In this episode of the Passive House Podcast, Jay Fox talks with Mikhail Haramati, NRDC's state industrial decarbonization lead, about her path from California energy efficiency programs and policy work at UC Berkeley and LBNL, through the California Energy Commission and NYSERDA, to her current focus on embodied carbon in building materials.

They discuss the scale of the problem (cement and concrete alone account for about 8% of global emissions) and state-level policy momentum like Buy Clean initiatives and New York's Executive Order 22, which mandates EPDs and sets GWP limits for key materials. The conversation covers pathways to decarbonization—reuse and deconstruction, steel's reliance on recycled scrap and hydrogen-ready direct reduced iron, lower-clinker concrete mixes and SCMs, and mass timber—along with practical first steps for designers and policymakers: better data, smarter specs, and the right incentives and financing tools.

https://www.nrdc.org/bio/mikhail-haramati

https://collective.reimaginebuildings.com

https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/

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 shares on-the-ground interviews from Green Building United’s Sustainability Symposium in Philadelphia, highlighting regional policy, incentives, and high-performance affordable housing work. Ilka chats first with Rich Freeh and Emily Pugliese of Green Building United about Pennsylvania’s divided political landscape, lagging energy code adoption and advocacy opportunities including Philadelphia’s push to adopt 2021 IECC residential code. Ilka also chats with Justin Lovenitti and Norm Horn of New Ecology about Energize Delaware programs and case studies in Philadelphia.

https://greenbuildingunited.org/event/2026-sustainability-symposium/

https://www.newecology.org/

https://energizedelaware.org/

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.

This episode of the Passive House Podcast was recorded during the Passive House Network conference in New Haven, Connecticut, hosted at the first certified Passive House hotel in the U.S. Hotel Marcel. Ilka Cassidy chatted with Ken Levenson about the theme “Profit by Experience” and Architect of Hotel Marcel Bruce Becker. Ilka also talked to other attendees like Timothy Lock, Beth Campbell, Karen Ramsey, and Cheryl Saldanha. They discuss Massachusetts code-driven Passive House growth, grid benefits, trade training access, community value, resilience, and the need to address cost, risk, and more in-person collaboration.

https://www.hotelmarcel.com/

https://passivehousenetwork.org/the-passive-house-network-conference-2026/?utm_term=&utm_campaig...

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.