Laura A. Blau, AIA, CPHC (Certified Passive House Consultant 2009), CPHB (Certified Passive House Builder 2012), is a principal of BluPath Design, (a woman-owned award-winning architecture and  Passive House Consulting firm) and expert witness.

Laura’s leadership includes being a founding member of the Green Building program at Jefferson University. In addition, she presents at international and regional conferences on sustainable design and construction. Her awards include the Groundbreaker Award 2019, PHIUS Merit Award 2019 both for the Italian Market Passive House, 2016 Sprout Competition for a 16-unit net-zero energy apt building design, 2010 Green Builder award for Best Life Cycle Addition, the 2007 IIDA Honorable Mention for Sustainability and Energy Efficiency, 2006 Commonwealth Design Award for Sustainable Design. She formerly worked at MGA Partner on the award-winning Byrne Federal Courthouse lobby.
Laura was an award-winning fine artist before receiving her MArch from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. She co-authored Frazier Forman Peters: Westport’s Legacy in Stone, 2012, and the Passive House Rowhouse Manual, 2021 for Green Building United.

In this episode we talk about why we need to act now when it comes to building better homes, how to prevent scope creep, and what we can do to change the industry.
​
For more from Laura:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-blau-15688a10/ 
https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/podcast/passive-house-podcast-ep-84-laura-blau-blupath-design 
https://blupath.us/ 
https://architizer.com/firms/blupath-design/
https://www.allwecansave.earth/


2:00 Introduction into sustainability 
6:30 Laura Background
9:50 Passive House
13:00 What’s happening and how can we do better 
22:30 Brussels example - originally poor energy policies
25:50 Cost Phobia
33:00 Goals and Values 
40:30 All We Can Save

​David Dodge is an environmental journalist and a photojournalist who has worked for newspapers, published magazines, produced radio, and was the production manager for a Canadian nature publisher. He produced more than 350 award-winning EcoFile radio programs on sustainability for the CKUA Radio network. 
David has worked for not-for-profit organizations such as the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Pembina Institute. He served as a founding co-chair of Edmonton’s Energy Transition Advisory Committee and is also involved with Evansdale Community League in his neighbourhood where he’s led solar and energy efficiency projects. His community league gets all of its electricity from solar energy on a net annual basis.

​​Green Energy Futures https://greenenergyfutures.ca/ is a multi-media storytelling project that is documenting the clean energy revolution that’s already underway. It tells the stories of inspiring green energy pioneers who are moving forward in their homes, businesses, and communities

For more on high performance building:
https://consciousbuilderacademy.com
For high performance house plans:
https://www.theconsciousbuilder.com/pdsplans​

0:00 Introduction
2:21 David Dodge
8:20 Lithium Batteries
10:50 Recycling Solar Panels 
14:53 Solar Farmland put to good use
22:46 Energiesprong  - Dutch Inspired   
28:00 Transitioning from fossil fuels
39:46 What can we do to help transition

Dick Clarke is principal of Envirotecture, is an Accredited Building Designer with 45 years experience focusing exclusively on ecologically sustainable and culturally appropriate buildings as well as sustainable design in vehicles and vessels, and he has received many Design Awards.
He is Director of Sustainability and Past President of the NSW Chapter of the Building Designers Association of Australia. He is also a Past President and Board Member of the Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA), and is on the Board of Renew (Alternative Technology Association).
Dick sat on the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), the peak body representing industries committed to a sustainable built environment.
​
In this episode we talk sustainability, Passive House Australia, closed loop economies and global green tag, a valuable resource for learning about the products we’re using on site. Dick challenges us to change our mindset on conventional demolition to have a significant positive impact on sustainability.
Links:

• https://www.globalgreentag.com/
• https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/12/sustainable-development-goals-kick-off-with-start-of-new-year/
• https://www.envirotecture.com.au/sustainability-consultants/
•  ​​https://good-design.org/projects/sdg-align-tools-for-sustainable-development/ 

​
2:45 intro Dick Clarke
7:58 what is sustainable
10:26 generational sustainability 
13:35 the solar panels/battery/wind question casey
15:25 fossil fools 
15:42 global green tag  - database with tracing, silver, golden status, very good resource
17:36 culturally appropriate buildings 1) natural and 2) cultural 
23:00 passive house criteria in Australia, interest growing in Australia
27:00 Australia winter: glorified tents 
28:00 casey quote  - canadians are the weird ones metric/imperial 
34:50 closed loop economy - plastic kids toys are the worst, products that don’t end up in a landfill  
36:00 aluminum  - ex. When demolishing - deconstruction, concrete aggregate 
38:00 landfills australia 
39:00 perception sustainability moving forward, reality shows, industry education, consumer education ​