Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation celebrates the many ways in which its customers can protect the environment. “As we maintain social distancing to keep one another safe and healthy, we continue to encourage our customers to use energy wisely, especially on this 50th Anniversary of Earth Day,” said Charles A. Freni, President and C.E.O. of Central Hudson. “We offer many programs to help residents and businesses save energy, and are taking other initiatives to reduce emissions and support the environment.” A video presenting the many ways in which Central Hudson helps to protect the environment can be viewed here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyqKnWC_-Qo)
Energy Efficiency Programs
Central Hudson offers rebates and incentives for measures customers can take to save energy, including the installation of energy efficient heat pumps and high-efficiency natural gas heating systems, adoption of LED lighting, heat-pump water heaters, discounted products on the CenHub store, turn-in incentives for older refrigerators and freezers, and more. “Thousands of our residential, business and municipal customers have taken advantage of our programs to lower their carbon footprint and energy expenses,” said Freni. “Investing in energy efficiency is by far the most cost-effective way to save energy and reduce emissions. These measures pay for themselves, and our programs allow customers to start saving right away.”
During 2019, energy efficiency measures taken by Central Hudson’s customers saved an annualized 82 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 388,000 decatherms of natural gas, equating to approximately $10 million in energy costs. Since 2009, customers enrolled in Central Hudson’s energy efficiency programs cumulatively save nearly $64 million annually, reducing energy demands by enough to power more than 37,000 homes and avoiding more than 808 million pounds greenhouse gas emissions each year, or the equivalent of removing 77,000 cars from the road or planting nearly 370,000 acres of forest.
EPA Recognition
Central Hudson earned its third ENERGY STAR® Award in 2020 for exceptional efforts in promoting and educating its customers on ENERGY STAR® certified products. EPA recognized Central Hudson for substantially increasing customers’ energy-saving impact by nearly doubling measures to promote ENERGY STAR certified LED bulbs, which lead to the purchase and distribution of nearly 2 million bulbs by and to customers since 2016, and promoting Heat Pump Water Heaters.
Energy Leadership
“Central Hudson fully supports the transition to a low-carbon energy system, and is making substantial investments in the local energy infrastructure to facilitate renewable resources, enhance system efficiency and improve resilience,” said Freni. “As the region’s utility company, we must advocate for reliable and affordable energy supplies to meet the needs of our customers while also working towards state goals to lower emissions.”
There are many ways Central Hudson protects the environment:
- Solar installations within the utility’s service area are among the highest in New York on a per-capita basis, with nearly 9,370 systems installed by residents and businesses with 129 megawatts of total solar capacity, and offsetting more than 5,600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
- Central Hudson promotes electric vehicles, which are less costly to operate and reduce emissions by 60 to 85 percent; is installing charging stations at its regional offices; offers incentives for the deployment of fast-charging stations in the region; and is engaging municipalities and fleet owners in determining the feasibility of adopting select electric cars and trucks, including its own utility fleet.
- Central Hudson assists residents and businesses in converting heating systems from oil or propane to natural gas, where available, to reduce energy costs and lower emissions by 30 percent. Significantly expanded incentives for air and ground-source electric heat pumps for cooling and heating are offered, which can also lower costs and emissions.
- To support these initiatives, Central Hudson continues to invest in the electric and natural gas systems to modernize the energy delivery infrastructure and enable expanded use of clean resources. State-of-the-art equipment and systems are being deployed to improve the efficiency, durability and reliability of the energy delivery system. These improvements are also critical to integrating the growth of distributed resources such as solar and battery storage.
- Central Hudson also protects the environment through its operations, for example by reusing and recycling tons of materials through a partnership with Ulster-Greene ARC started more than 30 years ago; reusing and retreading tires for its fleet; and operating three hydroelectric plants to produce local renewable power to supplement the energy needs of its customers.
“These technologies and initiatives provide both environmental and economic benefits, and support our transition to a cleaner economy,” said Freni.
To learn more about Central Hudson’s energy efficiency programs, tips on saving energy and more, log onto www.SavingsCentral.com; for more on the benefits electric vehicles, cost and emissions savings, tax incentives, New York State rebates and more, visit www.CentralHudson.com/ElectricVehicles; and to learn of Central Hudson’s environmental initiatives, go to www.CentralHudson.com and click on “My Energy.”
