Assemblyman Gabryszak: Power NY Makes Energy Efficiency More Affordable, CreatesJobs | Politics

Assemblyman Gabryszak: Power NY makes energy efficiency more affordable, creates jobs
Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed the Power NY Act that I sponsored to create a new power plant siting law, which will protect communities against environmental hazards. The new law will also create an on-bill recovery program for Green Jobs-Green New York which has a goal of generating one million energy efficiency retrofits of homes and businesses (Ch.388 of 2011).

Green Jobs-Green New York offers homeowners low-interest loans of up to $13,000 and small-business owners up to $25,000 for energy-efficient retrofits to their properties. Administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the loans cover the replacement of old water heaters, inefficient boilers and leaky weather stripping, to name just a few.

To make it easier for customers to re-pay these low-interest loans, they can pay the state back through their utility bill. Customers will not see their monthly expenses increase at all with these new retrofits. For example, if your new water heater, purchased through the program, is saving you $30 a month over the old, replaced unit, you may only have to pay that $30 difference every month over the life of the loan. By all appearances, your bill would stay the same, but your house or business would be that much more efficient and valuable.

Not only will this legislation help the people of Western New York become more energy efficient, but this program will create thousands of new jobs. These jobs will come thanks to the increased need of equipment, installation and construction. It is projected by the Center for Working Families that these new jobs and retrofits could bring in up to $5 billion to the state economy and 60,000 jobs due to increased demand for equipment and installation.

A further benefit of this legislation will be upgrades to the state power plants. These upgrades will bring our power plants up to speed and allow us to have cleaner energy moving forward and make Western New York a more environmentally friendly place.

This law is great news for our communities. Not only will we see new jobs in our area, the comprehensive measure will also help New York keep up with new technology. For more information on Green Jobs-Green New York, visit www.nyserda.org/greenny or call my office at 716-686-0080.