Here at CERTs we’re working to make an old adage out of the phrase “the cheapest energy is energy we don’t use.” There are many companies working in Minnesota to help folks save energy and money, but we don’t often look closer to see who’s behind this work.
With that in mind, we took a moment to chat with Mat Gates, founder and CEO of Residential Science Resources, to learn more about their energy efficiency consulting work with utilities, builders, and homeowners in Minnesota.
Tell us a little bit about Residential Science Resources.
Mat Gates: Residential Science Resources (RSR) is a premier energy efficiency consulting firm for utilities, builders, and homeowners. Using performance testing tools and many years of combined experience, RSR takes the complexity and guess work out of selecting the highest standards of health, safety, comfort, durability, and energy efficiency in new and existing homes. Since 2005, RSR has provided over 5,000 home energy audits for CenterPoint Energy and now serves over 10,000 homes annually across Minnesota for CenterPoint, Xcel Energy, and Minnesota Energy Resources.
What attracted you to this work?
Mat Gates: As a carpenter and cabinet maker by trade I have always enjoyed construction and building custom projects. After serving in the Air Force I attended the University of Minnesota. My intent was to graduate with an engineering degree. I soon realized that was not my calling and moved on first to chemistry and then to accounting. Much like other college students, I was having a difficult time deciding what I enjoyed most. I clearly remember the day when I was on the East Bank of the University and saw an advertisement for Wood and Paper Science Majors on the St. Paul Campus. The little bit I read intrigued me. The following day I met Pat Huelman with Cold Climate Housing and some others from the department. I knew instantly I had found a home!
Over the next two years Pat, Marilou Cheple, and others became more than teachers or instructors to me. Their passion, enthusiasm, knowledge, and patience were beyond any expectation I could ever hope for. Pat and Marilou—as well as Rubin Shmulsky and Jim Boyer—significantly impacted my life and helped form me into who I am today. I truly value what they have provided for me. As days, weeks and months went by in the program, there were days when I was “drinking out of the fire hydrant.” All of my instructors pushed as much information to me as I could handle. Well maybe a bit more than what I could handle at times! It was a great feeling to have such talented and dedicated people there to guide me. Each day I realized I was on the right path and never looked back.
If you had advice for builders these days, what would it be? How about home owners?
Mat Gates: Advice for home builders: Continue to take pride in the homes you build each day. Home building is a time honored trade and very respected industry. I advise homeowners and home buyers to be informed about how their home—often the biggest investment they have made—works and how they can choose both energy efficiency and comfort. New technology makes this pretty darn easy, but homeowners must be tuned in to how their home works and how to maintain and protect this huge investment to protect not only the structure and the mechanicals, but also the health of their family.
