In the Marketplace: Action for You

by Melissa Everett

Sustainable Hudson Valley works to make it easier to save resources and shift to clean technologies – empowering consumers while building the marketplace for solar power, electric vehicles and more. I’m going to tell you about several opportunities we offer, that you can take advantage of. I’m also going to share one thing you can do that is not quite so easy – but worth it.

If you’ve been thinking about going solar and have a property with reasonable exposure, our Solarize Hudson Valley can simplify your choices and save you money. This three-year, NYSERDA funded program works with carefully selected installation firms offering technologies they believe in, with group purchase discounts of at least 10%. We’re in the final months of this effort, which has already helped 400 people step up and save. Visit www.solarize-hudsonvalley.org to learn more.

If you’d like to go solar but can’t do it where you live or work, we have a second option for you. Community Shared Solar is a co-op style approach for renters, condo dwellers, and people with old or shaded roofs. This fall, we are enrolling people in two CSS projects developed by the Boston based Nexamp – one for Central Hudson customers, the other for Orange & Rockland. Again, learn more at www.solarize-hudsonvalley.org.

The car is the star – so says Seth Leitman, manager of our Drive Electric Hudson Valley program. It’s consumer education with a hands-on element – workshops, test drives, and hand-holding for folks who are deciding whether their next car will be electric. We’ve also teamed up with EV Connect and NYSERDA to provide $4,000 to defray the costs of public EV chargers – and we are creating a chapter of the Electric Auto Association to connect enthusiasts even better.

Consumer choices do more than make you feel good. They help build a movement and a marketplace. But we are three years from 2020, the point in time when the Paris Accord calls for global emissions to start falling. Lots to do, and hard realities to face. We will be bringing folks together in the community to talk about a hopeful new set of climate solutions, Project Drawdown (.org) and what we can do together.

Turning the corner into a really sustainable economy takes more than individual choices – but how we live is the foundation of a movement, and so is how we step up to confront the reality of our times.

As heard on Your Environment, Mid-Hudson News, October 6, 2017