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Christian Science Monitor reports, “Stimulus plans brings green home improvement tax breaks”

A useful article by G. Jeffrey MacDonald on new energy tax break incentives in the stimulus bill recently appeared in the Christian Science Monitor. Lots of details and insights into how it will work are included in the complete two page article so when you have a moment you might take a full read, but until then here is a little bit of the potential impact.

Incentives encourage homeowners to embrace energy efficiency.

Energy-saving systems for the attic, basement, and in between have effectively gone on sale, courtesy of the United States Congress. …

“This is by far the most the federal government has done in the past several decades” to reward energy-efficiency investments, says Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. “In many cases, this will make the high-efficiency product cheaper than the low-efficiency product. [For consumers], this is pretty lucrative, and I’d be surprised if it gets extended into 2011.”

New incentives increase the size of tax credits for homeowners who buy qualifying products. For instance, those who invest in highly-rated insulation, replacement windows, duct seals, or high-efficiency heating and cooling systems can now receive a tax credit worth 30 percent of the upgrade cost (maximum credit value: $1,500).

Previously, homeowners could get a tax credit worth just 10 percent of an upgrade cost, up to a maximum of $500. Now, taxpayers who spend $800 on an efficient water heater, $1,000 on insulation, and $2,000 on windows could lop $1,140 off their federal tax bill.