County heating, cooling, energy kickoff
Columbia County has launched a campaign for Clean Heating, Cooling, and Energy Efficiency to encourage residents and businesses to install highly efficient heating, cooling, and hot water heating equipment. The Columbia County Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Task Force and Heat Smart Capital Region have partnered on this campaign and are hosting an online public meeting on February 28 at 6:30 pm.
The technology behind these upgrades, called “heat pumps,” provides significant increases in energy efficiency and comfort while reducing energy costs, saving money, and providing rapid payback on the cost of the upgrades. Some of the participating vendors will be there to introduce people to opportunities for them to participate in upgrading their heating, cooling, and hot water heating systems, and otherwise improving the energy efficiency of their buildings. Details for participating in this and future events are available at bit.ly/ccheatcoolenergy.
The campaign also provides assistance in assessing building efficiency and identifying more ways to save energy and money. There are also various incentives and rebates available to assist with the costs of upgrading.
Vendors participating in the county’s campaign include Aztech Geothermal, Choice Heating & Cooling, Rycor, Ridgeline and The Radiant Store. As with the County’s Community Solar drive conducted last year, this campaign is part of the NY Department of Environmental Conservation’s Climate Smart Communities Program and NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities Program which assist municipalities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.
Town of Chatham
Chatham residents can also participate in the town’s Heat Smart program, which will work in concert with the county’s program. Some of the vendors differ in each program, giving residents more options. Both programs work with NYSERDA, which can save homeowners thousands of dollars off heat pump installations, and both provide information about the substantial tax credits available this year, passed by the federal Inflation Reduction Act. The vendors participating in the town's program are Rycor HVAC; Dell Plumbing, Heating, & AC; Sun Dog; The Radiant Store; Dandelion Energy; Family Danz; and others listed by NYSERDA (https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/Contractors/Find-a-Contractor). For more information, contact Angus Easton, at anguseat@gmail.com.