My name is Mike Bennett and I am
a certified BPI Building Analyst
and Envelope Specialist with a
company called Energy Management
Solutions based in Suffern, NY.
I recently came across an old
opinion commentary in your paper
from Sherry Melick, one of your
readers, regarding Susan
Cockburn and her lack of efforts
to uphold her position on energy
conservation. I found this to be
quite ironic as I personally
oversaw the energy reduction
improvements she implemented on
her home in Montgomery. My
former company, Energy
Appreciators, had already
performed the energy audit of
the entire home and was drawing
up contracts when the
inflammatory letter appeared in
the paper. Yet, with a moderate
investment, Susan Cockburn, was
able to achieve a conservatively
estimated 15% reduction in her
300 year old home’s energy
consumption. In my opinion I
believe she was unjustly
vilified by someone who was
emotionally blinded by a common
mis-perception of the
constraints of the Energy Star
and NYSERDA energy reduction
programs and did not want to
base their commentary on facts,
such as Susan’s energy
improvements, that are a matter
of public record. I would go as
far as to suggest they might
have had an even deeper hidden
agenda in their attempt to smear
Susan’s name. The former owner
of Energy Appreciators has
spoken in front of planning
boards regarding the Energy Star
program and has faced the wrath
of these mis-perceptions from
builders and contractors. It is
uniformed, reactive comments
like the ones in Melick’s
commentary that cause
hardworking people to not take
the time to get the full picture
and understand the long term
value to all of us.
The question I would ask them is
what have they personally done
to help to add to this important
piece that we all must
participate in if we are truly
ever going to be the independent
nation our fore fathers fought
so hard for us to be. I applaud
Susan for what she has already
done and what she is trying so
hard to do for all of us. The
ironic twist to the destruction
of the ENERGY STAR CODE, only
for new residential construction
in Montgomery, is that the
Federal Stimulus Funding which
has flooded into NYS could have
been used to fund the
developer’s purchase of ENERGY
STAR RATED Appliances for the
homes they want to build. So who
is the loser?
