Energy-Efficient Neighborhoods

Illustration from the U.S. Department of Energy

Greening the Places Where New Yorkers Live, Work, Play, Learn and Worship

The Pratt Center for Community Development works with block and civic associations, community boards, religious associations and community-based organizations to make neighborhoods more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.  

As the Coordinator of the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority’s Energy $mart Communities program for Brooklyn and Queens, we assist residents, building owners and neighborhood groups to access financial incentives to make buildings energy efficient.

Building energy upgrades reduce the use of heating fuel, electricity and water, saving operating costs and reducing harmful greenhouse gases, particulate emissions and sewage runoff.  They also preserve buildings, making them more durable, healthy and comfortable while improving both indoor and outdoor air quality

Pratt Center is working to increase neighborhood sustainability neighborhood by neighborhood, one block a a time, through energy audits, weatherization and other services that promote reduced energy consumption. Conducting building energy upgrades and other sustainability initiatives at a neighborhood scale:

• Makes energy retrofits more cost effective because they can be done more quickly and cheaply when they involve many buildings in a small area.
• Increases the depth and breadth of resident engagement in environmental action through the influence of neighbors working on shared concerns that go beyond energy efficiency, such as open space, asthma and other issues..
• Creates good jobs for local residents by simultaneously increasing demand for weatherization/energy retrofits while training residents via local employment programs.
• Engages neighborhood institutions, such as churches and community centers that can become models and advocates for environmental action.  
• Multiplies the benefits of individual actions, for example planting a full block with street trees that cool streets and clean the air.

Pratt develops financial, technical and outreach strategies and tools to support community-based environmental initiatives and track outcomes.

The Pratt Center is working in partnership with the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation to create a model green block where we are working to upgrade every home for energy efficiency, improve a community garden, plant street trees and help local residents with criminal justice histories to secure job training and employment on energy retrofit projects. We are also working with Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, Community Environmental Center and Green City Force to develop a block-by-block initiative in Cypress Hills.

The Energy-Efficient Neighborhoods project shares information through workshops and forums and publishes Energy Matters, an online information center helping building owners and managers identify financing resources and other aids to make buildings more energy efficient, durable and less costly to run.