Energize Web Site Launches in Croton

Croton-on-Hudson are hopeful that a more localized approach to providing home energy assessments will lead to more users of Energize New York’s home energy efficiency program.

Energize New York, along with representatives from the Croton Sustainability Committee, the Cortlandt Green Team and Northern Westchester Energy Action Consortium held a presentation Wednesday night announcing the official launch of the Web site EnergizeCroton.org. 

The Web site will serve as a portal for local residents to use and access the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Program. The program, offered through the state New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, allows homeowners to receive a free comprehensive home energy assessment by a certified contractor.

After the assessment, the contractor will provide a report recommending the improvements that will save the most money in terms energy use. The contractor will also walk the homeowner through the loans and other financing options available to them if they decide to move forward with the upgrades.

“We began this in late 2008-2009 by applying for stimulus funds,” Croton-on-Hudson Mayor Leo Wiegman. “By ‘we’, I mean the municipalities in northern Westchester County. None of us qualified for the direct funding because we didn’t have a population of more than 35,000. But collectively we had a quarter million people.”

Wiegman said the municipalities formed a consortium, pooled their resources and applied as a group for funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. To date, a total of 15 municipalities in northern Westchester County have joined the consortium.

“What we hope is that, through events like this, the municipality can show it’s behind the program and that we want this for our residents,” Wiegman said. “Then the garden club, the Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops or any other group can come and explain it to their parents or neighbors.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about NYSERDA’s financing and rebate programs can do so by going here.