Stimulus Bill offers huge tax incentives to "go green"

October 15, 2009

The federal government will give you back 30 cents for every dollar you spend on residential solar and geothermal installations and 10 cents on the same installations for your business through 2016. These are “installed” costs, which means, for example, on a geothermal heat pump purchase the cost of the well or loop system can be included; a system which initially costs $30,000 to install will ultimately cost $21,000 after a $9,000 tax credit. With operating efficiencies three to five times better than fossil fuels (oil or gas), the paybacks for a geothermal installation are accelerated to just a few years.