EFFICIENCY REALLY PAYS YOU BACK!

In January 2009, Congress extended solar and alternative energy tax credits to take a bite out of the bill of upgrading your home energy systems.

Since when is solar considered 'alternative'? Isn't the sun our main method of heating the earth? Even primitive adobe housebuilders and cave dwellers knew which way to face their walls for maximum solar gain. I guess like 'modern medicine' many ways of managing our wellness are labeled alternative because somebody can't put it in a bottle or dig a pipeline to transport it and therefore can't actually charge us exorbitant distribution and packaging costs to get it. I was told by the cashier at my healthfood store today if my organic herbal tea was considered a supplement I would be taxed more....really!

The new 'alternative energy' credits mean that our federal government is providing a $2,000 credit paid to the builder on new homes whose space heating and cooling energy consumption is 50% below the annual consumption a standard home. Ask your accountant to research your rebates! Heck one guy I know has an entirely 'alternative' net zero home and it's not the first one he has built so these are not new ideas folks. They are ideas whose time has come when we are looking around at the folly of ripping minerals out of the earth at great expense so we can send ships full of the stuff spilling their way to some refinery so another train or truck can haul it and at the end we get to pay three times what it actually cost to produce. Perhaps the new transparency is finally arriving just in time to start making sense. Like about the time we can't afford our gas bills this winter...that would be a good time. If you are like many of us seeing 50% higher energy costs, this tax credit is the perfect tipping point: Alternative thinkers are no longer the oddballs...they are the ones with real jobs climbing on roofs installing new solar collectors taking advantage of our new found enthusiasm for doing the right thing!

Energy Audits: If you plan to install a photo voltaic energy system, better windows or other green features, you will need a home energy audit to verify the improvements are worth the effort. A HERS Audit is performed (approx $750 cost of which a portion is credited back in your EEM).

The bottom line is that your energy improvements must net dollar savings over time. Lenders appreciate that you will be paying less for energy going up in smoke, literally, and give you some credit toward a higher mortgage payment.

Who Can Help?  Call your local Building Planning Department may refer professionals in the area. Contact your local chapter of American Institute of Architects or Building Designers. Seek out professionals in local building trades groups. City planners, universities and other business networks and sustainability groups may refer members who are experienced in these technologies. There's always Google!

Get a leg up on the spring building boom!  www.buildnet.blogspot.com  Factoid: Most so called 'green loans' are a public relations ploy to get you in the door and the lender doesn't even know about EEM's and may not have a specialist construction department--borrower beware!

 Click this Credit Link to order your tri-merge lender report on our secure site. Credit really matters a great deal to construction lenders. Since so few lenders are doing construction loans now especially anyone who has a clue about alternative energy they are being very strict in their underwriting guidelines. Be prepared to deluge them with information about the financial advantages of your improvements.

And remember: conservation is the power of the future! Loannetter