Ithaca, NY – EMPEQ (Empower Equity, Inc.) and Shawn Gregoire have been chosen to work together under the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)’s Climate Justice Fellowship program.
A New York State native, Mr. Gregoire joins Ithaca-based EMPEQ after nearly 15 years in the United States Air Force. After starting as an Aircraft Mechanic at Travis Air Force Base, Gregoire rose to become a Senior Manager at Dover Air Force Base; in the latter position he was responsible for managing 153 employees, two aircraft maintenance hangars worth $36 million, 11 programs, and $28 million worth of equipment.

Gregoire also comes with extensive work fighting for social justice and equitable representation for African Americans. He previously served as the Vice President of Strategy for the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources and is currently the Vice President of Development for the National Black MBA Association.

NYSERDA’s Climate Justice Fellowship program is a $6 million New York State initiative aimed at funding fellowships for members of priority populations. The program seeks to match fellows with host organizations that have demonstrated commitment to advancing climate justice and clean energy priorities for disadvantaged communities. Fellows are expected to assist with community engagement activities (e.g., plan, policy, or project), support clean energy project development and implementation, facilitate partnership building, support clean energy innovation companies, and/or engage in other projects related to advancing climate justice and clean energy priorities in disadvantaged communities.
“Passion has always been a hallmark of my career”, Mr. Gregoire remarked. “My work with EMPEQ allows me to a unique opportunity to combine two of my great passions: fighting climate change and improving the career prospects of members of disadvantaged communities – particularly veterans like myself.”  

Because of Fast Site Survey’s native intelligence, it eliminates the need for a deep reservoir of knowledge of buildings and their equipment. It is EMPEQ’s thesis that utilizing the product will help create career pathways into the clean energy sector for individuals in disadvantaged communities – especially among military veterans; new, entry-level workers would be able to perform initial residential & commercial building and equipment assessments and determine feasibility for building electrification. Gregoire will be investigating the viability of this approach to workforce development. If successful, this could solve two substantial issues:

• ·A labor shortage in the clean energy engineering and contracting industries (particularly in the entry level)
• A lack of clean energy careers with a living wage for individuals from disadvantaged communities

Founded by two underrepresented individuals, Climate Justice is a substantial priority for EMPEQ’s leadership team. “Like so many others, serving our Nation was the highlight of my career, but the shift back to civilian life is a substantial challenge for many of us.” CEO and a service-disabled Marine Corps veteran Herbert Dwyer commented. “I am thrilled that Shawn will be investigating ways that EMPEQ can support military veterans making the transition out of the service.”

Details about NYSERDA’s Climate Justice Fellowship Program can be found at https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Climate-Justice-Fellowship.

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About EMPEQ
America needs to decarbonize over 7,000 buildings every day for the next 28 years if we are to reach our 2050 climate goals and the first step in each of these projects is on-site data collection in existing buildings. EMPEQ’s revolutionary Fast Site SurveyTM SaaS product reduces the time spent on this initial energy assessment process by up to 80% – bringing critical additional bandwidth to a clean energy engineering and contracting industry that will quickly become a bottleneck in the fight against climate change. Learn more about EMPEQ at https://empeq.co and Fast Site Survey at https://fastsitesurvey.com.

About the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, known as NYSERDA, promotes energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. These efforts are key to developing a less polluting and more reliable and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers. Collectively, NYSERDA’s efforts aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate economic growth, and reduce customer energy bills. Learn more about NYSERDA at https://www.nyserda.ny.gov.