Lansing Star Reports on HeatSmart Launch

By Dan Veaner for the Lansing Star

The bad news is that NYSEG imposed a moratorium on new natural gas customers for the Town and Village of Lansing.  The good news is that New York State has special incentives for Lansing residents who choose to convert to heat pumps this year.  HeatSmart Board Chair Brian Eden joined HeatSmart Tompkins Program Director  Jonathan Comstock and HeatSmart Lansing Coordinator Lisa Marshall to host a launch party for this year's initiative that has a special focus on Lansing.  All eyes are on Lansing and Westchester County, which is also subject to a natural gas moratorium, to see how successful the communities will be at embracing the cleaner heat pump technology, and their ability to attract businesses despite natural gas being largely off the table.  At the same time the Tompkins County HeatSmart initiative is serving as a model to expand the grass roots approach to promoting clean energy all over New York State.

"We saw the example that HeatSmart Tompkins initiated a few years ago," said New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Clean Heating and Cooling Group Program Manager Scott Smith. "It was my idea to replicate it around New York State. As of a week ago we have 15 communities in New York, including Tompkins County, that are doing HeatSmart campaigns.  We're very grateful to the HeatSmart team, to Brian and Jonathan for getting it all started.  I'm here at the HeatSmart Lansing launch today because as increased funding is part of the clean energy action plan NYSERDA doubled down on its investment in HeatSmart Tompkins specifically to focus on the Lansing area because of the gas moratorium."
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Photos from the August 4 Lansing Launch Event at Myers Park