Advice provided by: Sarah Gudeman, LEED AP, EIT, Morrissey Engineering, Inc.

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Lauri asks: My husband and I are currently building a passive solar home in Tinicum township, Ottsville, PA. It will be for our family (single residential dwelling). In addition to its being passive solar (No AC heat via use of sun and masonry stove), we plan to have one or two green roofs (where roof is flat) and a couple rain barrels. Do you know of specific tax rebates and or grants . There seems to be a lot out there and I thought your site might assist in weeding through some of it to get to the real opportunities.

Answer: Hi Lauri, a great resource for your search would be to start with the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, http://dsireusa.org. the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) was founded in 1995 and is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), primarily through the Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis (PBA). The site is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. It’s a great resource for someone in your position.

Based on what you’ve told me about your planned improvements, these are my recommendations for which incentives you should pursue.

Pennsylvania Sunshine Solar Rebate Program – This is a state rebate program that provides incentives for Solar Water Heat, Solar Space Heat, and Photovoltaics. You would possibly fit into the Solar Space Heat (Solar Thermal) category, in which the incentive is 25% of installed cost, up to $2,000. It also requires that newly constructed homes that are including solar thermal with the initial construction be Energy Star certified (check out http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_homes.hm_index for more information on Energy Star for Homes) and consumers do NOT submit the application themselves and must choose an installer off of the approved installer list (available at http://www.elibrary.dep.state.pa.us/dsweb/Get/Document-77191/7000-BK-DEP....

Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) - High Performance Buildings Incentive Program - This program offers support for green buildings in the form of loans, grants and loan guarantees (i.e., grants to be used in the event of a financing default). In order to be eligible for incentives, new construction and major renovation projects must achieve the applicable Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification (LEED for Homes in this case) and receive additional LEED credits in certain categories. Funds may be used for the following project costs:

· Acquisition of land and buildings, rights-of-way, and easements necessary for project construction

· Clearing and preparation of land to build an eligible project

· Construction or renovation of a high performance building

· Project planning, design, and modeling work

· Registration and certification of a project with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

· Commissioning and enhanced verification of building performance

Loans are available at a fixed interest rate, 4% as of August 2009, and must be repaid within 10 years. The maximum loan is $100,000 for residential projects and loans may be amortized over a period of up to 25 years. Grants are available for up to 10% of eligible project costs or $500,000. Applicants may request both a grant or a loan, but not for the same project.

Nine Mile Run Rain Barrel Initiative – Even though it doesn’t look like you’re in the watershed (if you were, you’d be eligible for a free rain barrel) this is an interesting local program in your state. http://www.ninemilerun.org/rain-barrel-initiative/

There are several other incentives available from local utility companies, depending on what kind of energy-efficient technologies you include in your home design. I’d advise that you visit DSIRE and do a bit more research on that as well.

Furthermore, many Federal Tax Credits for Consumer Energy Efficiency may be applicable to your project. Visit http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index to see which products qualify.

Good luck in your build!