Naomi Beal is the Executive Director and a founding member of passivhausMaine, which opened an ambitious new public-facing workshop, showcase, training, and office space in downtown Freeport in 2025.

In this episode, we talk about the decisions behind the new space, the importance of outreach at the local, community, and school level, and an interesting community-based project they hosted to help low-income households lower their energy bills in the wintertime.

Connect with Naomi and passivhausMaine:

• Naomi on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-c-o-beal-52372427/

• passivhausMaine on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/passivhausmaine/

• passivhausMaine on Bluesky => https://bsky.app/profile/passivhausmaine.bsky.social

• passivhausMaine on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/passivhausmaine/

• passivhausMaine's website => https://www.passivhausmaine.org/

Valentine Gomez is the founder of Gomex Engineering and the first certified passive house designer on PEI (Prince Edward Island, Canada's island province). He thinks of Passivhaus as a kind of gateway rabbit hole, which has since led him down further, deeper rabbit holes, focused on healthy building materials, and including his achieving a Living Future accreditation.

In this episode, we talk about Valentine's experience as the first to bring Passivhaus to a new area, his tactics for getting people on board, and why he thinks municipalities are missing a trick by not choosing to build publicly owned buildings to the Passivhaus standard.

Connect with Valentine and Gomex Engineering:

• Valentine on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentine-t-gomez-p-eng-cphd-lfa-4688572a/

• Gomex Engineering on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/gomex-engineering-ltd/

• Gomex Engineering on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/passivehousepei/
  
  
• Gomex Engineering website => https://www.gomex-engineering.com/

Lindsey Love came to Passivhaus via bio-based materials, marrying the two and comfortably working with both. With her new venture, Regenerative Building Solutions, Lindsey steps further into the role of teacher, advisor, and consultant, helping people incorporate more natural materials into their own high-performance projects.

In this episode, we talk about the gap between builders and architects when it comes to Passivhaus (and what needs to be done to fill it), the power of curriculum-based affordable housing projects, how and when to let your inner building science nerd out, and much more.

Connect with Lindsey and Regenerative Building Solutions:

• Lindsey on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/regenbuilding/

• Regenerative Building Solutions on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/regen-building/

• Regenerative Building Solutions on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/regen_building_solutions/

• Regenerative Building Solutions website => https://www.regenbuilding.com/

Dr. Wolfgang Feist is a professor and mathematical physicist who began his career in quantum mechanics and astronomy before becoming interested in energy efficiency in buildings and moving into engineering, which led him to the late Bo Adamson, a Swedish building scientist and professor at Lund University. Together, they co-originated and developed the Passivhaus standard in the late 1980s, with Dr. Feist going on to found the Passivhaus-Institut (PHI) in 1996, in Darmstadt, Germany.

In this episode, we talk about Dr. Feist's experience living in the world's first (and therefore longest-existing) certified Passivhaus, the changes in attitude and relevance he's seen over the years, the misconceptions that block people from embracing Passivhaus, what Passivhaus really is, and the best way he sees for the movement to continue to spread.

Connect with Dr. Feist and the Passive House Institute:

• Dr. Feist on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/wolfgang-feist-5287951b/

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

• Passive House Institute on Bluesky => https://bsky.app/profile/ipha.bsky.social

• Passive House Institute website => https://passivehouse.com/en/home/

• Passipedia website =>https://passipedia.org/

Tessa Bradley is the principal architect and CEO of the Artisans Group Architecture and Planning Company, a woman-owned, woman-led firm based in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Tessa was in the second round of PHIUS training, and Artisans Group completed the second certified Passive House in Washington State, so they've been in this space for almost as long as anyone in the US.

In this episode, we discuss the difficulties of talking about passivhaus and high-performance building in a way that's not so terribly unsexy, the value of having a place to show clients—whether it's a past client's home, an office or an apartment they can spend time in—and the importance of knowing when going for certification will be beneficial for all involved.

Connect with Tessa and Artisans Group:

• Tessa on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-bradley-96b49112/

• Artisans Group on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-artisans-group-inc./

• Artisans Group on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/artisansgroup/

• Artisans Group website => https://artisansgroup.com/portfolio

Trey Farmer is a Principal and Partner, as well as the Chief Sustainability Officer, at Forge Craft Architecture and Design, based in Austin, Texas. His Passive House journey began in Grad School, where he got his CPHC as part of the program. He is one of the team of friends who bring the Humid Climate Conference to life, looking forward to the sixth installment this coming Spring (2026).

In this episode, we talk about the nuances of applying the Passivhaus standard to hot, humid climates, cooling vs. dehumidification, the many motivations of the clients he's worked with on passive house projects, and the real sense of camaraderie and friendship that exists within the passive house community.

Connect with Trey and Forge Craft Architecture + Design:

• Trey on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/trey-farmer/

• Forge Craft on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/forge-craft-architecture-design/

• Forge Craft on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/forgexcraft/

• Forge Craft Healthy Homies on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/forgecrafthealthyhomies/

• Forge Craft website => https://forgexcraft.com/

• Humid Climate Conference website => https://humidclimateconference.org/

• Reimagine Buildings Collective (where Trey and I met) => https://collective.reimaginebuildings.com/

Michael Quast is the CEO of Passive House Canada. With a career that spans marketing, PR, executive management, and communications, including being executive producer for the successful HGTV renovation show, Holmes on Homes, and then later CEO for The Holmes Group, Michael feels that his role at Passive House Canada is something of a unicorn job, perfectly blending his personal passion with his professional abilities.

In this episode, we talk about Michael's experience building the first straw bale house in his town (Oakville, ON), 20 years ago, the importance of supporting and including anyone interested in getting into the field of better-performing homes, not letting dogmatic viewpoints exclude people, and his optimism for the future of the Passive House industry.

Connect with Michael and Passive House Canada:

• Michael on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeloquast/

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

• Passive House Canada on Bluesky => https://bsky.app/profile/passivehousecan.bsky.social

• Passive House Canada website => https://www.passivehousecanada.com/

Jeremy Clarke is the founder and CEO of Simple Life Homes and Simple Life Building Systems, based out of Bowmanville, Ontario. They combine the principles of passive house design with off-site (prefabricated) and carbon-conscious construction to produce sustainable, healthy home packages.

In this episode, we talk about Passive Houses, Pretty Good Houses, the challenges of being a "building enclosure technical integrator," the importance of gathering your team together in the pre-construction phase (especially if you want to leverage pre-fab), and which CCDC contract is ideal for making sure that gathering happens.

Connect with Jeremy and Simple Life Homes:

• Jeremy on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-clarke-0ab21113/

• Simple Life Building Systems on LinkedIn => https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-life-homes/

• Simple Life Homes on Instagram => https://www.instagram.com/simple.life.homes/

• Simple Life Homes website => https://simplelifehomes.ca/