Federal tax stimulus incentive

[ericjeeper]

This year a new tax rebate is on the books..30% up to 1500 on new replacement window.. But there is a kicker.. The kicker is the numbers on the windows..The U FACTOR has to be .30 or below. The Solar heat gain has to be .30 or lower.
So what the government has done is to force the homeowners in to buying a better window than a typical double pane with lo-e and argon.
Basically unless it is a large picture window the glass package needs to be at least triple pane with lo-e and argon. This makes the 189 dollar guys windows not meet the criteria.
two good pages to research this is.
(broken link removed) and nfrc.org

Also on the books is a tax rebate for biomass heating. corn,pits,firewood also up to 1500. But the way I read it.1500 per household for all upgrades.. so do not expect them to pay 30% of all projects..
This sure beats the 200.00$ cap they had back in 2007

 

[backpack09]

Oil furnaces must have an AFUE of 90%... except they do not list a single one that meets this criteria... EXCELLENT.

 

[mbcijim]

I just read they changed GEOTHERMAL from $2,000 to 30%.

Wow, if that is true! That is huge!

 

[2.beans]

does this apply to alternative energy as well?

 

[mbcijim]

does this apply to alternative energy as well?

I don't know. The deduction for new geothermal was always 30% UP TO $2,000. I have been looking to see if they changed it to eliminate the cap, but haven't seen anything. It was on a bulk email marketing thing I get, but they didn't have any more info other than a title.

Info like this has always taken time to trickle out.

 

[wenger7446]

They did eliminate the cap. Note that you get a tax CREDIT, not a deduction, for a geothermal. Very important difference. The credit comes directly off your tax bill while a deduction only helps to reduce your AGI.

 

[mbcijim]

(broken link removed to http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits)

Confirmation here. And it is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

Am I reading that if I buy an insert with an efficiency of 75% or more I can get 30% back?

 

[wenger7446]

Am I reading that if I buy an insert with an efficiency of 75% or more I can get 30% back?

You get a credit on your tax bill of 30% of the overall price up to $1500.00.

 

[allhandsworking]

I was just pricing Andersens. The low E does not meat the criterea. They must be low E with Sun Smart. Sun smart is a slite tint that keeps summer sun and heat out. The Sun Smart feature ads about ten dollars a window in a 2'/3' window. My problem is that my house is shaded in the summer. In the winter I get lots of heat gain by letting the sun in. So I will lose the winter heat gain if I opt for that feature. Anyone have theary on this?

 

[2.beans]

maybe starting a new thread on the windows and you'll get some good advise.

 

[MaineMike100]

I was just pricing Andersens. The low E does not meat the criterea. They must be low E with Sun Smart. Sun smart is a slite tint that keeps summer sun and heat out. The Sun Smart feature ads about ten dollars a window in a 2'/3' window. My problem is that my house is shaded in the summer. In the winter I get lots of heat gain by letting the sun in. So I will lose the winter heat gain if I opt for that feature. Anyone have theary on this?

I don't have any hard numbers to back it up, but after being in the building materials business for many years the prevailing opinion I've always been told is that "sun glass" from any manufacturer is more harmful than helpful in the northeast. For exactly the reasons you described, lose some solar gain in the winter which we would like to keep, and the savings in the summer is minimal, since it typically cools down at night and the ac doesn't really work hard then. Obviously there is a huge benefit in the south where the ac runs 24/7 for months at a time.

 

[maison09]

Thanks a lot for your sharing ;-)

maison de credit

 

[jebatty]

IMO it's a good idea to push mfr's to a higher level of efficiency and quality to enable their customers to take advantage of tax credits. Why in the world give tax credits to something that could be done better? 20 years ago in Germany I saw windows on my cousin's home that made me wonder why we had such cheap, inefficient, and low quality windows in good ole USA. Maybe the answer lies in the culture of cheap that we now suffer under -- why not a culture of efficiency and quality?

I suspect the U-0.12 windows we put on our house in the early 1990's would qualify for the tax credit standards today. Don't regret for a minute the quality/efficiency we got and have enjoyed the past 15 years.