A $2.5 million weatherization project begun last month by the Beacon Housing Authority is demonstrating how making homes warmer and more energy efficient can also create business for an array of contractors.?The Beacon Housing Authority kicked off a $2.5 million energy efficiency and renewable project for its 245 apartments in Beacon.
The project has an innovative partnership, utilizing a combination of funds from various sources. ?About $715,000 came from winning shares in the federal stimulus grants from U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), money specifically set aside for public housing authorities to use in weatherization projects.
The Dutchess County Community Action program, disbursing funds on behalf of New York State Homes and Community Renewal”™s (HCR) Weatherization Assistance Program, provided about $1.2 million, and New York State Energy Research and Development’s (NYSERDA) Societal Benefit Charge Utility Ratepayer fund gave $500,000.?Roland Traudt, executive director of the Beacon Housing Authority, said winning the funding was a cooperative effort of contractors, consultants and the authority, which combined their expertise to write successful grants.
Traudt said that the housing authority teamed with Malcarne Contracting of Rhinebeck as a NYSERDA approved home energy performance contractor, and with Matthew D. Rudikoff Associates of Beacon, consultants specializing in environmental matters to design a project and make grant applications that won state and national awards.
There will be a variety of beneficiaries, Traudt said.
“Our residents will all be warmer and those living in the Hamilton Fish plaza pay their own electricity, so they will see savings on their bill,” he said.
Estimates from the energy audit that was required as part of the grant applications show that when the project is done, the authority itself will save $200,000 a year or more on energy and utility costs. That is a huge savings for an organization whose administrative costs annually are only about $500,000, he said?Other beneficiaries will be contractors doing the work. Malcarne is doing insulation and air sealing work. Window replacement planned for some units will be done by RL Baxter of Poughkeepsie, plumbing upgrades connected to solar thermal heating will be done by Universal Pipe Fitters of High Falls, and furnace and hot water heater replacement done by Sigma Tremblay of Wappinger Falls.
