We now bring you the story of Paul Smith, our 69th Climate Fund Awardee! Paul lives in a mobile home in the tight-knit town of Memphis in Onondaga County. For decades, he served his community as a mechanic, ensuring everything ran smoothly and keeping the world in motion. However, after an unfortunate back injury, he has been reliant on a limited income for the past 20 years. 

At home, Paul’s heating system was just not cutting it. With only a 10-gallon hot water heater and a propane wall heater, he struggled to stay warm during the frigid upstate winters and faced steep propane heating costs. To explore his options, Paul reached out to Halco Energy for a home energy audit. The experts at Halco identified several ways to enhance Paul’s comfort, reduce his expenses, and lower his carbon footprint. By the time their work was done, Halco had insulated Paul’s attic, repaired the ceiling, upgraded the electric panel, and installed an air source heat pump along with a new 40-gallon electric water heater. These improvements will prevent 38.6 tons of CO2 from entering our atmosphere over the lifespan of the equipment!

The total cost of the work was $14,634, but with subsidies from NYSERDA and NYSEG, plus $2,000 from a Central NY HeatSmart grant, our Climate Fund covered the remaining $965. This reduced Paul’s out-of-pocket expenses to an incredible zero dollars! We are beyond happy to have supported Paul in his home-energy makeover. Now, he stays snug in the winter, cool in the summer, and is happily propane free! A round of applause to Paul, our climate hero!