While New York state and various counties explore ways to help residents pay their heating costs this winter, the Town of Plattsburgh is planning a session to show people how to cut those costs.

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This is a terrific idea, and it ought to generate a mountain of interest: It's being called an alternative heating and energy fair. It's scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Plattsburgh Town Hall, 151 Banker Road west of the city. If you worry about how you're going to heat your home and avoid financial disaster this winter, you must attend and hear what the experts have to say.

Here's a partial list of the subjects to be discussed or displayed at the fair: chain saws, log splitters, wood stoves, insulating equipment, pellet stoves, outdoor boilers, indoor wood and coil units, bio bricks, electric boilers, solar energy and systems, chimney pipes, infrared heating systems, natural gas, geo-thermal systems, masonry heaters, windows, LED recession lights, furnaces, computer controls for furnaces, energy-saving add-ons, energy audits, infrared thermal imaging, all kinds of electrical heating systems and devices, furnace cleaning and home-equity, fuel-interest and other loans.

It would be hard to imagine any questions about heating, saving money or otherwise getting through a grim winter that couldn't be answered at this fair.

The town deserves credit for conceiving the event. It is a creative initiative in the interests of its residents. Three general categories of information are available: how to thriftily heat your home, ensuring safety, and programs available to help.

While you don't have to be a town resident to attend, town residents may qualify for a share of a town grant from the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal to pay contractors to button up income-eligible housing units.

Governments around the state -- including the state itself -- have debated cutting taxes on fuel to help homeowners manage $4.50-a-gallon oil. Projections have suggested that the price could rise to $6 a gallon by the end of the winter. This is a worthy attempt by governments, but what it does is deprive the treasury of revenue and not truly solve anything. It is more of a compensation than a cure.

This alternative heating and energy fair will actually put homeowners on the right path toward true savings of energy and money now and into the future. If the cost of fuel comes down, the savings will still be in place.

If area residents are serious about the crisis that looms, and we certainly believe they are, this fair will be extremely well attended. Those who do attend will be rewarded for years to come.