By Andy Armstrong, Johnson Controls
$87 billion for Medicaid bills. $27 billion for highways and bridges. $8 billion for public transit. As the late Everett Dirksen famously said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”
As in $787 billion dollars in real money. That’s the price tag on the stimulus spending bill just approved by the Congress and signed into law by President Obama. Regardless of where you stand on whether or not it will actually get our economy off the ropes and back into the fight, you’ve got to admit: the numbers are just staggering.
And if you’ve been wondering what’s in it for individual Americans like you, don’t think you’re the only one – I’ve been wondering, too. The good news is there’s actually a lot. Billions and billions and billions in tax cuts, unemployment benefits and housing vouchers.
Of course, not all of us qualify for a big chunk of that spending – the parts that are targeted to assist lower income people. Here, however, is one that nearly everyone can take advantage of: $2 billion for energy efficiency improvements to our homes. No income requirements. It’s open to anyone.
Here’s the deal: the government will give you a tax credit for 30 percent of the cost to install energy efficiency upgrades to your home, up to a total of $1,500 in tax credits. That triples the amount of tax credits previously available. If you did happen to take advantage of the earlier program, the meter has been reset to zero, so you can now earn another full $1,500 tax credit. This is a two-year program, so the offer is good for any improvements made through the end of 2010.
So what kinds of improvements qualify? Almost anything that ups the energy efficiency of your home, like new windows or more insulation. But you’ll probably get the biggest bang for your buck by replacing an older furnace, air conditioner or heat pump.
Furnaces with an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (or AFUE) rating of at least 95% qualify. So do air conditioners with a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (or SEER) rating of at least 16, and heat pumps with at least a 15 SEER rating.
If you’d like to see some examples, our York Affinity modulating furnaces are the most comfortable and efficient in the industry, with an AFUE rating of 98% efficient. Our Affinity series air conditioners have SEER ratings as high as 18, as do our Affinity heat pumps.
The first step is to figure out which improvements will help you save the most energy and money, and there are a number of ways you can do that:
Here’s something else to think about: on top of these tax credits, additional rebates may be available from the manufacturer of the new equipment you buy. For example, York is offering a rebate of up to $1,700. Depending on where you live, your state or local government may also help out. Click here to determine which financial incentives are available in your state. And your utility company may offer even more rebates.
The bottom line is this: add up the tax credits, rebates and the money you’ll be saving on your utility bills, and you could end up paying back the cost of a new furnace in as little as two years.
So what are you waiting for?
