Save Water and Money at Home
We’re all in this together. Using water efficiently is a responsibility that comes along with the benefits of living in our beautiful Mediterranean climate – and it also helps control your water costs! As residents, we can all improve how we use and conserve this valuable natural resource in and around our homes.
Read more and check out the on-line water calculator: http://www.watersmartsd.org/
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Q: We can reduce our electricity bill by about $120 a month by installing solar panels on our home. The problem is that we would need to take out a home equity line of credit to pay for them. If we use the $120 a month to pay it off, we would pay off the loan in about 10 years. The warranty on the solar panels is 35 years. Given that electricity costs will only go up, is this a wise investment?
Will solar panels add value to your home? Contact the Real Estate Appraisers at www.scappraisals.com ; they are the only certified solar appraisal experts in Southern California.
A: You’ll have to judge for yourself. From what you’ve told us, there’s a fairly steep opportunity cost on your cash: You’ll have no savings on your investment for the next 10 years.
We wonder if you’ll incur any costs associated with the solar panels during that time that are not covered by warranty. If you expect any, you need to factor those expenses into your computations.
On the other side of the ledger, you may qualify for rebates or tax incentives on the installation of the panels. If so, you might find that the payback period is much shorter than the ten years you describe in your question.
According to the IRS.gov website, the Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit will give individual taxpayers a credit of 30 percent to help pay for qualified residential alternative energy equipment. Solar electricity equipment is included in this tax credit. If you have qualified costs of $10,000, you should expect to see a reduction in the federal income taxes you owe of $3,000. And if you don’t owe any taxes, you should expect your tax refund to increase by $3,000.
read more at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/sns-201403141930–tms–realestmctnig-a20140320-20140320,0,7608050.column
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Posted in energy savings
Q. I’ve just had an energy audit of my suburban home and plan to make substantial improvements based on the results. I wonder why, when we buy a home, we test for radon, inspect for termites, and get home inspections, but never test for energy usage or comfort. Why aren’t energy audits done during the buying and selling process, since horror stories abound about brand-new homes with frozen pipes?
Metuchen, N.J.
A. Well, there are horror stories and then there are horror stories. If the house you are about to buy has a chimney that is shot, a foundation that is cracked or electrical wiring prone to a fire, you need to know these things. But if the house is chilly in the winter and leaks air like a sieve, that information, although unfortunate, probably won’t kill the sale.
“You should be concerned with the defects,” said Robert Tirado, owner of Villa Home Inspections, which inspects homes in New York and New Jersey. “The major things, like is the roof leaking? Are there electrical violations? Those things can kill you.”
An energy audit can reveal many things. It can tell you if the boiler is inefficient, if the house is drafty or if the insulation is poor, but it cannot tell you if the pipes in the walls are at risk of freezing, said Scott T. Fischer, a managing member of Ciel Power, which specializes in home energy assessments. (An inspector, however, might be able to point out construction defects that can lead to frozen pipes.)
read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/realestate/buying-an-energy-hog.html?ref=realestate&_r=0
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Posted in energy savings
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