Dryden to launch campaign for clean energy

In the first volume of the Dryden Town Newsletter published earlier this month, town officials announced that Dryden will be launching a new community campaign — called Energy Wi$e Dryden — designed to inform Dryden residents about opportunities for financial help in making their homes warmer.

This campaign, which has already started reaching out to Dryden residents, was created in collaboration with HeatSmart Tompkins according to NYSERDA guidelines. The main coordinator for the campaign is longtime Dryden resident Marie McRae, who has worked in climate activism and education for many years.

McRae’s environmental work, as she explained, started back in 2009, when she worked as an activist with the group Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition, which focuses on reducing energy use affordably.

In 2013, when Dryden was in the midst of an anti-fracking battle, McRae joined in the fight along with other Dryden residents. Once that effort was over and fracking was banned in Dryden, she and others wanted to work on something else.

“Dryden was one of the first towns to ban fracking, and we wanted to stop being anti-whatever and work for something,” McRae said. “So, we wanted people to know about solar energy and solar panels on their houses. That’s what we did.”

McRae and others then formed Solarize Tompkins (now Solar Tompkins), a volunteer initiative that seeks to increase the number of solar panels in the county by making the process of getting panels as streamlined and affordable as possible. HeatSmart was a later project by Solarize Tompkins, focused mostly around heat pumps. McRae stepped away from HeatSmart several years ago but remains involved in her community.

The groundwork for Energy Wi$e Dryden was laid around 2017, when Dryden created a Climate Smart Community Task Force, chaired by Alice Green, which worked with the state’s Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Certification program. In early 2021, NYSERDA put out the next iteration of the CSC, the Clean Energy Communities (CEC) program (more information at https://t.ly/y6V3).

McRae explained that CSC and CEC work kind of like scouting, only it’s a community working toward grants rather than individuals working toward badges.

“With the NYSERDA program, a municipality can choose an action that they want to take, and as they work through the requirements that NYSERDA has put up for that action, and they complete it, then you get points within that system,” she said. “And then, those points connect to grants that NYSERDA will give the municipality.”

One of the actions NYSERDA calls for under the CEC program is a community campaign for education about using clean energy, reducing heating bills and other related efficiency efforts, McRae explained.

“I said, ‘Oh, that’s right up my alley. That’s what I wanted,’” she said. “So, I’m working together with the Climate Smart Community Task Force, with Alice Green still as chair of that, and I’m working with a subcommittee of that task force. So, that’s how we got to this community campaign, Energy Wi$e Dryden.”

The campaign aims to connect Dryden residents to some of the grants, subsidies or low-rate financing that’s available for insulation, air sealing and heat pumps.

“We really want to help people connect to ways to make their homes more comfortable and still pay less for their utility bills because once you seal up the spots in your house that are letting the cold air in in the winter, and you put more insulation in your attic or walls, you’re going to have a warmer, cozier house,” McRae said. “And there’s money available to help low- [to] moderate-income people do that.”

Energy Wi$e Dryden mainly helps connect residents to two NYSERDA programs — the Empower Program and the Assisted Home Performance Program, both of which provide grants to low- and moderate-income families to have energy efficiency work done on their homes. Visit solartompkins.org/incentives for more information.

“You start with an energy audit, which is free for anybody,” McRae explained. “From the energy audit, you get recommendations on what would help this house be warmer and cozier. So, you seal up the air leaks, you put more insulation in. And once you’ve done that, then you can also look at installing a heat pump as your source of heat and bring your heating bills way down.”

Energy Wi$e Dryden has started to reach out to residents and has set up an online form, available at https://t.ly/yQeW, that residents can fill out if they’re interested in these sorts of services. While the campaign is currently waiting on the final stamp of approval from NYSERDA to officially launch, residents can still fill out the form.

The newsletter already helped to attract three residents to sign contracts for air sealing, insulation, heat pumps or a heat pump water heater, McRae explained. NYSERDA requires Dryden to contract 10 households for Dryden to earn points for its campaign.

Lisa Marshall, co-program director for HeatSmart Tompkins, presented the campaign to the Dryden Town Board on April 8, a recording of which can be obtained by visiting the town’s website, http://dryden.ny.us.

As McRae explained, Energy Wi$e Dryden and HeatSmart share a common goal, and the partnership between them is invaluable to the success of the campaign.

“HeatSmart is asking the town to help reach the residents — so, putting it in their newsletter on the town website, on other official town communications,” McRae said. “In exchange for helping them to reach the residents of Dryden, HeatSmart brings their considerable knowledge of how the NYSERDA programs work and how to get the word out. And Lisa Marshall is a fabulous organizer. And without her help, we couldn’t be doing this.”

McRae encourages Dryden residents to reach out if they’re interested in learning more about the campaign or any of the services previously discussed.

“I need everyone to help spread the word about this program,” she said. “If they know someone who might benefit, spread the word, talk to neighbors. This is a limited-time program, so getting in early will be essential to getting grant or subsidy money.”

Overall, McRae hopes to continue the community-focused environmental work she started so many years ago.

“My hope is to reach a heck of a lot of Dryden residents with this really good news that whether they own their house, whether they rent, whether they live in a mobile home, whatever their circumstances are, there’s help for winter warms and summer cool,” she said. “We can do this together.”

In brief:

Freeville logo contest

Though it’s the smallest of the six incorporated villages in Tompkins County, Freeville has many wonderful attributes that belie its diminutive size. Among them are a rich history as an important regional railroad junction, meandering creeks, a lush and lovely nature preserve, two municipal parks (with a third on the way), and, of course, a community of friendly, civic-minded and creative villagers.

Indeed, the attributes of all those other, bigger villages are no more wonderful than Freeville. But they have one thing that Freeville doesn’t: a logo. The village aims to remedy that through the launch of the Village of Freeville’s Logo Design Contest.

The winning design, to be selected by a panel made up of members of the Board of Trustees and other village residents, will convey Freeville as a unique and special place, according to a recent notice from Freeville Mayor David Fogel.

The winning design will be visually impactful on the village website, letterhead and elsewhere. And it will net its creator $250, a prize to be donated by a local resident who wishes to remain anonymous.

Contest rules are posted on the village website, freevilleny.org. The contest is open to anyone over 16, and you don’t have to live in the village to enter. The last day for submissions is June 11, 2021.