Regional program helps residents heat and cool their homes and save money

By Jamie Cone Hughes, Tompkins Weekly

In 2022, when Florencia Ardon purchased the northeast Ithaca duplex on Briarwood Drive that she had called home as a renter for 10 years, she received some disheartening news from the home inspector: the building’s two water heaters would soon need to be replaced.

It made Ardon anxious to think about them breaking down, but the cost to replace them was overwhelming.  

Read more about Florencia’s story on Tompkins Weekly’s website.

1840s house gets new insulation thanks to EmPower+

By Jes Wickham

John Graves and his wife used to struggle with a cold home in the winter and an overworked AC in the summer due to the house’s poor insulation. But help from Smart Energy Choices, as well as state assistance, was able to get him the insulation he needed, helping them stay comfortable all year round.

John’s house on South Hill in Ithaca was built in the 1840s, so it was bound to have issues with insulation and energy efficiency. 

“When we first moved in about 35 years ago, none of the windows had been updated except for the kitchen and the back door,” he said. “And slowly over the years, we rebuilt the kitchen. And within that rebuilding, we made access to the basement, which was outside to begin with. So, I did update the doors and all of the glass in the kitchen. And upstairs, we added an upstairs bedroom that had updated windows too. So, that was our extent of improvements on the energy side.”

Even though John was able to make those improvements on his own, the basement crawlspace still needed attention, having no insulation.

“That made it very uncomfortable in the winter because our crawlspace is below the living room, and there's literally about 12 to 18 inches’ worth of difference between the floor and the dirt,” he said. “So, from the beginning, we've been trying to figure out how to take care of that.”

Luckily, John found his solution when he went to a talk at the local library about recent green energy advancements and assistance programs. One program mentioned was Smart Energy Choice’s Cozy Basements program. Cozy Basements entails training a group of people on environmental and energy efficiency topics, and then those people go into local homes and insulate rim joists. 

Interested, John contacted Cozy Basements, and that led to a few of the trainees coming in to insulate the rim joists in the basement. But there was still more work to be done, so Smart Energy Choices gave him a call afterward. Community Energy Advisor (CEA) Jack Wright connected John to resources and information about EmPower+, a state program that helps residents make energy-related upgrades to their homes. 

John said he was very grateful for Jack’s help.

“It was wonderful because … I had known about all kinds of projects that were happening, but nobody could put them all together,” he said. “And I told him, ‘You are a wonderful asset.’”

Jack helped John apply for EmPower+, and he was approved not much later. Through EmPower+, John got a free energy audit done on his home, which identified gaps in his insulation and provided a plan to address it. He ended up working with a local contractor, who installed a moisture barrier in the basement’s crawlspace, insulated the attic, and air sealed other areas of the home — all at no cost to John. 

John said he’s seen a real difference since the improvements were made. Before, “that was a constant thing in our mind — to get that insulation done,” he said, but now, he can rest easy knowing his home is much better insulated. While it’s too early to say whether he’ll see a difference in his heating bills, the improved insulation is helping his AC perform better, as hot air isn’t leaking in and counteracting the AC’s cooling. 

Now that their biggest headache is over, John and his wife are looking to explore even more energy efficiency improvements, including upgraded heating systems and solar power. 

Looking back, John said the advisement Smart Energy Choices gave him was invaluable. He said CEAs act as crucial connections to state programs and information, allowing him to learn about programs he hadn’t heard of before and navigate the application process with ease.

“What was the most surprising [is] that it's available, you can actually do this, and it's based on your income,” he said. “So, you don't have to be wealthy. You can get this stuff taken care of that's going to save you money in the long run.”

To learn how Smart Energy Choices can help address your energy challenges, visit smartenergychoices.org/get-help.   

Single mom improves home comfort with insulation

By Jes Wickham

Cassandra Landes recently moved to her home in Tompkins County with her four children. When they moved in, the house was extremely drafty, but thanks to some new insulation, their house is now much more comfortable. And Cassandra is looking to continue her energy savings efforts by switching to renewable energy to better meet her heating and cooling needs.

Cassandra’s family relies on propane to heat their home, but they still felt cold in the winter because their home was poorly insulated.

“It was an old drafty house and the windows and things were all old, and so I was trying to insulate it and then also figure out ways to not [have] to use propane to heat,” she said. “And I didn't have cooling systems. I was just trying to find out more ways to upgrade it so I didn't have to utilize propane the whole time.”

A community member told her about Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), which leads the Southern Tier Regional Clean Energy Hub, better known as Smart Energy Choices. 

“I was looking at stuff on how to fix up the house and get it more updated,” she said. “I asked someone [for] information and they told me about Cornell Cooperative Extension, and so I reached out to them.”

Cassandra’s house was partially insulated through the Energy Warriors’ Cozy Basements program, where a trained cohort of students go to qualifying households to insulate rim joists at no cost to the homeowner. The rim joists were insulated, helping make some small improvements. 

Once Cozy Basements finished Cassandra’s house, her contact information was passed along to Community Energy Advisor Jack Wright, who reached out to Cassandra to let her know about other opportunities she could benefit from. He told her about EmPower+, a state-run program that provides financial assistance for qualified homeowners to make energy improvements. 

Cassandra said that she was a bit nervous going into the process, but her interactions with Jack helped simplify things.

“It was just a normal conversation trying to figure out what I needed and what ways to help,” Cassandra said. 

Cassandra successfully applied to EmPower+ and was connected with a local contractor, who went on to provide attic insulation and air sealed her home. So, Cassandra was ultimately able to get her whole home insulated, a project valued at over $6,000, all at no cost to her. 

The insulation work happened in the spring, so while it was no longer frigid, it still got cold enough that Cassandra could see a noticeable improvement. 

Whereas before, her heater would struggle to heat her upstairs, after, “I was able to heat the majority of my upstairs with just my electric heater,” she explained. 

Now that Cassandra’s house is insulated, she’s looking to expand her energy savings by switching from her existing propane heater to a far more efficient mini split, a type of air-source heat pump. She’s reaccessing EmPower+ to do so since new funding was recently made available through the Inflation Reduction Act. With this new funding, residents can access up to $24,000 in grants to make heating or other related upgrades. She said in addition to the heating benefit, the mini split should make it possible for her to not use separate air conditioners, like she’s using now.

To learn more about how insulation can help your home’s heating and cooling work more efficiently, contact your local Community Energy Advisor at smartenergychoices.org/get-help.