Instructors

Albert participated in the process to establish and strengthen North America’s Passive House Standard. In 2010 he founded Small Planet Supply Inc., a physical and online store, which has since expanded to include education to increase designer and builder confidence with new passive house products.

Alex Sloan leads business operations and development for Electrify My Home, a pioneering residential electrification company. Alex has a Master’s degree in Energy Systems from UC Davis and carries over 10 years of experience designing and implementing energy efficiency programs. He received a Building Performance Institute (BPI) Building Analyst credential in 2013. By incorporating BPI’s principles of systematic home performance and safety into home electrification, Alex creates and executes cutting-edge training programs in California and beyond.

Amy has more than 20 years of experience in residential construction, consulting, standards development, and planning to support greenhouse gas reductions, climate mitigation and healthier and sustainable homes for all people.

Andy, an Architect and LEED AP, is focused on optimizing green building strategies, including LEED certification and water conservation. She has helped dozens of clients through a green building process using integrated design, daylight and water use analysis and other strategies to maximize efficiency.

Ann Edminster is a green building consultant based in Petaluma, laser-focused on decarbonizing homes and communities. Trained as an architect, she facilitates design teams, coaches other building practitioners, teaches, develops education programs, and rabble-rouses in the climate space in her spare time.

Ben specializes in high performance daylighting systems and has given numerous talks and workshops on the topic. He has taught collegiate building science courses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the City College of New York, and has been a Trainer for The Passive House Network’s Certified Passive House Designer and Tradesperson Courses. He has a passion for creating environmentally friendly buildings, and is deeply committed to the Passive House movement.

Co-founder of Balance Point Home Performance. Dan runs all aspects of the business from consulting and design to installation and trouble-shooting. Dan is one of the most technically competent Home Performance Contractors in the State of California. When Dan is not working on making homes better, he is teaching courses for other contractors and designers on how to improve the performance of their building and mechanical systems. Dan is dedicated to continuous improvement in his design and understanding of building systems. Dan goes the extra mile to make sure that customers receive a lot of value for their investment.

A native of Cavriago, Italy, Enrico is an established expert in the international Passive construction standard. He is well respected for being able to see complicated, cutting-edge data through the lens of practical on-site implementation. He has extensive work experience in Australia, Europe, and North America, with a specialty in building envelope design and analysis. His detailed computer simulations for thermal, hygrometric and economic analyses, are informed by the thousands of hours he has spent on varied construction sites. He is the author of the Emu North American CPHT training textbook, and the lead Trainer for Emu’s CPHT courses since 2017.

Gary Klein, President of Gary Klein & Associates, Inc. has been intimately involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy since 1974. After serving 19 years with the California Energy Commission, he has provided consulting on sustainability since 2008, with an emphasis on the water-energy-carbon health connection.

Grant’s passion for green building and energy analysis, combined with a love of number crunching and technology, guides his focus on energy analysis software, Zero Net Energy design, water reduction strategies, and green certification programs. Grant is the project manager for 3C-REN’s Energy Code Coach service and provides technical Title 24 Part 6 and Part 11 support to building professionals in the region.

Gretchen is a professional engineer who has spent the past five years optimizing controlled environment agriculture operations for resource efficiency and productivity. She specializes in analyzing the operation of building systems for cultivation facilities.

Jay sits on the California Passive House Board of Directors, has a degree from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, 40+ years as a sales and marketing consultant, was a USAF pilot, and is committed to a sustainable, socially equitable, carbon-free, all-renewable future. He brings his unique background and passion for climate action to all his trainings.

Jennifer, an Architect and a Certified Energy Analyst, specializes in energy use optimization, including passive solar design, whole building energy use, zero net energy, and energy modeling and analysis. She consistently helps her clients achieve high energy efficiency, increased occupant comfort, and lower utility costs.

John is a nationally-recognized thought leader and instructor specializing in building science, healthy buildings, and equity-based workforce education and training. John is a pioneer in green real estate innovation and practices and a recipient of the NAR Evergreen Award.

Larry Waters is the founder of Electrify My Home, a first-of-its-kind electrification company specializing in residential electrification projects and workforce training. Larry has 40 years HVAC trade experience in service, installation, sales, and management with a specialization in home performance. Beginning in 2014, Larry’s focus shifted to replacing gas furnace with high-efficiency heat pumps and in that time has designed and installed over 400 systems. Larry is NATE and BPI-certified and serves on multiple boards and committees focused on propelling the movement to Electrify Efficiently.

Nick Brown is President of Build Smart, an independent energy consultancy specializing in California energy modeling, energy code, and building performance that supports builders and architects in designing energy-efficient buildings. Nick is a Certified Energy Analyst (CEA) for residential and an Associate Energy Analyst (AEA) for nonresidential construction by the California Association of Building Energy Consultants (CABEC).

Lauren supports technical standards and program design, codes and standards initiatives, and policy advocacy. As a trainer, she specializes in working with building department staffs, contractors and other building professionals on energy and green building topics.

Mariana Pickering, Co-Founder of Emu, is a recovering architect and an expert in communicating the construction industry’s movement towards a better understanding of building science and sustainability. With over a decade of work on high-performance projects and products across three continents, she is passionate about translating data, results, and needs into stories that help shift the cultures and mentalities of building professionals towards change.

Michelle brings a decade of experience to her work with residential, commercial, mixed-use, and government clients to implement sustainable design and construction strategies, with the goal of maximizing resource efficiency and creating healthy spaces in which to live and work.

Mike is a licensed builder in California and Massachusetts, as well as a certified Passive House Consultant. Mike specializes in bringing building practices, methods, and theories to reallife applications for architects, designers, and other builders. Specialities include life-cycle cost analysis, building envelope, and more.