VIDEO: Malloy Unveiled New Energy Strategy This Week

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy joined a host of state and local leaders this week to unveil a portion of his Comprehensive Energy Strategy, which the governor believes will put Connecticut on "a clear path toward cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy." 

Malloy visited a buisness that recently converted from heating oil to natural gas and realized a major savings on its monthly fuel bills. Such conversations are a cornerstone of Malloy's new energy strategy. 

Malloy said Connecticut was "underperforming" in terms of the number of residents and businesses with the option of converting to natural gas was only about 30 percent, far behind other states in the area, and that there was the opportunity to save a large number of Connecticut residents and businesses "a lot of money." He said such savings would help expand the Connecticut economy. 

"You want to know what happened to manufacturing in Connecticut?" Malloy said. "With a 30 percent penetration rate, and natural gas not being available to many of our manufacturers unless they moved - they moved. But they moved to states that had natural gas in plentiful supplies and a delivery system that made some relative sense to them." 

Other aspects of Malloy's Comprehensive Energy Strategy include: 

• A series of energy efficiency initiatives to reduce energy costs and lower consumption, including a new website, Energizect.com, that provides a hub for all of the state’s energy efficiency programs and the creation of a new office, the Office of Energy Efficient Businesses, to help small businesses develops strategies to reduce energy consumption. 
• Lowering the use of energy in the transportation sector through alternative fuels and vehicles. 
• And an improved electrical grid and a greater investment in "microgrids," which are smaller scale generation networks that will help vital facilities like hospitals, wastewater treatment plants, and municipal hubs maintain power in the event of large-scale power outages.