Babylon Project News

World Economic Forum Meeting Learns about The Babylon Project

Babylon Project Administrator — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:41:32 +0000

Hosts of the International Davos conference brought together metropolitan real estate and construction figures to consider “Facing the Slowdown, Growing for Tomorrow.” The organizing principle was that a majority of real estate firms do not operate now and may never operate on a multinational basis, they still benefit from the importation of value-added know-how. Richard Fedrizzi President and Chairman of US Green Building Council was one of the keynoters. Darren Wachtler, Associate Director, Head of Engineering and Construction Industry for the World Economic Forum shared the principles of SlimCity for establishing a common set of metrics for buildings which would facilitate the deployment of sustainable buildings. On a panel which included Josep A. Acebillo Marin, Director, Barcelona Regional, Metropolitan Agency for Urban Planning and Infrastructures, City of Barcelona, Spain and Hilary Beber, a policy analyst with the New York City Mayor’s office, The Babylon Project President Steve Bellone underscored the municipal primacy on property that enables Babylon to drive its residential energy efficiency retrofits. The audience consensus supported the principle of going through channels with which builders are already familiar.

US Department of Energy Highlights Green Homes Program in National Webinar

Babylon Project Administrator — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:41:56 +0000

President and founder of The Babylon Project, Steve Bellone, served as a panelist on the US Department of Energy’s Webcast on Innovative Energy Efficiency Financing Approaches on June 1, 2009. The webcast, one of the first done by the DOE to assist municipalities in the preparation of their EECBG application, reached nearly 100 sustainability officials around the country. The webcast featured an introduction by Mark Bailey, the U.S. Department of Energy Director of the Office of Weatherization & Intergovernmental Programs and a detailed presentation on municipal financing options for retrofitting buildings by Carol Broido Johnson, Efficiency Advisor for Secretary Chu’s Recovery Act Team. Mr. Bellone provided details of the Babylon retrofit program urging listeners to create sustainable programs, like Green Homes, with their stimulus funding. “By investing stimulus money in a sustainable program rather than a single project, you will be helping to build Green Careers rather than creating temporary green jobs” said Bellone. The DOE is encouraging the development of sustainable programs and the leveraging of stimulus funding with additional public and private sector dollars.

Babylon Project Team Joins Green Boot Camp at Harvard's JFK School of Government

Babylon Project Administrator — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:35:00 +0000

The Babylon Project President and Founder Steve Bellone, Executive Director Dorian Dale, Deputy Director Sam Chu and Board Member Rich Manning joined fifteen major cities such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, and San Francisco to share strategies on making their existing building stock more efficient. The Boot Camp, sponsored by Living Cities and orchestrated by the Institute for Sustainable Communities, was an intense two day exchange on strategies for bringing the retrofitting of existing buildings to scale. The opening dinner, on May 31^st, featured an inspiring talk by Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

During the opening day of the boot camp, Babylon’s Green Homes retrofit model was spotlighted by such speakers as Rob Bennett, Executive Director of Portland + Oregon Sustainability Institute and Cisco DeVries, President of Renewable Funding which featured a very entertaining post-dinner address from Auden Schendler, author of “Getting Green Done”. Steve Bellone, who also serves as Babylon Town Supervisor, presented on day 2 of the boot camp on the Emerging Strategies panel, which was moderated by two of the leading figures in this sector, Doug Foy of Serrafix and Joel Rogers, Director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. Bellone laid out Babylon’s Green Homes model, the first municipally financed energy efficiency program in the nation. He urged attendees to do what they needed to start a program saying, “before you can get to scale, you need to create a scale model.”

Green Homes Project Director Evaluates Workforce Development in California Forum

Babylon Project Administrator — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:46:00 +0000

Sammy Chu participated in “The Great Transition”, a workforce and economic development conference sponsored by the California Labor Federation. He spoke on a panel focusing on weatherization, the recovery act and high road jobs. He was joined on the panel by moderator Elena Foshay, Apollo Alliance, Jeff Rickert, AFL-CIO Center for Green Jobs, Cesar Diaz, California Building Trades Council and Stacy Ho, Green for All. Chu, wielding his IBEW membership, stressed the need for a clearer definition of today’s weatherization worker and what steps trade unions need to take to enter the growing residential retro-fit sector.

Green Homes Program Highlighted at National and Regional ICLEI Conference

Babylon Project Administrator — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Steven Bellone, President and Founder of The Babylon Project and TBP Executive Director Dorian Dale attended the ICLEI Local Climate Leadership Summit. Steve Bellone, who also serves as Babylon Supervisor, presented to local climate leaders and sustainability experts on the use of green initiatives for economic development. Supervisor Bellone’s presentation highlighted Babylon’s Green Homes initiative and other environmental programs and how they are being used to create new, clean energy careers that can help change lives and communities. He discussed the workforce development efforts in the community of Wyandanch, a hamlet within Babylon Town that is the most economically distressed in the Long Island region. Under the Wyandanch Rising Revitalization Plan, Babylon is preparing the community, through the implementation of new training programs, to fill the new clean energy jobs that are being created through the Green Homes program and those that will come as the redevelopment begins. Wyandanch, a community that has suffered from decades of environmental degredation will be rebuilt in a completely sustainable way.

Supervisor Bellone was joined on the Panel by Mayor Bob Dixson of Greensburg, a community in Kansas that was devastated by a tornado but achieved national prominence by committing to rebuild in a sustainable fashion. Mayor Dixson’s inspiring words were a testament to the power of determination and vision. After the tornado, “the only things we had left were our relationships with each other,” he said. “Don’t feel sorry for yourself, get after it and get things taken care of.” The panel was moderated by Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network, who discussed a number of sustainability initiatives and preparations for the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day. Other highlights from the summit were timely details on the status of EECBG Funding from Mark Bailey, DOE’s Director of the Office of Weatherization & Intergovernmental Programs, architect Ed Mazria’s 14x proposal for leveraging efficiency finance and ICLEI’s march on a new Washington HQ from the West Coast led by Michelle Wyman, the Executive Director.

USGBC Long Island Chapter Invests in the Babylon Project

Babylon Project Administrator — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:18:00 +0000

The Long Island Chapter of the US Green Building Council recently honored Babylon Project President Steve Bellone as its "Public Figure of the Year" for his leadership role promoting green building and energy retrofits. The USGBC LI Chapter donated $10,000 to the Babylon Project, supporting the Babylon Project's goal of promoting municipally implemented efficiency programs nationwide.

TBP Team Meets on Capitol Hill with Senior Senate and House Staffers on Energy Bill

Babylon Project Administrator — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:35:00 +0000

In meetings arranged by Jason Hartke and Bryan Howard of the US Green Building Council, TBP President Steve Bellone, Executive Director Dorian Dale and Deputy Director Sammy Chu conferred with Deborah Estes, majority counsel for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and John Jimison, an energy law expert with the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The TBP team was asked to read and comment on the energy efficiency section of the October iteration of the energy bill. It was suggested that the premise that programs be administered at the state level, called SEED, be modified to SEEDLING positing that EE programs be municipally implemented. In fact, the late March version of House Energy bill called for LEED (L as in local) rather than SEED. By May, however, the lobbyists for NASEO had succeeded in reinserting SEED.

Jimison wrote in a follow-up e-mail: “If I had a nickel for every time I’ve told someone else about the Babylon program since we met, we could both get a large cup at Starbucks. Thanks for this material on it. My key question remains this one: what can the Federal government do, within its scope of authority and resources, to encourage like programs to be developed in like-minded communities?”

TBP President Speaks at Good Jobs/Green Jobs Conference

Babylon Project Administrator — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:32:00 +0000

Steve Bellone shares details of Green Homes program at a national green collar symposium that included EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Green For All’s Van Jones, James P. Hoffa, President of the Teamsters and Phil Angelides, Chairman of the Apollo Alliance. A panel including Minnesota State Rep. Jeremy Kalin, George Hawkins, Director, D.C. DEC, Jim Yienger of ICLEI and moderated by Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress considered “Green Policies: Protecting the Environment While Spurring Job Creation.” Supervisor Bellone explained how the proliferation of municipally-run Green Homes programs around the nation would contribute to the transition to a clean, green economy that saves money and protects the environment while creating new jobs.

National Webinars and Infocalls hosted by the US Green Building Council, Green for All Hear, Urban Sustainability Directors Network and Efficiency Cities Network Hear from TBP’s Executive Director

Babylon Project Administrator — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Babylon Energy Director Dorian Dale presented to a US Green Building Council (USGBC) national webinar on “Leadership in Green Building Policy.” In a spirited exchange, Dale debated the merits of municipally administered energy efficiency retrofits versus state-run with State Representative Jeremy Kalin of Minnesota. As a follow-up to Green For All's "Retrofit America's Cities" confab in Oakland in late March, TBP has continued to contribute to their “Community of Practice”. The Urban Sustainability Directors Network, which now include close to forty members of leading green municipalities from throughout the nation, has highlighted the Green Homes program in preparation for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG). And Efficiency Cities Network, directed by Dr. Joel Rogers of COWS, featured Green Homes, especially taken by the expansion of the solid waste code to include energy waste by dint of its carbon component.