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Uncle Sam Wants Your Window Receipts

09:24 am - January 10, 2008

Photo: Uncle Sam Wants Your Window Receipts

I realize now that I should have alerted readers earlier to the December 31 deadline to earn up to $500 in tax credits for energy-efficiency improvements to your house, like putting in more efficient windows or doors, getting a new furnace or air conditioner, sealing cracks or adding insulation.

My bad. But take heart—Congress may still decide to extend the tax credit to include 2008. The House of Representatives voted to do so in December, but a filibuster stopped the measure in the Senate. However, word from Congressional leadership is that they'll bring it up again.

In the meantime, if you did make home improvements in 2007, pull out those receipts and check out one of the many web sites that detail how to take advantage of the tax credit. Here are two: energystar.gov and energytaxincentives.org

Here's an example of how it works. For several items, including windows, skylights, storm windows, exterior doors and insulation, you can get a tax credit of 10 percent of the cost of the item. There's a $500 income tax credit cap per home and caps on some individual items.

My friend Carla was very excited when I told her all this. She recently renovated her study and bought several windows. Then she got depressed. "They're not Energy-Star rated windows," she said, "so they probably won't qualify." Instead of getting something with double-paned glass and low-E coating, she opted for the more old-fashioned combination of single-pane windows with separate storm windows, in keeping with the rest of her traditional older house.

She needs to check with the window manufacturer or distributor, but she may still be entitled to some tax credits. If the combination of the window and storm window together meets the requirement for efficiency, then the storm windows are eligible. If this works, I expect to earn her undying gratitude or at least a cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso next time I see her.

© The Green Guide, 2008

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Electricity saver + cut radiation
posted by hairgirl74 on 2008-02-03 03:57:48  

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Thanks so much for your time and consideration.

Windows: Is it energy-efficiency vs. aesthetics?
posted by BostonFriend on 2008-02-07 10:01:20  

I am the friend in Boston and Wellfleet mentioned in the blog about windows. And the whole experience has left me disturbed and unhappy about how hard it is to find true-quality, aesthetically pleasing, energy efficient, environmentally sound wood products for houses. I not only put genuine (which is to say non-energy-efficient, single paned) mullioned Brosco windows at the Cape, which is a seasonal cottage, but here in Boston, with old-fashioned glass storms, because I simply can't abide the faux windows with their snap in frames. It seems that almost every renovation and building choice raises these issues. Aside from a few very very high end companies, which almost no one can afford, is the choice now always between energy efficiency and aesthetics? Is there really as little out there which marries both as it seems to me?