Cheddar News anchor Shannon LaNier visited Westchester County, New York for a closer look at how some families are saving on energy by installing heat pumps.
Many experts consider electrically-powered heat pumps a green alternative to gas heat. They have both air conditioning and heating functionality and work by pulling air from the outside. They also happen to be relatively quiet.
"How much could someone save on their energy source here? I mean, it's gonna be different for every house, but ultimately, if you have the system sized appropriately and use the correct eligible technology, you can see some good savings based on the efficiency," said Watson Milliston, energy efficiency specialist at Con Edison.
Just don't forget to insulate your homes, he added, otherwise those efficiency gains go to waste.
"You want to weatherize your house and just trap all that heat that you're paying good money to keep," he said.
French police searched the Paris Olympic organizers’ headquarters on Tuesday as part of corruption investigations into contracts linked to the Games, according to prosecutors, the third straight time graft allegations have dogged a Summer Olympics.
Last week, at an ancient burial site in Germany, a 3,000 year-old sword from the middle Bronze Age was uncovered, and it still looks as good as new. Despite being buried for thousands of years, researchers said it was still "gleaming."
Mass shootings and violence across the U.S. killed at least six people this weekend, including a Pennsylvania state trooper, and wounded dozens of people. Multiple people with guns fired shots at a holiday crowd in Missouri and bullets flew among teenagers partying in Illinois.
The unstable conditions triggered thunderstorms that knocked out power from Oklahoma to Mississippi. It's also producing gusty winds in the Southwest that raised wildfire threats in Arizona and New Mexico.
Houston, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Phoenix and Rhode Island were among the hardest-hit metro areas. The Twin Cities saw a 106% increase in evictions filings in March.
