Homes and Individuals
View some of Connecticut’s climate heroes.
Make a Climate Action Pledge
Cut Energy Costs and Green Your Home
CT offers many incentives for reducing energy use at home through the CT Energy Efficiency Fund. www.ctsavesenergy.org and 877-WISE-USE provide information on energy efficiency incentives, including federal tax credits for energy efficient home improvements and incentives for efficient new home construction.
Home Energy Solutions is an energy audit and weather sealing program for CL&P and UI customers who heat with electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, or propane. There is currently a $75 co-pay to receive this audit for CL&P customers who heat with electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, or propane; a $75 co-pay for UI customers who heat with electricity; and a $300 co-pay for UI customers who heat with natural gas, fuel oil, or propane. A specialist will come to your home and perform an energy assessment, find and professionally seal critical air leaks, replace incandescent bulbs with compact florescent lamps, provide water conservation devices and more. The audit provides $750 dollars in services to customers and results in average annual household total energy saving of $200-$250 (including electricity and heating energy). View the Home Energy Solutions video and enrollment information or call 1-877-WISE-USE. March 2010 clarification on Home Energy Solutions program.
Rebates for Energy Star clothes washers, refrigerators, freezers, room air conditioners, central AC/Heat pumps, and water heaters. Find out how to get a rebate.
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL) are permanently sales tax exempt in Connecticut. Be sure to follow these guidelines on proper handling and recycling of CFLs. Residents can bring any brand of compact fluorescent lamp, regardless of where it was purchased, to any Connecticut Home Depot for recycling. IKEA stores also accept CFLs for recycling.
Some CT homeowners are eligible for rebates of up to $500 for replacing furnaces with more efficient models. For more info, call the furnace rebate hotline at 1-866-940-4676.
Click here for info on Energy Star retail products and discounted rates and more tips on purchasing and using home electronics most efficiently.
Residential buildings account for 20% of all energy used in the United States and are responsible for 20% of our national greenhouse gas emissions. EPA’s Green Homes program provides excellent information on a broad range of household decisions that impact energy use and your costs, including selecting a location for your home, energy efficient appliances and fixtures, green cleaning products and furnishings, and efficient heating and cooling systems.
The US Green Building Council’s Green Home Guide website provides information, resources, and answers from experts on numerous topics related to greening your home.
Learn about Energy Efficient Mortgages.
Clean Up Your Commute
About 40% of Connecticut’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. Try some cleaner options:
- Bike Everywhere and Bike to Work
- Take the bus, train, or join a vanpool
- Find commuting partners and enjoy commuting incentives through NuRide
- Follow EcoDriving and maintenance tips to reduce your carbon footprint.
- Avoid unnecessary engine idling - If you’re stopped for more than 10 seconds, turn off your engine to save money and keep the air clean.
Drive a Climate Friendly Vehicle
The DriveClean website will help you choose a clean and efficient vehicle. The site ranks cars by smog and greenhouse gas emissions based on the Environmental Performance Label and provides a variety of tools to search and compare vehicles by environmental impact, efficiency, cost and incentives.
The Environmental Performance Label appears on all new vehicles sold in Connecticut. Identical to the California program, the label provides a Smog Score and a Global Warming Score on new vehicles. Based on a scale of 1-10, with 10 representing the cleanest vehicles, the label helps you choose the cleanest option in any vehicle category.
Any passenger car with an EPA rating of at least 40 mpg is sales tax exempt in CT. There are also federal income tax credits of up to $3,400 for hybrid vehicles.
Buy Locally Grown Food
Buy food that is grown locally to support Connecticut’s farmers and reduce food packaging and transportation emissions. You can buy locally grown food at many CT farms and farmers’ markets. There are more than 120 farmers’ markets in Connecticut. Of these almost 30 are authorized to accept SNAP (food stamps).
Find out what’s in season and where to buy locally grown foods in your community at the BuyCTGrown website.
Schools can also buy local produce directly from farmers through the Farm-to-School program.
Recycle
Recycling reuses resources, saves energy, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Learn how you can recycle more, compost and prevent waste.
Support Clean Energy
Customers of CT Light & Power and United Illuminating can choose to support clean energy such as wind and small-scale hydro power through the CTCleanEnergyOptions Program. Choose clean energy and you’ll be taking a big step towards cleaner air and healthier communities.
You can also encourage your town, business, faith community, and others to support 20% clean energy by 2010. Towns participating in CT Clean Energy Communities can earn free solar panels.
Install Clean Energy at Your Home
The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund provides rebates and incentives for residential clean energy installations, including solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, and geothermal heat pumps. In addition, CT residents are eligible for federal tax incentives, sales tax exemptions, and property tax exemptions on clean energy installations.
Reduce Synthetic Fertilizer Use
A portion of nitrogen applied to soils is released as a greenhouse gas. Reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers also improves water quality and soil health. Adopt some tips from organic land care guidelines or use a certified organic land care professional.
Save Water and Save Energy
EPA’s WaterSense program rates products on their efficient use of water (like EnergyStar, but for water use). If you are using hot water efficiently, you are saving both water and energy. See WaterSense products available nationwide.
Raise Money for your School or Organization through CFL Sales
Find out about Shining Solutions, a program that allows you to sell CFLs to your community and raise funds for your school or organization. By participating, you will help raise awareness about the benefits of energy-efficient lighting. This program is supported by the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund.
Share Your Successes, Be Recognized as a Climate Hero
Tell us what you have done to address climate change, submit a nomination for a Climate Change Leadership Award.
Learn from CT’s Climate Heroes
 | Avon Home Powered by WindBernie Zahren has built a green home powered by the wind on Avon Mountain. View CPTV video. |
 | Jonathan GorhamAs Chairman of the Woodbridge Clean Energy Initiative Task Force, Jonathan Gorham has led many innovative efforts to promote clean energy and energy efficiency. Jon encouraged Woodbridge to purchase 25% of its municipal electricity from wind power and to undertake comprehensive energy audits of its buildings. He forged partnerships with the Clean Energy Task Forces of neighboring Bethany and Orange which resulted in the first Regional School District to be recognized as a “Clean Energy Community” under the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s programs. |
 | Bruce HampsonBruce Hampson was honored as a 2010 CT Climate Change Leadership Award winner for his exemplary role in promoting clean energy and energy efficiency in Wilton. Bruce served as Co-Chair of the major renovation of the Wilton High School and spearheaded energy use reductions and “state of the art” building automation. The renovations included a [...] |
 | Bernard BrennanBernard Brennan was honored with a 2010 CT Climate Change Leadership Award for his active leadership of numerous initiatives that strive to respond to climate change by creating resilient re-localized communities. His accomplishments include: Founding member of Transition Greater New Haven, which has become the 30th official transition initiative in the US and the first in [...] |
 | Roger SmithWork statewide. Roger Smith, as coordinator of the CT Climate Coalition and campaign director of CT Clean Water Action, has devoted the past six years to mobilizing citizens, students, and other organizations to support clean energy, energy efficiency and strong public policy to address climate change in Connecticut. At the local level, he has also coordinated the creation of West Hartford’s comprehensive model municipal energy plan. |
 | Heidi GoldenWest Hartford. Heidi Golden is a citizen volunteer and ecologist who, in part, studies climate related issues in the Arctic. Heidi spearheaded efforts in West Hartford to bring the public schools together in an energy conservation competition. The competition resulted in cumulative reductions in one month of 185,000 kilowatt hours and total savings of $31,000 for participating schools. |
 | Green Council at Whitney CenterComprised of seniors from the Whitney Center retirement community, the Green Council has promoted conservation awareness in elderly communities throughout Connecticut. This group of senior citizens created a website at www.grayisgreen.org, which provides information on a wide range of environmental issues including climate change and energy efficiency, and have published a “Handbook on Conservation for Retirement Communities.” |
 | Little People, Big ChangesFounded by two boys when they were eight years old, “Little People Big Changes” have signed up more than 120 homes in Wilton for clean energy and launched a “no idling” campaign to reduce harmful air emissions from cars, trucks and buses. They have also conducted presentations for schools, town officials, and local community groups on clean energy and global warming. |
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