August 2010
| Welcome to the e-Newsletter for the Green Monroe community. In this issue: |
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Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency
What is your "Carbon Footprint"?
How to Find Special Offers and Rebates?
Nominate a Monroe County Business to be featured on GreenMonroe.org!
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According to ENERGY STAR: ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerators are required by the U.S. Department of Energy to use 20% less energy than models not labeled with the ENERGY STAR logo. Choose a new qualified model rather than a non-qualified model and cut your energy bills by $165 over the lifetime of your fridge. If you still have a fridge from the 1980s, replace it with an ENERGY STAR qualified model and save over $100 each year on your utility bills. Replace a fridge from the 1970s and save nearly $200 each year! |
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Help RenewMonroe reach as many residents as possible by forwarding this email to your Monroe County neighbors, friends and family - encourage them to sign-up for the RenewMonroe email-newsletter. They only need to input an email address in the Sign-Up form.
Sponsors
Federal Tax Credits for Home Energy Efficiency Improvements
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Federal tax credits are available for the purchase of specific energy-efficient product, such as energy-efficient windows, insulation, doors, roofs, and
heating and cooling equipment in existing homes. Consumers may be able to take advantage of tax credit for 30% of the cost, up to $1,500, for improvements
"placed in service" starting
January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010, in existing home and principal residence. New construction and rentals do not qualify.
Below you will find an overview of the federal tax credits for energy efficiency
To be eligible for the tax credits the following criteria must be met:
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3. $1,500 is the maximum total amount that can be claimed for all products placed in service in 2009 & 2010 for most home improvements, except for geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, solar panels, fuel cells, and small wind energy systems which are not subject to this cap, and are in effect through 2016. 4. Must have a "Manufacturer Certification Statement" to qualify. Ask your contractor or place of purchase for the Manufacturer Certification Statement. 5. For record keeping, save your receipts and the Manufacturer Certification Statement 6. If you are building a new home, you can qualify for the tax credit for geothermal heat pumps, photovoltaic, solar water heaters, small wind energy systems and fuel cells, but NOT the tax credits for windows, doors, insulation, roofs, HVAC, or non-solar water heaters. |
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What is your household's "Carbon Footprint?"
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"Carbon Footprint" for a household is the total greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions attributable to a household's energy consumption. It is often
expressed simply in the amount of carbon dioxide gas emitted after converting all the different energy into a carbon dioxide equivalent unit.
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Why should you care about shrinking Carbon Footprint?
• Save money. Very often shrinking your Carbon Footprint translates to lower utility bills for your household. Learn how to use electricity or natural gas more efficiently is one of the best ways of shrinking Carbon Footprint and save money too!
• Improve your community. Reducing household's greenhouse gas emissions will help to preserve the environment in Monroe County neighborhoods and communities for our family and future generations.
• It is easier than you think. By being aware of your Carbon Footprint you've already taken a big first step. There are many steps you can take to shrink your Carbon Footprint - consider ways to conserve energy, use energy more efficiently, do more recycling, and buy energy from renewable sources, are just few of the ways.
How to Find Special Offers and Rebates from ENERGY STAR Partners?
There are many free helpful tools and guides on GreenMonroe.org. It is the aim of these resources to help Monroe County residents explore energy and cost savings ideas. We will bring one tool or guide in each newsletter to your attention.
ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices. To encourage customers to buy energy efficient products, companies offering ENERGY STAR labeled products and services occasionally sponsor special offers, such as sales tax exemptions or credits, or rebates on qualified products.
GreenMonroe.org has a link to find ENERGY STAR Special Offers and Rebates available to Monroe County residents
and businesses. The link is on the GET INVOLVED page under the
Reduce Through Improving Efficiency section.
Click on the "Find Rebates by Zip code" link will bring up a new webpage looking like the image below. By entering a Monroe County zip code and check the products you are interested in, the webpage will return the special offers available to the Monroe County area. Try it now!
Nominate a Monroe County Business to be featured on GreenMonroe.org!
We are continuing to accept "Green" Monroe County business nominations to be featured on the www.GreenMonroe.org website! The criteria is simple - it just has to be a business with a location in Monroe County.
