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Renewable Richmond

Patrick Farley is the rarest of breeds -- a true believer, but one with the capacity to step back and critically examine his beliefs.

No one in Richmond is more invested in the "green movement," in sustainable living, and no one walks the walk like Farley, a Woodland Heights resident and architect.

He has a sun-catching photovoltaic array on a shed in his backyard that allows him to sell energy back to state. He rides his bike to and from work. He and his family maintain an organic garden. Farley's Fan-based architecture firm, Watershed , is focused on design that minimizes the impact of the built world on the natural one.

As he says, "My professional practice is really an extension of my personal commitment." His work is his calling.

But Farley is no blind follower. He takes nothing on faith. His desire to reduce his footprint -- as well as the footprint of this family and clients -- on our finite natural resources is based on his own careful analysis. This often leads him to conclusions and actions far afield of conventional wisdom. Farley is always thinking beyond what's trendy, whether it's hybrid cars, fluorescent light bulbs or global warming.

"We always need to be looking past current technology, current solutions," he said. "People look at reducing their carbon footprint. Well, I'd like to reduce the overall footprint. Your ecological footprint is a preference."

In a recent interview with Richmond.com, Farley offered his thoughts on all things green, what Richmond needs to do to join the sustainability movement and what citizens can do every day to be a part of it. RDC: Locally, do you think that "green issues" and discussions of sustainability still suffer from a perception problem? Farley: [The perception] is in process of changing. It's being seen less as a left-wing, crunchy granola pursuit than it used to be. When I first got started in practice pushing this stuff, I was shy about it. I was worried people would look at me funny. Now I can't keep up. People are coming to me left and right for this stuff ... It is now you can say there is a paradigm shift that's occurring and it's mainstream. RDC: What about in Richmond? What do we need to do to be greener? What should our government and civic leaders be doing? Farley: The core issue is awareness, that lack of real focus and awareness of these issues. It's always been about crime or racial concerns, but I think if we gave at least as much attention to environmental concerns as we do these other issues, I think we'd make more progress. I think if our leaders were more tuned in, if there was a much higher level of environmental literacy, ecological awareness. If you had folks in positions of power who brought it to bear as an extension of their personal everyday living patterns, if it was just embedded in their mindset... RDC: Like in Chicago, for instance, where there's a dedicated department of the environment. Is that what you mean? Farley: Right. I think we rely too much on our non-profit world. If we actually incorporated a department that's sole purpose is to ensure that environmental concerns and issues get equal billing within the overall discussion ... then I think we'd see a lot more progress. That would come about as a result of having elected officials putting that into place. What is government? Government is about stewardship of public resources. Why wouldn't that extend to natural resources? RDC: Many cities have legislated or mandated environmental awareness through things like building codes, bike lanes, electric and hybrid buses, etc. If Mayor Wilder called you and wanted you to institute a plan for Richmond, what would it include? Farley: I would start with the energy concerns. You could get at that pretty quickly by starting to mandate from here on out how the public infrastructure is developed. That would be the first step. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is there. It's tried and true. Transportation is really an extension of that [energy]. It needs some primary attention because that gets at energy and management of resources. Bike paths and cycling networks would be key. I think we need to prepare for the reality that's really coming -- that it's going to be forced upon us by the inevitability of higher fuel costs. We're going to see $5, $6 gas. We need to be prepared for that. RDC: What if Richmonders don't want to wait for our leaders to act? What can they start doing today? Farley: The most basic action that can be taken -- take a look at your transportation pattern. How much are you driving? Whether you're consolidating your trips. What kind of vehicle are you driving? Think about all the various needs you have to travel for, if you can consolidate them ... you really reduce your energy footprint by the simple act of organizing your schedule. In the house, [do] anything you can do to improve energy efficiency. It's not all easy stuff. If you're about to do a renovation, there's an opportunity to change out old energy hog appliances for Energy Star [devices]. Add insulation or improve the type of insulation you have when you open up walls. If everyone got back to hanging their wash out in the sun and forego the dryer [which is the biggest electrical load in the typical home in terms of straight wattage], this would have an immense positive environmental impact. At our place, for example, I calculated that we average maybe five loads, max, [for a family of four] per week. We virtually never use our dryer, except one day a month on average due to weather conditions, so in effect we are saving upwards of 1400 kWh [per year], which translates to just under a ton of [carbon dioxide] emissions avoided. RDC: Is there an overarching point in this whole discussion that people are missing? Farley: If people would focus on getting educated about the [environmental] impact of every decision they make on a daily basis versus talking about the next great green automobile ... That's all fine and good but we need to focus on "how do we drive less and rely more on our own two feet, bikes and mass transit?" We need to get back to fundamental discussion of how we're using resources and why.

"Renewable Richmond" is a new Richmond.com column and will continue to report on all things "green" in the River City and surrounding areas. We would like to know what you think about the green movement in Richmond. Do you know of any major green projects in the works locally? Do you think the green movement is a passing fad or the wave of the future? Please let us know.

Looking for more information about the "greener" side of life? Check out our weekly "Earth Talk" column from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine .