Energy Efficiency Revitalizes Job Market for Contractors
CHICAGO (March 16, 2011) – Energy efficiency work is helping to revitalize the job market for contractors in the Chicago region. The Energy Savers program, which is operated by CNT Energy and the Community Investment Corporation (CIC), has created more than 75 jobs over the past three years and is expected to generate an additional 165 jobs over the next two years. A larger, regional energy efficiency initiative could produce as many as 2,000 new jobs for workers in the Chicago region over the next three years.
Energy Savers focuses on reducing energy use in affordable multifamily buildings in the Chicago region. This reduces operating costs for building owners and helps to maintain affordable housing. With help from the Energy Savers program, building owners are finding that energy efficiency is a smart investment, even during an economic downturn.
The Energy Savers program has helped local building owners make energy efficiency improvements in more than 3,500 housing units, cutting energy costs by 30 percent on average. This saves the average building owner $10,000 per year. In the process, the program has created jobs for the contractors who implement the Energy Savers team’s energy efficiency recommendations. The program has created work for energy auditors, insulation specialists, heating contractors and others.
Mike Jasinski, owner of All Thermal Insulation in Park Ridge, has worked with the Energy Savers program for nearly a year. Building owners participating in the program have hired his company to do projects such as sealing ducts and insulating hot water tanks and pipes. He says the work that has come in through the Energy Savers program helped his company remain profitable and even grow.
“A significant part of our growth is tied to the CNT Energy Savers program,” says Jasinski. “In order to accommodate the work load we had to hire two people. We’ve been able to bring on manpower, and that allows us to pick up additional jobs over and beyond the CNT projects,” he says.
Adding two workers is a significant increase for a small business. With the addition of the two new workers, All Thermal Insulation now has eight employees.
“We brought people back into the workforce that really needed the work,” Jasinski says. “Clearly work in general is hard to come by, and these people had been in the construction and plumbing field for 20 years. We’ve got people with families to feed. As you look around the market, other people are certainly going to have similar stories to tell,” he says.
The Energy Savers team from CNT Energy evaluates each building and helps owners identify the most cost effective energy efficiency improvements. CIC offers low-cost financing options to cover the cost of the work. This approach makes it possible for building owners to invest in building upgrades that will pay off in lower electricity and gas bills.
Jasinski says his team enjoys working with the Energy Savers program because they can see that the program is having a positive impact on the community. The energy saving improvements reduce energy bills, help to preserve affordable housing, and make the apartments safer and more comfortable.
“Basically the work that we’re doing, we’re doing for people that really need this. So in addition to the new business, we feel like we’re doing something good for the community, because you really are making an impact,” says Jasinski.
Energy efficiency could continue to spur growth in the job market as the region moves forward with the Chicago Region Initiative for Better Buildings (CRIBB), a federally funded regional collaboration led by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) in partnership with the City of Chicago Department of Environment, and with support from the City of Rockford and suburban and regional stakeholders. A team led by CNT Energy is coordinating the program on behalf of CMAP. CRIBB will focus on promoting energy efficiency improvements by ensuring that homeowners, building owners and businesses have access the necessary information, financing options, and trained workforce. This program is also expected to contribute to job creation in the region, generating an estimated 2,000 jobs over the next three years.
Energy Savers Open House May 3
Building owners and contractors and others are invited to learn more about the Energy Savers program at a free open house hosted by Villa Guadalupe Senior Apartments from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m., on Tuesday, May 3, 201. The event will take place at the Villa Guadalupe Senior Apartments, located at 3201 East 91st Street, Chicago, IL. For more information or to RSVP, contact Jeanine Otte at jotte@cntenergy.org or (773) 269-2222.
For more information about the Energy Savers program go to www.cntenergy.org/energysavers.
For more on the Chicago Region Initiative for Better Buildings, go to www.cmap.illinois.gov/energy.
For more information:
Stephanie Folk, CNT Energy
(773) 269-4085
sfolk@cntenergy.org
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CNT Energy – a division of the Center for Neighborhood Technology
The CNT Energy is a non-profit organization helping consumers and communities manage energy usage and costs.
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Founded in 1978, CNT is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that works nationally in advancing urban sustainability by researching, inventing and testing strategies that use resources more efficiently and equitably. Its programs focus on climate, energy, natural resources, transportation, and community development.
