The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced the availability of up to $1.8 million for community campaigns to help residents and businesses install clean heating and cooling systems.
Increasing the use of clean heating and cooling technology will play a major role in achieving the state goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030, officials said.
Alicia Barton, NYSERDA president and CEO, said, “Clean heating and cooling systems will provide users with energy bill savings, increased comfort levels and health benefits compared to conventional heating and cooling technologies. It’s a win-win for consumers and the environment and is vital to meeting Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Officials said the Clean Heating and Cooling Community Campaign initiative will bring together groups of potential customers so they can obtain discounts for air and ground source heat pumps, biomass heating and solar heating through aggregated purchases and a simplified procurement process.
Community campaigns can be proposed by municipalities or community based organizations and will receive up to $150,000 for each campaign, with additional funds available for workforce development ($50,000) and low-to-moderate income engagement ($150,000) strategies. Community campaigns should be in a county, city, borough or region with at least 40,000 residents and are encouraged to include local financial institutions, colleges/universities and local utilities.
Funding for this initiative includes $1.3 million for the community campaigns and $500,000 for technical assistance and tools to support the community campaigns. More information about the funding is available at NYSERDA’s website. The funding is made available through the state’s Clean Energy Fund.
This is the latest funding being made available to support clean heating and cooling technology. Earlier this year, NYSERDA announced the availability of $15 million in rebates for the installation of ground source heat pump systems for residences, businesses and institutions as well as $10 million to install air-source heat pump systems for residences.
The Clean Heating and Cooling Community Campaign initiative is based on the state’s Solarize campaigns which bring together clusters of residents and businesses to install solar. Since 2014, there have been 850 solar projects installed or are in development throughout New York, saving participants more than $2.9 million on up-front purchase costs, according to NYSERDA.
Currently, fossil-fuel based thermal energy—primarily natural gas, propane and oil—is the main energy source for space heating and domestic hot water in the residential and commercial sectors. It is responsible for about one-third of New York’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
The 10-year, $5.3 billion Clean Energy Fund (CEF) is a core component of New York State’s Reforming the Energy Vision strategy to achieve a clean, resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers. The CEF includes a focused effort to bring more clean energy opportunities and benefits to low- to moderate-income communities and is designed to deliver on the state’s commitment to accelerate the use of clean energy and energy innovation and drive economic development, while reducing ratepayer collections.
Reforming the Energy Vision is a strategy to lead on climate change and grow New York’s economy. State officials said REV has driven nearly 800 percent growth in the statewide solar market, enabled over 105,000 low-income households to permanently cut their energy bills with energy efficiency, and created thousands of jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and other clean tech sectors. REV is ensuring New York reduces statewide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and achieves the internationally recognized target of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050.