A Secret We Should Know: Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds

This blog is a departure from disability issues, but heat and power to our homes is important to EVERYONE on a fixed income, and should matter to those who can afford to pay their utility bills also. As a Raging Granny song says:

GOT GAS? Tune: "Marine Corps Hymn"

From the pristine Arctic wilderness, To the blue Arabian Seas,
We will trash the earth to pump the oil, Just to fuel our SUV's.
We can get ten miles per gallon When we keep our engines clean.
Since we addicts always need more oil, We’ll just call out the Marines.

We will pave the way for Texaco, For BP and Chevron, too
And for Exxon, Shell and Conoco But the cost is paid by you.
Now, some foreigners will lose their land
And their lives when we invade.
But we’ll get our gas to run our cars
And it's blood for oil we'll trade.

Most of the evils we commit as a modern nation are interlaced…

I was amused to see a conservative wanna be pundit on Utube yakking on about the evils of Obama’s spending while driving his monster SUV.

I have commented before on energy issues, and I think that alternative renewable sources of energy are just plain critical to our health and well-being. Like decent affordable health care, alternative energy is a must have for our survival, and the most obvious way to revive our economy. Maybe even our technological leadership, where I perceive we are lagging. Whatever happened to good old American ingenuity??? I’m convinced we still have it but have just been supporting all the old greedy pathways, like war and big pharma, instead of reallocating our resources to wiser uses. It’s high time to move on!

I first heard about this tiny couple of articles in the Recovery Act when I attended an Energy Town Hall at CNM last spring: After some conferencing and located the entire text of the bill, I was able to locate the relevant legislation, page 208 of the Recovery Act: The summary appears below:

PART II—INCREASED ALLOCATIONS OF NEW CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY BONDS AND QUALIFIED ENERGY CONSERVATION BONDS
Sec. 1111. Increased limitation on issuance of new clean renewable energy bonds.
Sec. 1112. Increased limitation on issuance of qualified energy conservation bonds.

PART III—ENERGY CONSERVATION INCENTIVES
Sec. 1121. Extension and modification of credit for nonbusiness energy property.
Sec. 1122. Modification of credit for residential energy efficient property.
Sec. 1123. Temporary increase in credit for alternative fuel vehicle refueling property.

The impact of this legislation on New Mexico was to allocate $23 million to float bonds for New Mexico businesses and residential property owners to install alternative energy components on their buildings or homes. Of this 5.8 Million has been allocated to Albuquerque. The legislation is designed to fund loans that can be repaid over twenty years through property taxes. I intend to be in the line to get one of the loans created by this legislation, just as soon as Albuquerque gets off its duff and passes Ordinance Bill #00-09-087 . The state legislature already passed enabling legislation to form “Renewable Energy Refinancing Districts” (S.B. 647 in July of 2009). The City Council deferred discussion of the ordinance at their October meeting, so now is the time to ask your Council member to ACT at their November meeting!

For some time now on the pages of this blog I have been harping about the need to provide loans to allow people such as myself, who live on a fixed income and therefore can’t benefit from tax credits, but nonetheless are “trying” to pay off their homes, so that we can install solar devices that can give us some protection against the rising cost of utilities. (See my March 14, 2009 Blog: HEAT ).

By all insights, New Mexico should lead the nation in solar utilization. Perhaps the huge sway of PNM (New Mexico's largest public utility) has stood in the way of getting us moving along the path to clean energy? Richardson certainly has not pursued green legislation with much fervor, just as he hasn’t supported the Health Security Act. We realize that there are few “deep pocket” political contributors in New Mexico, but it’s INSANE not to pursue more solar and wind power in New Mexico.

As I look out my windows I see sunny skies nearly every day! Join me in putting pressure on our Council to make solar loans more affordable for people on limited incomes! Dialing 311 will put you right through to the offices of your Council person. Express yourself!!! Or, better yet, attend the meeting of the City Council on November 2, when they are due to reopen the ordinance. It’s kinda fun to attend a City Council Meeting once in a while – sometimes we Grannies even use the Public Comments to sing at our Council people.

My contribution today to combat global warming is to urge you to act in whatever way you can to reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy and our use of fuels that pollute. Take a second look at that SUV if you own one. Find out about the many ways you can use solar or wind power instead of polluting energy sources! Discover the incentives to use alternative energy in your own state. Attend Energy and Climate Town Halls. Look into heat collectors if you can't afford solar panels or worry about the cost of the current panel technology. Do something besides give in to gloom and doom! Do something today, and the day after. For our grandchildren's sake!

This blog is written as part of a combined worldwide blogging effort. Blog Action Day! So , look around and see what others have to say, there are over 8937 bloggers from 148 countries who are writing today on topics related to global warming/alternative energy on this day!

HEAT

January 2009

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The LIHEAP program helps low income families pay heating or cooling costs with a once-a-year benefit. The benefit can be used to help pay gas; electric; or bulk fuels, such as propane, firewood or wood pellet bills. This year’s average benefit per family is $309. A family of three earning up to $26,400 can qualify for this program. There are 65,960 families participating in this program. (From a New Mexico Human Services publication entitled "Human Services Department is Prepared to Help New Mexicans During Difficult Economic Times."

For about $2000 a homeowner can dramatically reduce their heating bills by installing a solar-powered heat collector on their roof or the south side of their dwelling. The annual savings would likely be more than a LIHEAP allocation (50-75% of fuel costs, more in sunny locations). This would be a great starting place to use solar power in your home if you live in a state where there are sunny days in winter. Obama’s Recovery program SHOULD get behind this.

My HOT PROPOSAL is that homeowners on fixed limited incomes, perhaps not quite a low as LIHEAP demands, should be allocated very low interest loans to install these charming recirculating air collectors on their homes. I have it on good authority that with these air collectors on your roof or a south-facing wall you won’t need other heat from 9 am til perhaps 7pm in a home that is properly insulated, and that the technology is simple and low to no maintenance. These collectors don’t even need power to help circulate the air, a small solar panel is all that is needed to run a fan. They even provide heat when there is a power outage as long as there is partial sun on the panel.

In New Mexico, where the percentage of "poor" folks who own their own homes is higher than many states (48% of "poor children" live in owner occupied housing in New Mexico, as opposed to 34% in Maryland) , this proposal is particularly relevant, especially since earned income figures are much lower in this state than the national average.

A contractor I interviewed recently to get quotes on a number of minor renovations for my home testified that his home, where the previous homeowner had spent substantial money on solar devices, has these “air-to-air” heat collectors. The other systems, water heating solar devices, have been abandoned because of leakage. But the air-to-air devices work like a charm. He says he pays $140 per year to heat a 2000+ square foot home. This really prompted my interest!

People on fixed incomes, as huge proportion of our population will be with the “retirement” of the baby boomers, need to utilize every option to reduce fixed expenses. If we were given encouragement, and tax rebates won’t do it because we have so little taxable income in the first place, we would be the pioneers in adopting solar power in our homes. A fundamental truth about technological innovation is that the MORE folks who get on board, the more bang for the buck. We have all watched the declining price of personal computers.

The benefits of moving away from everyday use of our scarce non-replenishable natural resources, and particularly petroleum and coal combustion with its nefarious impact on our environment (natural, social and political), are so vast as to be incalculable. This piece of the puzzle is virtually “shovel ready.” Let’s provide the means to implement it now!!!

Let’s also enact legislative changes to all federal, city and state subsidies towards the construction of new housing to ensure that effective and economical solar heat collectors are part of the development package. This proposal we might want to enforce a few years out from the loans I mention above. We need to allow time for the manufacturing segment to catch up, because to date there are only a handful of companies manufacturing these devices and the larger population doesn’t even have a clue that this alternative exists.

If you are among them, I urge you to visit this website. After much research it’s the most informative site I’ve found. http://home.att.net/~cleardomesolar/BISFAheatingpanels.html

I encourage my readers to forward this blog to their local and federal legislators. Let’s stop throwing good money after bad by our expenditures on LIHEAP. Let’s move on to a more rational use of our resources. And, let’s STAY WARM!