Electrify Ithaca is the city’s ambitious program to transition Ithaca’s homes and buildings towards electric power and away from fossil fuels. Officially initiated in July 2022, Electric Ithaca is one of the ongoing phases of the Ithaca Green New Deal (IGND), the historic resolution, adopted in 2018, that aims to decarbonize Ithaca by 2030 with a focus on social justice and equity. The program is part of the Built Environment component of the IGND, which focuses on decarbonizing buildings where people carry out daily activities, such as homes, places of worship, retail, and more.
The City of Ithaca has partnered with the company BlocPower to coordinate the transition, making electrification more accessible and affordable for Ithaca residents. Many home or building owners who are interested in decarbonization may be discouraged by the high costs associated with these renovations, which is what Electrify Ithaca aims to remedy. The program allows home and building owners access to federal and state subsidies that help alleviate much of the hefty cost of decarbonization, whether that is installing heat pumps, air conditioning, or more.
The benefits of Electrify Ithaca are available to anyone who owns, operates, or occupies a home or building within the City of Ithaca, according to the BlocPower website. The cost of building electrification is then determined by a variety of factors, including household income, property needs, and the specific installations. Building owners who are interested in the program can answer an online questionnaire on the BlocPower website, and then schedule a call with a BlocPower representative to discuss their options.
The Office of Sustainability announced in February 2024 that ten commercial buildings in Ithaca would be fully electrified in the following months. These include one Gimme! Coffee location, the First Baptist Church, and the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Plant Administrative Building, and are the product of a 1.9 million dollar investment into clean energy by the city. Of this number, an impressive 1.4 million dollars consists of subsidies from the government as well as the New York State Electric and Gas company, which have saved building owners the majority of the costs of electrifying their buildings. In the case of Ithaca’s St. James African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the program helped cover seventy-five percent of the costs for replacing natural gas heating with electricity and installing air conditioning.
The city expects that these electrification projects will reduce 680 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. However, the success of Electrify Ithaca requires home and building owners to take the initiative to decarbonize their buildings. In addition, it can take months to electrify a single building, as was the case for the Ithaca Tattoo & Piercing building, whose electrification began in September 2023 and only finished in early February 2024. In an interview with BlocPower representatives, the Ithaca Green New Deal Scorecard (which tracks progress on the IGND) noted that there needs to be concrete goals and timelines from the company for the program to be most effective.
But overall, Ithacans are optimistic about the potential of Electrify Ithaca. In an interview with NPR, John Guttrdige, the owner of Ithaca Tattoo & Piercing, declared that to him, this project means “That my children are going to have a sustainable future on this planet.”