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Just In! for September 19th, 2026
The weekly newsletter of the New York Geothermal Energy Organization (NY-GEO)
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Just In! is NY-GEO's weekly news feed for members. See more information on memberships here. If we send you a complimentary copy and you're not a member of NY-GEO, it means we value your role in the transition to renewable heating, but without a membership, please don't count on getting Just In! weekly. For past issues, check out the Just In! Archive available on the NY-GEO.org website.
Today’s contributors who’ve suggested news items include: Annette McDermott, Bill McKibben, Donovan Gordon, Irene Weiser, Joanne Coons and Michael Hernandez.
| | Oil Heating Customers Will Pay Through the Nose to Stay Warm This Winter - Matthew Zeitlin – Heatmap – “Even the hardiest are shivering at the price of heating oil… Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, told me that the total cost of heating a home exclusively on oil will jump from $1,740 to $2,297 this winter. ‘Families using heating oil will get hit twice — first from gasoline, and then heating oil,’ he said.” Editor's note: This article focuses on Maine, but applies to many New Yorkers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, nearly 16% of homes in New York used heating oil as their primary heat source in 2023. Link. | Compliance High on NYC Emission Rules So Far, With Much Tougher Goals to Come - Samantha Maldonado – The City Reporter - “The vast majority of the buildings required to slash their carbon footprints have done so or taken steps to, according to a report the Department of Buildings submitted to the City Council Monday night… Of the nearly 30,000 buildings required to file reports, about 95% did so, showing how they complied with the law or are taking steps to get there.In a statement, Mayor Zohran Mamdani heralded the law’s implementation as strong so far… Of the more than 10,437 properties in the first group that filed emissions reports to the DOB, about 95% — or 10,000 — are in compliance with the benchmarks. As of Monday, 16 properties that are over the emission limits are in the process of paying about $270,150 in penalties.” Link. | IGSHPA Seeks Data on Geo Installation Costs – The International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) has put out a call for “real world cost data from actual ground-source/geothermal projects. If you have ever quoted, installed, or managed a project, the research team needs details on costs. They have put together a survey that can easily be completed through an online form.” They’ve asked for the data by September 30th and it will be used as part of an analysis of the benefits and costs of geo by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in partnership with Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and National Laboratory of the Rockies. Link. | | |
Dr. Xioabing Liu – leading geothermal researcher at ORNL
New York Expands Energy Discounts to Middle-Class Families - Johan Sheridan – WIVB – “Governor Kathy Hochul announced the expansion of New York's Energy Affordability Program to include middle-class families, potentially benefiting 2.5 million additional households. The initiative aims to cap utility bills at 6% of household income for millions of residents across the state. Additionally, the governor confirmed that energy rebate checks of up to $200 will be distributed to 8.2 million New Yorkers between September 21 and December." Link.
| Trade Wars Hit Global Electrification Shift - Zia Weise and Zack Colman – POLITICO - “Tariffs on everything from EVs to grid components could slow the energy transition.” Link. | PSC: Utility Rate Proposals Will Need to Fulfill Stricter 'Affordability' Metrics in NYS - Tom Eschen - WRGB News Albany - “New York's Public Service Commission moved forward with its implementation of the new… Energy Affordability Index (that) will apply to the evaluation of rate increase proposals by the utility companies, with the State's goal being to keep electric and gas utility expenses below six percent of household income.” Link. | |
PSC Commission Chair Rory Christian being interviewed by WRGB TV on the Energy Affordability Index
Bank of America 7 Pager on Geothermal – This document mainly focuses on geothermal power generation but notes: “Beyond electricity generation, geothermal energy can also be used for district heating and cooling systems, industrial heat and geothermal heat pumps – all of which expand the sector’s potential market beyond utility-scale power. These applications help diversify revenue streams, broaden the customer base and position geothermal as a contributor to both the power transition and the decarbonization of buildings and industrial heat, per BofA Global Research” Link.
| | National Fuel Reviewing Plan to Split – Reuters - “National Fuel Gas Company… said on Thursday (2026 09 17) its board expects to complete by October 15 its review of plans to split into two publicly traded companies - utility and pipeline, and Appalachian upstream and gathering natural gas business… The proposed separation would leave National Fuel as a fully regulated natural gas company serving about 1.1 million customers in Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania, with nearly $5 billion in rate base. The Integrated Upstream and Gathering (IUG) business would become a standalone producer and midstream operator focused on the Marcellus and Utica shale regions. The IUG business would have about 1.2 million net acres in Appalachia, with net natural gas production of about 1.1 billion cubic feet per day.” Link. | Massachusetts Ups Winter Energy Discounts for Homes with Heat Pumps - Sarah Shemkus – Canary Media – “Winter savings are in store for more than 65,000 Massachusetts households as two electric utilities slash their rates for heat pump owners below last year’s already discounted prices. Last winter, Massachusetts became the first state to require major utilities to offer a lower seasonal rate for all the electricity used by households with heat pumps, highly efficient systems that can both heat and cool spaces and are essential to weaning buildings off fossil-fueled furnaces. The reduced rates saved these residents more than $37 million in total. Now, state public utility regulators have approved National Grid’s and Unitil’s proposals for even lower winter prices, to go into effect on Nov. 1.” Link. | The Environment Is on the Ballot In a Hard-Fought New York House Race - Leana Carbone – Inside Climate News - “Democratic nominee Cait Conley will face incumbent Republican Mike Lawler in NY-17, one of the nation’s most closely watched House races. Here’s where the candidates stand on the environmental issues defining the district.” Link. | Alliance Formed to Support Demand Response Capabilities Within the Data Center Sector – Zachary Skidmore – DCD – “Google, Nvidia, and AI orchestration firm Emerald AI have launched the AI Energy Management Alliance (AEMA) to support the development of flexible load capabilities within the AI data center sector… multiple studies have found that reducing net grid withdrawal for less than 100 hours per year can unlock dozens of gigawatts of capacity via compute flexibility, storage, or generation.” Link. | |
From the AEMA website.
Maryland Offering $103M in Grants for Energy Efficiency, Electrification -Joe Burns – Facilities Dive – “The program covers commercial building system retrofits and upgrades. Government and nonprofit buildings can apply for renewable energy and storage projects as well.” Link.
| PSC Adopts Draft Scope for Environmental Reviews for Data Centers and Large Electric Loads – PSC press release – “The Public Service Commission (PSC or Commission) today (2026 09 17) formally issued a positive declaration of potential environmental impacts associated with its review of data center and other large load interconnections (which) is the first procedural step necessary for the development of a draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), and it is accompanied by a Draft Scope of the GEIS that was issued for public comment today.” Link. | |
Members of the NY Public Service Commission
NY Community Investment Framework (CIF) on Data Centers Recommends $1 Million per Megawatt for Host Communities – Empire State Development - “Hosting a data center represents a significant land use and infrastructure commitment. Relative to alternative industrial development, data centers typically generate fewer permanent jobs per megawatt of electric demand. This Framework, pursuant to Governor Hochul’s Executive Order No. 62, establishes a recommended community investment benchmark of $1 million-per-megawatt of utility demand to help host communities share equitably in the long-term economic value created by these projects.” Link. The CIF Template document provides a host of possible investments, including heat pumps as part of a “Resiliency Upgrade $” category
| Is it Time to Rethink the Northeast’s Cap-and-Trade System? - Sarah Shemkus – Canary Media – “The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative isn’t having the same emissions-cutting effect it used to. As power bills rise, some wonder if it is worth continuing.” Link. | | Unplanned Power Plant Outages Fell Sharply During 2025/26 Winter Storms - Ethan Howland - “Improved preparations and interregional power transfers played key roles in avoiding blackouts during bitter cold in early 2026, according to the agency and grid watchdog.” Link. | Why Google Is Helping Homeowners Buy Heat Pumps – Adele Peters – Fast Company – “If you live in a certain part of the Bay Area, Google might help you buy a new heat pump—and could offer you as much as $10,000 to do it. In an innovative new proof-of-concept program, the tech giant is partnering with the utility company PG&E and nonprofit Rewiring America to find a new way to unlock more grid capacity. The first product rolling out in the program is a Carrier heat pump with a battery inside, meaning that it can charge when there’s extra solar power on the grid and then use that energy later when the grid is under strain—for example, on a hot summer day when the heat pump is being used for AC.” Link. | Investment Tax Credit Glut Gives Corporate Buyers More Leverage - Marlene Wilden – Utility Dive – “Clean energy developers can sell their federal tax credits to companies that need them to reduce their tax bills, but developers are now generating credits faster than companies are buying them. That imbalance is giving buyers more bargaining power and putting pressure on sellers to compete for deals... Production tax credits are holding up, with solar and wind credits fetching 92 to 94.5 cents per $1 of credit. Buyers favor these credits over investment tax credits in part because they are easier to evaluate and carry less risk.” Link. | WA High Court Tosses Measure Designed to Block the Move Away from Gas - Jerry Cornfield – Washington State Standard – “The state Supreme Court on Thursday delivered the final blow to a controversial 2024 ballot measure pushed by builders and passed by voters that sought to halt Washington’s shift away from natural gas. In a 6-3 decision, the justices affirmed a lower court ruling, finding Initiative 2066 “unconstitutional in its entirety” because it runs afoul of a provision limiting such citizen initiatives to no more than one subject.” Link. | These State Elections Could Reshape Climate and Energy Policy - Dan Gearino – Inside Climate News - “The prospects for state-level climate and energy legislation could hinge on the outcomes of just a few races.” Link. | Brooklyn Firm to Add Over 600 EV Charging Points to NYC – Catalina Gonella – Gothamist - “New York City officials have selected Brooklyn-based company it’s electric (Lowercase “it’s electric” is the name of the company) to expand the city's curbside electric vehicle charging network to 700 charging points from the current 88, the company announced Tuesday… It’s electric said it will replace the current pilot infrastructure with its own curbside chargers over the next three years. The chargers are designed by the company and manufactured by Boyce Technologies in Queens.” Link. | US Offshore Wind Project Battered by Trump Attacks Installs Final Turbine - Cosmo Sanderson – Recharge – “Last wind turbine installed at Danish renewables giant Orsted’s Revolution Wind project off New England… The 704MW project is powered by 65 Siemens Gamesa 11MW turbines. Offtake is split between Rhode Island (400MW) and Connecticut (304MW)… To say Revolution has endured a rocky road to get to its final turbine installation would be an understatement.” Link. | Editor’s note: Some of the building decarbonization articles we cover focus on air source heat pumps (ASHPs). The ascribed benefits of ASHPs usually also apply to ground source heat pumps (GSHPs), but these two technologies can have significantly different impacts. ASHP efficiency drops during extreme temperatures, increasing peak demand and potentially straining the electric grid. In contrast, GSHPs maintain high efficiency year-round, helping meet climate goals without overloading the grid. NY-GEO continues to advocate for policies that make ultra-efficient GSHPs the default choice in New York. | | |
NY-GEO Conference Highlights
| | All 1,400 Photos from the NY-GEO 2026 Conference in Brooklyn are posted! - See if you can find your picture at this easy to navigate Google Photos link. | | |
Presentation Recordings Are Now Available for All Sessions @ NY-GEO 2026 Brooklyn - We are pleased to announce that the curated content from NY-GEO 2026 Brooklyn is now available on our website. You can access all the NY-GEO 2026 recordings and slide deck materials here.
NY-GEO Conference Archive 2023-2025 Resource Now Available
With the addition of the Brooklyn 2026 program, NY-GEO now offers 141 educational sessions online, spanning 2023 through 2025. This extensive resource is designed to answer your questions and further the progress of GHP and Thermal Technologies. We extend our sincere gratitude to the professionals whose support makes NY-GEO Conferences possible. Find NY-GEO Conference Archive 2023-2025 landing page here.
NY-GEO 2027 Saratoga Springs - Looking ahead, please join us in Saratoga Springs April 26-28. As a valued member of our community, you are receiving the first opportunity to register, exhibit, and sponsor. Begin your preparations now for NY-GEO 2027 Saratoga Springs - Learn more here.
Not a member of NY-GEO? Why Not? Seriously - you should join here.
| Post-Meeting Materials from Recent Clean Heat Meeting for Contractors - From a follow-up email - “For those of you who were able to join us, thank you for attending the NYS Clean Heat Working Group Series for Participating Contractors and Industry Partners on Thursday, September 10. Materials from this meeting are now available on the NYS Clean Heat Contractor Toolkit Webpage in the PC&IP Presentation and Announcement Archive, including a copy of the presentation slides and meeting summary report.” | | "We know from a recent study that every tenth of a degree in temperature rise that we prevent keeps 140 million of our brothers and sisters in habitable zones on this planet. And nothing has changed my basic conviction about the key: we need to keep building huge movements to finally break the political power of the fossil fuel industry and force the emergency conversion to clean energy." —Bill McKibben | Measuring Climate Change: Glacial Melting – NY League of Conservation Voters – “The recent environmental disaster in Nepal and Tibet, triggered by glacial deterioration, reflects a worldwide phenomenon driven by global warming: glacial melt and loss. Glacial melt is the rapid loss of ice from the world’s glaciers due to rising global temperatures, driven primarily by greenhouse gas emissions and ocean warming. When measuring glaciers for climate change impact, size does not matter; melt rate does.” Link. | The Atmosphere Just Set a Water Vapor Record – Andrew Dessler - The Climate Brink - “More water vapor means more rocket fuel for extreme rain — so this record is not good news” Link. | The True Cost of Super El Niño – Brock Yordy – The Driller – “Job sites across the country are facing relentless, unseasonable heat as a supersized El Niño fuels a permanent shift in our operating climate baseline. In this episode, host Brock Yordy examines the escalating strain on our built environment—from sagging high-voltage transmission lines and thermal plant curtailments to older public school classrooms fighting extreme temperatures. Brock details why closed-loop geothermal exchange systems represent non-negotiable infrastructure solutions for stabilizing our electric grid and providing equitable cooling.” Watch here. | This Week’s "Work of Art": | Rising gasoline and diesel prices have cost the average U.S. household more than $760 over the course of the Iran war. Link. | |
Frequent Sources for Just In! briefs:
City & State First Read
POLITICO (Weekly NY & NJ Energy email)
Canary Media
Sunstone Strategies & the National Building Electrification Network
HEATMAP - We don't directly link to HEATMAP articles because they're behind a paywall, but HEATMAP is well worth subscribing to.
Author Bill McKibben's Crucial Years Blog
Renewable Energy World
ACHR News
Inside Climate News
Building Decarbonization Coalition
Renewable Heat Now
NY State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
Just in! is produced each week by NY-GEO board member Bill Nowak. Thanks to fellow NY-GEO board member John Ciovacco of Aztech Geothermal for his weekly proofreading contributions to this publication. We welcome your feedback and suggestions sent to billnowa@gmail.com.
EVENTS:
*Indicates a New Listing
** Indicates Updated Information
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2026 09 22 - Experience Clean Heat - 5:30 pm -7:30 pm - Cedar Lane Arts Center 235 Cedar Lane, Ossining, Westchester County, NY – “Looking to find a weatherization or heat pump partner? Join us for a mixer designed to bring contractors, manufacturers, and industry professionals together. Participate in networking activities and win prizes,, such as a manometer, caulking gun, flaring tool kit, and more” Register here.
2026 10 01 - LiUNA Building Renewables Summit - Turning Stone Resort Casino, Verona, NY – 8:00 am to 5:00 pm ET – “...this event is about embracing the opportunities of renewable energy now. It is being hosted by the Laborers’ International Union of North America, (LIUNA) a powerhouse construction union a half-million strong that builds and maintains a vast array of infrastructure and renewable energy projects in New York State, and across the United States and Canada. The event will offer discussion panels and networking opportunities with high profile attendees who will be speaking alongside key innovators in the space.” Link.
2026 10 13 - Valuing GHP Technologies as Grid Assets - 11:30 am EST - NY-GEO Lunch n Learn - Presented by Kevin Kitz, P.E., KitzWorks LLC. Register here.
2026 11 10 - Projected Design Life of Plastic Piping Used in Geothermal Ground Heat Exchangers - 11:30 am EST - NY-GEO Lunch n Learn - -Piping Updates to CSA/ANSI/IGSHPA C448 Series: 25 presented by: Lance MacNevin, P.Eng., The Plastics Pipe Institute. Register here.
Building Performance + HVAC Conferences Happening in 2026 – Compiled by Britt Heller at Heatspring Magazine
2027 04 26th to 28th - NY-GEO 2027 Saratoga Springs - As a valued member of our community, you are receiving the first opportunity to register, exhibit, and sponsor. Begin your preparations now for NY-GEO 2027 Saratoga Springs - Learn more here.
2027 06 15th to 17th – Ground2Grid Thermal Energy Summit – BNP Media & The Driller – “…The first national event fully dedicated to the lifecycle of Thermal Energy Networks (TENs). Taking place…at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, Ground2Grid will convene a diverse community of industry pioneers, policymakers, engineers, financiers, developers, drillers, and community stakeholders to forge partnerships and accelerate the clean energy transition… Registration opens February 20, 2026.” More information.
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Become a NY-GEO Member - NY-GEO is the driving force in the mass adoption of Ground Source (Geothermal) Heat Pumps for residential, commercial, and utility-scale heating and cooling in New York State. NY-GEO's mission is to grow the geothermal heat pump industry and develop its workforce while educating policymakers building/property developers and residents about the benefits of geothermal heat pumps.
We are a member-funded, non-profit trade organization and we depend on YOUR SUPPORT to expand the use of clean, renewable, geothermal heating and cooling systems for the benefit
of all.
Learn more about the benefits of becoming a NY-GEO member and why your membership is important to advancing GHP, Click here.
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