Bill’s Blog

Ameren has announced a new round of rebates for replacing your existing central air or heat pump system. The new system must be 14 SEER or above and if it replaces a unit that was a 8 SEER or above the rebate will be $110.00, if 8 SEER or below the rebate will be $600.00. If a load calculation is done (should be done on every job) you will receive an additional $120.00 rebate. The rebate for a geothermal system is $600.00.

It adds considerable paperwork for the contractor, which some may not want to do, but it is a reasonable rebate for the homeowner. The installing contractor must be a Ameren program allie and the list can be found on at ActOnEnergy.com or by calling 1-866-838-6918. Of course Henson Robinson Company is a program allie.

A presentation on geothermal will be held at the Earth Awareness Fair at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center in Springfield, IL Saturday May 30 at 12:30 PM. The presentation will be by Richard Hiles of ClimateMaster and a small part by Bill Weedman of Henson Robinson Company. Richard will talk about geothermal and how it operates, Benefits and the Federal Tax Credits. I will talk about some of the local incentives available.

The fair will Saturday May 30 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM featuring exhibitors and presentations with other enertainment for the family.

I just quoted a 4 ton geothermal system in Springfield Illinois $18,899.00. It qualifies for a $600.00 Carrier rebate, a $3,217.29 CWLP rebate and a $5,669.70 IRS tax credit totalling $9,486.99 which is more that 50% of the cost of the installation. It will reduce their energy cost for heating / cooling / and hot water from $230.00 per month to $67.00 per month. With incentives like this it makes it the only type of system to install.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has tax incentives for new energy efficient equipment installed in 2009.

High Efficiency Gas furnaces with an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) at or above 95%. High Efficiency central Air Conditioners with a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) at or above above 16 and  Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) at or above above 13. Also high efficiency heat pump systems with a SEER at or above 15, EER at or above 12.5 and a Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF) at or above 8.5. These systems will qualify for a  tax credit of 30% of the cost with a $1500.00 cap for the credit.

Since this will end in 2009 now is the time to consider replacing your old equipment. This act also has other tax incentive on water heaters, windows and doors, insulation and many other energy saving options. To get more information go to energystar.gov.

A tax incentive for commercial applications of geothermal systems has been passed into law and will stay in effect until 12/31/2016. It is a 10% tax credit for total system cost with no limit to the total credit. It can be used to offset AMT tax, and can be used in more that one year. A 10% grant is available in lieu of tax credit. It can be used in combination of solar and wind taxes and can be combined with energy efficient building deduction.

It also has a 5 year MACR depreciation on the entire system and is eligible for 50% first-years bonus depreciation for 2009.

For a commercial building this can amount to a very large amount of money.

A income tax credit for residential geothermal systems installed through 12/31/2016 has been passed into law that provides a 30% income tax credit for the installation of a geothermal system in your home. With no cap on the credit this can be a substantial amount of money. It can be used to offset AMT tax, can be used in more than one year, can be combined with solar and wind tax credits and can be combined with energy efficiency upgrade credits.

With other rebates and some proposed rebates that I hear about this is the time to consider geothermal.

One job that I recently sold all the incentives amounted to 50% of the installed cost and can make it less expensive that a high end conventional system.