Tuesday, April 7, 2009

IT PAYS TO BE GREEN!

There are many incentives for homeowners to be more earth friendly. One of the biggest motivators is saving money. When it affects our wallets, consumers are more likey to take action. President Obama knows this and has put a program in place to help the consumer save money and conserve energy....

The Obama Administration is dolling out $3.2 billion for energy efficiency and energy conservation projects in states and cities across the U.S., moving that portion of the economic stimulus money a bit closer to your home.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program will fund new and existing programs in states to promote home energy audits, weatherization, energy efficiency upgrades, replacement of outdated appliances and other similar initiatives. The Department of Energy had previously estimated that the average qualifying home could benefit from $6,500 in improvements. Each program differs by state and city, so look to your local agencies or energy.gov/recovery for details. While home improvement initiatives are likely to help individuals most directly, the grants cover a broad array of potential initiatives:

"The funding will support energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements," according to the Department of Energy. "Other activities eligible for use of grant funds include transportation programs that conserve energy, projects to reduce and capture methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, renewable energy installations on government buildings, energy efficient traffic signals and street lights, deployment of Combined Heat and Power and district heating and cooling systems, and others."

- from the Daily Green

Check out some of the specifics on the Engergy Star website. A great resource that even has some of the government forms to download to submit with your taxes for credit.
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits

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