get tac redits and rebates for doing the right thing? What could be better? Image source: Mark_WIt's a good time to get energy efficient at home, what with a down economy and efforts by federal, state and local governments, and utilities to decrease our overall energy use and create a new, more secure, job-creating green economy.

Top Five Federal Tax Credits (for improvements made from January 1, 2009 through December 31^st, 2010)

1.      Adding qualifying insulation to an existing home-30% of cost, up to $1,500 for all upgrades other than renewable energy systems.

2.      Energy Star-qualified metal roofs or asphalt roof replacements-30% of cost, up to $1,500 for all upgrades other than renewable energy systems.

3.      Efficient gas, oil, propane, and electric heat pump water heater replacements-30% of cost, up to $1,500 for all upgrades other than renewable energy systems.

4.      Solar water heating systems in new or existing homes-30% of cost.

5.      Photovoltaic (PV) systems in new and existing homes-30% of cost.

The feds are also giving money to the states for appliance rebates and is offering tax credits for certain window and door upgrades for new and existing homes, small wind energy systems, biomass stoves, geothermal heat pumps, fuel cells, efficient cars, and other equipment. For more detailed information about the federal tax credits, go to the California Building Performance Contactors Association.

*Top Five State Rebates (not time limited but rebates usually last until the money for rebates in each category runs out)

1. Adding qualifying insulation to an existing home-PG&E offers $0.15 per square foot in rebates.

2. Qualifying "Cool Roofs" replacement roofs-PG&E offers $0.10 or $0.20 per square foot depending on roof type.

3. Efficient gas and electric storage water heater replacements: PG&E offers $30 rebates.

4. Energy- and water-efficient clothes washers-PG&E offers $35 or $75 rebates depending on efficiency level and East Bay Municipal Utility District offers $125 rebates.

5. Irrigation systems and high-efficiency toilets-East Bay Municipal Utility District offers up to $1,000 rebate for qualifying water saving irrigation hardware and landscape material costs; up to $500 for WaterSmart replacement irrigation timers; and up to $150 for high-efficiency toilets (HET).

*This only lists rebates offered through PG&E and the East Bay Municipal Utility District, since these are the utilities that I know best. But most utilities offer similar rebates. For more detailed information about these and other California rebates for efficiency upgrades and water and energy efficient appliances, see Flex Your Power.

Are you using Twitter or other social media as a way to promote progressive causes like energy efficiency? What do you think about mandatory home energy audits or line drying clothes versus machine drying? Source image: Tina KellerSomebody close to me recently turned 50. Okay, it was me who just turned 50. My how things have changed since 1959! My first experience with computers was as a freshman lining up to hand over my punch cards to the computer operator to be fed into a computer that filled a room. Up until recently I got my news of the world through newspapers and television. For most of my life I stayed in touch with distant family and friends through letters and phone calls. When my brother was in Vietnam during the war we had to call him through short wave radio to tell him that his Corvette got smashed. (He didn't care. He was relieved that we were all okay.)

Now I get my information mostly off the Internet and through Twitter, the social media service that is in the news because of its use by the opposition parties in Iran. Twitter is like snail mail cubed. You send messages from your computer or smart phone that immediately show up on the computers or phones of all your "followers." You get followers generally by following others. It's kind of an unwritten rule that if someone is following you should return the favor. So far I am following about 30 people or groups and have 11 followers. But I just started.

I am following Energy Circle, a new Internet resource that is using social media to report news about home energy efficiency on Twitter. A recent "tweet" connected me to an article by Peggy in Toronto who thinks that mandatory home inspections should be replaced with mandatory energy audits upon the time of sale of a home. Advanced Energy's Research Director Melissa Malkin-Weber, tweeted "Energy saving smugness nixes scratchiness of air dried sheets. But don't ask my kids about how those stiff cloth diapers felt."

I agree with Peggie and Melissa. But what do you think about mandatory home energy audits or line drying clothes versus machine drying? Are you using social media as a way to promote progressive causes like energy efficiency? You can respond below, and your response needn't be limited, like "tweets" are, to 140 characters. Or sign up for a Twitter account and join the conversation at KQED Science!

This 1928 home in Albemarle County, Virginia recently
underwent a renovation through the EarthCraft Virginia
existing homes renovation program. After the renovation,
electricity use dropped by 24% and energy costs dropped
by 42%.

Home Energy Magazine is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a special May/June issue. We're taking the opportunity to look back at the past several decades of energy policy in America, and look ahead to what may come. Here's a sneak preview of some of what we're thinking.

Alan Meier, Senior Executive Editor, and Steve Greenberg, Technical Editor, among others, lived through the first energy crisis precipitated by the Arab oil embargo in 1973 and its aftermath. They remember the sudden interest in energy efficiency and renewable energy; the proliferation of solar water heaters on the roofs of homes that broke down quickly, had no one trained to fix them, and have become rusted monuments to the best of intentions gone wrong; the sudden and short lived gain in the average car’s fuel efficiency. They also recall some major successes: the huge and lasting increase in appliance efficiency, especially refrigerators; the success of the Energy Star program; and California’s progressive Title 24 building standards.

Alan, in a yet-to-be-published editorial, has been musing on what will happen after the billions of dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have been spent on building and retrofitting more efficient and sustainable buildings. Will it be the same three steps forward, two steps back pattern that we’ve seen before? Not so, according to Alan, if we:

Steve came up with some powerful images to stimulate our thinking about the future of energy efficiency:

We've been on a ramp with a rather gradual (and usually upward, with notable exceptions) slope. Suddenly the ramp gets so steep it looks like a wall. If we make it to the new, much higher level, what does the terrain look like? Do we go off a cliff, completing a boom and bust cycle the likes of which we've never seen? Or is there a reasonable ramp down to a sustainable level?

I lived through the lines for gasoline, though I couldn’t yet drive. I've observed the resulting interest in miles per gallon instead of horsepower; the return to a horsepower-mentality; and the recent switch back to a concern about miles per gallon. My family had a great experience with our new-fangled heat pump in the early 70s. My Dad, an engineer and all-around handy man, first got me interested in how houses and cars work during that time. I guess I vote for a steep, but not impossible ramp up in efficiency, followed by a less intense, slow and gradual climb that continues for a long time, with sudden jumps due to new, undreamed of (or only just dreamed of) technology. The pressure will come from high energy prices and people starting to feel the real effects of global warming and unhealthy air. I don't think these things will change anytime soon.