Dan, his partner Caity, and their one-year-old daughter have lived in their Town of Hamilton home for 10 months.  When Dan and Caity bought the home, it had electric baseboard heat (translation: inefficient and expensive!).  After they moved in, they reached out to Fred F. Collis & Sons for a home energy audit, to see how they could improve their heating system.  Their Energy Advisor, Ted, was “great to work with.”  He did the audit and worked up a package for a whole house heat pump system, plus spray foam insulation on the rim joists in the basement and other energy saving measures. Ted helped them access the incentives to make the upgrade affordable, including a grant from the Finger Lakes Climate Fund.

And now, 3 months later?  Dan says, “So far we love it.”  He and Caity were familiar with the technology because Dan’s mother had a heat pump system installed in her home last year.  Now Dan and his family are enjoying one of the most popular benefits of a heat pump system:  the cooling!  When we spoke on a very hot and humid day in July, Dan noted that “in our house it feels wonderful.”  He is waiting with optimism to see the benefits of the heat pump system in the winter.  He said, “the guys did a great job installing it and explaining things.”

The Finger Lakes Climate Fund is delighted to welcome the Ahrens Family as our 84th awardee and newest Climate Heroes in Madison County!