Josh Salinger is the founder and CEO of Birdsmouth Design-Build, building custom new residential homes and ADUs, as well as some retrofits and remodels. They focus their new construction on passive buildings and have been doing that — and certifying them through Phius — since 2012 or so, operating out of Portland, Oregon, in the US Pacific Northwest.

In this episode, we talk about best practices and how passive building techniques and passive house certification are, in a way, nothing more or less than a means of following best practices at every step along the way. We talk about the benefits of design-build, the five things everyone really wants from their building (and how to figure out which one to talk about first), and much more.

Connect with Josh and Birdsmouth:

• Josh on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-salinger-763a396/

• Josh on Fine Home Building => https://www.finehomebuilding.com/author/josh-salinger

• Josh on Green Building Advisor => https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/author/josh_salinger

• Birdsmouth on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/birdsmouth-designbuild/

• Birdsmouth on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/birdsmouthpdx/

• Birdsmouth website => https://www.birdsmouthpdx.com/

Lorrie Rand is a Sustainability Specialist at Habit Studio, a Senior Advisor at the ReCover Initiative, a Board Member at Retrofit Canada, and an instructor at Passive House Canada. Her first practice, Habit Studio, is an award-winning, women-led architectural and residential design firm based in Halifax, NS, focused on Passive House and deep retrofits.

In this episode, we talk about Lorrie's semi-accidental journey into forming two companies, how her passive house journey began with a client request, Habit Studio's commitment to building passive house homes at cost parity with code-built homes, Canada's big need for home retrofits, and more.

Connect with Lorrie, Habit Studio, and The ReCover Initiative:

• Lorrie on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrie-rand-80b03611/

• Habit Studio on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/habitstudio/

• Habit Studio on YouTube => https://www.youtube.com/@habitstudioinc

• Habit Studio on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/habitstudio/

• Habit Studio website => https://www.habitstudio.ca/

• ReCover Initiative on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-recover-initiative/

• ReCover Initiative on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/recover_canada/

• ReCover Initiative website => https://recoverinitiative.ca/

Elrond Burrell is an architect and owner of VIA Architecture, as well as the program director for Building Science and a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington's Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation.

In this episode, we talk about Elrond's blog, Passivhaus in Plain English, including how it has helped open doors to new work and opportunities, the unexpected move to teaching, the challenges of building Passivhaus in New Zealand, and the persistent warmth and supportiveness of Passivhaus communities all over the world.

Connect with Elrond and VIA architecture:

• Elrond on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/elrondburrell/

• Passivhaus in Plain English Blog =>https://elrondburrell.com/

• 10 Things I Hate About Passivhaus! Blog Post => https://elrondburrell.com/blog/10-things-i-hate-about-passivhaus/

• VIA architecture on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/via-architecture-passivhaus-experts/

• VIA architecture website => https://via-architecture.net/

• Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/wellington-faculty-of-architecture-and-design-innovation/

• Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation website => https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/wfadi

• Passive House Institute New Zealand (PHINZ) website => https://passivehouse.nz/

• PHINZ High-Performance Construction Details Handbook => https://passivehouse.nz/hpcd-handbook/

• Architype website => https://www.architype.co.uk/

• Passivhaus Trust UK website => https://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/

Adam White is the CEO and Founder of Intelligent Membranes, makers of the popular, passive house-certified Passive Purple, a liquid-applied airtight and vapour control membrane. Adam puts the product's birth down to his innate stubbornness, coupled with his willingness to say yes to things and then go figure out how to make them true.

In this episode, we discuss Adam's unconventional journey from carpenter to self-described marketing company owner (and craft beer co-owner), the glory of having your own passive house bar, when it comes to sitting down with someone and talking through passive house, and the importance of certifying and verifying results — especially with retrofits.

Connect with Adam and Intelligent Membranes:

• Adam on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-white-cphc-b911a876/

• Adam on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/passivhausme/

• Intelligent Membranes on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-membranes/

• Intelligent Membranes on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/intelligent_membranes/

• Intelligent Membranes website => https://intelligentmembranes.com

Alexis Jarvis is the President of SideCar Public Relations, a communications firm that specializes in real estate development, economic development, and placemaking. For 15+ years, SideCar PR has worked with everyone from investors and developers to architects, designers, lighting designers, and builders — anyone who touches the built environment.

In this episode, we dig into the various audiences to which Passive House needs to be marketed, and why it's so important to do so, as well as the disappearing differences between marketing and PR, how to build authority and influence legislation and public property development, the challenges of showcasing air quality in such a visual-first field, and more.

Connect with Alexis and SideCar PR:

• Alexis on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisjarvis/

• SideCar PR on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-public-relations/

• SideCar PR on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/sidecarpr/

• SideCar PR website => https://sidecarpr.com/

Rachel Rennard and Mike Bratina commissioned, own, and live in Clay Brook Passive House, the first final certified single-family Passive House in New Hampshire. In addition, their house was given a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score of 18 (since updated to 17!) — the lowest in the entire US (without renewable energy components).

In this episode, Rachel and Mike share their journey from learning about passive house, deciding to build one, finding the right people to do it, going through the experience of building it, and, now, how they want to (and have) use their home as a showcase for what's possible, helping to spread the word about passive house (a topic close to this podcast's heart).

Learn more about Clay Brook Passive House (CBPH):

• CBPH on Architect Hans Breaux's website => https://project.coop/clay-brook

• CBPH on Builder Maine Passive House's website => https://www.mainepassivehouse.com/gorham-passive-build

• CBPH on the Phius website => https://www.phius.org/certified-project-database/clay-brook-passive-house

• Passive House Accelerator article about CBPH => https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/inside-the-first-phius-certified-single-family-home-in-new-hampshire

• Green & Healthy Maine Homes article about CBPH => https://greenmainehomes.com/blog/gorham-new-hampshire-passive-house

• Architect Hans Breaux on Marketing Passivhaus => https://marketingpassivhaus.com/episodes/hans-breaux-project-co-op

• Katrina Belle from Maine Passive House on Marketing Passivhaus => https://marketingpassivhaus.com/episodes/katrina-belle-maine-passive-house

Katrina Belle is the President and CEO of Maine Passive House. Her journey into building and passive house has its roots in a thesis she wrote on corporate social responsibility while studying human rights at College, coupled with the fact that most humans spend most of their lives inside buildings.

In this episode, we discuss the power of building science to improve people's baseline life experience, the benefits of having legislation that encourages building to better standards, the need to adjust your passive house talking points depending on who you're talking to, and much more.

Connect with Katrina and Maine Passive House:

• Katrina on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-belle-5216038b/

• Maine Passive House on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/maine-passive-house/

• Maine Passive House on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/mainepassive/

• Maine Passive House website => https://www.mainepassivehouse.com/

• A great Passive House Accelerator article featuring a house built by Maine Passive House => https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/inside-the-first-phius-certified-single-family-home-in-new-hampshire

Hans Breaux is an architect and the founder of Project CO+OP, a worker cooperative based out of Portland, Maine. Following Graduate School, Hans set off from his hometown in southern Louisiana to walk the Appalachian Way. He had no idea he would end up staying in Maine and founding his practice.

In this episode, we talk about the importance of talking to people, whenever and wherever, when it comes to spreading the word about Passivhaus, and Hans shares his view that Passivhaus is the "easy button" for creating buildings that use the most current best practices based on our sort of collective understanding of how to create shelter.

Connect with Hans and Project CO+OP:

• Hans on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-breaux/

• Project CO+OP on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-co-op/

• Project CO+OP website => https://project.coop/

• A great Passive House Accelerator article featuring Hans => https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/inside-the-first-phius-certified-single-family-home-in-new-hampshire