EP 49 · 2023-04-10 · 1:46:48
Building Envelope Commissioning, Passive House vs Net Zero, Mass Timber & More — Live from BuildGreen Atlantic 2023 (11 Experts)
Live booth recordings from BuildGreen Atlantic 2023 featuring 11 guests across energy efficiency, mass timber, commissioning, passive house, and green product supply.
JT
Janet Tobin
⟶ The story, written up — a sharp read with every fact on the record. Or skip straight to the moments that matter, as clips.
// CHAPTERS — TAP TO JUMP THE PLAYER
0:00Sponsor Intro — Pizzant Building Products & Procore Partnership Announcement — Sponsor reads for Pizzant Building Products and the new Procore co-branded partner announcement.0:42Janet Tobin — EfficiencyOne & the Preferred Partner Network — Communications Lead at EfficiencyOne explains the 300+ member preferred partner network, government rebates and incentives for homeowners, and the collaborative capacity-building role the network plays for contractors upgrading skills.5:31Madison Schimpf — DNR&R: Science Meets Business in a Government Career — Department of Natural Resources & Renewables staffer shares her non-linear path from science degree to NSCC business program to government role, and her next-day work with Skills Canada student competitions.12:18Charlene Cormier — EastPoint Engineering: Building Envelope Commissioning — Sustainability Manager with 30 years' experience explains third-party building envelope commissioning — how it works on LEED and healthcare projects, why catching defects in design costs far less than during construction, and why contractors actually welcome the extra set of eyes.29:37Willem Paynter — EMCO Applied: VRF/VRV and the Post-Pandemic Supply Chain — Manager of EMCO's commercial HVAC division covers the Daikin VRF/VRV boom in Halifax multi-res, supply-chain realities since 2020, and why Emco invested in 100k sq ft of Halifax warehouse inventory to buffer lead times.36:06David Squires — Rothoblaas: High-Performance Building Products Enter Atlantic Canada — Technical Sales Rep for Rothoblaas (Northern Italy, 72 countries) explains the challenge of selling premium membranes and mass-timber fasteners into a market where 'my father built it that way.' Sees mass-timber conversations accelerating faster than any other market he's worked.47:03Chris Petit — Passive House Canada: Performance-Based vs. Net-Zero — Manager of Technical Services explains the passive house standard — R40-R50 envelope, performance-based (not prescriptive), heat-recovery ventilation — and how it differs from net-zero (efficiency first, renewables second).52:14Tim Duguay — Rework Business Solutions: Acoustic Products for Commercial Interiors — Eight-year office-interior rep introduces Easel Board acoustic panels (60% recycled bottles), Nightingale task chairs, and Borgo stadium seating with the left-hand-friendly Omni Evolution tablet.58:56Cameron Benedict — Energy Network Services: LED Retrofit ROI and EV Infrastructure — Sales executive explains ENS's free lighting-audit model, 57% energy reduction and $18k annual savings at an indoor tennis facility in Fredericton, and the emerging EV-charger infrastructure opportunity on new construction projects.1:10:23Dale Hume — Thermtest: Non-Destructive Flat-Roof R-Value Testing — President of Frederiction-based Thermtest (NRC-licensed technology) describes their new instrument that measures R-value non-destructively on low-slope roofs, addressing a real knowledge gap for building owners deciding repair vs. replace.1:23:04Roxanne Tate — Tate Engineering: Purpose-Driven Energy Management — President shares her founding story — started from home with three children, passion for environmental sustainability drove energy audits to engineering. Core philosophy: reduce demand first, then right-size mechanicals.1:30:03Vinicius Correa — Atlantic WoodWorks: Mass Timber 101 and the Canard Street Project — Technical Advisor for Atlantic WoodWorks (non-profit) explains light wood framing vs. mass timber structural systems, carbon sequestration benefits, the Canard Street 5-storey mixed-use mass-timber project (FBM Architects) currently under construction in Halifax, and the supply chain from softwood mill to glulam plant in Quebec/Ontario.
// THE INTRO
Episode 49 is a live field-recording session from the BuildGreen Atlantic 2023 conference at the Halifax Convention Centre (March 30, 2023). Host Daniel Arsenault ran a booth all day and conducted eleven rapid-fire interviews spanning the full green-building ecosystem: EfficiencyOne's preferred-partner network (Janet Tobin), a DNR&R government career journey (Madison Schimpf), building-envelope commissioning for healthcare and LEED buildings (Charlene Cormier/EastPoint), VRF HVAC products and supply-chain realities (Willem Paynter/EMCO Applied), high-performance membranes and mass-timber fasteners entering Atlantic Canada (David Squires/Rothoblaas), passive house standards vs. net-zero framing (Chris Petit/Passive House Canada), acoustic office products (Tim Duguay/rework), LED lighting retrofit ROI with EV-charger infrastructure (Cameron Benedict/Energy Network Services), non-destructive flat-roof R-value testing technology (Dale Hume/Thermtest), purpose-driven energy-management entrepreneurship (Roxanne Tate/Tate Engineering), and mass-timber advocacy and the Canard Street glulam project (Vinicius Correa/Atlantic WoodWorks). Combined, the episode documents a regional construction sector visibly shifting toward high-performance building — doubled event attendance from 2019, strong government funding momentum, and the first Atlantic Canada mass-timber projects breaking ground.
// THE LESSONS
See all 14 lessons ▸Commission the building envelope early in design — catching defects in design is exponentially cheaper than fixing them during or after construction.
“you want to catch this in design if you're catching this during construction it's going to cost you more”
Third-party envelope commissioners are welcomed by contractors, not feared — they provide independent validation that protects everyone, including trades proud of their work.
“the contractor doesn't want to come back because there's a leak — it's not beneficial to anybody”
The new energy code's air-leakage requirements mean building owners will need envelope testing on all new projects — subcontractors should price for this work now.
“building owners are going to have to do envelope testing to see what is their envelope air leakage”
Selling high-performance building products in Atlantic Canada requires mindset change before product demonstration — the market defaults to 'my father built it that way.'
“what we're accustomed to here is well my father built it that way yes and his father built it that way”
Mass timber conversations in Atlantic Canada are accelerating faster than any other market segment the Rothoblaas rep has seen — budget over-runs, not lack of interest, are the primary bottleneck.
“conversations we're having now we never had five years ago — everybody wants to talk about it”
Invest in passive house envelope quality first (R40-R50, airtight) before adding renewable energy systems — the envelope lasts 50-100 years while mechanical systems last 10-20.
“renewable energy is expensive — it's way cheaper to do the Energy Efficiency first”
LED lighting retrofits on commercial and institutional buildings commonly yield 40-57% energy savings — a free audit and pre-approved rebates remove the barrier for most building owners.
“they're saving money on energy bills and also lighting maintenance costs — they're very happy”
Future-proof new construction for EV charging during the build — running conduit and wire is trivial in new construction but expensive to retrofit into existing concrete.
“it's always much more efficient — it's harder to dig into existing concrete for sure”
Building owners are routinely overpaying on energy because flat-roof insulation degrades over time and there was no non-destructive way to measure actual in-situ R-value — now there is.
“if the roof doesn't leak water it's fine — that's the Milestone part of the building”
The most durable path to net-zero buildings follows the hierarchy: reduce demand first (envelope + airtightness), then right-size mechanical systems — not the other way around.
“the very first step is to reduce demand first and foremost — get that building envelope insulated to the optimal level”
Mass timber costs are no longer a clear premium over concrete or steel — pandemic-era lumber price spikes are over and steel/concrete still face their own supply-chain inflations.
“it might not be because other beauty materials are having problems with the supply chains as well”
Mass timber panels arrive on site like a kit — numbered, sequenced, crane-ready — making erection faster, quieter, and safer than conventional structural steel or concrete.
“it comes to sight ready to install — it's almost like it's kitted, it comes in a kit, it's like Lego”
Post-pandemic HVAC supply chain recovery is product-dependent — stock items are normalizing but custom-built-to-order units (e.g. custom air handlers) still carry extended lead times.
“lead time issues really come up when you're doing more custom built to order products”
EfficiencyOne's preferred partner network offers contractors directory visibility, training (ASHRAE and others), and rebate/grant application support — a business-development tool, not just a certification badge.
“it provides that kind of directory of places that homeowners and businesses can go to find contractors”
// CLIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Framework · 2:24
“the efficiency preferred partner network is a collective of over 300 partners”
Framework · 16:45
“the issue is you want to catch this into design if you're catching this during construction it's going to cost you more”
Hot take · 18:38
“imagine you're building a shiny new building and your envelope leaks or your system fails”
Framework · 20:44
“it's a big endeavor I mean as a GC you know with site super on site and your subcontractors”
Hot take · 24:56
“now the biggest challenge I think it's because everybody else is kind of finding the right people to do this work”
Hot take · 34:04
“getting a container freighted from China costs 30 times more than what it did in 2018”
Hot take · 42:24
“what we're accustomed to here is well my father built it that way and his father built it that way”
Story · 44:43
“the conversations we're having now we never had five years ago so everybody wants to talk about it”
Framework · 48:14
“net zero is any building that if you add renewable energy you can get to net zero”
Story · 1:00:33
“we've had builds that became 57 percent more energy efficient”
Framework · 1:10:56
“we have a new technology licensed from NRC to measure the R value non-destructively of low slope roofs”
Hot take · 1:14:38
“if the roof doesn't leak water it's fine”
Framework · 1:27:04
“I always go back to first principles and I think of reduce reuse and recycle”
Framework · 1:37:48
“to produce the wood from the raw material the full carbon portion is way smaller than any steel or concrete”
Exchange · 1:39:09
“is it 10 to 15 percent more expensive to build mass timber as opposed to structural steel or concrete”
All 14 lessons from this episode, on one page.
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// FEATURED BUSINESSES
EastPoint Engineering Limited
EastPoint is an employee-owned, multi-discipline architecture and engineering consultancy based in Hal…
Tate Engineering Incorporated
Atlantic Canadian engineering, project/construction management and energy consulting firm that helps o…
Thermtest Inc.
Designs and manufactures instruments for accurate measurement of thermophysical properties (thermal co…
// FACT-CHECKED ✓ web-verified, with sources
✓ VERIFIED
The Canard Street 5-storey mixed-use mass-timber project (FBM Architects) is currently under construction in Halifax
SPELLING CORRECTION: Street name is 'Cunard Street', not 'Canard Street'. Project at 5560 Cunard St, Halifax. Was indeed under construction in March 2023 (episode recording date) and completed February 2024. Five storeys confirmed. FBM Architects confirmed. Mass timber (glulam) confirmed.
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
LED lighting retrofits on commercial and institutional buildings commonly yield 40-57% energy savings
Multiple industry sources confirm 40-60% is the standard range for commercial LED retrofits. The 57% figure cited in the episode (Albany Tennis Facility case study) is plausible and consistent with published benchmarks. The '287% lighting improvement' metric is a lux/illuminance improvement ratio, n…
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
Passive house standard requires R40-R50 envelope and heat-recovery ventilation; this differs from net-zero (efficiency first, renewables second)
R-40 and higher walls are confirmed as consistent with Passive House standards in Canada. The efficiency-first-then-renewables distinction between Passive House and net-zero is a well-established framing. Mechanical system lifespan (10-20 years) vs. envelope lifespan (50-100 years) is a commonly cit…
SOURCE ▸// COMPANIES & ORGS ✓ verified
EfficiencyOne ▸EastPoint Engineering Limited ▸Rothoblaas SRLPassive House Canada / Maison Passive CanadaWoodWorks Atlantic (Atlantic WoodWorks!)Thermtest Inc. ▸Tate Engineering Inc. ▸Energy Network Services Inc. (ENS)Fowler Bauld & Mitchell (FBM Architecture Ltd.)
// PROJECTS NAMED
Fowler Bauld & Mitchell (FBM Architecture Ltd.)Albany Tennis Facility LED Retrofit (Fredericton)BuildGreen Atlantic 2023
SOURCE: podscope · public episode data · PSj1PgWoFUo