Category Archives: Home / Energy

By Christine Graf

Saratoga Springs-based ASF Insulation has been meeting the insulation needs of Capital Region customers for more than a decade. The company is owned by business partners Nick Cuttleback, Tom Samascott, and Wayne Samascott.

“We started as a spray foam insulator only, and within the first year or two, we adapted to become an insulation contractor,” said Cuttleback. “We began offering traditional fiberglass batting, cellulose, and other products. We expanded into the insulation contractor markets and took off from there.” 

On the spray foam side of the business, the company provides spray polyurethane foam insulation for residential and commercial applications. Applied in liquid form, once applied, the foam expands and hardens to form a rigid layer of insulation. It is particularly effective at filling spaces that are irregularly shaped as well as small gaps, holes, and cracks. As much as 40 percent of a home’s energy is lost when air escapes through uninsulated gaps, holes, and cracks. The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association estimates that 90 percent of U.S. homes are under-insulated. 

By Chris Graf

As water conservation becomes increasingly important nationwide, homeowners are turning to innovative plumbing fixtures to reduce their water bills and environmental footprint. While these water-saving solutions may not yet be a widespread trend in some regions, they are rapidly becoming the norm in drought-prone areas.

“They aren’t really a big thing around here,” said Roy Lance, owner of Lance Plumbing in Saratoga. A Master Plumber, Lance will celebrate his company’s 20th anniversary in January. His team of four serves both residential and commercial customers throughout the region. Despite the slower adoption locally, Lance believes more homeowners could benefit from water-efficient upgrades.

One of the simplest ways to reduce water usage is by installing low-flow shower heads. While traditional shower heads use about 2.5 gallons per minute, low-flow models can reduce water consumption by up to 40%. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this could save the average homeowner as much as $100 a year on water bills.

By Susan Elise Campbell

As window manufacturers make strides in energy efficiency, consumers may find that even though it costs more to purchase the higher Energy Star® standard, the benefits of the investment are worth it. These may include the comfort they feel in their home or business, long-term savings on heating and air-conditioning, and protection of the environment, according to www.energystar.gov.

Ian Young is director of commercial sales for Curtis Lumber Company. While he works out of the Ballston Spa location at 885 Route 67, he oversees the commercial sales process for the company’s 21 stores in New York and the two in Vermont. Along with the company’s on-staff architectural engineer, he advises commercial builders on the best choices for windows, doors and skylights for their projects.

Young explained what makes newer windows increasingly energy efficient.

“It comes down to the glass as well as some modifications to the window frame,” said Young. 

Tickets for the area’s premiere new home tour, the 2023 Saratoga Showcase of Homes, are on sale. The event is celebrating 27 years in Saratoga County.

Tickets are available at all Adirondack Trust branch locations, Curtis Lumber in Ballston Spa and  Queensbury, Saratoga National Bank, Glens Falls National Bank and Roohan Realty on Broadway in Saratoga Springs. 

Tickets are $25 and this year’s edition has 10 locations on display. New this year are two showcase locations in Lake George.

Tickets are conveniently available at any showcase home during tour hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or can be purchased online through  the event website at www.saratogashowcaseofhomes.com.

Each showcase ticket holder will receive a free  shoe/tote bag at the first home visited.

The 2023 Saratoga Showcase of Homes is being presented over two fall weekends—Oct. 7-8 and Oct. 14-15. 

Participating  builders in this year’s event include Belmonte Builders, DeGraff Bloom Custom Builders, DSG Construction and Remodeling, Kodiak Construction, R & M Homes, The BDC Group, Whitbeck Construction and Witt Construction. 

By Paul Post

 The sun rises and sets every day. In these times, some use it—solar energy—as a major source of power to heat homes and otherwise power utilities in the home.

The best time to buy a roof-mounted system that converts its energy to cost-saving electricity is now, say those in the industry.

 In the Northeast, solar electric systems generate about 70 percent of their energy for the entire year between April and September, so they need to be operational in March. But it takes several months to design, obtain various approvals and install them.

 “So the best time to start thinking about solar, getting quotes to make a decision so we can get a contract in place, obtain permits, secure materials, get the system inspected, permitted and turned on by a utility company, is this fall,” said Peter Kronau, senior project manager at Queensbury-based Apex Solar.

 “I always tell residents and business owners, ‘It’s not when you go solar, it’s that you go solar’,” he said. “The sun is always coming up and going down. Time is always moving. There is a ‘Goldilocks’ window to have a solar system installed, commissioned and turned on to maximize the benefit from day one. If you miss that window you’re playing catch-up until the system has been operational for 365 days because of how the offset works with net metering and the utility company.”

By Susan Elise Campbell

A home workspace that lets a person work the way they want to in surroundings they enjoy will contribute directly to an employer’s bottom line, and interior designers say there are a few recommendations for making the space successful.

“I have business people working out of their homes come into my showroom and say, ‘I don’t want my space to be more office-like, but I want it to be professional,’ which is how the term ‘resimercial’ came into the design vernacular,” said Dorothy Rogers-Bullis of drb Business Interiors.

“Workers need to mentally disconnect from the residence in the work space,” said Katelyn Moskos of Lake George Design. “The office has to flow with the home but at the same time, when you walk in you forget about any chaos and clutter behind you.” 

The office need not be a separate room. Designers are finding creative ways to repurpose part of a bedroom, take over a closet, or add a desk in an alcove or wide hallway. If it’s dedicated and professional, it can be productive.

by Christine Graf

A large-scale study conducted in Japan showed that increased work from home has led to an increase in lower back pain, and Google searches for the words “back pain” reached an all-time high in January 2022. Poor ergonomics in the home office are thought to be partially to blame for the worldwide surge in back pain.

Since the start of the pandemic, chiropractor Dr. Brad Elliott, owner of Elliott Chiropractic in Clifton Park, has seen an uptick in the number of patients seeking care for back, neck, and shoulder pain.

“Home workstations have kept providers like me busy,” he said. “There’s been a lot of overuse injury from working from home without a doubt. I’ve seen a lot of neck, shoulder, and upper back issues and a lot of nerve and muscle-based issues from forward head carriage.”

Denise Didio Buher, PT, owner of Orthopedic and Spine Physical Therapy in Queensbury, said her practice has also seen an increase in the number of patients seeking treatment for back and neck pain.

“I have certainly seen an increase in all of this because people have been more sedentary since COVID, and they are all working from home. During COVID, I did tele-rehab, and I had a ton of people from New York City who were really trapped in their apartments. I worked with them to correct their seating, correct their posture, and give them exercises to counteract everything that they were doing.”

By Christine Graf

Aviation company Wright Electric has moved its headquarters to the 280-acre Saratoga Technology + Energy Park (STEP) in Malta. 

Founded in Boston in 2017, the company is developing zero-emissions electric airplanes for short regional flights. Their electric motors and motor controllers are versatile and will be able to serve other industries including the maritime industry, according to the company.

Co-founder Jeff Engler, a Hudson Valley native with a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, is an entrepreneur who has also worked in the private sector. He previously co-founded Podimetrics, a company that designed the SmartMat, a medical device used for the early detection of foot ulcers in diabetics.

“These foot problems lead to early amputations and early death, and it often tends to be in veterans,” he said. “It costs the medical system billions and billions of dollars. It’s a large social problem and a large economic opportunity, and that’s really the same as with electric airplanes.”

Engler’s interest in electric airplanes was piqued ten years after he visited a web site that allowed him to calculate his personal carbon footprint.

“What I found was that it turned out that each time I ate vegetarian, it had a relatively small impact on my carbon footprint. But a single flight had a huge impact,” he said. “Subsequently, there has been a lot of research on this, and it turns out you would have to eat vegetarian for over a year to offset the carbon from even a single New York to Chicago flight.”

By Paul Post

Community solar is a large array of solar panels at an offsite location that allows customers to access such power without installing panels on their homes. Developers build and operate community solar projects, and energy delivery companies like National Grid purchase and distribute credits generated by the projects to participating customers.

It’s an easy way for residential and small business owners alike to offset the current 8.5 rate of inflation by shaving up to 10 percent off their electric bills.

“There’s very little downside with this,” said Nathan Giebel, EnergyNext LLC vice president of energy services. “It’s a win-win, which is why they’re so popular. We partner with a lot of chambers of commerce. That’s how a lot of businesses come to interact with us.”

EnergyNext is a division of Chicago-based Satori Energy and has an office in Saratoga Springs.

There are three main issues the firm helps clients navigate when deciding which community solar project to enroll in.

“The biggest thing people care about is, How much am I going to save? What’s the guaranteed savings percentage? Most are 10 percent. Some are 5 percent. If you see something less than 10 percent, there’s probably something better available,” Giebel said.