Grantee

Neighborhood Network
East Farmingdale, Long Island, NY

Grant amount

$80,000

About

Neighborhood Network is dedicated to reclaiming the suburban and rural character of community life on Long Island by preserving environmental resources, initiating policies to prevent exposure to environmental hazards, and holding our government officials accountable by advancing reforms which set higher ethical standards and keep the operation of government open to the public.

Grant Objectives

Neighborhood Network’s current project, the Clean Energy Leadership Task Force, is focused specifically on getting local government to participate in renovating their buildings to current energy efficient standards, believing that the government can lead most effectively by example. These public buildings will serve as models to Long Islanders as examples of what can be achieved through energy conservation, with the goal of setting up Long Island to be a model on a national level.

Renovating school buildings to be more energy efficient will be a future goal for Neighborhood Network.

Measurable Results

Neighborhood Network strives to promote solutions. They routinely approach local government agencies with ideas to lessen Long Island’s dependence on energy and data to illustrate measurable results. In one lighting renovation project, the projected cost of the renovations was $55,000, with an estimated yearly savings of over $120,000 per year. This carefully researched example enabled the project to move forward and ultimately save Long Islanders not just money, but energy resources as well.

An Innovative Approach

In order to increase Energy Star compliance in Long Island homes, Neighborhood Network came up with the idea to change town zoning laws to require every new home constructed on Long Island to meet Energy Star requirements. Although the Energy Star program for builders has existed on Long Island for some time, builder participation was minimal. By requiring newly constructed homes to meet stricter energy conservation requirements, Long Islanders will consume less energy. Neighborhood Network plans to help facilitate the hiring and training of HERS raters. The HERS raters will inspect the newly constructed homes to ensure they meet Energy Star requirements.

Economic Benefit

If Long Islanders are putting more money into the local economy, rather than into fuel bills, our local economy benefits. One subdivision of 120 homes saving only $1,000 per year adds $120,000 per year back into our economy.

For more information about the Neighborhood Network visit www.neighborhood-network.org .