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The Community Environmental Center brings building energy performance technologies and services to a wide-ranging market

April 1, 2007

When Richard (Rick) Cherry, founder and president of Community Environmental Center Inc. (CEC), was a young lawyer for a major New York firm and exploring various legal specialties, he thought real estate law sounded boring. “Shows how much I knew then,” Cherry chuckled. “I said that I wanted to deal with people, not buildings.” But after working on several major real estate leases and other related transactions, he realized he enjoyed the field.

Early in his career, Cherry left that lucrative legal practice to devote himself to housing issues for less fortunate New Yorkers. He joined the not-for-profit New York Urban Coalition, which had been a client of his law firm, for what he’d originally thought would be a year or two, eventually becoming its executive vice president. The Urban Coalition had been formed by the corporate community to bring labor, businesses and government together to deal with poverty and racial strife. In his nearly 20 years there, Cherry organized housing development and management programs as well as construction programs.

After the Coalition dissolved in 1995, Cherry, then 52, used his broad network and knowledge of publicly supported housing and community development programs to create the Community Environmental Center (CEC), the first New York City nonprofit to focus on environmental issues in housing and development.

In order to keep affordable housing cost-effective to operate, CEC, based in the Long Island City section of Queens, conducts energy audits or assessments and recommends energy-saving strategies to cut costs of ongoing, annual expenses like lighting and heating while also increasing building performance. These conservation measures improve the typical net cash available to building owners while increasing tenant comfort and savings.

CEC also works with a variety of government-sponsored programs to get weatherization and related work like insulation upgrades done for low-income residents.

Currently, CEC is very active in government-funded programs sponsored by New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and New York State’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal.CEC is an approved contractor for NYSERDA and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), and is certified by the Building Performance Institute (BPI) as a Home Performance Contractor. In addition, CEC’s Building Performance Services provides cost-effective conservation services to buildings not eligible for the government programs. Its weatherization program continues to be the largest in New York state.

In 2006, CEC provided energy efficiency services to over 8,000 homes, serving over 24,000 people. About 80 percent of that work involves affordable housing. Over the last 12 years, CEC has brought improvements to the homes of over 150,000 New Yorkers, mostly apartment dwellers, saving low-income residents over $20 million in energy costs and reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by 83,000 tons. Since its formation, this organization’s work has reduced the emission of greenhouse gases by over 44 tons of carbon dioxide. One would have to plant a forest 14 times the size of Central Park every year, CEC estimates, in order to reduce greenhouse gases by a comparable amount.

CEC is also actively involved in the development of alternative energy technologies. To that end, it was recently selected to demonstrate the use of a fuel cell for power in an apartment building.

At the moment, CEC is overseeing the implementation of energy-efficiency measures in HPD’s High-Performance Multi-Family Housing Initiative, which is rehabilitating old apartment buildings, involving some 5,000 apartments throughout the city. CEC’s recommendations are projected to reduce building operating expenses by about $1,000 per unit each year as well as tenant utility bills by about $200 per year.The first phase of this gargantuan project, involving 179 buildings, is expected to be completed by June.

For example, the gut renovation of 1347 Bristow Street in the Morrisania section of the Bronx is converting a 25-unit apartment building, with ground-floor retail space, into what will be a showcase for available “green” technology for multifamily construction, as executed by CEC.The project is aiming for a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver rating, the first in the city for a gut-rehab affordable housing project. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that affordable housing can be built according to the LEED rating system and maximize energy efficiency for a reasonable cost. Expected to be ready for occupancy by late this month, 1347 Bristow is the first city-sponsored “green” apartment building rehabilitated from an empty shell that includes a new condensing boiler system, a planted garden roof and other green measures projected to slash energy and water consumption by 30 percent compared to typical usage at other city-owned buildings.

1347 Bristow Street is being completely renovated and apartments are being reconfigured under the HPD’s Tenant Interim Lease (TIL) program. CEC, working under contract to NYSERDA, consulted with HPD’s Bureau of Design and Review (BDR) during every stage of design. It provided energy analysis, product recommendations, cost estimation, design review, LEED calculations and registration and assisted with tenant education on green design options.

Energy-efficiency measures used include high-efficiency condensing boilers; wet-spray cellulose insulation in wall cavities; tightly sealing the building envelope; fiberglass-framed windows with low-E glazing and double glazing filled with argon gas; high-efficiency lighting with bi-level controls (meaning that hallway and stair lighting, for example, are dimmed by occupancy sensors when people are not present); controlled exhaust ventilation; Energy Star appliances and compact fluorescents.

“Green” strategies utilized by this project were originally documented in a guidebook written by CEC staffers Alexander T. MacFarlane and Shannon H. Stone for architects, engineers and policymakers. Entitled “Affordably Green in NYC,” the report was intended to spotlight how specific LEED credits can be relevant to affordable housing development and how to apply them. The report, available at CEC’s Web site at http:/www.cecenter.org, maintains that “affordable” and “green” need not be mutually exclusive. It reviews green materials, energy efficiency, water conservation, healthy building design and the associated costs and benefits.

When considering cost-effective “green” design options, MacFarlane points out that developers and designers should remember that “there is no one ‘green’ approach. And even within LEED, there are four levels of certification. While LEED Platinum is very prescriptive,” he notes, “there’s a tremendous amount of flexibility within the LEED Silver level.” An attainable example, MacFarlane says, is the wastewater treatment credit. With effective low-flow showerheads and dual-flush toilets, you can normally get greater than 30 percent water savings. MacFarlane says he finds more of the cost of implementing “green” systems and projects often comes from delays in projects due to factors like a learning curve as well as a lag in getting city permits.

Gut renovations are expected to make up about 59 percent of the 34,379 affordable housing units in the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan. CEC’s “Affordably Green in NYC” points out that they can earn LEED credits for building re-use.

MacFarlane, who initiated and is in charge of technical services for CEC’s green building program, directed CEC’s work on the Bristow Street building.

CEC has also conducted seminars for architects and apartment building owners. Two architects who’ve participated are Justin Georges, principal of the Manhattan-based Justin Georges Architect PC, and Victor Morales, principal of Victor Morales Architect in Brooklyn. Georges has worked with CEC on HPD rehab projects on affordable multifamily walk-ups in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Morales recently worked with HPD and CEC on a 39-unit gut rehab of an affordable housing project in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Both found the seminars helpful in their affordable housing work.

“CEC has been an important partner in the development of specifications for HPD’s High Performance Housing Initiative, a program that ensures energy efficiency in roughly 5,000 affordable units scheduled for rehabilitation through city-sponsored programs,” reports HPD’s Amanda R. Pitman. “CEC’s knowledge of LEED requirements has been critical in the rehabilitation of 1347 Bristow, aiming to be the first silver-level LEED-certified rehabilitation project overseen by HPD. This is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s 10-year New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing.”

“It’s been really exciting to see HPD try this cutting-edge approach,” Cherry says. In general, he explains, there are three major areas where building owners and developers can improve energy efficiency: windows, heating systems and lighting. Replacing incandescent bulbs can slash electricity bills—as can replacing refrigerators that are more than 10 years old.

While building owners and managers get more payback from upgrading heating systems to high-efficiency boilers as well as revamping lighting and roof insulation, he adds, windows are a high priority for owners because they enhance asset value. “The building looks newer, and better-insulating windows can also mitigate street noise. Even though windows provide a lower return on investment than some other options,” Cherry continues, “on the equity side, they can generate higher cash flow as well as cut operating costs. Hence, there’s more money available for debt service.”

Cherry concludes, “Perhaps if people look at energy conservation and green design through the eyes of climate change and global warming, it may finally be the motivation we need to do the right thing.”