This Must Be The Place: The Building Science Podcast

In this week’s episode of This Must be The Place, Shawna speaks to distinguished lecturer and speaker Robert Bean. He is the director of healthheating.com and founded Indoor Climate Consultants Inc. Though now retired, he has an accomplished, extensive and impressive body of work that continues to grow. In this episode: • Why we need courses in high school on how to buy a house. • Why COVID-19 has...

In this week’s episode of This Must be The Place, Shawna speaks to Gaby Kalapos— the Executive Director at Clean Air Partnership in Toronto. Her hard work and dedication is changing the energy efficiency landscape at the community level. For more than 25 years she has been advocating on behalf of communities for local governments to take action in their sustainable advancement. In this episode: •...

In this week’s episode of This Must be The Place, Shawna speaks to Tex McLeod—one of North America’s leading presenters and trainers on energy, housing and indoor air quality. In this episode: • Learn why his favourite, delightful and nerdy building science thing is understanding moisture. • Listen to Tex and Shawna exchange their extensive knowledge about what to tackle and when in your home when...

In this week’s episode of This Must be The Place, Shawna speaks to Lloyd Alter- author, teacher, and keynote speaker at conferences across North America and internationally. He is also the Design Editor for Treehugger-the award-winning sustainability website. In this episode: • Lloyd says that he learned he was a “ better writer than a prefabrication salesman !” Why? Hint: it started with with a 2...

In this week’s episode of This Must be The Place, Shawna speaks to Megan Bennett-the Director of Program Operations at Summerhill—an organization that helps people and businesses across Canada use energy more efficiently. She is a passionate advocate for making energy efficiency equitable for all. In this episode: • We learn what she means by “democratizing energy efficiency” and why it’s so impor...

In this week’s episode of This Must be The Place, Shawna speaks to passionate climate advocate Emma Norton. She is the Director of Government Relations at the Climate Emergency Unit ( a project of the David Suzuki Institute). Not afraid to “pound the climate emergency drum”, she is working tirelessly to reduce emissions through deep-energy retrofits and more responsive policy. In this episode: • W...

In this week’s episode of This Must be The Place, Shawna speaks to Betsy Agar, Senior Analyst in the Buildings and Urban Solutions Program at the Pembina Institute, Canada’s leading clean energy think tank. In this episode: • Betsy talks about just how many Canadian homes need to be retrofitted by 2040 in order to meet our 2050 emissions goals. • She explains the mistakes made and lessons learned...

In this edition of This Must be The Place, Shawna has a spirited conversation with Luke Dolan, the CEO of Capital Home Energy-an energy design firm in Vancouver, British Columbia. Luke is a force for sustainable energy change in the industry. In this episode: • Find out the surprising participants in his courses. • Learn his prediction for Net Zero by 2025. • Why his favourite nerdy, energy effici...

In this conversation of This Must be The Place, Shawna chats with the Senior Director of Net Zero Energy Housing at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA), Sonja Wilkelmann. Tune in to find out: • Why Sonja says, “Marketing is going to be taking a bit of a turn from production of collateral to leveraging of that collateral.” • What she says is her most nerdy, favourite thing in building sc...

In this conversation of This Must be The Place, Shawna catches up with Sean Kelly, Director of Energy at the Clean Foundation in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Tune in to: • Learn about Clean’s innovative programs, including recent initiatives that Shawna collaborated on. • Gain insight as to why Sean says, “We need more diversity across all kinds of metrics in the industry.” • Learn about the energy-fin...

In this episode of This Must be The Place Shawna talks to Dave Butterwick. He is the Managing Partner at Butterwick Construction and Carpentry Ltd. and Butterwick Projects Ltd.. He specializes in Net Zero and Passive House building. In this episode: -Dave explains how he went from carpentry to high performance-buildings. -Learn about the innovative Retrofit Roadmap tool that Butterwick is developi...

In this episode of This Must be The Place Shawna exchanges deep insights on energy efficiency with self-proclaimed “math nerd at heart”, Marie Hanchet. She is a Project Manager in Net Zero Energy Housing at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA). In this episode: -Discover why Marie says, “Let’s all embrace our inner improv artist.” -The important lesson Marie shares about non-conformity,...

In this episode of This Must be The Place Shawna exchanges net-zero knowledge and industry best practices with Brad McLaughlin. He is the General Manager of the multi-award winning company MCL Construction Ltd. based in New Brunswick, Canada. MCL has been serving the greater Saint John area for over 40 years specializing in building custom homes and renovations. In this episode: • MCL was featured...

In this episode of This Must be The Place Shawna connects with Casey Grey, founder of the award-winning sustainable building company, The Conscious Builder. Inspiring, driven and knowledgeable he is also the host of The Conscious Builder Show on YouTube and the founder of the Conscious Builder Academy. Listen to find out: • Why he says “environment is more powerful than willpower.” • His advice on...

PLEASE NOTE: There were issues with the recording from the guests side.  Please be patient with us. In this episode Shawna talks to guest Bob Deeks, President of RDC Fine Homes based in Whistler and serving the south coast British Columbia. A past president of the BC chapter of the Canadian Home Builders Association, currently he serves as Chair of their National Technical Research Committee...

In this episode of This Must be The Place -Shawna talks to Stephen Magneron, an energy advisor at HomeSol Building Solutions. They waste no time in diving into all things pressure testing, air flow and so much more! Listen to find out: • Why Shawna says to Stephen, “Photovoltaics on your roof, now that’s sexy!” • Why Stephen says, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” • What Stephen says abou...

Shawna Henderson is the founder and CEO of Blue House Energy. She provides training resources to companies, managers and employees in the residential energy efficiency space. This year, she fulfilled her dream of starting her own podcast. She wanted to take her 30 + years in the industry (especially as a women) and create deeply meaningful conversations. If you haven’t been able to check it out ye...

In this episode Shawna chats with the dynamic and knowledgeable Doug Tarry—an award-winning home-builder in Southern Ontario. He has built more net zero labeled homes than any other builder in Canada. He is currently writing a book that will serve as a guide for homebuilders. · Listen to find out why focusing solely on energy can actually increase your carbon footprint! · A big vision company with...

Shawna is joined by Stefanie Coleman in this episode. She is the Marketing and Business Development Manager at Building Knowledge Canada. She is the 3rd woman to be elected as president of the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA) in its 80-year history. She is also the honoured recipient of the EnerQuality 2019 Lead of the Year Award. Tune in to find out: -What industry both Shawna and Stefan...

Toby Smith, Project Manager at Building Knowledge Canada joins Shawna in this episode. He brings a wealth of expertise in energy efficiency. He has contributed extensively to Shawna’s curriculum for her company, Blue House Energy. He supports clients by helping them navigate their way to high performance, low energy homes that they can be comfortable in for years to come. In this episode: -Toby ex...

Lara Ryan has spent over 30 years honing her leadership skills in environmental sustainability. She currently helps clients articulate and demonstrate their social and environmental value as they navigate low carbon economy opportunities through her company, Lara Ryan Consulting. Listen to find out: -How deep energy retrofits are more about what you don’t see—comfort, health and cost-savings....

Brendan Haley is a passionate advocate and a deeply knowledgeable policy expert on an energy efficient economy. He was the principal catalyst behind the creation of Canada’s first energy efficiency utility,  Efficiency Nova Scotia. Currently, he serves as Policy Director at Efficiency Canada. Tune in to find out: -The important work he is doing that will address the challenges of decarbonizin...

Today Shawna talks to award-winning (too many awards to list here) custom home-builder, Dale Rott. He has spent his career improving methods for better performing sustainable homes. He is the owner of Effect Home Builders in Edmonton, Alberta. Tune in to find out: -Why Dale said, “…water can be such a jerk.” -Why not all home-builders are created equal. -Why the unfortunate part of net-zero is und...

In this episode, Shawna has a conversation with Dr. Allison Bailes III. His company, Energy Vanguard offers consulting, training, quality assurance, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system design. Tune in to find out: -Why his Phd dissertation thesis is titled, Flat or Lumpy? - Why Shawna calls his popular Energy Vanguard blog a “Treasure trove for anybody who wants to know about buildin...

In this episode Shawna is joined by Anna Gillcash. Since she was a little girl Anna has had an obsession with houses. It was rather inevitable as her grandfather was a building contractor and her mother studied decorating. She can envision everything before the hammer even falls. She has recently hung up her tool belt in exchange for a pencil and clipboard. Now the founder and owner of Revival Hom...