Sustainable Homes Rochester

Sustainable Homes Rochester (SHR) is a community campaign designed to encourage residents to install clean heating and cooling (CH&C) technologies and improve home energy efficiency. 

Energy Audit

The first step in deciding how to get the biggest bang for your buck is to get a free energy audit. The state of NY will pay accredited residential auditors to assess your home. They will ask a few questions, take a look in the attic, run some numbers and make recommendations about improvements you should consider (insulation, new windows, heat pumps, etc). They'll let you know about any NYSERDA incentives that can be applied to future projects.

LED Lighting

We all know that LED lighting is the way to go: They use 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs and will save $55 in electricity costs over the lifetime of the bulb. Down side: the initial costs are steep.

Many people choose to replace inefficient bulbs with LEDs once they burn out.  Here's one step better: when you do get a new LED bulb, put it in the lamp/fixture that is used the most and not simply the one that burned out.

Energy Star has a calculator to show your $ and energy savings.

Click here for a fun family project. 

Solar

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Electric

Cooktops

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Heat Pumps

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Tankless Water Heaters

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Lawn Care

Penfield's own Mindy MacLaren  explains why homeowners should reconsider use of pesticides and offers alternatives for a healthy, beautiful lawn in this article.

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The NY State Department of Environmental Conservation has great tips here.

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