Not lost on Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone are health benefits that his new Babylon Green Homes program will bring to children. The program will save energy and help clean up the air and environment. In photo, Bellone looks over the program's brochure as his daughter Katie looks on. The Town of Babylon has put the final pieces into place on an innovative program that will allow homeowners to have work done on their homes to make them energy efficient and to use the energy savings that result to pay for that work. The program, Long Island Green Homes, was hailed by many from the environmental community as the kind of approach they would like to see taken at the state and national level. It is the first of its kind in the state and could be the first in the country, said Town officials and environmentalists who came out to support it.

"Without question, Long Island Green Homes will be a model to other municipalities not only across Long Island, not only across New York State but indeed, throughout the entire country," said Matthew Cohen, director of legislative affairs for LIPA. "This is really a great program and I commend the Town on it," said Neal Lewis, executive director of the Neighborhood Network. "We are going to take up (the job of) encouraging other towns to follow your lead."

The Town unveiled the program at a press conference two months ago, and has worked on four "test" homes since then, completing energy saving repairs. The Town's move this week was the final step, adding energy waste and its carbon content Co2, to the Town's list of pollutants. That enables the Town to offer the program, and the money, to residents.

The program works like this: Homeowners apply and receive an energy evaluation of their home by a licensed contractor. The home performance evaluation includes an assessment of insulation, an estimate of how much air is escaping the house and an infrared scanning for cracks and gaps. A review of the home's heating, cooling and water system is also included, and a report is issued, recommending the improvements, which are paid for under the program. The plan is to strike a balance between the cost of the work and the annual savings so that the benefit assessment charges for the homeowner are no more than what they are saving during the course of a year. After five years, the benefit assessment is paid off, and the homeowner continues to reap the financial rewards of having an energy-efficient home. As significant, however is that the community's carbon footprint is reduced. Bellone pointed out that in addition to the financial and environmental benefits of the program, there are economic advantages as well. The program relies upon specialized and trained personnel who will be required to complete Green Collar courses and will boost a lethargic construction market. "With 65,000 homes in the Town of Babylon, this program will help combat global warming by reducing carbon emissions," said Bellone, who acknowledged the various groups and individuals who worked with the Town in putting the program together, including the Neighborhood Network, LIPA, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Green Living Expo Organization. Jed Morey, president of the Morey Organization and publisher of the Long Island Press has worked extensively on environmental issues and called the Town's program a "brilliant strategy," that will help clean the air we all breathe and protect children's health and improve their lives. He pointed to the high percentage of children who suffer from asthma and who are forced to take medications that have dramatic side effects. "We're creating monster illnesses that are immune to our antibiotics," he said, adding that he looks forward to the day that the newly adopted Town program can be phased in. "I commend you as an advocate for our children's health on Long Island," he told the board.