Southampton to East Hampton: “Keep up with our energy standards”

President Donald Trump may be eager to roll back national clean energy goals, but local advocates and officials are taking matters into their own hands. East Hampton Town ought to adopt a new set of requirements that would limit large houses to using the same amount of energy as smaller homes, officials from both East Hampton and Southampton urged. The energy sustainability proponents, including Southampton Town’s chief building inspector, are pressing East Hampton Town to enact the Home Energy Ratings System, or HERS, as Southampton did in 2009, 27East reported. HERS would force all houses larger than 4,500-square-foot to utilize energy-saving tools, such as solar panels and geothermal heating. [27East]