Tad Montgomery, Principal

About Tad

Tad Montgomery is the founder and principal of Home Energy Advocates.  He has worked in the fields of renewable energy and building energy conservation since 1981.  Tad has an M.S. in Environmental Systems Analysis (ABD) with a focus on environmental engineering applications to energy and water systems.  Tad founded Home Energy Advocates in order to provide the missing link between homeowners' desire to reduce energy bills and their lack of understanding of how to proceed. 

Green & Natural Building Experience

Tad Montgomery has been professionally involved with green and natural building for almost three decades.  He has studies building science and renewable energy technologies for the home since 1985.  He consulted on green and energy-efficient aspects of the new Brattleboro Food Cooperative in order to help the Coop to reach its goal of becoming ‘an environmentally regenerative business' and was hired as a consultant on a green YMCA building project in Scarborough, Maine.  For that project he wrote a 22-page report recommending 13 green building options.  Tad has been invited to lecture at the East Coast Natural Building Colloquium three times and is trained in home weatherization & insulation, net-zero energy buildings, high performance building design and timber frame construction.  Tad is a member of the Building Science Learning Circle of Southern Vermont and an avid reader of Environmental Building News and Green Building Advisor, two leading publications in the green & energy efficient building industry.

Biofuels

Tad founded the Pioneer Valley Biodiesel Cooperative in Greenfield, Massachusetts, now moving ahead under the name Northeast Power to develop a 1.25 million gallon-per-year biodiesel production facility with waste vegetable oil as the feedstock.  As part of that project Tad was primary author and editor of a white paper entitled Proposal for a Biodiesel Production Facility in the Pioneer Valley and submitted to U.S. Congressman John Olver.  This white paper was used to seek a $1,200,000 appropriation from the Water and Energy Committee of the U.S. Congress. 

After moving to Vermont, Tad co-founded the Brattleboro Area Biofuels Cooperative, built a small biofuel processing facility in Saxtons River, and co-founded a start-up biofuels company called EcoFuels, LLC.

Tad converted his car to run on biofuels in 1999, both biodiesel and processed vegetable oil, and has been running it that way ever since.  He has achieved net miles-per-gallon of petroleum ranging from 355 - 950 mpg.  His home boiler has also been converted to run on biodiesel, which has an 85% lesser effect on climate change than heating oil.

Peak Oil

In 2001 Tad co-founded the first peak oil group in the region – the Karl Davies Energy Resources Task Force, based in Northampton, MA.  In 2004 the task force gave a presentation to the Massachusetts state legislature.  After moving to Vermont Tad co-founded Post Oil Solutions.  He has lectured on the subject locally, regionally and internationally.  

Initiatives, Publications & Achievements

A partial list of projects, training and published writing relating to energy, in a loose chronological order:

• Article: "Air Source Heat Pumps for Hot Water,"  author of an article for the publication Green Energy Times. December, 2012.

• Article: “Air Source Heat Pumps for Space Heating,” author of an article for the publication Green Energy Times. October, 2012.
• Home Energy Challenge Committee, sub-committee of the Brattleboro town energy committee. 2012 - present.
• High Performance Buildings, a training with Peter Yost of Building Green and Green Building Advisor, sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Practices.  2012.
  
• Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Committee, sub-committee of the Brattleboro town energy committee. 2011 – present.
• Weatherization Installer Training a week-long inculcation organized through Southeastern Vermont Community Action, Vermont Technical College and the Center for Sustainable Practices,  2011.
• While interim executive director at the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center,  initiated weatherization and insulation projects for all habitable buildings.  When one residential and one office building did not qualify for SEVCA services, commissioned a professional audit and enlisted volunteers to carry out substantial weatherization measures, including insulation and sealing of air penetrations. 2010.
• Feasibility Study for Renewable Energy at Marlboro College, primary author and instigator. This project started as a broad assessment of the potential for energy conservation and renewable energy at the college.  Wrote successful grant proposals for $1.2 million to commence the project, as well as a 150 page report with cost estimates and feasibility assessments from 22 companies for thermal energy conservation, electrical efficiency, solar thermal, solar electric, commercial scale wind power, biofuels, biomass, hydro-power, geothermal, district heating, co-generation, a greenhouse gas inventory and comprehensive economic and environmental analyses of the different options.  The project included a thorough energy assessment of the 42 campus buildings using infra-red photography combined with building depressurization technologies, and aimed for a 30-50% reduction in heating load. 2005 to 2008. 
• Southern Loop Citizens Advisory Committee.  Participated in a citizens’ panel to recommend solutions to the region’s electric utilities for looming electrical transmission problems throughout Southeastern Vermont.  Reviewed the state of energy transmission in the region and investigated options to address it.  2006 – 2008.
• Performance Contract, City of Brattleboro. While serving on the Brattleboro Cities for Climate Change task force helped to organize and oversee the implementation of a $2 million comprehensive energy performance contract for all 16 town and school district buildings.  The overall objective aimed for a 20% decrease in energy consumption using a financial mechanism whereby the cost of the project was guaranteed by the contracted firm (Honeywell) to be paid for through the energy saved.  
  
• Brattleboro District Heating.  Initiated a preliminary feasibility study for a combined heat and power district heating system for downtown Brattleboro through the Northeast District Heating collaborative at UMass.  2007.
• Zero Net Energy Buildings.  Attended a workshop on net zero energy buildings given by Marc Rosenbaum in 2007.  Has attended many similar workshops over the last 35 years and has a number of professional colleagues and associates in this field.
• Energy and Performance Assessment of the Brown Science Building at Marlboro College, including building depressurization, envelope assessment and thermal imaging. 2005.
• Brattleboro Cities for Climate Protection, steering council member, 2005 – 2010.
• Has been a member of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association sporadically for over 20 years.  Worked with NESEA professionally in various capacities including helping to organize their Building Energy conferences and Tour de Sol solar car race.
• Engineering Consultant, RCS Energy Systems, Leverett, MA. Performed extensive energy and water conservation audits for large commercial and industrial clients using AquaTrack™ software developed by RCS.  Work included energy and water audits, research, writing, equipment evaluation and policy recommendations for industrial and governmental clients.  Projects included the implementation of the Massachusetts Electric Company demand side management program for industrial clients.  1991 – 1993.  
  
• Comprehensive Energy Audit of the Humboldt State University Forestry Building.  Graduate level research project performed at HSU. This project involved the debugging of energy conservation software that had recently been developed at HSU, and its application in the energy audit of a large academic building.  The resulting report recommended a number of energy conservation measures, with their capital costs, simple payback period and complex payback period.  1987.
• Small-Scale Hydropower Project Sequencing: Defining the Trade-Offs Between Minimized Cost and Minimized Environmental Damage.  Graduate level research project for the Utah Power and Light Commission focusing on system optimization. This project involved the development of a multi-objective software program to discern an optimal solution.  1986.
•   A Socio-Economic Analysis of the Humboldt Solar Municipal Utility.  This report included a cost-benefit analysis for a proposed solar municipal utility in Humboldt County, CA.  The program offered homeowners, landlords and businesses the opportunity to rent a solar hot water system from the County.  The results were favorable, even in cloudy Northern California.  1986.
  
• Chair, Wind Power Committee, Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, Humboldt State University.  Wrote grants, chaired meetings and oversaw the design, construction, installation and monitoring of a 15 kilowatt wind turbine that provided electricity to the Center and the grid.  1986-1987.
  
• Production and Thermal Characterization of a Flat-Plate Ceramic Solar Panel.  Bachelor’s thesis written for the NY State College of Ceramic Engineering.  1982.

For information about Tad Montgomery's work in other fields, visit: http://TadMontgomery.com