Reporter’s Notebook: Change in the Air

It was gorgeous in Beacon this week. August’s suffocating humidity passed and, at my house, we threw open the windows and let the breeze do the rest. 

But does anyone remember Valentine’s Day? It was bitterly cold that week, with temperatures in the 30s and a relentless wind that felt like it could cut you in half. That was the week the heat went out at my house. 

My wife and I had central air conditioning and a gas-powered boiler installed in 2011, 18 months after we bought our 1,850-square-foot home, and we fought both systems for the next 12 years, dumping money we couldn’t afford into repair after repair. 

It was 42 degrees inside the house when the heat came on at the end of that week in February. We had wonderful friends who fed us and kept us warm in the interim, but the extended outage was the last straw. In May, we converted to air-sourced ductless heat pumps (aka mini splits), a high-efficiency, fossil fuel-free heating and cooling setup.

Using wall-mounted units called evaporators paired with outside condensers, the technology transfers heat from the house in the summer and brings it inside, even in sub-freezing temperatures, in the winter. Because they move energy instead of creating it by burning oil or gas, heat pumps are far more efficient than traditional heating and cooling systems. 

I’d been interested in clean energy for several years but didn’t understand heat pumps and was overwhelmed by the amount of information I would need to absorb. My research began in earnest after my buddy Thomas Wright, a member of Beacon’s Conservation Advisory Committee, introduced me to Faith Laudano, an energy advisor from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County, at the Taproots Festival in Beacon in November. I reconnected with Laudano after the outage, and she answered dozens of questions, walking me through heat pump options and the state programs that offer rebates to support their installation. 

Cornell Cooperative Extension has existed for more than a century as an economic and ecological resource, and in 2018 it launched a community energy engagement program sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Three years later, the agency was given additional resources and charged with creating a regional clean energy hub. Through June of this year, it has assisted more than 1,200 people in the Mid-Hudson region. 

“Folks come to us in very different stages of the process” of transitioning away from fossil fuels, said Collin Adkins, the director of the Mid-Hudson hub. “It can be a very individualized experience, and that’s why we’re here.”

Funding Resources

Each of these state programs provides a no-cost energy assessment, the first step toward transitioning a home from fossil fuels to clean energy. 

■ The EmPower+ program for low- and middle-income homeowners and renters launched last year and in May received $39.6 million through the federal Inflation Reduction Act. It includes for participants a comprehensive assessment and customized plan to lower energy usage. Income-eligible households may receive up to $10,000. To qualify, a household of four in Putnam County must have an annual income of less than $124,400. In Dutchess, it’s $93,408. To apply, see bit.ly/empower-NY.

■The Comfort Home program includes an assessment of the insulation and air-sealing needs of a home, plus a plan for improvements in those areas. Homeowners can choose one of three packages (good, better, best) and receive a rebate of up to $4,000 and federal tax credits of up to $1,200. See bit.ly/NY-comfort-home. 

■ The Residential Energy Assessment program provides one- to four-family homeowners with an energy assessment, along with recommendations to increase efficiency. No work plan is included. Homeowners can add a blower-door test, in which a contractor sets up a fan that depressurizes the home, forcing air through any cracks, for a fee. See bit.ly/energy-assess. 

■The Mid-Hudson Clean Energy Hub provides advisors from Cornell Cooperative Extension to guide and educate homeowners and renters about their options, such as building improvements, renewable sources of heating and cooling and solar power. See midhudsonenergychoices.org or call 845-605-0580.

Adkins recommends a three-step approach to clean energy: (1) Lower demand by insulating your home; (2) Look into renewable sources of heating and cooling such as heat pumps; and (3) Consider solar to generate clean power on-site or support renewables on the grid by joining a community program such as the one Beacon offers in partnership with Mid-Hudson Energy Transition. 

To purchase heat pumps and an electric water heater, my wife and I opted for the state’s Comfort Home program, which gave us a list of contractors certified to assess our home’s energy needs. According to the state, it’s “the boots and the hat” — the basement and attic — that are most important because of what’s called the “stack effect.” 

“Hot air rises because it is less dense than cold air,” Adkins explained. “In the winter, that means the air you’ve heated wants to rise and find its way out of the house. When it does, the pressure in the home rebalances and cold air enters from down low. You can limit that by making sure the home is well-sealed, particularly in the attic and basement.”

Insulation and heat pump installation were done a week apart, each taking a day. By using a state-certified contractor and insulating to improve efficiency, New York State gave us a $25,000 low-interest loan at 3.49 percent to fund the project, and we will be eligible for $1,200 in federal tax credits on our 2024 return. (We borrowed another $10,000 through the contractor.)

Manufacturers boast about the “set it and forget it” convenience of heat pumps, and in the four months that we’ve had them, that has been my experience. We had six installed — three upstairs and three downstairs. Depending on how often we’re in a room, I’ve set each unit at the upper end of what we consider comfortable. 

For example, the kitchen is set cooler than the upstairs playroom, but if I’m in the playroom listening to records and feel warm, I bump it down a degree. You feel the change almost immediately. 

The units (indoor and out) are incredibly quiet, and the fossil-fuel hogs — and the ductwork, pipes and anxiety that came with them — are gone. In another year or two, we hope to convert the stove and clothes dryer. 

Before the project, I had our Central Hudson account set up for budget billing; we paid the same monthly amount based on our usage over the last year. I’ve since taken us off the plan, but in July, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said was the warmest month ever on record, our bill, based on actual usage, would have been $120 less than the budget amount.