Energy efficiency provides hope for job creation, growth

Long Islanders looked to the west with curiosity and perhaps trepidation for building owners at the New York City "benchmarking" law that went into effect in May. About 16,000 buildings in New York City of more than 50,000 s/f are now required to submit an annual energy benchmark. Part of the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, the new law is expected to reduce citywide energy costs by $700 million annually by 2030 and create 17,800 construction jobs. Buildings in New York City make up 75% of the city's carbon footprint, and the larger ones targeted make up half of that. To put things in perspective, the Long Island Regional Carbon Footprint released in 2010 showed commercial uses are responsible for 26% of the carbon output, while single-family homes are 39%. Long Island has about 100,000 commercial electric meters, and less than 400 of our commercial building are larger than 50,000 s/f. With nearly 1 million residential customers, local LI government efforts have been correctly aimed at home energy efficiency. The recently announced Long Island Green Homes program allows home- owners to audit and retrofit their homes for energy efficiency, using federal stimulus money. At the same time, local governments are using stimulus funding and incentives to upgrade their own facilities. Suffolk County has saved more than $10 million in the last seven years through energy efficiency upgrades at county facilities. On the commercial front, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has offered incentives to companies for energy efficiency upgrades for 20 years, and is now in the 3rd year of a 10-year Efficiency Long Island program. However, getting owners and/or tenants to invest in the recommended measures has been difficult. LIPA's Commercial Efficiency Program is robust and their effort to get the word out has been laudable, with a series of workshops earlier this year attracting more than 500 businesses. But in this economy, getting a company to choose investing in energy efficiency over just keeping the business open and meeting payroll has made a difficult task only harder. That has some wondering if the "carrot" of incentives might someday be accompanied by a "stick" - such as requiring benchmarking. 11 of 13 Long Island municipalities require Energy Star standards for new home construction; but none are mandating benchmarking or retrofits for the existing housing or commercial stock. For now, there is the carrot of free and low cost energy audits, along with extensive incentives and handholding by local towns. Lisa Broughton, MA, LEED AP, is the acting energy director and a bio/high technology development specialist for Suffolk County, Hauppauge, N.Y.