The US Department of Energy is offering some nice grants to help homeowners in Boston install heating and cooling equipment, and other energy- or utility-saving devices in their current home. Some of these incentives expire in 2010, while others extend as far into the future as 2016. These grants will help reduce the cost of more expensive heating and cooling renovations, and increase the time in which homeowners have to plan their upgrades.
If you’re considering building a new home, or completely replacing your home heating system, the Department of Energy (DOE) is offering a credit of 30% of the cost, up to $1,500, on central air conditioning, electric heat pumps, high-efficiency furnaces and boilers that run on natural gas or propane, and advanced main air circulating fans for furnaces. Each of these systems must meet certain efficiency guidelines as spelled out in the program rules. This credit is available only through 2010 and applies only to improvements made on your primary residence. For more information about this program, please consult the DOE Web site.
The DOE program will also provide a rebate of up to $1,500 on biomass stoves used for home heating. A biomass stove provides heat by burning agricultural crops, trees, wood, wood pellets, plants, grasses, plant residues and fibers. Most often, these stoves are seen in rural areas. For more information about this credit, please see the DOE Web site.
The DOE is offering a credit of up to $1,500 on high-efficiency water heaters. Most tank-storage water heaters won’t qualify for this credit, but if you plan to install a tankless water heater system, your system may qualify. Before you make plans to use this credit, you should know that electric tankless water heaters will not qualify for this credit because they do not provide significant enough energy savings. In addition, electric tankless water heaters are about as efficient as they’re ever going to get. Without room for improvement, the energy savings offered by electric tankless water heaters do not meet the program’s energy efficiency goals.
In my next post, I’ll discuss additional DOE incentives that can help homeowners in Boston install heating and cooling equipment and other energy saving devices.
Categories:
DIY Air Conditioning, DIY Blog, DIY Heating
