Cappy Kidd, Energy Detective

Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and LEED Accredited Professional

The Energy Detectives worked their first case in 2003, when Cappy Kidd joined with John Porterfield to create Informed Energy Decisions, LLC. Cappy's years of experience in industrial and building trades, and a long-abiding interest in building science would serve him well. His resume said it all: carpenter, building contractor, licensed Stationary Engineer at a major hospital complex in Manhattan; an Environmental Control Technology degree in hot, cold and everything in between known as HVAC design, assembly and maintenance project administration. By 2003 he had added state-licensed home inspector to his credentials, and soon after became a RESNET certified energy rater, and served on the board of the Illinois Association of Energy Raters.

A thousand homeowner cases later, Cappy was itching for action on a larger beat, to take on the commercial buildings and building complexes, municipal and institutional-sized mysteries. In early 2009, he led his Informed Energy Decisions team (see the 2008 Snapshot) into AKT Peerless, an environmental services and engineering consulting firm based in Michigan as it expanded its offerings throughout the region. For AKT, he directed the new Energy Services Division, leading the work made possible by the federally-funded Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program (EECBG) until mid-2012. More than 30 municipalities and counties, including Cook County, benefitted from their work.

Now, as an independent consultant, he continues to assist commercial and institutional building owners and managers. Since 2013, he has worked on several projects including solid-state (LED) lighting retrofits for a major Chicago museum, church buildings, ice arenas, and municipal streets.

Cappy's affable and highly-rated lectures bring clarity and good humor to technical and lay audiences seeking to improve building energy efficiency and the means to finance retrofits. At the University of Chicago's Harris School of Business, he brought to the Energy and Environment Policy course, the critical role that energy efficiency in buildings and transportation ("using less to begin with") must play in reducing hyrdocarbons in the atmosphere.

He has instructed at the Illinois Inspector Training Institute and is on faculty at Wilbur Wright City College in the Building Energy Technologies Department. For the College and the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, he provides classroom guidance to the next generation of practitioners for the Building Operators Certification program (continuing education for stationary engineers of commercial buildings) and for the Residential Technology program.

Cappy Kidd is co-author of the "Mechanical Systems Retrofit" chapter for the Urban Land Institute's 2009 benchmark publication of Retrofitting Office Buildings to be Green and Energy-Efficient. In recognition of his considerable contributions to improving building energy performance he was inducted into the Environmental Hall of Fame in 2008 and received an Energy Star leadership award for work at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in 2009.