BCAP Winter 2010 Energy Code Champion: Laura Richardson
With an increased focus on building energy efficiency in the last year, unprecedented federal funding opportunities have placed state code infrastructures in uncharted waters as they deal with adopting, implementing, and enforcing the latest national model energy codes. The state of New Hampshire has taken the initiative to become a national leader in developing a roadmap for energy code training and compliance. For her work toward these goals, the Building Codes Assistance Project is proud to recognize Laura Richardson of the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning as its Winter 2010 Energy Code Champion!
Laura Richardson coordinates ten of New Hampshire's 16 State Energy Programs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act). The Building Code Compliance Program addresses the assurances states made to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to reach 90% verifiable compliance of the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code by 2017. This program will:
- establish a baseline of energy-code compliance;
- create a roadmap to achieve 90% verifiable compliance;
- train code officials and develop a public awareness campaign throughout the state targeted to code officials as well as building and design professionals, building owners and the general public, realtors, bankers, appraisers, and others;
- gather all relevant building code resources into one publically accessible site ; and
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develop recommended compliance policy options and establish a review process to monitor and track energy code compliance.
Since 2000, Laura has lived off-grid in a super-insulated, photovoltaic-powered home that uses just 13% of the electricity of an average U.S. home. In 2003, she and her husband Gil founded the New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association, building that into a statewide non-profit focused on renewable energy and energy efficiencies. Together in 2007-08, they deep-retrofitted a 108-year-old house as a green-flip; it achieved a HERS rating of 54. As Project Director for StayWarmNH, an initiative to bridge the challenges faced by low-income residents because of energy cost spikes in 2008, she oversaw the training and coordination of hundreds of volunteers who winterized almost 500 homes in one season. The New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning brought her on staff in 2009 to work on Recovery Act programming.
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