Sustainable Westchester Working for Clean Energy and Cleaner Air

By Michael Gold

Noam Bramson wants to make your home as energy efficient as possible. Not incidentally, this will help lower your energy costs and help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases your home generates for heating, cooling and electricity.

He also is looking to help Westchester homeowners make the transition to using renewable energy.

Bramson, who recently stepped into the position of executive director of Sustainable Westchester, and the former mayor of New Rochelle for 18 years, said “the single easiest thing” for homeowners to do to reduce their bills and their energy consumption is to sign up for Grid Rewards.

The way the program works is this: consumers download the GridRewards application on their mobile phone. On the hottest days of summer, the application will send you an alert that now is the time you can voluntarily reduce your electricity usage by setting your air conditioning unit, or units, to a higher temperature. The utility will then send you a check in the mail to reward your volunteer reduction.

“During periods of high energy demand, you agree as a homeowner to temporarily reduce energy consumption,” Bramson told me.

Utilities fire up so-called peaker plants during hot summer days to meet the higher electricity demand from the grid. Peaker plants use dirty energy, which diminishes air quality and puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, Bramson explained.

But, with GridRewards, “you get paid. You are credited for your reduced energy use,” so the program is “good for the world and people’s pocketbooks,” he said. “It’s super easy. You receive a text on your phone about a GridRewards event. You reduce energy use for the next two hours.”

Sustainable Westchester provides instructions on how to download the application on its website at https://sustainablewestchester.org/gridrewards.

Several peaker power plants operate in New York State – Westchester, the Bronx, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Orange and other upstate counties.

An article published on the nonprofit newsroom New York Focus website on June 14, 2023, states “the targeted plants sit idle for most of the year, until hot weather rolls around, New Yorkers crank their air conditioning, and electricity demand spikes.”

The Westchester plant, called Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., located at 777 Saw Mill River Rd. in Tarrytown, generates 223 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, 4.46 tons of nitrous oxide and about 0.3 tons of sulfur dioxide annually, according to The Clean Energy Group, a national renewable energy nonprofit that is working to phase out peaker plants and replace them with clean, cost-effective energy sources.

Nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide are particularly noxious and harmful pollutants.

“Longer exposures to elevated concentrations of NO₂ (nitrous oxide) may contribute to the development of asthma and potentially increase susceptibility to respiratory infections. People with asthma, as well as children and the elderly, are generally at greater risk for the health effects of NO₂,” explains the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website.

“Short-term exposures to SO₂ (sulfur dioxide) can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult. People with asthma, particularly children, are sensitive to these effects of SO₂,” it states.

In comparison to Westchester’s plant, Rockland’s Bowline generating station emits more than 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 572 tons of nitrous oxide and almost 15 tons of sulfur dioxide annually, The Clean Energy Group’s website states.

To help Westchester transition to new, healthier energy sources, Sustainable Westchester operates Westchester Power, a community program which delivers “clean and renewable energy to 140,000 county residents and small businesses,” serving about one-third of the county, Bramson said.

“We purchase renewable energy on the market,” Bramson said. “It’s primarily hydro, from upstate. It’s a quiet, but a dramatic success story. You get a predictable fixed rate when buying your electricity.”

Last year, Westchester Power saved 270,190 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, Bramson said, the equivalent of taking “60,000 cars off the road.”

Additionally, Sustainable Westchester’s Energy Smart Homes program provides assistance to homeowners to install heat pumps and weatherize their homes, Bramson explained. The program offers homeowners a home energy assessment to identify how to improve energy efficiency in the house and provides educational programs on cleaner ways to heat and cool your home and connects residents with a roster of certified contractors for installation of new energy systems.

In terms of lawn care, Sustainable Westchester is also working to transition from gas-powered to electric-powered landscaping tools, Bramson said. Electric leaf blowers and mowers are “better for the neighborhood,” he explained.

“Electric devices are quieter, generate no air pollution and are less greenhouse gas intensive,” Bramson said. “Electric is better for homeowners and landscape workers. It’s up to all of us to slow the pace of climate change.”

Homeowners who want help to make their properties as energy efficient as possible can call Sustainable Westchester at 914-242-4725 or e-mail info@sustainablewestchester.org.

Michael Gold has had articles published in the New York Daily News, the Albany Times Union, the Hartford Courant and other newspapers, and The Hardy Society Journal, a British literary publication.