Sustainable Warwick surveys public on energy-savings strategies

Warwick — Last October, Sustainable Warwick launched the 10% Challenge to stimulate energy savings of at least 10 percent. Nine initial supporters — the Town and Village of Warwick; Village of Florida; Village of Greenwood Lake; the Warwick, Florida, and Greenwood Lake school districts; and the Florida and Albert Wisner libraries — signed on with plans for saving energy and publicizing the campaign. Now Sustainable Warwick would like to know what steps individuals, businesses and nonprofits took to save energy since last fall. A brief online survey is now available at sustainablewarwick.org, and paper surveys will be at town and village halls and at the Florida and Albert Wisner public libraries. The survey asks what steps you took, and how much energy you saved (if you know this). Even if you don’t have exact data, Sustainable Warwick would like to know if you are taking steps to reduce energy use. Survey results will be collected through October. Information on saving energy is available at www.sustainablewarwick.org. For information on the Energize Warwick campaign and home energy assessments and retrofits, go to www.warwickvalleyschools.com and click on “Energy and Environment.” Survey excerpt Here’s one of the questions from Sustainable Warwick’s survey I reduced energy by (check as many as apply): * Lowering thermostat in cold weather Raising thermostat on air conditioning Conserving electricity Replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs (compact fluorescents) Replacing appliances with more efficient models Buying a more fuel efficient car Driving fewer miles Improving building insulation and sealing Reducing hot water use Installing a solar hot water heater Installing photoelectric (solar) panels Other The entire survey can be found online at www.sustainablewarwick.org.