Meet our 48th Climate Fund grant winner from Freeville, NY! Nina grew up right here in Freeville, NY, and moved into an 1860 older farmhouse last fall on her own with her four-legged family members. As the office manager for her family’s small local business, she had to dig deep into her pockets to pay the fuel oil bills for this big, old house! Thus, she jumped at the chance to make their home more comfortable and affordable by contacting NYSERDA for an energy audit. It quickly became clear that the fuel oil heating system in her new home wasn’t sustainable – she burned through an entire tank of fuel oil in a single month, and it hadn’t even been that cold yet! She set her thermostats as low as they would go and still was running herself ragged trying to heat the entire house with the back-up wood stove. NYSERDA connected her with Snug Planet, and they quickly prioritized her project when they found out how cold her dogs were at home. Snug connected her with all available rebates, incentives, and grants (woot! us!) to make it affordable. After only a few days of work, the new recommended heat pump system was installed…now all of her heating needs are covered! Nina won our maximum Climate Fund award of $2,500 plus an additional $2,000 heat pump award for a total of $4,500 towards this project — preventing 177 tons of CO2 from emitting into the atmosphere. “The difference in heating was incredible. It’s great to not use fuel oil at all, and during this hot summer, I’ve really enjoyed having the option to run them as air conditioners.” Looking ahead, she’s super excited about the possibility of getting solar panels to power her heat pumps and become a net zero home!