passivhausMAINE

As we plan our twelfth forum, we want to send a big Thanks! to Decor Maine for their media support at February's Forum11.

More than that, they were on hand to provide photos of our multi-day event, catching fun and unexpected moments. We appreciate the support and the beautiful pics! Check our Decor Maine Magazine for more stunning shots of Maine architecture and design.

And check out select shots from their photo roll on our phME Forum11 gallery: https://phmeforum.org/forum11-photos

We can't wait to see everyone for the next forum!

Are you interested in living and working in spaces that are comfortable, healthy and resilient, while reducing utility bills and supporting a sustainable future for everyone?

Visiting lecturer In Cho of Passive House for Everyone leads an interactive, two-hour workshop next month!

We’ll uncover tangible solutions based on the essential building-science-based principles of passive house, and gain the knowledge to create soothing, enjoyable and healthy environments that benefit our communities.

Wed., July 17 in !
This event is FREE, but registration is required. Learn more:
https://www.passivhausmaine.org/new-events #!event/2024/7/17/phme-presents-strategies-for-sustainable-living

🏘️ 👫 Passive house open days are this weekend!

Register for free tours of passive projects in , including a look at New England Outdoor Center - NEOC's eco-friendly events center and a tour of a local passive home by designer Meredith Randolph of Four Winds Designs.

Space is limited, so register for these events on our website:
https://passivhausmaine.org/events

phME + partner events — passivhausMAINE

Phius Spotlight for June is in phME's hometown, Freeport! The first North American PH high school!

Our state-wide passive training series will be in next month. Builders and DIY-ers in the area, come learn about the latest changes to MUBEC standards and get an understanding of passive building basics, like methods and materials which enhance the comfort, efficiency and resilience of any project you work on!

Learn more: https://loom.ly/33FRlj4

Tues., July 16, 9a | American Legion Post 94, Greenville

These $25, day-long sessions include a one-year membership to passivehausMAINE, $100 gift-card reimbursement for time and travel, great door prizes like a half-pallet of Timberhp's state-of-the-art insulation, and they're led by expert instructors like Svea Tullberg of Maine Blower Door Testing and our own Randy Rand.

Why miss it?!

Whether it's a phME tour of a local passive building or one of our partner events (like the trainings from HELM Construction Solutions coming up later this year) our online calendar is full of events happening all around Maine... and beyond!

Check out the calendar for workshops, site walks, training sessions, community events and more. https://passivhausmaine.org/events

What's coming up for the rest of this month? Take part in PH Open Days – touring passive projects like New England Outdoor Center - NEOC's passive events center – happening next weekend.

What is life-cycle analysis, and why should we be thinking about it? This methodology assesses the environmental impacts associated with ALL stages of the life cycle of a commercial product. For designers and builders this means components, materials and entire structures.

Join Reed Miller, Ph. D, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering with the University of Maine, on Monday, June 8, to learn about life-cycle analysis in the built environment: What it is, why it's valuable, and tools that can help you conduct your own life-cycle analysis.

More info at https://www.passivhausmaine.org/new-events #!event/2024/7/8/phme-lecture-series-panelization-lecture

🌲 Mainers represent a resilient community - help us support the education, advocacy and workforce development we’ll need to maintain that resilience in the years ahead. passivhausMAINE was started in 2016 with the goal of supporting carbon reduction in our built environment.

Today, we hold state-wide training events, site tours, low-carbon lectures, we advocate for legislative action and we support our more than 300 members. Maine leads the nation in our response to climate change – be part of the movement!

Learn more at https://passivhausmaine.org/appeal

Our July calendar includes events in Freeport, Greenville and Portland. We're starting in the Old Port for a stop on the phME lecture series with our friend Reed Miller, Ph. D, then it's north to Greenville for a passive house & MUBEC training day, before heading to Freeport for a passive house community workshop.

Catch us in your neck of the woods! 🌲

And learn more about all our phME and partner events online: passivhausmaine.org/events

Join us at Wolfe's Neck Center next Tuesday for our annual meeting. Help shape the future of Maine's sustainable built environment!

https://www.passivhausmaine.org/events #!event/2024/6/18/phme-annual-meeting

We've expanded our events in conjunction with The International Passive House Association's 2024 open days! Meet us in on June 29 and 30 for two free tours of new Phius-certified projects.

We're starting Saturday night at New England Outdoor Center - NEOC to tour their new events center, led by the designers and the NEOC team. Then on Sunday, join us for a tour of Matt Polstein's passive house in Millinocket, guided by the designer, Meredith Randolph or Four Winds Designs. There's plenty happening in Maine (and around the globe) for the 2024 passive house open days. Come and learn more!

https://passivhausmaine.org/events

Our next Women Building Maine day-long training session happens next Tuesday, June 18 in . Starting at 9a at the town offices, we'll be diving into the new MUBEC and stretch codes, and upcoming changes expected as Maine gets ever more serious about sustainable building. Learn about how passive building techniques fit into the mix! Training runs till 3p. Sign up now for $25 and get a year-long membership to phME at our 'enthusiast' level. More than that, we'll be giving away some great door prizes like a half pallet of Timberhp's super cool, Maine-produced, wood fiber insulation.

Instructors Anna Heath, Meredith Randolph and Svea Tullberg will lead this day-long training. Join us!

https://passivhausmaine.org/trainings

We've long been encouraging builders, architects and engineers to look at their practices through a new lens. This training series actively reaches out to non-traditional construction and design workers, encouraging women, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC builders and enthusiasts to broaden the diversity on building sites and expand recruitment numbers at a time when we need all the workers we can get!

We're in next week for our second June training event! Meet us at the Lee Pellon Center on Main Street, starting at 9 a.m. on June 11 for this day-long, $25 MUBEC and Stretch Code training.

$25 gets you a day of expert training from our partners Meredith Randolph of Four Winds Designs, Svea Tullberg of Maine Blower Door Testing, and our own Randy Randy! Plus, you'll get signed up for a year-long membership to phME in our 'enthusiast' level.

This training will cover passive building basics, the newest MUBEC and Maine Stretch Codes, sustainable materials and a quick cost-benefit analysis. We'll have door prizes we're giving away to attendants, like 1/2 pallet of Timberhp eco-friendly insulation.

And it gets better! This training is eligible for professional development credits: 6 PHIUS CEUs and 7 PHI CEUs.

Don't miss next week's training session in Machias. Learn more and see all the training events on our website:

https://passivhausmaine.org/trainings

We're holding our annual meeting on Tuesday, June 18... and you're invited!

This year, we're excited to be at Wolfe's Neck Center's new Smith Center for Education and Research. We're inviting phME members, partners and the public for an evening of conversation, collaboration, debate and celebration.

Join us at 6p to reflect on the challenges and accomplishments of the past year, discuss the most pressing issues for our passive building community, and thank our partners. The event will feature food, drink, networking and socialization. Tickets are $20 ($15 for members) which includes food and drinks.

You can RSVP on our website:
https://www.passivhausmaine.org/new-events #!event/2024/6/18/phme-annual-meeting

See you there!

The International Passive House Association's Open Days are right around the corner! 🏘️

This year, between June 28 and June 30, high-efficiency and net-zero structures all around the world will be on display. You can take part by touring these homes and other forward-thinking structures. Or, if you've got a passive project, share it with the world!

If you're in Maine, join us in Millinocket for a tour of our friend Matt Holstein's IPHA-certified passive home, hosted by the designer Meredith Randolph of Four Winds Design.

To learn more, to get YOUR project registered for showing or to find open house projects near you, check out the IPHA's website:
https://passivehouse-international.org/index.php?page_id=262

This month, we're getting to know our friends at HELM Construction Solutions a little better. HELM is a team of experts in construction, management, leadership and education, seeking to advance high-performance building practices and triple bottom line principles. They offering consulting, coaching, project management and training to contractors and architects, homeowners and institutions all over North America. Long-time supporters of our work at phME, they're furthering the low-carbon transformation of the construction industry in our state!

We heard from Kate Stephenson, the company's co-founder and director of operations and finance, about the past and future of low-carbon building.



Curious about phME membership? Learn more on our website: https://www.passivhausmaine.org/about-membership

We're excited to be taking part in next Wednesday's Climate and Environment Happy Hour, starting at 5p at Hardshore Distilling Company in Portland. Naomi will be speaking about our organization and the retrofitMAINE initiative, plus we'll be catching up with many friends in Maine's climate resiliency community. Come join us! But it's required to RSVP, so check the link first:
https://loom.ly/cKSQEqI

What: Climate & Environment Happy Hour
When: Wednesday, May 29, 5 to 7 p.m.
Where: Hardshore Distilling Company (53 Washington Ave., Portland)
Why: Interesting conversation, connections and continuing to build our community of climate and environmental professionals in Maine!

Our first of THREE June training sessions happens Tues., June 4 in Wells! 🛠️ 🏡

This $25, day-long session will cover passive building basics–we'll also dive into the latest MUBEC standards, and the ways these will affect building performance and efficiency. This training is great for experience and new builders, even homeowners and DIYers interested in learning more about building to (and beyond) code!

We'll have some great door prizes that all participants are eligible to win–including 1/2 pallet of Timberhp's low-carbon, Maine-made insulation.

We'll be joined by some great trainers for the June 4 event at York County Community College - Wells, Maine. Looking forward to seeing Svea Tullberg, Dan Kolbert and Randy Rand!

Oh, and did we mention that your $25 ticket also gets you a year-long, 'enthusiast' membership in passivhausMAINE?

Learn more and register: https://www.passivhausmaine.org/new-events #!event/2024/6/4/meeting-maine-apos-s-energy-code-york-me

👏 We're sending a digital round of applause to all those who participated in this year's AIA Maine design awards program!

This year's program had 56 submissions! Nineteen projects were selected in different categories, like single-family residential, small projects under $350,000, and student projects. And the program culminated in a huge bash on May 9 in Portland!

Kudos to all the teams who took part and congrats to those who received awards. We want to shout out to our friends at SMRT Architects & Engineers who won an award for their Portland Commons project at University of Southern Maine, We Are OPAL for their Gable Archipelago single family home, and Kaplan Thompson Architects, who brought home awards for three projects in two categories! Great work to all the designers and builders in Maine who are accelerating the industry.

What's on the phME calendar in June? We're heading all over the state with three training events, taking part in the IPHA's open house days and we're holding our annual meeting for members on June 18 in Freeport (we couldn't even fit it on the graphic!). Catch us somewhere in Maine next month. 🦞 🌲

phME trainings - https://passivhausmaine.org/trainings
The International Passive House Association open house days - https://tinyurl.com/3ezek8yh

Not a member? Join phME today and take part in June's annual meeting at Wolfe's Neck Center in Freeport.
https://passivhausMAINE.org/about-membership

Building the first net-zero, passive house in the Greater Tetons-Yellowstone region was no easy task. Luckily, there are more methods and manufactured products than ever making it convenient and cost-effective to build or retrofit to passive standards, especially in less remote environments!

As part of phME's lecture series, we'll be heading to Liberator Brewing in Rockland next Wednesday to watch "In Pursuit of Passive," a documentary by Fisher Creative about Love Schack Architecture's passive house project. And we'll also discuss modern methods of passive building with our friend Andrew Frederick of Croft, joined virtually by Lindsay Schack of Love Schack Architecture.

Register online: https://tinyurl.com/5hxnt6pc
May 29, 4p - Liberator Brewing Company, Rockland
$20 - member discounts available!

"In Pursuit of Passive" follows the construction of the first net-zero, passive house built in the Greater Tetons-Yellowstone region near Jackson, WY, while explaining the passive house approach for designing and constructing more sustainable buildings.

Rockland-based Croft makes super-insulated, vapor-open, panelized buildings from local ingredients, including Maine-grown lumber, organic straw, sheep's wool and other carbon-storing materials.

Next Tuesday's phME training in Fort Kent will include some awesome door prizes from our partners. Big thanks to S.W. Collins Company and Timberhp for these prizes. All participants to next week's training are automatically entered to win. The prizes this time include 1/2 pallet of TimberHP's TimberBatts insulation (you choose the 3.5" or 5.5" option). This eco-friendly, wood-cellulose based insulation is incredible, and it's made right here in Maine!

The prize also includes the PACKOUT tool set, provided by S.W. Collins. This set (a $285 value) includes the Milwaukee Tool PACKOUT 22” Rolling Modular Tool Box, the PACKOUT 22” Tool Box and the PACKOUT
Deep Organizer!

Some lucky attendant will win all of this at Tuesday's training.

Learn more: https://www.passivhausmaine.org/trainings #!event/2024/5/14/meeting-maine-apos-s-energy-code-northern-me

This week's site walk at the University of Maine's Advanced Structures & Composites Center was a great chance to learn about cutting edge research, prototyping and manufacturing happening here in Maine. We had a blast. Thanks to our hosts and guides at the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center!

On Wed., May 29 we'll be in Rockland for this month's special lecture series on panelization, watching "In Pursuit of Passive," a documentary by Fisher Creative about Love Schack Architecture's passive house project. Then we'll chat with Lindsay Schack of Love | Schack Architecture and Andrew Frederick from Croft.

Register online: https://tinyurl.com/5hxnt6pc
May 29, 4p - Liberator Brewing Company, Rockland
$20 - member discounts available!

"In Pursuit of Passive" follows the construction of the first net-zero, passive house built in the Greater Tetons-Yellowstone region near Jackson, WY, while explaining the passive house approach for designing and constructing more sustainable buildings.

Rockland-based Croft makes super-insulated, vapor-open, panelized buildings from local ingredients, including Maine-grown lumber, organic straw, sheep's wool and other carbon-storing materials.

We’re excited to have Mika Heming joining the phME/retrofitMAINE team! She’ll be serving as the new BuildingsUp Project Director, and she’ll also be working to expand and guide the retrofitMAINE initiative.

Mika comes to phME after working as the program manager for Flood Ready Neighborhoods in New Hampshire, as well as spending four years in Mississippi helping local communities mitigate and adapt to sea level rise, among other accolades. We’re thrilled to have her as part of the team.

Welcome, Mika!

We want to send a big "Thank you!" and welcome to our newest sponsor, Atlantic AV LLC.

Established in 2002, AtlanticAV has quickly become one of Maine's go-to audio/video companies, specializing in high-quality AV, home theater and smart home tech. What's even better? These friendly experts want your home to not only look and sound great, but feel great. They're investing in making Maine homes more efficient and healthy, and we're grateful for their support.

Check out Atlantic AV online on at their store in Brunswick.
https://atlanticav.com

Thanks!

Register today to join NESEA- Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's spring pro tour of an under-construction, high-performance, single-family home on Peaks Island!

The tour begins with a presentation from the event hosts, Juniper Design + Build, who will walk attendees through the history of the site and project, including the deconstruction and materials salvage of the previous structure. You’ll learn about the design decisions behind the new house, including insulation, air sealing, and energy modeling, which were made through the lens of carbon consciousness. And the team will address some of the challenges of building on the island in the shoreland zone.

Friday, May 3!

Head to NESEA's site to register now:
https://nesea.org/05-03-24

We'll be in Fort Kent and Rockland in May, touring our MUBEC builder training session at the University of Maine at Fort Kent and stopping by Liberator Brewing Company to watch "In Pursuit of Passive" and discuss modern, high-efficiency panelization and manufacturing with our friends Lindsay Schack of Love Schack Architecture and Andrew Frederick of Rockland's own Croft.

You won't want to miss these passive house events! Learn more on our website at https://passivhausmaine.org/events

Tomorrow's free virtual lecture on apprenticeship in the building trades begins at 2:30 p.m.

Whether you're a business interested in receiving support in starting an apprenticeship program, or someone looking to build a career in the trades, this lecture is for you!

Free, online, starting at 2:30 tomorrow! Register here:
https://www.passivhausmaine.org/new-events #!event/2024/4/23/apprenticeships-the-trades-virtual-webinar

Today is the 55th Earth Day, the largest day of secular protest in the world, meant to organize action and prompt legislation to protect the environment. In Maine, there are Earth Day clean-up events happening in Fort Kent, Houlton and Naples. Check the link below for more info.

And it's great to see that Maine will be receiving $62m from the Biden administration's $7b Solar For All grant program. We want Mainers to treat every day like it's Earth Day–making informed choices, being active in our politics, and acting as thoughtful stewards of our natural environment.

To that end, don't forget the very best way to make our solar dollars stretch: using them to power well-insulated, well-sealed and highly efficient buildings!

Find an Earth Day clean-up near you: https://www.earthday.org/campaign/cleanup/

More on the Solar For All grant announcement: https://tinyurl.com/5n8rfthy