Lessons from Green Jobs-Green NY: Community-based Energy Efficiency Alternatives for Reforming the Energy Vision.

Transcription

1 Lessons from Green Jobs-Green NY: Community-based Energy Efficiency Alternatives for Reforming the Energy Vision. Stephan Edel - the Center for Working Families Adam Flint - Southern Tier Solar Works / Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition Clarke Gocker - PUSH Buffalo Marriele Robinson - Long Island Progressive Coalitions / PowerUp Communities

2 Center Working Families, along with more than 100 stakeholder groups, created a policy blueprint. Blueprint turned into state legislation that was passed in 2009 to create the program Seeded with $112 million of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) funds

3 Passed by a broad coalition in The goals of GJGNY was to create mass-scale energy efficiency in 5 years. Save billions on energy bills Address global warming Create good jobs & training Improve health outcomes Upgrade aging housing stock The groups came together in the economic crisis to help New Yorkers conserve energy, save money, and create jobs. The legislature saw this as creating economic and environmental justice through a program rooted in community.

4 The coalition identified an array of problems: Energy efficiency still not widely popular or known Lack of upfront financing to pay for energy assessments and energy upgrades Who do I trust to do the work? How do I understand the retrofit process? Time consuming Lack of good jobs Climate change

5 GJGNY tried to do that by removing barriers with: Free/low-cost energy assessments Low-interest financing On-bill recovery Community-based outreach Integrated local job creation and workforce development Job standards GJGNY focused on homes and small business, but includes everyone.

6 How is it going? Rather than a stand alone program it was grafted onto existing programs. Free/low cost energy assessments and financing have been available since November Community group outreach began in January On bill recovery [which required additional legislation] began for homes in January 2012, but financing is still inaccessible to too many New Yorkers. Thousands of New Yorkers have benefited, but not tens of thousands.

7 What can we take from it for the REV/CEF? Natural barriers to participating in energy efficiency are exacerbated by the difficulty accessing financing and bureaucratic processes. Social values need to be measured and prioritized. Without explicit expectations, targets, and industry standards set to serve LMI communities they will have great difficulty participating. Siloed programs make it much harder to serve customers especially those with barriers. NYSERDA and the PSC are centralized bureaucratic regulatory bodies. As demonstrated with GJGNY, the CBO model works to correct these problems by identifying barriers, supporting customers, and engaging as advocate with regulators and market actors.

8 Adam Flint - Southern Tier Solar Works / Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition Case example: Southern Tier Regional GJGNY Consortium The players Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County Public Policy and Education Fund of the Southern Tier Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition City of Binghamton

9 CBO s brought more resources to the table than NYSERDA provided, but all resources were grant funded and therefore unsustainable. The Consortium Leveraged 2-3 times the funding provided. CCET had already developed a social marketing approach. The Consortium had existing web and paper marketing and database resources. Energy Corps interns and Americorps Clean Energy Service Corps interns allowed staffing up at low cost.

10 Initial problems gearing up the new program frustrated early adopters, drew CBO human and material resources and undermined deliverables. Cultural divide between technocratic and grassroots organizations. Initial training geared to energy professionals. Major on-bill recovery glitch meant neither contractors nor CBOs could communicate directly about this product to clients. Conversion rates for middle & upper income home efficiency customers from the previous 2-4 years were NOT a reliable predictor of the new LMI market. A depressed economy combined with a very mild winter created a perfect storm for the first 6 months of the program.

11 Workforce development was underfinanced, and suffered in most regions, contrary to the intent of the law CBO s who had not already built relations between contractors and workforce agencies needed time to develop those. Synching training efforts with job creation was challenging. On the plus side, in the southern tier, the workforce committee proved to be an excellent space to build contractor relations.

12 Wide regional variability of effective best practices. For the Southern Tier: A dearth of news made press events easy and effective. Going to the people in their networks was the most effective approach. Having trusted community leaders as champions is key, as is relations of trust and communication with contractors. Outreach and education is the easy part. Supporting clients through the process is what gets results in the end. Southern Tier led the state in the number of retrofits and completions.

13 The chief barriers identified during the first round persist Lack of secure and sufficient funding for outreach threatens the viability and survival of the program. While the process has become much more efficient, still not a simple one-stop shop. Pre-energy improvement abatement and repair, along with the split incentive problem with rentals, remain major barriers for large numbers of residents. The Green Jobs part of the program is languishing for lack of resources. NYSERDA still lacks a clear LMI strategy.

14 Conclusions and Recommendations for NY s Energy Reform Process REV could result in a clean, distributed energy systems, or a clean energy system run by utilities and corporations. This would squander the Environmental and Economic Justices opportunities presented. If reforms are to result in a democratized energy system, advocates for diverse constituencies and interests that share common goals MUST work together effectively to influence the rule making process now and the legislative process in the spring.

15 (conclusions and recommendations) NYSERDA, NYPA and the PSC should be directed to develop a holistic LMI strategy through legislative action, and encouraged to do so by CBOs. This can be framed to be in their self interest. A broad multi-stakeholder process will be needed. This time, those on the ground implementing the program should continue to meet with agencies to make sure the programs improve as they are implemented.

16 (conclusions and recommendations) A long term (minimum of 10 year) funding carve out from RGGI and the CEF to fund LMI energy improvements, outreach and Marketing, and necessary abatements. LMI residents pay hundreds of millions of dollars into the SBC and receive comparatively little in return. Its entirely impossible to meet the states energy and climate goals if roughly 40% of the population is left out.

17 Labor market intermediary Energy consumer advocate Industry and agency watchdog Grassroots marketer and demand aggregator Community energy planner

18 Grassroots marketer and demand aggregator Door-to-door canvassing Community mobilization events House meetings 1-on-1s High Bills? Text messaging campaign Ambassador program Speak Refer Host PUSH Green + Healthy Homes program Leveraged a local green and healthy homes investment fund to provide matching grants to LMI households Green Building Retrofit program Incentive grants for catalyst improvements to non-profits and small commercial businesses located in economically disinvested areas Friends and Neighbors program Customer aggregation and community benefits signature initiative

19 Energy consumer advocate Energy advocates are industry certified (BPI) Motivate customers with tripe bottom line value proposition Promote energy literacy through intensive outreach and project management Pre-screen homes for retrofit readiness and prequalify residents for financing and incentives Interpret energy audit findings, negotiate work scopes, and monitor contractor pricing, customer service, and scheduling Liaison with program staff to troubleshoot projects

20 Labor market intermediary Job Leads = Contracting, Hiring and Wage Standards Customer demand generation and leadership development Outreach and Organizing Grassroots outreach to identify disconnected workers Referral into industry recognized DOL and NYSERDA sponsored training Leverage neighborhood affordable housing demonstration projects for hands-on training Experiment with a community hiring hall model for placing entry level laborers in green construction jobs Localize access to workforce development system resources Connect Unemployed and disconnected workers Work readiness, preapprenticeship, and technical skills training contractors with on-the-job training wage subsidy programs Developed and enforce a community benefits agreement

21 Industry and agency watchdog Enforceable community benefits agreement with contractors and NYSERDA Community Impact Scorecard Monthly certified payroll reporting to DOL Standing on GJGNY Advisory Council Participation in GJGNY CBO network

22 Community energy planner Extensive experience in place-based community development and participatory planning Implemented a Green Development Zone (GDZ) initiative on the West Side of Buffalo to anchor investments in public infrastructure, affordable housing, job training, urban agriculture, weatherization, and stormwater management Land banking strategy to acquire strategic vacant property assets and defend against property speculation

23 2010: Long Island Progressive Coalition (LIPC) creates PowerUp Communities History Goal: market energy efficiency upgrades while providing pathways out of poverty and opportunities for community revitalization 2011: The LIPC is recipient of New York State Energy Research and Development Authorities (NYSERDA) Green Jobs Green New York (GJGNY) grant. 2014: The LIPC is awarded the GJGNY grant from NYSERDA to continue PowerUp Communities in Nassau and Suffolk County for another two years. The Long Island Progressive Coalition (LIPC) is a grassroots community-based organization founded in 1979, dedicated to promoting sustainable development, and achieving economic, social & racial justice.

24 LIPCs Aggregation Program Contractors are accountable in Aggregation. These contractors understand the LIPCs watchdog role. By having an organization, beyond NYSERDA, holding contractors accountable, homeowners are more comfortable going through the process and contractors are held to a higher standard. Aggregation allows for in-depth analysis of a communities needs and obstacles. Community groups can more effectively communicate these needs and reform policy, programs, and financing mechanisms accordingly. Without community groups, these communities will go unheard. Community Benefit Agreements (CBA) result in jobs with family support wages and local hiring. CBOs can supply contractors with trainees to interview and MWBE sub contractors to hire for plumbing, mold remediation, and asbestos. CBOs working in Aggregation that requires a CBA will result in local job creation and small business development.

25 Obstacles Facing LMI Communities Older housing stock with original heating systems and little to no insulation, resulting in higher energy costs. Mold and asbestos become huge issues because homeowners cannot afford to remediate them early on. Homeowners that utilize oil cannot afford service contracts, resulting in more expensive oil deliveries and few boiler health/safety checks. Larger households making applying for rebates and financing mechanisms for difficult. Many contractors do not outreach in these communities due to the administrative burden. General distrust of contractors due to bad experiences in the past. Ex. Post Sandy we have had a very difficult time getting a homeowner to allow a contractor in their home.

26 Referral Award: Unconventional Partnerships CBO participation in advertising and program implementation results in not only an increase in homeowner participation in these programs, but begins to develop an untapped markets. Example: Childcare Councils of Long Island -Resulted in improved residences as well as small businesses Improved quality of life for the homeowner and the children they serve. Educates parents about the importance of energy efficiency in their daycare, as well as their home

27 Thank You!