[SustainableTompkins] TREEA Energy Forum a big success!

[GayNicholson at aol.com]

IC Energy Forum: Conference on ‘green' future draws around  200 residents
 
By Aaron Munzer 
Special to The Ithaca Journal  
Monday, November 19


ITHACA — It's an unavoidable fact of life that old furnaces in  old 
farmhouses will eventually need replacing.  
But when Ulysses town board member Lucia Tyler's tired furnace is  finally 
put to rest, she won't just be replacing it: she's hoping to  turn it into an 
opportunity to purchase a renewable geothermal heat  pump system.  
“We'll have to replace our  furnace, so we thought, why not also look to the 
future?” she said.  On Saturday, Tyler and about 200 other residents attended 
the  Community Forum on Energy at Ithaca College, where business people,  
pioneering homeowners and experts met to discuss and explain the  specifics of 
environmental retrofitting, including solar, wind,  bio-fuel, geothermal, hydro 
and combined heat and power  technologies.  
The Tompkins Renewable Energy Education Alliance put on the event  to present 
available technologies along with insights and specifics  for installing 
these systems. In addition, 20 local businesses that  specialize in efficiency 
installation and retrofitting were there to  answer questions and offer their 
services.  
Beth Ellen Clark Joseph, an associate professor of physics at  Ithaca College 
and one of the organizers of the event, said the  emphasis on consumer 
education was an attempt to remove the  intimidation factor that so many renewable 
energy options can  present.  
“As homeowners, we just don't have time to investigate all our  options,” 
she said. “But even if you don't have a clue of how to get  started, you'll be 
able to see all of the information.”  
Although renewable energy was touted as one of many solutions to  rising 
heating costs and the larger problem of global warming, a  large part of the day's 
discussions centered on simple ways to  reduce energy use and costs by 
insulating and making home appliances  more efficient. From hearing about the 
virtues of Energy Star  appliances to suggestions about how to make lighting and 
windows  less wasteful, options abounded.  
“It makes much more sense to start with efficiency and then move  to 
renewable [energies],” said Ken Schlather of the Cornell  Cooperative Extension, 
speaking to an audience thinking about taking  their first steps. “This may seem 
fairly complicated, but it doesn't  have to be.”  
Renewable energy pioneers like Michael Miles of Enfield also  spoke to 
attendees about the challenges they faced — and how they  overcame them. Miles heats 
his home with geothermal energy and gets  a portion of his electricity from 
an 80-foot wind turbine in his  backyard.  
“We're still excited by (the turbine), but we'd like to see it  perform 
better,” he said. “The tower should have been taller. But I  talk about the good 
points, the bad points, and I'm always upfront  about what it costs. I always 
say you should be a smart consumer.”  
Miles, who often gives tours of his home, said some of the  biggest problems 
he sees is that homeowners don't know how the  technology works, and don't 
know others who have installed it.  
“But here, from the education standpoint, they can see this and  go, ‘That's 
great,'” he said.  
Speaking on a panel about solar technology, Ron Kamen, a founder  of solar 
heating company EarthKind Energy, said he's convinced that  when demand rises 
sufficiently, renewable energy will bring wealth  to New York state in the form 
of energy savings, new jobs and a  healthier climate.  
“There's no reason why we can't have this here,” he said.  
It wasn't just middle-aged homeowners at the forum either.  Eighteen-year-old 
Kyle Field of Genoa wants to be an electrician. So  he went with his 
electrical teacher, Ray Ludemann, to get more  information about learning the trade of 
a photovoltaic panel  installer.  
“Everything's going green,” Field said of his hopeful profession.  “This is 
going to be around for awhile.”  


----------------------------------------------------
Gay  Nicholson, Ph.D. 

607-533-7312 (home office)
607-279-6618  (cell)

1 Maple Avenue
Lansing, NY  14882
gaynicholson at aol.com

Sustainable Tompkins 
Program  Coordinator 
w_ww.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/) 

Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
Regional  Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow  Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850
agn1 at cornell.edu




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