Expanding Clean Energy Jobs Across Suffolk

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STEVE BELLONE: EXPANDING CLEAN ENERGY JOBS ACROSS SUFFOLK

Under the leadership of Steve Bellone, the Town of Babylon has served as a program incubator for energy efficiency, emissions reduction, smart growth and environmental stewardship. These programs have created actual jobs in Babylon, and extending them across the county would generate new, clean energy jobs throughout Suffolk that cannot be outsourced.

REMOVING BARRIERS

Pursuing clean energy solutions can create jobs in Suffolk County, and expanding the programs that Steve Bellone instituted in Babylon countywide will reduce costs for residents and help drive economic growth. As County Executive, Steve Bellone will address the key barriers to clean energy job creation – cost, convenience and education:

Innovation Zones. Steve Bellone has announced that, as County Executive, he will incentivize attracting and expanding high-tech businesses towards publicly owned parcels that are currently off tax rolls. These new innovation zones, working with Governor Cuomo’s new economic development program, will be able to compete with incentives offered anywhere in America. The emerging clean energy sector of our economy will be a high-priority target for expansion and inclusion in Innovate Suffolk. Steve will work with Advanced Energy Center at Stony Brook University and Supervisor Lesko’s Accelerate Long Island program to advance the work being done and help provide clean energy startups with affordable options to grow their businesses in Suffolk County.

Removing financial barriers. As Supervisor, Steve Bellone created the most innovative energy efficiency program in the nation. After three years of operation and more than 500 completed projects, Long Island Green Homes remains a national model for clean energy job creation. Allowing more residents to realize significant energy savings with nearly no upfront costs for retrofitting will generate jobs up and down the supply chain.

Cutting Red Tape. Property owners, residents and businesses that have a desire to go forward with energy saving projects should be rewarded, not undermined. In order to facilitate upgrades, Steve Bellone will make the permitting process clear, easy and affordable. As outlined in his plan to Prioritize Economic Development, Bellone will streamline processes for all businesses to expand and create jobs. Working with towns and villages, he will work to minimize delays in the permit process for clean energy projects and offer reduced fees.

Expand High-Tech Workforce. Building on the successful mechatronics training model at Suffolk Community College, Steve Bellone will work with local colleges, trade unions, non-profits and employers to develop a program that trains future workers for the clean energy jobs here in Suffolk County.

BUILDING ON SUCCESS

Long Island Green Homes. Launched in Babylon in 2008, Long Island Green Homes is a nationally recognized energy efficiency residential retrofitting program. In partnership with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Long Island Green Homes has already partially extended to Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and Southampton. Homeowners that have retrofitted their homes through the program are seeing an average of a $1,100 savings in their energy bills each year. As County Executive, Steve Bellone – the pioneer of the Green Homes program – will make sure Suffolk residents know exactly what retrofitting programs are available to them. By making it as convenient and cost effective as possible for residents, we can create demand for a program that will in turn create jobs. So far, nearly 1% of Babylon’s 65,000 homes have been retrofitted, creating 64 jobs (every 10.15 homes creates one job). There is no single greater opportunity for job creation or energy savings than making Suffolk’s building stock more efficient, and by the end of his first term, Steve Bellone’s goal will be to retrofit 10,000 homes, thereby creating nearly 1,000 jobs.

Solarize Suffolk. LIPA has played a pivotal role in the adoption of solar energy on Long Island by providing incentives and working with installers. The top two states for solar installs, California and New Jersey, have galvanized wider installations by providing Solar Renewable Energy Certificates that New York has yet to adopt. As County Executive, Steve Bellone will make it easier for homeowners to attract low-interest loans that are available through NYSERDA and other lending streams by setting up an office to let people know what is available and help manage different application processes to increase the County’s commitment to solar energy.

New Energy. Babylon’s Wyandanch Rising redevelopment is piloting a utility-scale geothermal installation, GeoRising. Subsurface aquifer storage of heating and cooling will provide tenants a renewable, lower cost source of energy. Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) systems have proliferated in the Netherlands and many other European countries. Soil conductivity on Long Island makes ground source heating a particularly promising and cost-effective alternative to the high cost of conventional energy sources.

Use Local Suppliers. In 2006, Babylon and Brookhaven were the first towns on Long Island to require Energy Star standards for new homes, a standard now adopted by ten towns. Later that year, Babylon required LEED certification for all new commercial and industrial construction over 4,000 square feet, the most comprehensive in the nation. LEED Energy Standards ask that building materials be acquired within a 500-mile radius. Adhering to these standards will represent a huge opportunity for both existing and new Suffolk businesses that manufacture energy efficiency, water conservation and pollution control products.

Protect Consumers. With an expansion of retrofitting, it will be imperative that legitimate contractors not have to compete against unlicensed, dishonest or predatory contractors. In Babylon, Steve Bellone worked with the County Legislature to develop the first Energy Auditor registration bill in the country to reward legitimate contractors and protect consumers, and it is important the Department of Consumer Affairs is appropriately funded.