| Recycle This House: Week 11 - How to Go Green When You Have Limited Green$$ | | Print | |
| Written by Liz Toles |
| Monday, 27 April 2009 20:54 |
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Well, here we are 11 weeks in and it's become very clear to me that greening your home to the max is and expensive process. Switching out your light bulbs to CFL's? Expect to pay around 30% more per bulb for energy efficiency (and you may even rethink this one after reading Week 10 of Recycle This House). Looking to upgrade your windows? Could cost you up to 15% more for a low-E than a clear glass window of the same size. Want to install a geothermal heating/cooling system? Hope you've got an extra $25,000 - $30,000 kicking around! The research is extensive on how many of these upgrades and retrofits will save the environment and how they will save you money over time. But are the upfront costs of going green stopping many well intentioned homeowners in their tracks? Well, they have definitely made this girl think twice! But what many homeowners may not know is that help is available. I have prepared a list of resources that may help you save some green while you go green: 1. Get a tax break of up to $1350 on your green renovations with the Home Renovation Tax Credit.2. Search available grants with the ecoENERGY Retrofit program. 3. Search your area to see if there are other Provincial or Municipal Rebates available. 4. Start smaller and find thousands of inexpensive ideas at One Million Acts of Green. 5. If you are a group or business looking for funding to go green, you can search the Environment Canada's EcoAction database to find available grants in your area. To see what I'm doing when I'm not on my green crusade, visit me at Lethbridge Real Estate >Click Here to View Articles Written by Liz
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