East Lansing Man Nominated for Governor's Energy Efficiency Award

Richardson's East Lansing home

East Lansing resident Charlie Richardson has been honored with a nomination for the First Annual Governor's Energy Excellence Award. Richardson's work converting his own home into a more energy efficient model gained him recognition in the category of Best Residential Project. I spoke with him to learn more about his own work and gain insight into his suggestions for all homeowners.

Richardson and wife Diana Louise Farmer

Before delving into this topic further, it is first important to learn exactly what home efficiency means. Richardson succinctly defined the term in the following way: “Home efficiency can be summarized with these general categories: air tight construction, effective insulation boundaries, efficient lighting/home appliances, and high efficiency heating/cooling.”

New high efficiency water heater and furnace/air conditioner

Although incredibly rewarding and universally beneficial, the task of converting a house into an environmentally friendly alternative involves research and planning. As Richardson explained, “It takes an educated homeowner, or at least a committed one, working with a good consultant, to cover all [the aforementioned categories].” After taking the time to educate oneself about the topic, the methods of establishing efficiency are not out of reach. Richardson “did not employ any specific innovation that is not available to everyone else,” which means that others have the tools to directly follow his example.

 Richardson raised the attic storage with shelves so that extra insulation could be added underneath.

In his good-humored manner, Richardson described his personal background in energy efficiency and detailed why it should be an important issue to all, “It has been a passion of mine since it became my career 30 years ago. It holds the promise of solving, or at least lightening the impact of several societal challenges - global warming, economic stresses of poverty, national energy independence, among others... what's not to like about the concept of efficiency? It's probably more popular than pizza!”

A blower door set up in the home to diagnose air leakage problems.

One of the facets of energy efficiency that makes it widely accessible is the fact that efficiency and elegant comfort are not mutually exclusive. It is not neccessary to sacrifice aesthetic concerns in favor of more environmentally concious efforts. Richardson expanded on this idea: “Any appliance or practice that can do its job well in a manner that exhibits the beauty of a job well done could be considered elegant. That's energy efficiency, and when it does not detract from the artistic beauty of a living space, but enhances the comfort, durability and safety of a home, I would call that 'elegant.'”

When asked to provide tips for others who want to begin the process of making their home more energy efficient, Richardson had the following advice: “The first step is to identify energy waste in the home. This isn't always transparent, but a good place to start would be an analysis of your historical gas and electric billing history by someone skilled at interpreting the data and applying it to the home.” It is important that homeowners consider their environmental impact on a larger scale than is typically dealt with. As Richardson explains, “Elegant efficiency is possible, but it goes beyond the easy fixes like weatherstripping doors, or even the expensive ones like replacing windows. Find a 'home performance contractor' who knows the big picture and has trained themselves to analyze and understand how homes work as systems, and how to make them work better.”

By employing some of Richardson's approaches, we can all begin to work towards the excitingly attainable goal of residential energy efficiency.