We began in 2013. Our mission was simple:

Serve our neighbors and create family-sustaining jobs.

Sustainergy was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2013 by Flequer Vera and Coop Cincy, a non-profit focusing on worker-owned business incubation in underserved communities. We set out on our journey in building performance and energy efficiency through upgrades such as insulation and air sealing, rooted in the principles of Building Science. We have since performed thousands of BPI-certified energy audits and have worked closely with our customers to meet their needs ranging from high energy bills to uncomfortable living spaces and air quality issues. Our foundation in energy efficiency put us in a unique position to help our customers even further by expanding into solar energy. We found that by first lowering a building’s energy use through energy efficiency, we could design a smaller, more affordable and efficient solar array that could successfully cover the electric bill with less. This holistic approach (what we call Smart Solar) allows our customers to be certain that the system we install will bring them the highest impact and fastest returns on investment possible. Finally, the option of battery storage can allow for backup during power outages and energy resilience to protect against an ever-uncertain grid.

What is a Cooperative?

A business owned and controlled by its workers!

Every worker that joins the Sustainergy team has the opportunity to become an owner, allowing them to participate in decision-making and profits.

A union co-op is a hybrid business model with elements of democratic ownership and worker solidarity. In a worker cooperative, employees own and govern their business according to the principle of One Worker, One Vote. In a unionized business, workers are members of a union and elect a committee to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement on their behalf. The union also promotes solidarity between workers in different businesses, industries and countries. Sustainergy workers are proud members of the United Steelworker’s Union.

Regardless of ownership, we provide all of our workers with competitive wages, health insurance, free college education, matching 401K, bonuses, paid holidays, and paid vacation so our team can live full lives and spend time with their families. This commitment to our workers’ quality of life results in equally high quality service to our customers because when you have owners on the job, your success is their success. Meet our team of passionate worker-owners!

We believe that bringing these two elements together is a powerful tool to generate family-sustaining jobs that are the foundation of an economy that works for all. Every year, we donate 10% of our profits to our business incubator, Coop Cincy. To learn more about this model or to visit our sister worker co-ops in Cincinnati, Dayton, and around the globe, check out their website.

Good for you, good for the world.

We believe in being good stewards to our communities in many ways.

Our home facility operates at Net Zero energy, being 100% offset by a 62 kW rooftop solar array, which also charges our growing EV fleet
We’ve donated to dozens of local non-profits with missions ranging anywhere from sustainability to outdoor youth activities
We invest into Lower Price Hill, one of the lowest income neighborhoods in Cincinnati, through purchasing our home facility and leasing extra office space to local social enterprises at below-market rates
We organize cleanups around our Lower Price Hill facility where we are initiating outdoor beautification measures through pollinator areas, landscaping, and public art
We have partnered with community action agencies such as Working in Neighborhoods, People Working Cooperatively, Miami Valley Community Action Partnership, and The Port to provide our services to low-income families for them to save money on energy bills
We host monthly tours of our facility for citizens, government officials, and community leaders from around the world to learn about the cooperative movement and our Building Science-driven initiatives that help our homeowners, business owners, and non-profits
Our worker-owners visited Honduras with Sonlight Power to install solar panels on remote schools with no power. This not only broadens our passion for installing solar to help those in need, but it actively supports Central America, where many of our workers are from.

Outside of the thousands of customers we’ve helped and the many jobs we’ve created, we are also proud of these accomplishments:

2025 Featured on WVXU “Cincinnati Edition” and PBS “Brick by Brick”
2024 Certified 513 Green
2023 recipient of the Green Umbrella IMPACT Award
2023 participant in creation of the Green Cincinnati Plan
2022 recipient of the Cincinnati Business Courier CLIMB Award
2022 recipient of the HCDC Economic Gardening Grant
2021 participants in the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment