Queens Library at Sunnyside. Photo: Jeffrey Spady

Queens, NY – January 18, 2012 – Running libraries cost-effectively and in an environmentally responsible way are important goals, so it comes as excellent news that the Queens Library Foundation is partnering with the not-for-profit Community Environmental Center (CEC) of Long Island City, Queens, to bring energy retrofits and green education programs to five branches of Queens Library. Queens Library has among the highest usage in the nation.

Funded by $250,000 from the Greening Western Queens Fund of North Star Fund, the new Greening Libraries Project will get underway in January 2012, announced Diana Chapin, Executive Director of the Queens Library Foundation, and Richard Cherry, CEC’s president.

Five Queens Libaries will receive retrofits and sustainability programs. They are Queens Libraries at Astoria, Broadway, Steinway, Sunnyside, and Woodside.

“Queens Library enriches the lives of more than 15 million visitors a year,” said Chapin. “Every change we make toward ‘greener’ operations and ‘greener thinking’ in our communities will pay off in a big way. CEC’s work is part of Queens Library’s Greening Libraries project, which is providing green programs, education and activities for all ages, including recycling and hands-on gardening opportunities.”

“A library is the original ‘reuse’ center,” said CEC’s Cherry, “so it is really the perfect go-to place for information about living green and using our natural resources efficiently. To start, CEC will perform energy audits in each library, and install energy-saving lighting and water-conservation measures. Public areas will receive low-VOC (volatile organic content) paint and carpeting, and we will clean heating and ventilating systems and make them more efficient. And CEC will help Queens Library educate its users about how to create a green environment inside and outside their homes.” 

Queens Library Foundation is the fund-raising arm for Queens Library. It is one of more than 15 grantees that received funds through the Greening Western Queens Fund of North Star Fund.

Community Environmental Center, which was founded by Richard Cherry in 1994, is dedicated to bringing energy efficiency to new and existing buildings throughout the New York Metro Area.

For more information, please contact Alexis Greene, 718-784-1444, ext. 156.

As for LIHEAP funds, which in states like New York also go toward the weatherization of low-income homes, the Omnibus bill requires a cut from 2011’s $4.7 billion level to $3.5 billion – a 25% reduction but less of a slash than the President had proposed back in February.

We can be thankful that, due to the efforts of Congresspeople such as Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY)  and of agencies around the country that wrote letters, sent petitions and blogged about the urgent need to preserve weatherization and LIHEAP, the funding still exists at all.

Still, there is the uncomfortable sense that weatherization is now positioned where the National Endowment for the Arts and the Public Broadcasting Service have been for years: so threatened with extinction that supporters are just gratified if the agencies are still standing by the time the next budget rolls around. The political goal becomes “please don’t cut so much” instead of “increase the budget.”

As President Obama and Congress vacation this holiday season, they might ponder that, even if energy prices continue to go down, low-income home owners, many of whom may be out of work, will have trouble affording the energy to keep them warm this winter – especially if their houses are drafty or their furnaces don’t run efficiently.

These folks will still need Weatherization, and there will be much less of it to go around.

So he got out of his car and strolled around, and when he came to Community Environmental Center’s booth, he bought a raffle ticket for a free Energy Audit. And as luck would have it, he won.

One often hears about the luck of the Irish, and for Natton good fortune began in 1964, when he was 18 and decided to come to the United States. As he tells the story, he was living in a town about 65 miles from Dublin, and the only job opportunity was to be a clerk in a bank.

“When I saw the guy that had the job,” says Natton, whose hair has gone white but whose accent is still redolent of Ireland, “in a high chair, like a clerk in Dickens, hunched over a desk – his day started when the bank closed – I said, ‘This is not for me.’” An aunt and uncle were already in the States, and Natton called them and said, “I’m ready.”

For a time he did odd jobs, but eventually he took a post with the telephone company – it was the New York Telephone Company back then – and stayed for 30 years, until he retired. Along the way he married a lass from Belfast and had two sons.

In 1972, shortly after he got married, he bought a red-brick house in Brooklyn that had been built around 1860. The neighborhood was, he says, a “ghetto.” Today it’s prime real estate.

Still, even prime real estate needs work on occasion. Natton has tenants in an apartment on the upper two floors, and they had been complaining about drafts and lack of heat. And Natton does describe himself as moderately “green” – he recycles, composts food scraps and replaces incandescent light bulbs with CFLs.

So when he saw the raffle offer at CEC’s booth, he acquired a ticket (the raffle, like the audit, was free), and about one month and a half later, Edward Ntalo from CEC was performing a blower-door test and climbing the stairs at Natton’s house to explore where air leaks could be lurking.

Now, the Energy Audit completed, Natton has asked CEC to make the energy-efficient adjustments that CEC’s auditors recommended. “I love this house,” he says.

       What if we could come up with a strategy that would create jobs across the nation for young men and women from impoverished families, for veterans and for the chronically unemployed?  A strategy that would put people to work fast and directly — not just provide a tax-break for corporations?  A strategy that would, miracle of miracles, also have a strong impact on the environment? 

      There is an approach that fills the bill: an Energy Corps, which would train men and women to perform low-cost energy-efficiency measures and pay them to carry out these measures at schools, affordable housing, hospitals, libraries, and parks across the country.

      Like the popular and eminently successful Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930s, an Energy Corps (EC) would provide work for thousands of men and women. And like the CCC, which put civilians to work conserving the country’s natural resources, the EC would protect the environment by making buildings energy efficient. Energy efficient buildings equal reduced greenhouse gases equal survival for us all.

       Not possible, you say? It has already happened successfully, in microcosm, in New York City.  Since 2009, Community Environmental Center (CEC), a Queens nonprofit, has teamed closely with workforce development programs, training urban youth who have high school diplomas or the equivalent and paying them $250 each week to perform basic energy-related jobs.

     The results have been remarkable. Through the Mayor’s CoolRoofs NYC program, young men and women in a career-training program at Green City Force, a Brooklyn nonprofit, helped coat more than 1 million square feet of city rooftop with reflective paint, lessening what’s called the “Heat Island Effect ” – making buildings cooler and less dependent on energy-using air conditioning.

        Through ARRA funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), Green City Force men and women were paid to perform household health and safety tests and diagnostic, energy-consumption tests at 8,000 affordable-housing apartments.

     The EmPower New York program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) trained and paid young men and women to test lighting and appliances for energy efficiency, perform complete energy efficiency retrofits and teach environmental education to 638 low-income families.

       Before your eyes glaze over from buzzwords, consider these young people’s honest expressions of positive personal experience.  Nineteen-year-old Green City Force member Bill Spencer, from Brooklyn, has written that “Over the course of six months in the program, I’ve seen a change in myself that I never thought was possible. The skills and the knowledge that I’ve gained are a great experience for what’s out there in the world. But most of all, I have learned how to live selflessly and live more greenly.”            

     Nineteen-year-old Soraya Scales, also from Brooklyn, wrote that “Green City Force has helped me not only in skills that are essential for the workforce, but with skills that are essential for everyday life.” 

              Could this kind of program work on a larger scale? Absolutely.  Contracted by state agencies, nonprofit energy efficiency organizations across the country would train EC members for one month and, with the logistical and financial support of local owners of eligible buildings, identify energy efficiency projects lasting between 6 and 12 months.   After one month of training, EC members would begin to perform lighting and appliance audits, weather stripping and other energy efficiency measures. They would do door-to-door outreach for energy-efficiency projects in their communities. Along the way, EC members would acquire Building Performance Institute (BPI) certification, so that they could be marketable when their EC tour of duty ends.

      There are about 23 million young people ages 16 to 24 in the U.S., and more than half are unemployed. There are about 200,000 unemployed veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Community Environmental Center estimates that $10,000 would cover the cost of engaging, training, supervising, insuring, and paying one Energy Corps member for 6 months. 

       Five hundred million dollars could put 50,000 people to work.

       It doesn’t solve our unemployment problem, but it’s a start.

A solar panel array at the Jewish Community Center on Staten Island

Queens, NY – November 30, 2011—The 24-panel Solar Hot Water system now adorning the roof of the Joan and Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center on Staten Island, NY, was installed by Community Environmental Center (CEC) of Queens, announced CEC’s President, Richard Cherry.

 The SHW system, which was designed by Quixotic Systems Inc. of Manhattan, was unveiled on November 22.

“The JCC of Staten Island is a green, forward-looking organization,” said Cherry. “Using the sun to heat the water they use – 2,000 gallons a day, approximately – keeps down their use of fossil fuels and reduces greenhouse gases, mitigating the climate crisis about which we are all very concerned.”

The SHW system uses 4’ x 10’ panels designed by Heliodyne™ of California, and the panels connect to a 1,500-gallon German-designed tank in the JCC’s basement. Community Environmental Center installed the system using the pre-existing bar joists that support the JCC’s spacious roof. 

The new SHW system cost $170,000, of which $120,000 came from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and $50,000 from New York City’s Economic Development Corporation.

The JCC, which is equipped with an Olympic-size swimming pool as well as facilities for soccer, basketball and gymnastics, estimates that it has been spending roughly $5,500 each year to heat water for showers and washing machines, among other needs.  It is expected that the SHW system will save the JCC approximately $4,000 a year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 27,500 pounds a year.

“Every SHW system is custom-designed and installed,” said CEC’s Solar Thermal Project Director, Sal Iacono, “because there are always variables in terms of hot-water usage, roof structure and available space. But the SHW system at the Staten Island JCC is a particularly fine example of how solar thermal can have a beneficial impact, reducing a nonprofit’s cost of heating water and improving the environment.”

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Two views of Summit Residence Hall at Queens College

Queens, NY – November 16, 2011 – The Summit Residence Hall at Queens College has just been awarded a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold rating, the second highest level of LEED certification, announced Richard Cherry, the president of Community Environmental Center (CEC), LEED consultant on the project. 

The Summit, Queens College’s first residence hall, opened in August 2009. Designed by Goshow Architects of Manhattan, the airy, cream-and-red-brick building accommodates 506 beds for students and also includes a conference room, a fitness center and a lounge. Queens College, as part of the CUNY system, agreed to purchase renewable energy for 100 percent of the building’s electricity usage for the first two years of the building’s operation.        

“We congratulate Queens College on its commitment to sustainability,” said Cherry of CEC, “not only within its buildings but also through its educational programs and its Sustainability Council, which helps to bring sustainability to the daily workings of the school.”

LEED Certification, which is overseen by the United States Green Building Council, often is awarded after a new building is completed and operating. Community Environmental Center has been involved with the Summit Residence Hall project since 2007, doing energy modeling and working with Dome-Tech, Inc., an energy engineering firm, on both fundamental and enhanced Commissioning, which helped earn additional LEED credits.

The nonprofit Community Environmental Center is located in Long Island City, Queens.  CEC is the largest provider of weatherization services under New York State’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and also serves the private sector through LEED Consulting, Energy Audits and Retrofits, Solar Thermal Installations, and Cellulose Installations.

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For more information, please contact Alexis Greene, 718-784-1444, ext. 156.

Over the past two years, Green City Force and CEC have come together to engage and train over 60 young adults. We’ve targeted young adults who live in public housing, have their GED or high school diploma, are unemployed or in dead-end jobs. GCF has recruited and oriented Corps Members; provided training in transferable skills and eco-literacy; scheduled field work; and provided supervision, evaluation, and job placement for Corps Members. CEC has provided on-the-job experiences, technical training, and the opportunity to work alongside professionals who model the green career pathways to which our Corps Members aspire. You have helped to mentor, groom, and teach our Corps Members and provided work to a third of our graduates. As for the other members of CEC’s family, Solar One has been our trainer, and Build it Green!NYC a major service partner.

It’s been a unique partnership, through which CEC has mobilized at all levels of the organization to ensure that we are creating an effective pathway to prepare young adults for careers in this industry. It’s an incredible feeling to look around today at the Green City Force graduates who are CEC employees, which many have been now for over a year. Thank you to all of our partners and allies at CEC: Rick, Olga, Leroy, Thelma, Kathy, Claudia, Ken, Meir, Alexis, Larina, Shack, Carol, Nereida, Paul, Chris, Michael, Justin, as well as Cara, Loretta, and the CEC Cool Roofs team … there are far too many to name. We appreciate the open, honest communication, input into design, feedback on our program and curriculum, the patience and dedication through many hours spent with staff and Corps Members.

A word for Rick Cherry:  Rick, you have a talent for tackling complex problems with clarity and purpose. You’re good at it because you’ve got vision, passion, generosity, determination, and you expect to succeed. You’re great at collaboration – and all complex problems take collaboration to solve. I came to Rick with a big idea two years ago, and I appreciate that not only did he not laugh or kick me out, but that he immediately saw where we shared a common vision and passion for the environment and for young people, and where we each could be most effective. Thank you, Rick, for believing in the Corps Members and in Green City Force.

The Honorable Helen M. Marshall, Borough President of Queens, at the Community Environmental Center Weatherization Day Celebration Nov. 1

Long Island City, Queens, November 2, 2011—The Honorable Helen M. Marshall, President of the Borough of Queens, proclaimed November 1 to be Community Environmental Center Weatherization Day, at an event celebrating weatherization on Tuesday morning, November 1.

Appearing at Community Environmental Center’s headquarters in Long Island City, before a crowd of over 100 people, the Borough President said that “what the Community Environmental Center does — keeping people warm in winter and training young people for green jobs — is enormously important, for Queens and for all of us in this great city.”

Richard Cherry, the founder and president of CEC, accepted the Proclamation from the Queens Borough President and extolled both the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and also the ARRA funding that has enabled CEC to bring weatherization to 9,551 apartments – and at least 25,000 city residents – during the last two years.

Also honored at the CEC event were Getz Obstfeld, the president of Community Developers, Inc., and the Board of Directors of Lindsay Park Housing Corporation in Brooklyn. Cora Austin, board president, accepted a plaque on behalf of the Corporation.

The federal Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) was started in 1976, in response to an oil crisis that spiked fuel prices, putting low-income home owners at risk of suffering through intense cold during the winters. By the end of 2008, the program had brought weatherization to more than 6 million homes. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act), WAP received $5 billion to weatherize nearly 600,000 homes.  

For more information about Community Environmental Center, please visit www.CECenter.org or call Alexis Greene, 718-784-1444, ext. 156.

NYSERDA announced the award and others at NYSERDA’s 2011 Partner Summit on October 24. The award to CEC is specifically “For dedication and commitment providing energy services to the multifamily market.”

“Community Environmental Center is honored and delighted to receive this recognition,” said Cherry, from CEC’s headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. “CEC and NYSERDA have had a long partnership, and CEC is grateful that NYSERDA has supported this very important work of providing energy efficiency to multifamily buildings in New York City.”

Cherry founded CEC in 1994. CEC is the largest weatherization provider under New York State’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), consults and contracts for sustainable building projects in the private sector, and is a proponent of green living and working conditions the world over.

For more information about CEC, please visit us at www.CECenter.org

Press Contact: Alexis Greene, 718-784-1444, ext. 156.  

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A CEC Crew Chief performs air sealing behind an exterior wall during the weatherization of a house

Queens, NY – October 19, 2011 – Community Environmental Center (CEC), the nonprofit organization that is the largest supplier of weatherization under New York State’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), will celebrate Weatherization Day on November 1 at its Long Island City headquarters. CEC will also honor its founder and president, Richard M. Cherry, announced CEC spokesperson Alexis Greene.

 The celebration will take place from 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at CEC headquarters, 43-10 11^th St., Long Island City, Queens. Music will be provided by Jay Ackley and the Family-Style Band.

In addition to honoring Mr. Cherry, CEC will honor Cora Austin and the Board of Directors of Lindsay Park, in Brooklyn, and Getz Obstfeld, the president of Community Developers, Inc., for their dedicated support of weatherization. Speakers will include Lisbeth Shepherd, Executive Director of Green City Force, a Brooklyn nonprofit that prepares at-risk young people for green careers, and David Pagan, the former Executive Director of Southside United Housing Development Fund (Los Sures). 

Founded by Richard Cherry in 1994, CEC provides insulation and other weatherization benefits to low-income homeowners and buildings in Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods. CEC also consults on retrofits, Solar Hot Water systems and cellulose installation to building owners and managers throughout the New York Metropolitan Area. The CEC family of companies includes the nonprofits Solar One, located in Manhattan, and Build It Green!NYC, which has sites in Queens and Brooklyn.

 For more information, please contact Alexis Greene, 718-784, 1444, ext. 156; agreene@cecenter.org