Earth Day 2023

This Earth Day, Sustainable Westchester had the honor of participating in events with numerous member municipalities around the County. Local communities in Westchester held well-attended festivals, clean ups, and educational events. We thank them for the opportunity to be involved with these events and look forward to many more.

New Yorkers For Clean Power Are Turning Up for NY HEAT!

Authored By: Molly Levitt, Sustainable Westchester Intern

On Tuesday, May 23rd, proponents of the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition (HEAT) Act came from all over the state to voice their support in Albany. Three of our very own from Sustainable Westchester made the journey to aid in the effort to pass this important bill.

The NY HEAT Act is a landmark piece of legislation which will help shift New York State away from its reliance on oil and natural gas, and provide relief for residents struggling with the rising cost of energy. It ends subsidies for natural gas such as the “100 Foot Rule”, which requires utility companies to hook up customers to natural gas with no cost if they live within 100 feet of an existing gas main. It also retires old gas grids that are no longer necessary and empowers utility companies to replace them with zero-emission options. These measures will save energy customers $200 million per year in their energy bills. This bill supports zero-emissions forms of heating energy such as heat pumps, geothermal energy, and thermal energy networks, that don’t release dangerous pollutants and are safer for our communities. The bill will make sure to support the transition every step of the way so that jobs are not only preserved, but created.

The “HEAT” in NY HEAT stands for Home Energy Affordable Transition. Keeping true to the name, this law will cap home energy bills for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers at 6% of their annual household income, providing much-needed relief for these families. Between the rate cap and the moratorium on unnecessary support for outdated oil and gas systems, New Yokers for Clean Power (NYCP) estimates that the typical New Yorker will save as much as $75 a month on their energy bills.

Right now is a crucial time for this legislation. New York State just recently passed the 2023 budget, in which we saw some big wins for the environment. For instance, the new budget includes the All-Electric Buildings Act, which bans the use of fossil fuels in new buildings built in New York state. However, NY HEAT didn’t make it through to the final budget, which means the future of this bill has not been decided. There are only a few weeks left in this year’s legislative session. Time is running out to impact the upcoming year’s budget and legislative priorities.

Many elected officials from both houses of the state government who have sponsored or co sponsored NY HEAT spoke in front of the crowd. In fact, many of our own representatives from Westchester have supported this bill. Representatives Dana Levenberg, Chris Burdick, Maryjane Shimsky, Amy Paulin, and Steven Otis co sponsored the bill in the State Assembly. Senators Pete Harckham and Shelley Mayer co-sponsored the bill in the NY Senate. Additionally, among the demonstrators were many leaders from community-based organizations such as Mothers Out Front and No NBK Pipeline, an organization in Brooklyn that successfully blocked National Grid from building two new fracked gas vaporizers in environmental justice communities in Brooklyn.

Our Sustainable Westchester interns were part of this great demonstration. Afterwards, they met with elected officials who have cosponsored the bill package we are advocating for to personally thank them and ensure their continued support going forward. In fact, as the interns made their rounds, many of the representatives they tried to meet with were already on the floor, lending their voices to help pass NY HEAT.

NY HEAT is a vital, trailblazing piece of legislation that will put our state on the right path to carbon neutrality, safer communities, and affordability. We once again would like to shout out the other nonprofit organizations supporting NY HEAT and to all the assemblymen and senators co sponsoring the bill. Stay tuned for more updates on NY HEAT!

Three of our high school interns sitting on the Million-Dollar Staircase in the Legislative Office Building just after the rally for NY Heat. After this, they headed out to talk with elected officials. From left to right: Molly Levitt (yours truly!), Talia London, Jada Fleiss.

You may remember this unit of measurement – the mole – from your high school chemistry class. This is what one mole of a gas looks like. Did you know that your gas-powered car releases 200 moles of carbon dioxide and 10 moles of dangerous carbon monoxide into the air for every mile you travel? Thank you to the folks in Albany for this powerful demonstration of the effects of gas-powered vehicles. If you are able to, consider making the switch to electric, and walk and take public transit whenever you can!

The rally on the steps of the Million Dollar Staircase at 12:30. Demonstrators heard from community leaders, co-sponsors of the NY Heat Act from the State Senate and Assembly – who then went straight to the meeting on the floor to voice their support – and Patricia Fahy and Liz Kreuger, the sponsors of the bill in the Assembly and Senate, respectively.

2023 Rivertowns Earth Day Mayors Challenge kicks off March 23!

Mayors from Hastings to Sleepy Hollow engage in friendly competition; encouraging residents to sign up for Sustainable Westchester’s GridRewards to illustrate the importance of synchronicity when it comes to energy reduction. Challenge takes place now through April 28, 2023.

Photo Description: The Rivertowns Mayors are excited to encourage their residents to save money and energy with Sustainable Westchester’s GridRewards. Pictured from Left to Right: Dobbs Ferry Village Administrator, Richard Leins; Elmsford Village Administrator, Michael Mills; Mayor of Elmsford, Robert Williams; Sleepy Hollow Village Administrator, Anthony Giaccio; Mayor of Dobbs Ferry, Vincent Rossillo; Irvington Village Administrator, Larry Schopfer; Mayor of Hastings-on-Hudson Nicola Armacost; Mayor of Tarrytown, Karen Brown; Hastings Village Manager, Mary Beth Murphy; Tarrytown Village Administrator Richard Slingerland; Mayor of Ardsley, Nancy Kaboolian

Scroll down the page to see the current rankings!

Westchester County, NY, March 23, 2023 It’s GridRewards season once again and the Mayors of the Rivertowns are spicing things up as we head into Earth Month! GridRewards, a product of Logical Buildings, AI tech leader in sustainability, is an app designed to get large numbers of people to lower their energy consumption at the same time by getting paid to do so.

In order to alleviate stress on the grid when high energy demand is forecasted (think summertime heat waves), GridRewards users are prompted (via the app) to take simple, energy-saving actions, such as raising their thermostat a few degrees, or running dishwashers at off-peak hours. They are then compensated for their efforts — in cash.

Mayors from around the Rivertowns are urging residents, nonprofits and commercial property managers alike to sign up for GridRewards, especially as we near Earth Day on April 22nd. Niki Armacost from Hastings is leading the charge for her Village. “We’re very excited to participate in another Mayor’s Challenge this year using GridRewards! There are many actions people can take to reduce their carbon footprint, but GridRewards is one of the very simplest we’ve seen. And if we all work together – which is of course the real trick and the brilliance of the app, it is not only Rivertowns residents who win, but every person living within a few miles of a polluting Peaker Plant.”

This year, the municipality with the highest enrollment percentage, based upon population size, will win $1,000 from Logical Buildings, the company that developed GridRewards!

When so many users reduce their energy consumption at the same time, or in a synchronized manner, it effectively creates a distributed virtual power plant (VPP) and reduces the need for expensive, polluting, fossil-fuel-powered Peaker Plants — for those hot summer days or when the grid is overworked.

Avoiding the use of Peaker Plants, some feel, is the most important benefit of the GridRewards app. Peaker Plants are not only highly polluting and nearly always in marginalized communities, but over $4.5 billion dollars have been spent maintaining and running them since 2019, despite these power plants only being used 5% of the year. By helping to create a more stable and decarbonized energy grid for their entire region, GridRewards users can reduce our dependence on Peaker Plants.

GridRewards make sense not only for homeowners, but renters, building operators and more — essentially anyone who is paying for energy via a ConEd account. (An online ConEdison account is required for sign up and integration with the app.)

The Rivertowns Mayors challenge kicks off on March 23 and runs until April 28th. The app is free to download and there’s no cost to enroll or participate. You can find additional information on the GridRewards website.

The Results Are In! Hastings-On-Hudson Has Won the 2023 Rivertowns Mayors Earth Day Challenge for GridRewards

This past Earth Month, the Rivertowns Mayors took on an exciting challenge: enroll the most residents in Sustainable Westchester’s GridRewards to help reduce carbon emissions. Hastings took the top spot, enrolling 109 residents and earning the Village a $1,000 prize! Many thanks to all the municipalities who participated and to all the residents who signed up! Together we can reduce carbon emissions and pollution!

Last Updated on May 2, 2023

About GridRewards

GridRewards was developed in 2019 by Logical Buildings, an AI technology solutions leader in sustainability, smart building and virtual power plant software and a solutions provider for the built world. The firm’s revolutionary technologies combat climate change by empowering residential, commercial, and industrial energy users to earn money, enhance building health and reduce carbon footprints through user-friendly, award-winning mobile apps. GridRewards was initially introduced as a digital program in 2019. It was launched as a free app in spring 2021 and is downloadable via the Apple Store and Google Play. Logical Buildings, which was founded in 2012 as a smart building technology software developer, IoT and DER systems integrator, and smart building services provider, currently operates in major national urban markets, including New York, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Camden, Chicago, and Miami, and more. To learn more, visit logicalbuildings.com and follow Logical Buildings on LinkedIn.

About Sustainable Westchester:

Sustainable Westchester is a nonprofit consortium of Westchester County local municipalities facilitating effective collaboration resulting in sustainability initiatives and cutting-edge innovation. Our goal is to bring socially responsible, environmentally sound, and economically viable solutes that create resilient, healthy, vibrant, sustainable communities. For more information, contact Lauren Brois at (914) 242-4725 x122 or Lauren@SustainableWestchester.org or visit SustainableWestchester.org for general information.