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On a misty Tuesday morning 12 teens made their way slowly up the winding roads of the Berkeley Hills. With a left on Prospect Street, up past Memorial Stadium, a right onto Panoramic Way, and a turn somewhat resembling a backwards G to somehow remain on Panoramic, the 12 students trudged on with great determination.  

Finally they made a left onto Mosswood Road and ascended the towering Arden Steps to enter the home of Sarah Robinson. 

The dozen teenagers embarked upon this journey not to find some wild party, to eat up all of some poor woman’s food or to start any kind of trouble; they were gathered in Robinson’s home to learn to serve the community. 

Berkeley Youth Energy Services (Berkeley YES) trained its second set of teen home energy retrofitters on June 26. The group now is poised to pair off and perform free energy retrofits on Berkeley homes throughout the summer. They will install Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs, weather stripping and low-flow water devices. They will also clean refrigerator coils and adjust water heater temperatures. 

The program is the brainchild of Rising Sun Energy Center Owner Hal Aronson, or, as he is known to the students: “Solar Man.” He came up with the idea for the program while he was working at Berkeley High teaching students about solar power and energy conservation and he was, as he said, “quote-unquote hit with the energy crisis.” 

“I think most young people don’t get enough opportunities to help others the way this program lets them,” said Aronson, “but when they do get the opportunity, they like it and they want to do it more.” 

Berkeley YES began in April when Aronson made presentations to Berkeley High students in Common Ground, the small learning community devoted to environmental studies.  

At that time the students were asked to work without pay and only to serve the poor, elderly and disabled. But over the summer, thanks to program sponsors, the students will be paid to perform the free retrofits on any house in Berkeley. 

“I got involved in the spring because I knew it was a good cause,” said 2001 Berkeley High graduate Hong Nguyen, a teen retrofitter in the program. “I liked helping the elders and I like learning about energy conservation.” 

Berkeley YES is run by Aronson, Youth Coordinator Emily Gjeltema, Project Managers Robinson, Jessica Blinn, Juile Belknap and various volunteer supervisors. While all these people are involved in the program in very different ways and have very different responsibilities, they are all participating for the same reason.  

“Throughout the spring we were all looking forward to expanding our client base in the summer,” said Gjeltema, “because it’s good for the city and it’s good for every resident in Berkeley to conserve energy in their homes.” 

During the summer the majority of Berkeley YES’ clientele will be reached through leafleting by the students and through word-of-mouth advertising. In the spring it was much the same, only since they were ministering to a more specific client-base, they were also able to receive other help.  

The Community Energy Services Corporation, another Berkeley non-profit, produced a list of elderly and low-income residents who said they would be interested in having free improvements made to their homes. 

“The CESC gave us a list of all the people who they thought we might be able to serve back in February, and we have done retrofits on the homes of almost all the people who responded to a flier we sent out in March,” said Gjeltema.” 

Most people involved seemed to think that Tuesday’s training was a great success and all of the students seemed prepared for the retrofits they would perform later that day, later that week, and for the rest of the summer. Supervisor Rob Shapera taught the students how to perform all the tasks they would need to know about for a retrofit: how to check for air-leakage by looking for light on the borders of a locked door and how to remove old and install new weather stripping. He taught the students how to install low-flow faucets and shower heads, how to clean refrigerator coils and he made sure they all knew how to screw in a light bulb. 

“I wanted to do something practical and concrete in the community to help people deal with the increasing costs of energy,” said Shapera. “I’m glad I can teach these kids how to make simple home energy improvements, both on their own homes and on the homes that they visit through this program.” 

Roxanne Seraphin, who will be a senior at Berkeley Alternative High School in September, was a newcomer in the summer. She performed her first retrofit on her own home on June 27 with her partner Cassidy, under the supervision of experienced retrofitters Nguyen, and 2001 Berkeley High graduate Russell Andrews. 

“I think the training went well,” said Seraphin, “I learned a lot and I feel very confident about doing the retrofits.” 

At the Seraphin home the group installed three sets of weather-stripping, cleaned and installed some CFL’s then moved on to their next appointment. 

Suzanne Seraphin, Roxanne’s mother, was pleased with the changes. “I think It went really well, it has really made a difference in my home; the temperature is a lot nicer and it’s way less drafty than before,” she said. “They did a great a job and I would definitely recommend this service to anyone.” 

According to Aronson, Oakland is prepared to start a similar program in its schools this year if Berkeley’s summer program proves successful. 

“What’s amazing about this program is the balance of activism and education,” said Belknap.  

“This is a really vital seed project right now because once people find out about it being a free service that will make electricity bills go down, there is going to be a lot of interest all over.” 

For more information about Berkeley YES or to schedule a retrofit for your home call 644-6227 or send e-mail to BerkeleyYES@yahoo.com. 

Daily Planet intern Kenyatte Davis covers Berkeley teens. Teens or their sponsors can suggest stories at news@berkeleydailyplanet.net.