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Here’s the the latest information on tax credits for residential heating and cooling equipment.
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Here is the latest information on tax credits for residential solar water heating and photovoltaic systems.
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Cash for Caulkers update
Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by GMS Editor in Featured, Newsflash, ShowOnLatestPanel
What has been dubbed “Home Star 2.0″ has been introduced to the full Senate on May 27 by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (Jeff Bingman, Chair; Lisa Murkowski, Ranking Member). The version of the bill, S.3434, has bi-partisan support and there are some hopes it will be passed by July 4.
The Home Star Program was launched in March by President Obama to help put American housing construction workers back to work. It has two major tracks providing long and short-term Texas electricity savings; the Silver Star Program and the Gold Star Program.
According to both versions of the legislation, the Silver Star Program will offer rebates, in varying amounts up to $3,000 per home, awarded to participating contractors and vendors, who perform qualifying energy saving improvements. That means if a homeowner hires a contractor, the contractor will float the value of the rebate as a discount to you. They will then be paid by the rebate aggregator.
However, you can do some installations yourself. The press release for the Senate version says consumers can get “between $250 and $1500 in ‘point-of-sale’ rebates” for insulation, air sealing, and — of course — caulk.
The Gold Star Program offers retrofits that rebate up to $8,000 to contractors and vendors for retrofits that achieve home energy savings determined by a comparison of the simulated energy consumption of the home before and after the retrofit. Gold Star rebates to only be offered by contractors accredited by the Building Performance Institute. And it also includes similar language to the House version that defines a “certified workforce” as one where all employees performing installation work are certified by NATE, BPI, LIUNA, or HBI.
