustainability, the launching of her own architecture practice, and the maturation of that practice into one that embraces both building physics and biophilic design. Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform.Matthew and cohost Zack Semke discuss upcoming events. For details: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-mar-1And if you enjoy the Passive House Podcast or Passive House Accelerator’s other programming please consider joining as a Patreon supporter at: https://www.patreon.com/passivehouseacceleratorThank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Passive House podcaster extraordinaire and personality Ben Adam-Smith of House Planning Help joins Passive House Podcast cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh for an entertaining conversation about how Ben came to his focus on Passive House, his burgeoning communications treasure trove at House Planning Help's "The Hub", his observations about Passive House adoption in the UK, and the secrets behind his Passive House communications superpowers. Ben started his career in radio and TV production, including a stint as a radio presenter. But when he embarked on a journey to create an "eco" home for his family, he recognized the need for easier-to-find and easier-to-access info about sustainable design and construction. So he pivoted and launched a podcast about that journey. That podcast expanded to video content, a website, and now, The Hub. Listen to the interview to learn more! After the interview, Matthew and cohost Zack Semke refer to a series of upcoming events that can be found here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-feb-22Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

You may know Prudence Ferreira through her role as cohost of Passive House Accelerator’s Global Passive House Happy Hour. Or perhaps you’ve been her student, learning the ins and outs of Passive House design and building science in one of Prudence’s many teaching engagements. She’s one of North America’s top Passive House innovators and a global leader in high-performance building practice. Now based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she’s Senior Associate with the Carbon Neutral Group at BR+A Consulting Engineers.In this episode, Passive House Podcast cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Prudence about her pathway to Passive House (from professional dance to health food to corporate sustainability) and then dives into a fascinating conversation about the potential role of evolutionary algorithms, AI, and machine learning in accelerating the transition to high-performance building design, at scale, in the AEC industry. Prudence is a licensed trainer, curriculum developer, author for PHIUS, and teaches the CPHC training program and Passive House workshops throughout the US. She helped author the CPHC Exam, helped train over 500 CPHCs, and is a contributor to CPHC training curriculum. She’s also an advisor for Passive House Accelerator.Listen to the full episode about Prudence Ferreira's pioneering Passive House practice.For event links mentioned by Matthew and cohost Zack Semke, visit https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-feb-15Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Sian Taylor was one of the first certified Passive House designers in New Zealand and has played a pivotal role in Passive House adoption there. She first trained as an architect in the United Kingdom, at the University of Wales in Cardiff. She currently lives in Otago, where she started her practice, Team Green Architects. Her architectural practice has helped show a pathway for fusing high-performance building with design excellence and has helped raise the profile of Passive House design and construction in New Zealand.In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Sian joins cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh to discuss how Passive House design has become integral to her architectural practice. The conversation takes us through Sian’s process as an architect, the role that window quality plays in determining a home’s performance, airtightness testing, and more. Listen to the full episode about Sian Taylor’s approach here. Mathew and cohost Zack Semke discuss upcoming Passive House events at the end of the episode–find them here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-feb-8See this profile of Team Green Architects’ striking Oliver’s Ridge project: https://archipro.co.nz/project/olivers-ridge-team-green-architectsAnd don’t miss Sian’s Passive House Open Days video from Summer of 2020, featuring the design of her own home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrTlqaUqjBoThank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Anton Dobrevski was born and raised in Bulgaria, where he says that houses are generally not built well or well insulated. Nevertheless, Anton was introduced to Passive House at an early age by his father, a pioneering Passive House builder in Bulgaria. Upon graduating from high school, Anton moved to the Netherlands to study architecture at Delft University of Technology. During one of his first assignments as a student, his class was advised to follow the Passive House standard. While eager to do so, he found that was hard to find practical information and resources about how to practically apply Passive House to design.Anton believes that many architects have not necessarily been taught the specifics of how to design energy-efficient buildings. Added to this, many designers and builders around the world still have not yet heard of the Passive House Standard. Anton started the Passive House school to address these issues. A unique feature of the Passive House School is that it started online in order to reach a truly international audience. Three years on and one global pandemic later, the Passive House School is proving a success. In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Anton joins cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh to discuss his experience in launching Passive House School. The conversation also takes us through his journey of discovering Passive House, and how his father, who builds houses in Bulgaria, was an early adopter of building science technology.Late in the episode, Matthew and cohost Zack Semke talk about upcoming Passive House events. Details can be found here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-feb-1Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

This week’s Passive House Podcast serves double-duty: first, as a fascinating conversation with the accomplished Passive House architect and deep thinker Dennis Wedlick; and second, as a preview to this Tuesday’s (January 26) webcast produced by Dennis on behalf of AIANY CRAN that will feature a “mini film festival” of residential Passive House practice from four teams, followed by a panel discussion moderated by the Accelerator’s Zack Semke.Dennis is the founder of BarlisWedlick Architects, a firm he originally founded as Dennis Wedlick Architect in 1992. He began his architectural career with a 12-year apprenticeship to the master architect Philip Johnson. His architecture has been featured by the Smithsonian National Design Museum and has received numerous accolades. In honoring Dennis’ work, Habitat for Humanity in Columbia County, New York called him “a visionary, whose designs concern not only the health and welfare of his clients but the community at large.” He is the author of five books on residential design, most recently Classic & Modern: Signature Styles (2013), co-authored with Alan Barlis.Dennis is a pioneer in Passive House design in the United States, harnessing its power to tackle energy poverty. In this episode, he and Zack talk about Dennis’ journey working with Philip Johnson, to his residential projects in New York, to his work advocating for equitable access to high-performance buildings and energy security, especially in rural communities. Enjoy!Find links to events at: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-jan-25Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

While Brett Seriani began his career in Canada, he is now a Passive House pioneer in Australia. Before becoming a Certified Passive House Designer, Brett trained and qualified as both a structural engineer and an architect. With this powerhouse of experience and knowledge, he is well placed to offer a range of technical design services through his company, Seriani Designs.In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Brett joins cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh to discuss his relatively recent discovery of Passive House and his current graduate work examining the interplay between the operational carbon emissions savings of Passive House and the embodied carbon emissions savings possible through smart structural engineering. This conversation takes us through Brett’s history in sustainable design, and how he first discovered Passive House at a Builders Designers Association meeting in Victoria, Australia. He talks about his current work as a structural engineer, how he develops sustainable buildings for his clients, and how the demand for Passive House is increasing. He also mentions common tricky points in thermal bridging and thermal insulation, as well as other issues in building science. Listen to the full episode about Brett Seriani’s projects and his work in Australia. For links to the events that Matthew and cohost Zack Semke discuss at the end of the episode, see our Week in Preview article for January 18, 2021.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Lois Arena is one of North America’s top Passive House practitioners and has worked on many of the continent’s most significant Passive House buildings. In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Lois joins cohost Zack Semke to discuss her journey to Passive House as well as to offer a teaser for the Global Passive House Happy Hour presentation about VRF lessons learned on January 20. The conversation takes us from her days as a remodeling contractor, her work as a building engineering researcher and trainer, to her practice of Passive House design on large-scale projects as director of Passive House Services with Steven Winter Associates. She talks about her current work on a historic retrofit of the Pirelli Tire building in Connecticut, a brutalist icon that will become a Passive House hotel. She also touches on her work on the glass high rise Passive House (and LEED Platinum) building in Boston, Winthrop Center. Listen to the full episode to hear about Louis’ Passive House projects and her trailblazing work across North America.About the Pirelli Tire building: https://www.swinter.com/party-walls/pirelli-historic-retrofit-part-1/About Winthrop Center: https://handelarchitects.com/project/winthrop-centerPassive House Accelerator's "Passive House Week in Preivew": https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-jan-11Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Daniel Kress is a prolific Passive House educator, having trained over half of Australia’s certified Passive House professionals. In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, our first of 2021, Daniel joins cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh to discuss his work at Smart Plus Academy, the educational consultancy that Daniel founded and directs, as well as his work promulgating Passive House in Australia and beyond. The conversation takes us from his days as a carpenter in Germany, to his graduate work in Canada, to his career in Australia: first as a builder, then as a Certified Passive House Consultant, and now as a trainer. Daniel shares nugget after nugget of Passive House communications gold during the chat, imparting smart ways to explain the benefits of Passive House to homeowners and builders alike. Listen to the full episode to hear Daniel’s insights and lessons learned about both Passive House practice and movement-building Downunder.For info about this week's Passive House Accelerator Construction Tech and Global Passive House Happy Hour, see our PH Week in Preview here: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-jan-4Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast Sangeetha Sambandam joins podcast co-host Zack Semke to talk about her journey to Passive House and the major projects she has underway. Sangeetha, a designer at WRT in Philadelphia, completed her architectural training in India with an undergraduate background in physics. After working in Sri Lanka and India she moved to Philadelphia where her interest in the sustainable side of architecture took off. Sangeetha is certified as a Passive House designer by both Passive House Institute and Passive House Institute US, and holds a myriad of other sustainable design certifications and accreditations. Sangeetha talks with Zack about the completion of Phase 1 of the Park River multifamily low-income Passive House complex in Hartford, Connecticut. The complex will include 260 units of low-income housing across 4 phases using both PHI and PHIUS certifications. Listen to the full episode to hear about the potential for more low-income Passive House housing in Connecticut, embodied carbon, and Sangeetha’s dream project: dual certified Passive House and Living Building.For links to upcoming Passive House educational opportunities, see this week's Week in Preview. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In 2014, Luc Plowman’s consulting practice had just 2 Passive House projects on the books. Now, just over 6 years later, he has 40 underway. He’s witnessed Australia’s Passive House growth firsthand. Luc is the founder and director of Detail Green in Beechworth, Australia, and one of a small cadre of Passive House certifiers in the country. Before his work at Detail Green, Luc worked as a senior sustainability engineer and project engineer. In this episode of Passive House Podcast, co-host Matthew Cutler-Welsh talks with Luc about his perspectives on the Australia Passive House scene, the power of experiential learning in convincing builders and homeowners that Passive House is the way to go, and the “aha!” moments that he has witnessed as people engage in this learning. Listen to the full episode to learn how Luc demystifies Passive House construction and hear tips from his eventful Passive House career. Check out our Passive House Week in Preview article for links to the events and educational offerings that co-ho Zack Semke references at the end of the episode. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Julie Torres Moskovitz, principal at Fete Nature Architecture, joins Passive House Podcast intern/producer Sydney Fishman and co-host Zack Semke on this week’s episod. Bringing refreshing perspectives to the table, Julie talks with the co-hosts about thermal imaging as a guide to practice, resilience and social justice, blower door testing during construction, and more. Julies portfolio is expansive, including new construction to residential retrofits, FEMA flood resiliency and non-profit projects. In addition to being a practicing architect, Julie is the author of ‘The Greenest Home: Superinsulated and Passive House Design’, and an educator. Julie teaches the Eco Urban Systems seminar Syracuse University NYC and teaches at Pratt Institute of Design, where she is a Taconic Fellow. Dive into the full episode to hear about Julie’s first Passive House project in Brooklyn and the impact city-level action can have on the viability of Passive House as a driver of equitable climate solution-making.The conversation references a striking therm image of a Passive House retrofit in Brooklyn taken by Sam McAfee. At the end of show, Zack references several upcoming events. Details can be found in Passive House Accelerator's Week In Preview article. Note that the Happy Hour speaker for the Dec 16 will be Scott Kennedy and Gesa Zellermann (not Dan Nall), presenting the pioneering multifamily Passive House project, The Heights, in Vancouver, Canada.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In the run-up to this week’s Passive House Canada Summit (Dec 8-10), Passive House Podcast co-host Zack Semke interviews Vancouver-based Cillian Collins about his path to Passive House, the groundbreaking Passive House projects Cillian has in the works, and the Passive House educational programming on tap at the Summit. (Registration for the Summit is open until 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern today, Monday, December 7.)Cillian is a Senior Architect with Perkins&Will Architects and a Certified Passive House Designer with over 10 years of experience across a range of project types, including Passive House projects in Canada and Ireland. He’s also Chair of the Passive House Canada Education Committee, giving him an insider’s view of the upcoming Summit.With Perkins&Will, Cillian is involved in a number of Passive House projects at varying scales, from a stunning off grid mass timber cabin to a large scale university student housing project, both of which he and Zack discuss in this episode. Cillian also spoke about the opportunities and challenges around address embodied carbon in high performance buildings, and shared takeaways from Perkins&Will’s primer, “Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment.”At the end of the show, co-host Matthew Cutler-Welsh and Zack discuss several upcoming events, which can be found in Passive House Accelerator's Week in Preview article. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this week's episode of the Passive House Podcast, host Matthew Cutler Welsh interviews Andy Marlow. Andy is passionate about design, sustainability and affordability. He trained as an architect at the University of New South Wales in Australia and throughout his professional career, he’s been working to incorporate ideas about sustainability into his work. As a Director at Envirotecture, Andy has been influential in providing design and consulting services for people who want buildings that work well, feel good, and are culturally appropriate. At the beginning of 2020, some of the team at Envirotecture created Passivhaus Design & Construct with the purpose of focusing solely on providing Passive Houses for the Australian market. “…if you must be inside a building, it should make your life better; a passivhaus does that!” The firm aims to create affordable, healthy, beautiful, comfortable, quality, quiet, future-ready buildings. They rely on skill, passion and relationships to continually improve and to deliver innovative design solutions tailored for Australia's climate.Andy is also the Education and Training Director at the Australian Passive House Association.At the end of the episode, co-host Zack Semke mentions several upcoming Passive House-related events. Find them in Passive House Accelerator's Week in Preview.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

This week host of the Passive House Podcast Zack Semke interviews Tessa Bradley (previously Smith), a pioneer of Passive House in the Pacific Northwest. In her 20s Tessa became co-owner of the Artisans Group, at the time a design-build firm, now a design-only firm. Artisans Group quickly became a leading designer and builder of beautiful, modernist, yet financially accessible Passive House homes in the Northwest, winning many design awards in the process. Tessa has won multiple Best Project by a Young Professional Under 35 awards from PHIUS. Beyond being a talented designer, Tessa is a great communicator about Passive House with clients and non-designers. Her entrepreneurial nature and hard work have paid off, with Artisans Group enjoying an expansive portfolio of work. Tessa talks with Zack about the presentation by Katrin Klingenberg at a Seattle library that launched Tessa into Passive House, her early days in Passive House design, and her sales pitch to clients (it’s just a good building wrapped in a big wooly sweater). Tessa also dives into her firm’s forays into prefab. Visit the Accelerator's Week in Preview article for links to the events that Zack mentions near the end of the show. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this episode, Passive House Podcast host Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Peter Bielski, owner of Ethos Homes in New Zealand, about his experience building single family Passive House projects in a construction industry landscape of bare minimum building energy code requirements. Peter cut his teeth in construction in Germany, where he built homes with a major prefabricated homes operation that delivered over 900 homes per year. When he returned to New Zealand, Peter initially experimented with prefab in New Zealand, always guided by Passive House principles. Hear his story about his journey back to custom stick-built construction, and his full commitment to Passive House performance—its challenges and its rewards as a homebuilder and small business owner.Visit the Accelerator's Week in Preview article for links to the events that Zack mentions near the end of the show. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this episode, Passive House Podcast co-host Zack Semke interviews Dr. Diana Ürge-Vorsatz of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They dive into the findings of Ürge-Vorsatz's recent paper, "Advances Toward a Net-Zero Global Building Sector", including implications for both new construction and deep energy retrofits as parts of the transition to zero emissions in buildings. Visit the Accelerator's Week in Preview article for links to most of the events that Zack mentions near the end of the show. Here are the links to the Pattern Language from Passive House course and NAPHN's save the date announcement for its 2021 conference.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this episode, Passive House Podcast host Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Ken Levenson, Co-Founder of 475 High Performance Building Supply and Executive Director of the North American Passive House Network (NAPHN). The conversation explores Ken’s early architecture practice in New York in the 80s and 90s, his climate awakening after watching “An Inconvenient Truth,” and his later discovery of Passive House in 2009. This discovery fueled Ken’s drive to co-found 475 with Floris Keverling Buisman and later NAPHN with a group of other North American advocates. Describing Passive House as “an approach to building and architecture that's actually proportionate with the crisis that we're facing,” Ken shares both his bullishness about the growth of Passive House as well as his deep alarm about the climate crisis. It’s both sobering and empowering, and well worth a listen. Visit the Accelerator's Week in Preview article for links to the events that Zack mentions near the end of the show. Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this episode, Passive House Podcast co-host Zack Semke interviews Kimberly Llewellyn of Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US, a founding sponsor of Passive House Accelerator. An engineer by training, Kimberly spent 5 years with Positive Energy, a highly regarded engineering and consulting firm that specializes in Passive House work as part of a broad portfolio. Zack and Kimberly discuss her journey to Passive House, the "in the dirt" training she received while in the field at Positive Energy, and her pivot to Mitsubishi Electric, where she works to accelerate a virtuous circle of Passive House-friendly product development, Passive House adoption in North America, and consequent increased demand for Passive House mechanical equipment by the marketplace. After the interview, Zack and Matthew reflect on the interview, attempt to explain the science behind heat pumps, and share upcoming Passive House events from around the world. For event details, reference last week's Week In Preview article on the Accelerator website.Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.