Montgomery Takes the 10% Challenge
By Shawn Dell Joyce
The Town of Montgomery voted at the last board meeting to accept the Ten Percent Challenge and put the entire town and its three villages officially on board. This means that we need to reduce our energy use by ten percent at a municipal level, as well as encourage ten percent of our residents to do the same.
If you would like to be one of those ten percenters, you can sign up at any Village Hall, or the Town Hall on Bracken Road. This is an opportunity to save ten percent on your energy bills over the next year.
Central Hudson notes that about one-third of all electricity produced at power plants in the United States is for home use. Of that, heating and cooling uses 44 percent of household energy; lighting, cooking and other appliances use 33 percent; water heaters use 14 percent; and refrigerators use 9 percent. If you are trying to reduce usage by ten percent, Central Hudson is offering some incentives to make efficiency an even better investment.
You could get up to $600 in rebates, and save hundreds on your utility bills by taking advantage of these incentives. Central Hudson is offering:
- $50-$100 rebate for recycling your old window or through-the-wall air conditioner and upgrade to an Energy Star rated unit.
- $600 rebate for a new cooling system.
- $50 for getting rid of that old working fridge or freezer.
- Rebates up to $700 on energy efficient heating equipment for your home.
- Rebates up to $1,200 on new, energy efficient natural gas furnaces and boilers for your business.
You can take advantage of these rebates from Central Hudson by downloading the forms from their website at www.savingscentral.com. You can find out more about the Ten Percent Challenge by visiting Sustainable Hudson Valley’s website at www.sustainhv.org/10pct-main.
The Wallkill Valley Times will be covering the progress of the town government and all the village governments in reducing their energy usage by ten percent. If you have a tip or story you would like to share about your personal experience reducing your family’s energy usage, email ShawnDellJoyce@gmail.com
Shawn Dell Joyce is the director of the Wallkill River School in Montgomery, a benchmark business in the Ten Percent Challenge. The Times Community Newspapers office is also a benchmark business. Read about our efforts to reduce our energy use by ten percent in upcoming issues of this newspaper.
