Bedford Residents Awarded For Energy Efficiency

BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. — Before the Bedford Town Board meeting on Monday, many town residents were awarded for energy-saving improvements to their homes by Energize Bedford, part of Bedford 2020’s Retrofit Recognition.

Bedford 2020 is “a coalition to lead, organize, and promote community wide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and create a sustainable community that conserves its natural resources,” according to its website. 

Among the leaders of Energize 2020 is Mary Beth Kass, the co-president of Bedford 2020 who also gave away the second Perfect Progress Award for local community organizations that press for energy efficiency. The award was handed to A-Home, a housing organization that was given the award for the second consecutive time. It first received it in May.

“What we have found in the first few months of the contest, when organizations tell their people something, it’s a lot different than when the town says it,” Kass said.

Andrew and Barbara Chintz are two recipients of the certificates for energy efficiency for their home, and were given a silver rating. The rating means that they will see projected energy savings between 10-20 percent, Kass said.

“We’ve done the basement, we’ve sealed where the foundation meets the ground,” said Andrew Chintz. “We put in a new boiler, switched to gas, and it’s tight and warm. You can really feel the difference there.”

That’s the common response that Tom Bregman, the director of Energize Bedford, said he hears from homeowners. “They say, I can’t believe the difference my house feels,” he said. “The savings is what’s anticipated. But the change in the comfort and feel of the house is what they experience right away.”

Along with the gratified recipients, Bregman was also in high spirits seeing his and the town’s project slowly come to fruition. “It was gratifying, it’s really an affirmation that the work we’ve been doing is starting to have some real impact and traction,” he said. “It’s a reflection not on only the staff efforts, but also the groundwork over the previous four years.”

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