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.

Passive House design and construction is a team sport. It requires effective strategies and cooperation, but also precision in the field and the ability to tweak and recalibrate systems once the building is complete. A robust envelope may be the superpower of Passive House construction, allowing for downsized mechanical systems, electrification, and reduced stress on the energy grid, but these benefits are only achieved if everything works as intended.

In this episode, host Zack Semke shares selected clips of conversations from the Reimagine Collective. Featured speakers include Carmel Pratt of ZAZNRG and Passive House New York on post-occupancy data, Ed May of bldgtyp on modeling literacy, Skyler Swinford of Energy Systems Consulting with Lloyd Alter of Toronto Metropolitan University on refrigerants and water-based distribution, James Peterson of Petersen Engineering on heat pump water heaters, and Nick Nigro of Leggett McCall on what's next at the innovative and enormous Bunker Hill housing redevelopment project.

The Reimagine Edit is a special series of the Passive House Podcast that shares curated insights from our Experts-In-Residence at the Reimagine Buildings Collective, our membership community of building professionals stepping up to tackle climate change. Learn more about the Reimagine Buildings Collective at https://www.reimaginebuildings.com.