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Wes Riley | Maine’s green building pioneers

Wes Riley, a smiling grey haired man stands in front of a wall of grey insulation material. — Photo: Jon Riley

WES RILEY wore many hats during his long and influential career in green building, from home energy consultant to Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rater/trainer to independent third-party quality assurance contractor.

He got his start in the field in 1981, installing cellulose insulation and weatherstripping in low-income apartment buildings in Sanford and Biddeford. In 1992, he was appointed director of the Weatherization Assistance Program at the nonprofit York County Community Action Corporation, where he oversaw the weatherization of and repair/replacements of central heating systems in hundreds of southern Maine homes. In 1996, Riley became the first HERS rater in Maine to be certified by the nonprofit Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET®), a national standards-making body for building energy efficiency rating and certification systems in the United States. He went on to certify Maine’s first ENERGY STAR® homes, the first USGBC – LEED for Homes buildings in Maine, and the first HUD/VA Energy Efficient Mortgage homes in Maine.

In 2001, he founded Horizon Residential Energy Services (RES) LLC with his wife Lynn to focus on home performance. The company grew rapidly, thanks to multiple contracts with electric utilities’ home-performance incentive programs in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. After selling Horizon RES in 2007, Riley served as an independent third-party quality assurance provider and HERS rater/trainer.

Over the years, Riley performed well over 2,000 home energy evaluations/certifications and third-party quality assurance inspections for programs in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York. But the impact he has had cannot be measured by these numbers alone, as he’s also dedicated himself to passing along his knowledge.

Among the many to benefit from his experience and expertise has been high-performance architect Emily Mottram. “Wes Riley has had a major influence on the building community in Maine through the companies he started, the work he did with the state energy programs, and the teaching, training and mentorship he provided,” Mottram says, adding that he was her mentor for many years. “I credit the foundation of my building science knowledge and understanding to his patient teaching and availability to answer my questions. His passion and generosity helped boost better building practices in Maine for many individuals, including me.”

Note: the following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Wes Riley performs a blower door test in a home under construction. — Photo: Jon Riley

What got you interested in green building?

At a very early age, I learned basic carpentry and wood frame building techniques from my father and grandfather. In the 1980s I had my own small home repair company, doing mostly dormers and additions. The 1983 PBS series Housewarming with Charlie Wing really sparked my interest in home energy performance and started me down my career path. I still have a copy of Charlie’s book.

I had a powerful desire to use my basic construction skills to make homes use less energy for the benefit of both the occupants and our environment. That said, I could never have been successful in this field without the training, encouragement, and longtime friendship of Rick Karg, a leader and educator in the residential energy field.

What was the landscape like when you were first starting out? Did you feel like a voice in the wilderness?

I didn’t feel like a voice in the wilderness on a regional and national basis; I felt that I was part of a chorus of voices. But in Maine, though I may not have felt like a lone voice, it was pretty close to that.

Maine has some of the oldest and least energy-efficient housing stock in the country, and Mainers have long suffered some of the highest residential energy costs. Sadly, the state government and Central Maine Power waited decades before only recently getting serious about helping non-low-income Mainers improve the energy and indoor air quality performance of their homes.

What do you think have been your greatest accomplishment(s) in this area?

Overall, I feel blessed that I was in the right place at the right time to be part of a growing movement pushing the envelope to advance high-performance building technology for new and existing homes—and to help bring that technology into the mainstream.

How have you seen the field evolve over the years?

I would compare the evolution in high-performance building from the early 1980s to the present to the evolution in aviation from the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk to today’s modern jet aircraft. Over the past several decades, our understanding of the many dynamics occurring in our homes has greatly evolved, but not without a lot of “What were we thinking?” moments along the way.

Wes Riley climbs up through an opening into an attic. — Photo: Jon Riley

What advice would you give someone who wants to go into this field today?

Probably the best way to get started is to find a job and/or a mentor in this field. If you don’t have an employer or a grant program to pay the way, make the investment in time and money to do at a least a week-long training program in basic home energy performance. Building Performance Institute, the Northeast HERS Alliance and others offer reputable training programs. Beyond that, attend every local, state and regional conference you can, plus every workshop, lecture and discussion group you can find.

What resources would you recommend for learning about high-performance building?

I’d highly recommend the books The Pretty Good House: A Guide to Creating Better Homes by Christopher Briley, Daniel Kolbert, Michael Maines, Emily Mottram and Insulate and Weatherize by Bruce Harley. And, of course, there is a ton of information and videos online.

What gives you hope about the current environmental crisis in terms of the role that green building can play?

It’s very exciting to see large solar and wind farms when I travel, but, clearly, we as a planet are still falling behind the climate change curve. My hope is that the younger generations in the U.S. and around the world come to see the environmental handwriting on the wall and take a much larger, proactive role in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

What do you think is the biggest challenge in Maine in the housing sector today?

Efficiency Maine has a lot of funding for new and existing homes, but there is only a handful of trained installers available to do the work. I would add my voice to the call for Maine to establish a long-term workforce training program like MaineHousing and Community Action used to train Weatherization Assistance Program auditors and installers in the 1990s.

What is the biggest opportunity you see today to help Maine create green & healthy homes?

Maine’s adoption of IECC [International Energy Conservation Code] 2021, plus the influx of funding to Efficiency Maine, are creating huge opportunities to improve the overall performance of Maine’s new and existing homes and multi-family dwellings.

Wes Riley