Passive House Podcast

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Ilka Cassidy talks with Emily Mottram, architect, co-owner of Mottram + Maines, and co-author of Pretty Good House; Michael Maines, residential designer, structural engineer by training, and co-founder of the BS + Beer Show; and Aaron Jones, carpenter, builder, and founder of BS + Beer Canada. The conversation comes ahead of BS + Beer’s three-hour Delivery programming block at Reimagine Buildings ‘26: The Solutions on November 6. BS + Beer started as a building science discussion group that met at a brewery in Maine, and it now has around 40 active groups in the US, Canada, and Australia.

Emily, Michael, and Aaron talk about the gap between the people who design buildings and the people who build them, and why a builder who understands the reason behind a detail will do it right when conditions on site change. Emily argues against bid work and for paying contractors to help during design, so the team knows the wall assembly and the budget before drawings are finished. Aaron explains why a low-carbon building that only lasts five years is a failure, and why a well-built 1,100-square-foot house often serves clients better than a drafty 2,200-square-foot one. Their Delivery block at RB26 will cover durability and airtightness, explaining upfront costs to clients, building companies that are still around after the job ends, hot water system design, and the health of the crews doing the installation.

View the full program here:
https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-26/registration
Register for Reimagine Buildings ‘26: The Solutions:
https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-26/registration

www.mottramandmaines.com 

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective:
https://collective.reimaginebuildings.com/

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Zack Semke and Michael Ingui talk with Ilijana Soldan, Senior Sustainability Manager at HCM, and Timothy Lock, Management Partner at OPAL, ahead of AIA COTE’s three-hour Design programming block at Reimagine Buildings ’26: The Solutions on November 6. Ilijana and Tim both serve on the 10-member COTE Leadership Group, which guides a national community of more than 16,000 AIA members.

Ilijana and Tim explain where AIA COTE’s Framework for Design Excellence and Passive House already overlap, and where each community has something to learn from the other. The conversation offers a preview of AIA COTE’s three-hour Design block at Reimagine Buildings ’26. The first hour looks at where AIA COTE and the Passive House community already align. The second turns to the gaps between them, including a session on equitable communities. The programming will conclude with case studies from COTE Top Ten Award winners, including Coliseum Place Affordable Family Housing and Alice West Fleet Elementary School.

View the full program here:
https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-26/registration

Register for Reimagine Buildings ’26: The Solutions:
https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-26/registration

Learn more about AIA COTE:
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/aia-cote-committee-on-the-environment/
Committee on the Environment - AIA Community Hub

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective:
https://collective.reimaginebuildings.com/

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Ilka Cassidy talks with Meghan Lewis, Program Director at the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), ahead of CLF's three-hour Materials programming block at Reimagine Buildings ’26: The Solutions on November 6.

Meghan walks through CLF’s Embodied Carbon State Policy Playbook, highlighting states leading the way on policy and the challenges of turning legislation into action. The conversation explores who still needs a seat at the table, particularly developers and contractors who hold the cost data policymakers need. Meghan also shares how CLF’s 26 volunteer-led hubs and professional commitment programs like SE 2050 are helping spread knowledge and accelerate progress, and why embodied carbon policy must address housing rather than treating it as off-limits.

The conversation offers a preview of CLF's three-hour Materials block at Reimagine Buildings ’26, which will bring together industry leaders to explore the policies, tools, and innovations driving embodied carbon reduction. Sessions will cover state-level policy, whole-building life cycle assessment benchmarking, and the hidden carbon impacts of MEP systems, followed by innovations in ultra-low-carbon concrete and biobased building materials. The programming will conclude with a panel on making low-carbon, affordable housing a reality, exploring how incentives, carbon accounting tools, and practical building strategies can help scale housing production without scaling emissions. 

View the full program here:
https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-26/registration

Register for Reimagine Buildings ’26: The Solutions:
https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-26/registration

Learn more about the Carbon Leadership Forum:
https://carbonleadershipforum.org/

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective:
https://collective.reimaginebuildings.com/

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Ilka Cassidy talks with Jane Sidebottom, 2026 president of Women in HVACR and founder and owner of AMK Consulting. Jane describes the “new collar” women coming into HVAC from waitressing, retail, and nursing, many of them looking for stable pay and schedules that work with raising a family. 
She shares what employers can do to keep women in the industry, starting with defined career paths and flexibility for caregiving. Diving in to what excites her about where the industry is going, including window heat pumps that make electrification workable in low-income housing, and how listeners can get involved with Women in HVACR.

https://www.womeninhvacr.org/
https://www.amkconsultinggroup.com/

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective: https://collective.reimaginebuildings.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.

In this bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, Michael Ingui is live on the expo floor of the ZEB Summit in Dublin, Michael chats with attendees about what's scaling Passive House in their world. Guests explain how Passive House reached 7% of residential output in the Republic of Ireland, what post-occupancy data shows for Scottish social housing, and why Cairn Homes uses AeroBarrier to protect its construction schedule.

Thank you to Aeroseal for sponsoring this episode and supporting the team's trip to Dublin.

https://www.zebsummit.com/

Featured in this episode:

• Hugh Franklin, Aeroseal UK and AeroBarrier Ireland, and Roy O'Brien, Aeroseal
• Hugh Whiriskey, Founder and Director, Partel
• Dr. Barry Mc Carron, Managing Director, KORE Retrofit
• Leighanne Fay-Crowe, KORE Retrofit
• Steven Magee, KORE Retrofit
• Dr. Wolfgang Feist, Passive House Institute
• Caroline Ashe Brady, Passive House Association of Ireland
• Emma Fletcher, Octopus Energy
• James York, Principal Energy Consultant, Collective Architecture
• Ryan Daly, Daly Renewables
• Ann-Marie Fallon, Co-Director, Passivhaus Trust
• Matt Risinger, The Build Show
• Julie Torres Moskowitz, Certified Passive House Consultant and Architect
• Ingrid Yancey, Certified Passive House Designer

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective: https://collective.reimaginebuildings.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.

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Michael Ingui talks with Tomás O'Leary of the mosart Group about scaling Passive House across massive residential developments in Ireland and the UK. Fresh off a tour of Cairn Homes' Passive House neighborhood outside Dublin, Tomás shares the approach behind delivering certified Passive House at scale — from early benchmarking and training contractors directly, to building a team of certifiers with a direct line to the Passive House Institute. The conversation also touches on post-occupancy monitoring, tenant feedback, and Tomás's upcoming visits to Massachusetts and New York this October to share lessons with US developers and architects.

This episode was made possible with the support of Aeroseal: https://aeroseal.com/

https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/podcast/250-enhancing-lives-and-cutting-carbon-in-ireland
https://mosartgroup.com/

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective: https://collective.reimaginebuildings.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.

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Michael Ingui talks with Josh Dorfman, co-founder of Plantd and host of the Supercool podcast. Josh and Michael dig into some of the most exciting solutions Josh has covered on Supercool and discuss the growing recognition among lenders and insurers that high-performance buildings are simply lower-risk investments.

https://www.plantdmaterials.com/

https://getsuper.cool/podcast/

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective: https://collective.reimaginebuildings.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.

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Ilka Cassidy talks with Ace McArleton and Jacob Deva Racusin, co-founders of New Frameworks. Ace and Jacob share how their paths through natural building and site-based straw bale construction led them to develop panelized straw wall systems, and reflect on the industry's need to break down silos between design, fabrication, and construction.  Ace and Jacob also preview the Reimagine Buildings Collective's month-long bio-based panelization lab, featuring manufacturers from across North America.

Podcast with Jay and Ace: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/podcast/247-natural-materials-and-collective-power

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective: https://collective.reimaginebuildings.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.

In this bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, Zack Semke talks with Katrin Klingenberg, co-founder and co-executive director of Phius, about the origins of the organization to today's growing national movement. The conversation  looks ahead to PhiusCon 2026 in Phoenix, October 8-10.

Attend PhiusCon: https://phius1.zohobackstage.com/PhiusCon2026

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective: https://collective.reimaginebuildings.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.

In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Ilka Cassidy talks with Michael Jemtrud, professor of architecture at McGill University and chair in Architecture, Energy, and Environment, about his interdisciplinary research lab's work bridging design education and offsite construction. Michael discusses McGill's Reconstruct program and the development of tools to close the "over the wall" gap between architects and manufacturers. The conversation explores how teaching students to think like "virtual framers" could give the next generation of architects a real advantage entering the workforce.

https://aeechair.research.mcgill.ca/en/

Join us on the Reimagine Buildings Collective: https://collective.reimaginebuildings.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.