There are a lot of benefits to living in a green home, including reduced health risks, the knowledge that you’re making a difference for the environment, and reduced energy bills. However, you may not know that there are federal, state, and local incentives available to assist you with making your home green.
Some of the private and government incentives for building green include tax breaks, rebates, and more – just for adding ecologically friendly elements into your life. The federal government offers 30% tax credit if you install a geothermal heat pump, solar panels, solar water heater, and wind turbines to your home. These incentives are available to all tax payers until 12/31/2010. The federal government also offers a 30% or $1500 tax credit if you install insulation, windows, doors, etc. These incentives can help you get more ambitious green building projects off the ground.
The EPA has a number of link for sources of funding available to green builders, at state and local levels as well as nationally. These incentives are available to homeowners, but also to people in industry or government organizations and non profit organizations. It’s possible to get tax credits, grants, loans and more for specific projects.
Local incentives can be found by contacting local authorities or checking out dsireusa.org. The DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency) can be used to find incentives at the federal, state, and local levels. DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Established in 1995, DSIRE is an ongoing project of the NC Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
You can find information about federal tax credits that can be earned just for using energy efficient appliances and other products, too. The Energy Star site, operated by the US government, tells home builders and consumers what they can get for switching to a better product. That means you’ll not only save on your energy bill – you’ll get a tax break, too.
There are lots of options out there for people interested in building green. Government incentives, as well as benefits on the state and local level, make it easier to change your life to one that’s better for the environment. Take a look at all your options and find out what you’ve been missing.
Lean Towards Green,
Lynne
Hi Lynne, it is always nice to hear how things are done in other countries. I’m not sure we are so far advanced in this country with monetary incentives! They are building an eco house across the road from us so we are really looking forward to seeing it when it is finished.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
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Hi Mandy,
Jay here. The incentives towards the worker bees of the US are pretty recent. I think the economy deove this. Incentives for growing “Green” companies has been going on for several years.
Lynne is now published as an expert author on ezine. I left a short blog right below this one. Check it out!
We have installed a solar water heater at home and it is also as good as conventional water heaters.`..
Hi Sofia,
My wife and I have decided that for a hot water heater we will use a tankless water heater. This way we have not constant heating and we can employ the space for solar power to offset the power grid. We are also looking into a space on our property for a wind turbine. Everything we are employing fits into the government incentive programs. The way I see it, the more self relient I become the better. Maybe I can even get paid for power I do not use and feed back into the grid.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Jay
solar water heater is a great alternative to conventional electric heaters which costs much:”"
solar water heaters are great for reducing electricity bills and you also help the environment-~`
the good thing about solar water heaters is that they can help you conserve energy ~:”