Tax Incentives for Energy Savings Are Better than Ever

There’s no break yet for installing a low-flush toilet, or planting sod on your roof.

But there’s a new or expanded federal tax incentive this year for just about every other green improvement for your home . . Check out the ULTIMATE GREENOVATION Tax Credit & Rebate Guide for detailed information.

The new law takes off all the dollar caps on the 30% credits you can claim for installing expensive solar, geothermal and wind energy systems in your home.  Which means $7,000 back on a $21,000 system.

. . . The stimulus also offers a $1,500 tax credit for the average Joe who’d like to upgrade his attic insulation, install a storm door or energy-saving windows, or buy a new furnace before energy prices spike again.

During 2009 and 2010, you can claim a 30% credit on the first $5,000 you spend on energy-efficient home improvements. That’s a $1,500 credit–unlike a less valuable deduction, it reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar. READ MORE

From: Forbes

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A brief introduction to geothermal: the next wave of clean and sustainable energy.

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Geothermal / GeoExchange^® heating and cooling uses the relatively constant temperature of the earth to heat and cool homes and businesses with 40% to 70% less energy than conventional systems. While conventional furnaces and boilers burn a fuel to generate heat, geothermal heat pumps use electricity to simply move heat from the earth into buildings, allowing much higher efficiencies. The most efficient fuel-burning heater can reach efficiencies around 95%, but a geothermal heat pump can move up to 4 units of heat for every unit of electricity needed to power the system, resulting in a practical equivalence of over 400% efficiency.

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Everyone is talking about greening their homes, but how do you begin.  Green architects, builders and developers share remodeling tips with Bloomberg on Demand. Making your home more energy and water efficient is the best investment for your home.  Bring green into your home and put green back into your wallet.

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Easy Steps to Saving Hundreds on Your Energy Bills

Part 2 of 3 articles (read Part 1)
Originally published by the Sierra Club Huron Valley Group

Photo of the Grocoffs by Cybelle Codish

Green home renovations are not just a passing phase. According to the USGBC, our homes use 21% of the energy consumed in the U.S., and home energy costs have skyrocketed to an average of $3800 per year. In the near future, all homes will be built green. But, the average age of an American home is now over 30 years. That’s a lot of room for energy efficiency improvements. Every year that energy prices rise, and they certainly will, investments in efficiency get better and better. Greenovations are simply the best way to future-proof your home and make it more comfortable and affordable today.

When renovating our 107-year-old home on Ann Arbor’s historic Old West Side, we divided our process into four parts: 1. Energy (reduction & production) 2. Water efficiency 3. Materials and resources, and 4. Indoor environmental quality. These are not separate categories, but rather integrated parts of the whole which must be considered together. For the biggest bang for the carbon buck, we begin with energy efficiency. Later, in Part 3 of this series, we’ll discuss water, materials and indoor environment.

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How we restored our historic home and reduced our carbon footprint

When we bought our 107 year old home on Ann Arbor’s Historic Old West Side, it was a dream come true: lead paint, zero insulation, a half-century old furnace, asbestos siding, and a gas powered mower in the shed. What more could a couple of treehuggers ask for?

We wanted to buy a historic home, turn it green and prove that, even on our limited budget, we could create a home of unparalleled comfort and design while using less energy and water and fewer natural resources and toxic chemicals. Our efforts have rewarded us (and the planet) with an approximate 50% reduction in energy bills compared to similar sized homes in Michigan. As energy prices rise with global temperatures, our home will increase in value as well.

We always joke that there are three things that set back the environmental movement: the original low flow showerhead, the original low flush toilet, and Jimmy Carter’s sweater (Kelly would add a fourth: silken tofu). These icons perpetuated the myth that living green meant paying more while sacrificing quality, performance and comfort. We wanted to restore our home using Environmentalism 2.0, which means improved quality, performance, efficiency, value, health and comfort.

In upcoming articles, we will share the choices we made when renovating our historic home. We will review the little stuff and the big stuff. We separate our efforts into those which can be done easily and inexpensively (the little stuff) versus those that require larger investments of time and money, but create higher long term savings (the big stuff). Both are important and both go a long way towards reducing your carbon footprint.

It is important to imagine the day when all homes are carbon neutral, but don’t wait for the windmills or affordable solar panels! We developed a plan based on our budget, the historic standards of our neighborhood, and how we wanted our home to look and feel.

We included a large portion of our renovation costs in our mortgage. The first step was deciding how to allocate the money. We prioritized in order of energy consumption, working our way from the worst offenders to the petty criminals. In other words, we started with the big stuff.

The most hardened criminal in most homes is heating, cooling and hot water systems, which account for 58% of home energy use. We chose a hyper-efficient geothermal HVAC system (also called a ground source heat pump or geoexchange), and then moved on to the little stuff like cost effective motion sensor lighting controls and compact fluorescent lights. Remember, the cheapest form of energy is the unused kilowatt.

A green home isn’t only about energy efficiency, but also about health and sustainability. With each decision we made we asked ourselves: 1. can we buy reused instead of new materials? 2. is it durable? 3. can we purchase locally? 4. how can we reduce construction waste? 5. will this harm air or water quality? 6. will this harm us, our guests or our community? 7. how was this product made?

In our modest home, our improvements seem small compared to all we need to do to curb climate change. However, choices we’ve made are being rapidly adopted by others and are often becoming policy. In California, the motion sensors we installed are now mandatory in all new residential construction. Our geothermal system reduces greenhouse gases equivalent to taking two cars off the road! We hope to see Michigan adopting progressive policies and incentives soon.

In a coming article, we will share with you the details of what we’ve done to green our home and what you can do to green yours – easily, affordably and elegantly. It’s inspiring to know that not only can we improve the comfort, efficiency and health of our home, but be part of a collective monumental change.

To schedule a group tour of our Ann Arbor home you can contact us at greenovationtv@gmail.com

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A 30% tax credit for a home geothermal system makes it far and away the most cost-effective ultra-high efficiency heating and cooling system available.

An exciting new tax credit is now available for home and commercial building owners who install geothermal heating and cooling systems through the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 (H.R. 1424). H.R. 1424 offers a one time tax credit of 30% of the total investment  for all residential ground loop or ground water geothermal heat pump installations. A credit of 10% of the total investment is also available for a commercial system installation.

To qualify, the systems must meet or exceed EnergyStar requirements and be installed after December 31, 2007. Owners can file for the credit by completing the Renewable Energy Credits subsection on their tax return forms for 2008. For taxpayers that are subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax, they can claim the credit on their taxes for the following year. No proof of purchase will be required; however, in case of an audit, owners are encouraged to keep a detailed invoice of their purchase on file. The contractor who sold and installed the product should list the purchase as a “Geothermal Heat Pump” on the invoice and that it “Exceeds requirements of Energy Star program currently in effect”.

The tax credit is available from October 3, 2008 through December 31, 2016. For more information, visit http://thomas.loc.gov or contact your local tax professional.

Visit http://www.dsireusa.org/ to find additional tax incentives that may be available in your state.

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photo credit: David Lewinski

By: Jon Zemke, 7/9/2008 from ConcentrateMedia

Matt and Kelly Grocoff picked an ugly ducking of a house when they bought their century-old Old West Side abode two autumns ago. While others saw an old, dilapidated structure –with the buzz words that make homebuyers run: lead and asbestos– the Grocoffs saw an opportunity to do something special at bargain basement rates. They saw history, and they made their own mark on it.

“It’s one of those things where people didn’t see what was beneath the lead paint and asbestos,” Matt Grocoff says. “You have a structure that has lasted 100 years and could easily last another 100 years if it’s maintained.”

Less than two years later the couple has transformed the Folk Victorian-esque home on the western edge of one of Ann Arbor’s most celebrated historic neighborhoods into an eco-dream house.

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Here’s a great article on Matt & Kelly’s geothermal system from MetroMode magazine:

By: Kelli B Kavanaugh, 11/15/2007

Many alternative energy sources have an associated mental image — fields of windmills sprouting like flowers in a field come to mind — but what does your brain conjure up when confronted with the term geothermal?

Even if you know what geothermal is, you might have some trouble picturing it. Which makes sense because geothermal’s magic happens below the earth’s surface. Chances are a home or business you are familiar with already takes advantage of this not-new-at-all technology to heat and cool their premises while spending up to 70% less on their utility bill.

Is your interest piqued? READ MORE . . .

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Geothermal heat pumps are the world’s most efficient heating and cooling systems according to the EPA. Some geothermal systems are 500% more efficient than even the most efficient traditional systems.

Although it sounds futuristic and complicated, geothermal heating and cooling (also called ground source heat pump or geoexchange) has been around for decades and is very simple. Geothermal draws on the stable temperature of the ground, around 50 degrees year round, to provide heat in the winter and to dump heat in the summer. A typical 2000 sq foot home can reduce heating and cooling costs to less than $30/month, even in extremely cold or warm climates!

This video is produced by WaterFurnace, the top manufacturer of geothermal heat pumps. But, it is a great introduction to how these remarkable and affordable systems work. You can learn more about how Geoexchange works at the U.S. DOE website or the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium.

“Even though the installation price of a geothermal system can be several times that of an air-source system of the same heating and cooling capacity, the additional costs are returned to you in energy savings in 5–10 years. System life is estimated at 25 years for the inside components and 50+ years for the ground loop. There are approximately 40,000 geothermal heat pumps installed in the United States each year.” – U.S. Dept. of Energy

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