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LONG ISLAND
A18
Helping solar to shine
] Huntington eyes group-buying to contain costs
] Program pools residents for volume discounts
BY MARK HARRINGTON
[email protected]
As subsidies for residential
solar energy installations begin
to dry up, Huntington is poised
to be the first Long Island town
to address the high-cost of buying the systems through group
purchasing.
A program called Solarize
Huntington to be launched
later this month will allow residents to pool their buying
power through a single solar installer-contractor
selected
through competitive bidding.
The more who sign up for the
program the greater the volume discount for systems,
which can cost upward of
$40,000, officials said.
The program is administered
by the City University of New
York’s Sustainable CUNY initiative through a Department
of Energy grant.
Systems bought through the
program can be 15 percent to 25
percent less expensive than
those bought by homeowners
individually, said Justin Strachan, state solar ombudsman
for Sustainable CUNY.
Residential solar adoption in
Huntington, as with the rest of
Long Island, has soared in recent
years. Around 500 new applications are processed a year, said
town spokesman A.J. Carter,
who said Huntington started the
program to “help homeowners”
with the high cost of solar.
Similar group purchasing
programs are springing up
across the county and the state,
as municipalities work to expand solar. Solarize programs
in Brooklyn, Tompkins County
and Troy are in place. Solarize
Syracuse doubled solar installations in that upstate city, according to its website.
They come as other federal
and state subsidies for solar
begin to run out. The
LIPA/PSEG Long Island solar rebate, administered by the New
York State Energy Research and
Development Authority, is set to
drop to 20 cents a watt, its lowest amount, in coming weeks,
said Joseph Milillo, vice chairman of the Long Island Solar
Electric Industry Association.
He said the group has been urging state administrators to keep
the rebate at its current 30 cents.
Milillo, who is also the
owner of contractor Long Island Power Solutions in Islandia, noted the growing disparity
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between local electric rates
and the solar rebate here.
“We pay the highest amount
for electricity but get the lowest rebate,” he said. “The disparity is ridiculous.”
At the same time, a 30 percent federal tax credit is also
set to expire at the end of 2016.
“This would be just a massive
mistake,” said Rep. Steve Israel
(D-Huntington). “We’re just
breaking through” to largescale adoption of solar, he said.
Opponents in Congress argue
that the government can’t afford
the credit, but Israel said that if
big oil companies continue to receive $40 billion in subsidies,
the solar industry should continue to receive funding as well.
Assemb. Andrew Raia (RHuntington) argued that state
solar rebates for solar also
should be continued. “With the
price of electricity on Long Island there should be no discussion,” he said.
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A walk in
the park
for public
health
THIS DATE IN HISTORY
BY RIDGELY OCHS
Dozens of people marked National Public Health Week by
walking a mile around Belmont
Lake State Park yesterday.
It was cold and gray, but that
didn’t dampen the resolve of
Nicole Smith, 44, of Freeport.
The stay-at-home mom, who
teaches Zumba classes, said
she’s made exercising and eating
healthy a top family priority.
“We’re trying to start early,”
she said. “We don’t want to get
the diseases in the first place.”
Smith was joined at the
North Babylon park by daughters Jordyn, 14, and Bailee, 8,
son Brian, 10, and a cousin, Preston, 8.
Participating in the event
were acting state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker,
state Parks Commissioner
Rose Harvey, state Sen. Kemp
Hannon (R-Garden City), Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. James L. Tomarken,
BARRY SLOAN
NEWSDAY, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015
newsday.com
[email protected]
Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker speaks with Judy Clarke, a health educator.
Nassau County Health Commissioner Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, Nassau Legis. Rose Marie
Walker (R-Hicksville) and officials from the Long Island
Health Collaborative.
As part of a state mandate,
representatives from Long Island’s 24 hospitals, both county
health departments, academic
centers and community groups
began meeting more than two
years ago to focus on top
health problems. That includes
obesity. In Nassau, nearly 21
percent of adults are obese; in
Suffolk, the rate is about 28 percent, according to the state
health department.
Part of the collaborative’s
plan is to work with doctors to
convince more patients to walk
for their health.
Zucker said it’s the easiest
form of exercise. “All you need
is a comfortable pair of shoes,”
he said.
1790 President George
Washington signed the first
United States Patent Act.
1815 The Mount Tambora
volcano on the Indonesian
island of Sumbawa exploded in one of the largest
eruptions in recorded history, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.
1912 The RMS Titanic set
sail from Southampton,
England, on its ill-fated
maiden voyage.
1925 The novel “The Great
Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age evocation of
empty materialism, shattered illusion and thwarted
romance, was first published
by Scribner’s of New York.
1947 Brooklyn Dodgers
President Branch Rickey
purchased the contract of
Jackie Robinson from the
Montreal Royals.
1963 The fast-attack nuclear submarine USS Thresher
(SSN-593) sank during
deep-diving tests east of
Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
in a disaster that killed 129.
1998 The Northern Ireland
peace talks concluded as
negotiators reached a
landmark settlement to end
30 years of bitter rivalries
and bloody attacks.