Energy
Efficiency
2010
Save Energy Save Dollars
Workshops
The best
way to reduce our energy bills is to reduce the amount
of energy we use. These free
workshops will help you explore the ways to reduced energy
bills through no-cost or low-cost conservation ideas.
You can determine which ideas will work best in your home.
To register, call 607-664-2300.
Jan. 26 |
Southeast Steuben County Library
Nasser Civic Center
Corning
|
6:00-8:00
p.m. |
Feb. 9 |
Addison Community Center |
1:00-3:00 p.m. |
Feb. 22 |
Hornell Senior Center
Broadway Mall |
6:00-8:00 p.m. |
March 3 |
Wayland Library |
6:00-8:00 p.m. |
March 8 |
Avoca Methodist Church
8593 Jacobs Ladder Road |
9:30-11:30 p.m. |
The
Housing and Home Environment News
(HHE-News) is now available on-line.
HHE-News focuses on the physical form of human shelter and
its relationship with social, psychological, and economic
forces. Among the issues addressed in recent years are residential
indoor air quality, on-site management of residential construction
waste, housing affordability, and housing for special needs
groups.
The
Spring 2009 issue of HHE News features the following articles:
Air Pressure and Energy Efficiency
by Joe Laquatra
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative &
the Debate over Cap & Trade versus a Carbon Tax
by Mark Pierce
Architectural Styles of New Yorks Older Homes
by Mark Pierce
|
Electric
Resistance Water Heaters
Least Expensive to Purchase – Most Expensive
to Operate
“Use of an electric resistance storage tank
water heater is the most expensive method for heating
water for your home” says Nancy Reigelsperger,
an Extension Educator with Cornell University Cooperative
Extension of Steuben County. According to Reigelsperger,
“Purchasing an electric resistance water heater
is relatively inexpensive, but paying for the electricity
that type water heater consumes in just one year
will cost an average family about $850. And if you
project that amount over the 13-year life expectancy
of the heater, the total cost for electricity would
be about $11,000”.
What makes electric resistance water heaters so
expensive to operate?
While most electricity is produced by burning fossil
based fuels, over 60% of the energy of the fuel
used to produce electricity is lost to inefficiency
during the generation and transmission process.
This means that electricity is much more expensive
to use for heating water than fossil based heating
fuels.
Using electric resistance to heat water is expensive
everywhere in the United States. But New York States
electric rates, the second highest in the nation
at an average cost of 17.3 cents per kilo-watt hour,
make this method of water heating especially expensive
for New York consumers.
While natural gas, propane or oil-fired storage
water heaters are more expensive to purchase and
install than electric resistance heaters, they have
significantly lower operating costs. And if a homeowner
is willing to pay a little more to purchase an electric
heat pump water heater or a solar water heater with
electric back-up, even lower operating costs are
available. For example, a solar water heater costs
approximately $3,000 to purchase, but has a life
expectancy of 20 years and costs only $260 per year
to operate. If you compare long term costs of operating
the solar heater to the electric resistance heater,
the solar heater will reduce electricity costs by
about $7,700 over a 13 year period.
An added benefit of purchasing a solar or electric
heat pump water heater are the significant savings
currently available from state and federal tax credits.
Detailed information on federal tax credits for
energy efficiency improvements can be found here.
Information on New York State tax credits can be
found here.
You can also learn more about reducing water heating
costs and other home related energy costs by visiting
the New
York Energy $mart website. |
In
2003 the New York State Public Service Commission ruled
that low income programs offered to utility customers
should become one unified program across the state administered
by the New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority. This new effort, Empower New York began in
July 2004.
The
Empower New York program is intended to assist low and
limited income New York residents in the 54 upstate New
York counties served by Niagara Mohawk and New York State
Electric and Gas Corporation (NYSEG) in reducing their
energy costs by providing energy efficient measures, energy-use
management education, and financial management education.
The program was developed by the New York State Energy
Research and Development Authority in cooperation with
NYSEG and Niagara Mohawk -A National Grid Company, under
the direction of the New York State Public Service Commission.
Honeywell DMC has been contracted to serve as the Program
Implementer.
The program includes the following components:
1. A packet of energy saving products and
fact sheets sent to the participants' homes.
2. Installation of energy efficiency measures
in the home and in home energy education.
3. Energy use management and financial management
education workshops.
Cornell Cooperative Extension educators
will provide energy use management and financial management
education workshops for consumers served by Niagara Mohawk
and NYSEG who are enrolled in the EmPower NewYork program.
These workshops, while targeted to Empower New York participants,
will be open to the general public.
