STONE RIDGE – While the most visible and successful initiative to come out of the Transition Towns movement in Marbletown is the Rondout Valley Holistic Health Community, the movement's members are by no means sitting on their laurels. They speak of many irons still in the fire, with hopes that they will also be stoking new projects enough to allow them to become self-sustaining entities.

One of these nascent ideas is the Mid-Hudson Fuel Buying Coop.

A fuel coop is, simply put, a way for participants to negotiate better prices by guaranteeing companies a larger volume of business. But as Fay Loomis, one of the organizers of the effort has discovered, that's where the simplicity ends.

"We are asking a lot of questions," Loomis said of the people who may be interested in buying fuel in this manner and of the companies who might sell it. "We are told that the number of people we have will make a difference, but it's hard to get specifics."

The coop is now gearing up to look at prices for next year's heating season, which Loomis says can be a tough sell. "A lot of people are still paying for oil from this winter and we're asking them to think about next year already."

To get prices locked in with some oil companies, however, they will need to seal the deal by May.

While the group is looking at kerosene and propane as well, heating oil is the prime focus at the moment. Loomis said that the company with which they worked out a deal for this past winter is hoping to get not only a commitment, but prepayment as well in order to lock in a lower rate for coop members.

"We're trying to find out if the price we get is unique, or if other companies will match it," she added.

Then there's the question of service contracts.

"We've been told by one oil company that they don't make money on the contracts, and simply provide them as a service to their customers," Loomis said. As part of her research, "I bought the most expensive service contract they had, and when the kick heater in my kitchen started making noises, I asked if it was covered. They said it probably wasn't and that it would cost $115 to come look at it. I found a plumbing and heating company that charged only $49 to service it." Perhaps not surprisingly, "My colleagues aren't so interested in getting involved in that."

On the customer side, a survey about fuel-use habits and costs was sent to people on the Transition email list.

"We didn't get a lot of participation, but we did learn a lot," Loomis explained. "One thing some people told us is that they are very satisfied with their company and it would have to be a significant savings for them to switch."

And cost may not be the only consideration, either. Loomis said that she's been told by some in the industry that low prices could come from lower-quality oil.

"Can we get a guarantee about the quality of oil that is provided?" she asked. "At this point, we just don't know."

In typical Transition manner, simply saving money is the starting point, but it's by no means the end goal.

"In our area, fuel is huge portion of the household budget," Loomis said. "We want to work on helping with those costs, but we also want people to think about energy conservation and alternative energy as well, because we need both of those."

Right now, the Transition fuel coop organizers are compiling data from their fuel survey and what they've gathered from various energy companies, but in a couple of weeks they will again ramp up the efforts to find people who are interested in participating. But with just three people heading up the initiative, "We need more people to help work on this," Loomis said.

Transition Marbletown has other projects, as well, including the Common Ground festival, which is seeking a coordinator for the third iteration of the event; that coordinator will be supported by a Guiding Council, which is already in place.

Also in its third year is the Signs of Sustainability Awards, which are presently accepting nominations.

The regional Transition movement is also supporting the roll-out of the Hudson Valley Current, a complementary currency which is being demonstrated throughout the region and actively beta-tested by some two score businesses.

Also, the Marbletown Grain Project has entered conversation with a local farmer in Kerhonkson, with the equipment and interest in growing grains," according to the group's web site.

Information on these projects and more is available online at transitionmarbletown.org.