11 companies get $1.9M for energy efficiency work

ALBANY — New York state is giving $1.9 million in grants to 11 companies to develop technologies that make buildings more energy efficient.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the grant winners May 8. They include companies working on new battery technology, energy saving building materials, and a lighting system that could help sterilize hospitals. The companies are based around the state.

The funding is part of an initiative to award $25 million in energy efficiency grants through 2015.

Cuomo says the funds are designed to encourage innovative technology that can reduce the energy needs of commercial and residential buildings.

In the Hudson Valley, Integral Building and Design in New Paltz will get $188,000 for building projects involving DER, which retrofits old, uninsulated homes to make them more energy efficient. Vertex Companies of Kingston will get $100,000 to develop a chemical tracer tool used to trace air movement in buildings.