In another two weeks, it’s going to be easier, and a fair bit cheaper, to save electricity and take a little off your utility bill.

On April 19, the Governor’s Energy Office is launching a new set of rebates on energy-efficient appliances and energy-saving home improvements. It will also launch a new Web site with energy efficiency and rebate information.

“It’s a one-stop shop where people can get all of the information they need,” said Tom Plant, executive directorof the Governor’s Energy Office, who was in Colorado Springs on Monday promoting the new program.

The $18 million program, dubbed Recharge Colorado, is being paid for from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Earlier ARRA funds were aimed at immediate needs, Plant said, whereas the rebates are designed to give the economy a boost as things begin to turn around.

The rebates include energy-efficient appliances such as clothes washers ($75 rebate), dishwashers ($50) and tankless water heaters ($300), plus services like home energy audits (up to $100) and home solar and wind power systems (up to 30 percent of the system cost). The GEO plans to award about 75,000 rebates in all.

The rebate on washing machines is likely to be the hot item, said Colorado Springs Utilities spokesman Gabriel Romero, because the Recharge Colorado $75 rebate can be matched with another $75 from Utilities.

On April 19, the Governor’s Energy Office will begin offering rebates on energy-efficient appliances and energy-efficiency improvements. Here’s a sample of the rebates that will be available:

Clothes washer — $75
Dishwasher — $50
Refrigerators — Up to $100
Furnaces — $500
Hot water heaters — $200-$300
Insulation and air sealing — Up to $400
Duct sealing — Up to $75
Whole house energy audit — Up to $100

For more information, go to colorado.gov/energy. A new Web site and a call center will be available on April 19. Once the program launches, consumers need to reserve a rebate before they buy the product or service. The rebates are not retroactive.

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Fall is the time when most homeowners begin to think about how well their home will shelter them from winter’s blast and how much it’s going to cost to stay warm.

The Department of Energy estimates only 20 percent of homes built before 1980 have adequate insulation. Even homes constructed 10 years ago may only have the minimum required by code. And, no matter how well a home’s insulation performs, air can still escape through cracks around windows, gaps under exterior doors or entry points for utility wires and pipes. Leaks can account for as much as 30 percent of a home’s annual heating cost.

The optimal way to find chinks in your home’s armor is with an energy audit and blower door test. Generally they cost around $300, though the amount can vary depending on the size of the home, region of the country and complexity of the report. Testers are certified; many also offer good suggestions for solutions and will even do the work.

As an alternative to an energy audit, the Department of Energy suggests a visual inspection of the exterior. Their site, energysavers.gov, also has instructions to check for leaks on the interior. Additionally, some local utilities offer free visual inspections.

Small cracks and crevices around doors and windows should be caulked or filled with a foam sealant specifically formulated for that job ($3 to $5 a can). Just these small steps could result in a 15 percent savings on heating and cooling costs according to Lowe’s.

Leaky windows can also be tightened up with self adhesive weather stripping between the sashes. There is also a product that can be applied to the spaces in the frame where windows slide up and down, officially called the V Channels.

An energy audit will identify the type and R-value of insulation in various parts of the home. Checking this out on your own isn’t too difficult especially if the attic is unfinished. ”If you can see the joists then it’s certain you don’t have enough insulation. Even if you can see the joists, it best to measure to see how much you have,” says Karel Czanderna, group president of Owens Corning Building Materials. The Department of Energy also offers detailed instructions on how to determine the R-value of existing insulation and the R-values required indifferent states.

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This time of year, many homeowners are thinking about making energy-efficient home improvements to help them save money on their energy bills. But you may not realize that you also can qualify for state and federal tax credits, along with rebates from your utility company, for some of these home improvements.

However, finding out what you need to do to qualify can be time-consuming. That’s why I am going to help you wade through the maze of tax credits and rebates so you can get all the credit you deserve when making home improvements this fall.

“A tax credit is actually better for a taxpayer than a tax reduction because it reduces your tax bill on a dollar-for-dollar basis for the amount of the credit, whereas a deduction only reduces the amount of income taxed,” says Jonathan Goldberg, an attorney and CPA at Bloom Asset Management in Farmington Hills. “But for most energy-efficient home improvement products, homeowners can only get a maximum credit of up to 30 percent of the qualifying expenditures, with an overall $1,500 limit over the two-year period of 2009 and 2010.”

Products that are eligible for a tax credit of up to $1,500 maximum include windows and doors, insulation, roofs, furnaces, boilers, central air conditioners, air-source heat pumps, nonsolar water heaters and biomass stoves. The home must be your principal residence and these credits are not available for new construction.

In addition to the cost of the products, installation costs are also covered for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, biomass stoves, water heaters, solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, wind energy systems and fuel cells. Installation is not covered for windows, doors, insulation or roofs.

But remember, the tax credits are designed to improve energy efficiency, so the products must meet certain energy efficiency guidelines. For example, exterior windows installed before June 1, 2009 must meet Energy Star criteria, but if they are installed after June 1, 2009, they must have a U-factor of equal to or less than 0.30. A natural gas furnace must have an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) rating of equal to or more than 95.

Obviously, the cost for most products with a higher energy efficiency rating usually is higher than a less efficient product, so homeowners will have to determine if the added cost is worth it.

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SALEM — How would you like to be able to add insulation that keeps your house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter — and then pay for it with the money you could end up saving on your utility bill over the next 20 years?

It may sound too good to be true, but it’s just what new state legislation promises to deliver.
An Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Technology law will provide $15 million in loans in the next 2 years

The new Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Technology bill, signed into law in Eugene by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, will provide $15 million in loans over the next two years to Oregon homeowners. Unlike conventional home improvement loans, the money can be repaid with utility bills.

The bill’s authors, including Rep. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, say they fully expect that the reduced energy usage — and lower utility bills — will provide consumers with enough savings to pay back the loans.

Edwards was part of a bipartisan group of House members who came up with the bill and worked it through the 2009 session. It is now awaiting Oregon Department of Energy rule-making so it can be tested in a few areas.

Under the EEAST program, applicants can get loans up to $40,000, although architect and state Rep. Jules Bailey, D-Portland, said most loans will most likely be for $7,000 or less.

With interest rates of 1 percent or 2 percent, the principal and interest would add $20 to $30 to most monthly utility bills over 15 to 30 years, he said.

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