I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Certain Energy Efficient Improvements Qualify For Tax Credits

When we moved into our house in 2006, we had a long “wish list” of sorts of things we would like to do in the future to improve the house.  Some were short term, some were long term, and some were more necessary than others.  But we also had a short list of three things we knew we would absolutely have to do to the house in the short term - replace the furnace, replace 5 windows, and replace the refrigerator.  Last spring, the furnace made itself first on the list by breaking down.  We replaced that, which left us with two necessary repairs - the refrigerator (which is somewhere around 26 years old as of this writing, and still going strong but… how long do you bet on a 26 year old refrigerator?) and 5 windows.

The five windows that need to be replaced are in our downstairs, and the only windows remaining that are original to the (41 year old) house.  They are almost floor to ceiling windows, and are in our playroom/office, the most used room in our house.  They create a nice cross breeze as the winter winds whistle through the room, and make that room several degrees colder than the rest of the house.  Because we’ve been focusing on debt elimination, we haven’t done anything about them yet, other than caulk what we can and plastic over what we can.  But we have been slowly saving a small amount each month towards “home improvements”, which the windows fall under.

We had a company come out last week to look at repairing our porch (one of the support posts is rotting and left unchecked, the porch will develop a distinct slump in the not too distant future) and while they were here, we discussed the windows as well.  We’ve had several estimates on the windows already and were adding another to our arsenal.  The salesman made us aware of some tax credits we hadn’t known about, and I wanted to share them with you.  I knew that in 2007 there were tax credits for making energy-efficient improvements to your home, but just our luck, we replaced the furnace in 2008, when there were no tax credits.  In 2009 and 2010, as part of the new stimulus package, several new credits are now available:

Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency includes:

Tax credits are available at 30% of the cost, up to $1,500, in 2009 & 2010 (for existing homes only) for:

•   Windows and Doors
•   Insulation
•   Roofs (Metal and Asphalt)
•   HVAC
•   Water Heaters (non-solar)
•   Biomass Stoves

Tax credits are available at 30% of the cost, with no upper limit through 2016 (for existing homes & new construction) for:

•   Geothermal Heat Pumps
•   Solar Panels
•   Solar Water Heaters
•   Small Wind Energy Systems
•   Fuel Cells

This list is from the ENERGY STAR page, and it is important to note that for windows and doors, it is the cost of the materials, not the labor, that the tax credit is available on.  But it gives us food for thought as we’re looking at making this improvement at some point in the future to our home - that if we act in 2009 or 2010, we’ll get a rebate back as well (as long as we select windows that are certified to the correct standard by the manufacturer).  And hey - no more single pane wood windows that let wind whistle through our downstairs… that’d be a bonus!

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