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01/14/2023 08:26 AMEast Haven residents will have the opportunity to acquire clean energy alternatives and save money for their homes with a new collaborative campaign between the town, Branford, and HeatSmart Connecticut.
HeatSmart, an outreach and education program created by the People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE), is focused on supporting municipalities across the state to construct community-wide clean energy and efficiency campaigns. They have established numerous short-term and long-term goals in assisting East Haven and Branford homeowners, particularly lower-income residents, and will help to connect them with expert vendors to conduct no-obligation Home Energy Solutions (HES) evaluations, through which modest clean home improvements can be accomplished.
This year marks the first time East Haven has participated in a collaborative effort with PACE and HeatSmart and builds upon previous town environmental programs, according to Michelle Benivegna, Town Assistant Director of Administration and Management.
“While...this [program] is our first with PACE, it adds to some of the other programs that we offer to our residents such as the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program and Small Cities Community Block Grant,” said Benivegna.
With outreach work that is supported by the statewide EnergizeCT initiative, HeatSmart had conducted a campaign in Branford prior to this year’s effort, in 2021, when more than 450 residents signed up for the program in making their homes more energy efficient and reducing their carbon footprint and energy costs. Rabin said the organization is looking to expand on its previous work in Branford, and bring its results and potential short-term and long-term benefits to East Haven.
Mayor Joseph Carfora issued his endorsement of the effort and its outreach to town residents in a press release issued by HeatSmart.
“This education program will help individuals make informed choices when it comes to their home’s heating and cooling needs; connect resources to improve the efficiency and comfort of their home,” he said. “I encourage all town residents to take advantage of this program. Together we can make a difference.”
Daniel Rabin of HeatSmart explained the immediate objectives for East Haven and Branford, which are looking for equal results between both towns as part of the outreach campaign.
“The short-term goal is to get as many homes or dwellings involved with the HES process as we can,” he said. “We’re thinking about 300 [homes] is an achievable but significant goal. 300 for East Haven, 300 for Branford. By that, we hope to improve the energy efficiency of people’s homes, the quality of their life, their financial situation, because the less money they spend on energy, the more they have for food, entertainment, whatever else life demands.”
The financial angle of the campaign should be particularly attractive to Income Eligible town residents, according to Rabin, who would not make enough to pay for an assessment and the installation of alternative energy sources.
“The Income Eligible population typically lives in the worst insulated and the lowest-quality housing,” he said. “They don’t have a lot of spare capital to invest in energy efficiency, so this HES Income Eligible program is targeted specifically at that population,” Rabin said.
Households are determined as Income Eligible if the occupants’ combined gross annual income is below Connecticut’s 60 percent income median, as defined by EnergizeCT. Those households would then qualify for a HES evaluation at no cost. EnergizeCT does allow for households above the median rate to qualify for an evaluation, but with a $50 copay, making an assessment “definitely available to everyone in the two towns,” according to Rabin.
One of the main focuses for HeatSmart in working with Income Eligible homeowners is informing them on the installation of heat pump technology, given their financial and environmental benefits.
“Their major goal is to get people to both know about and be educated on the heat pumps, and their using HES, which is at no cost to low-income vehicle as a vehcile,” said Stephanie Weiner, who is with the vendor New England Smart Energy Group.
Figures from EnergizeCT show an increase of nearly 13,000 units in sales of air-source heat pumps in the Northeast region, while the average $1294 annual heating cost for both air and ground-source heat pumps is less than the annuals rate by either electric baseboard and propane alone. Air-source pumps alone emit an annual 2.1 metric tons of CO2, compared to significantly higher emission rates by baseboard, propane, and natural gas at 5.3, 4.2, and 3.6, respectively.
The multiple benefits for homeowners and the town overall go beyond the reduced annual energy costs, as federal dollars may come back to lower-income homes homes to pay for heat pump installations,
“For the Income Eligible population, the energy upgrades are very highly subsidized. We’re just learning about how the Inflation Reduction Act is going to impact. I think every indication is that it’ll make it even more attractive for everyone, but especially for the Eligible population,” said Rabin.
The information outreach effort of the campaign will be achieved through the tactic of giving buck slips to the East Haven Department of Social Services and Food Pantry, whose personnel will distribute the slips to resident clientele of all socio-economic and age demographics.
“It’s a very direct and targeted outreach program,” Rabin said. “It doesn’t depend on having Internet access. It doesn’t depend on anything except interacting with those social agencies.”
Rabin said this part of the campaign has already begun, and the buck slips are available at those locations, with the energy technology installation groups listed on the slips.
Considering the long-term goals of the campaign, Rabin said there is an effort to successfully “migrate the culture” in East Haven and Branford, “to make the communities more conscious of how their lives impact the environment,” he said, further taking on incentives to reduce energy costs through acquiring new sustainable insulation options and heat pump technology, among other actions.
“When people think about installing a new heating system, they will think about, in the first case, a heat pump. They will think about getting solar energy, about electric vehicles,” he elaborated. “The green alternatives will be the default rather than the exception.”
Broadly, Rabin said the campaign is aligned with the state’s goal of significantly decreasing the output of greenhouse gasses and other pollutants. On May 17, 2022, Governor Ned Lamont signed into law acts entitled “Concerning Climate Change Mitigation,” and “Concerning Clean Energy Tariff Program,” to demonstrate Connecticut’s commitment to decarbonization and expanding renewable energy, and to achieve a zero-carbon electric grid target by 2040.
With its opportunities and economically-beneficial incentives, HeatSmart is committed to helping East Haven and Branford progress towards being more sustainable towns that will live up to the phrase, “think globally, act locally.” Benivegna said the campaigns add onto the town’s continued goal to provide assistance and opportunity for residents in its environmentally-conscious efforts.
“We look forward to continuing in all of our programs, and finding others that suit the needs of our community.”