[Pauls72]

The State of Indiana gives you a real estate property tax credit for the use of any alternative energy resources. On the surface this sounds great. Well we just finished having a Geothermal heating/colling system installed. Today I went to our county treasures office to apply for our alternative energy tax credit and found out how it works and just how wonderful this offer is.

1. You notify your county treasurer.
2. They send an appraiser to evaluate your property.
3. He/she generates 2 appraisals, one with your alternative energy system and another if you did not have the system
4. Your taxes are now assessed at the new higher value of your property with your alternative energy system installed.
5. Each year the system is operational you have to June 11th to file for a property tax credit.
6. If you file for the tax credit (in time), your property is taxed at the lower rate as if you did not have the system installed.
7. You have to refile with the county every year to recieve the tax credit.

After getting the news about this wonderful incentive, the clerk told us we are better not filling for it, as our taxes will be lower.

 

[evldoer]

You just gotta love the way they come up with all of these tax credit ideas and green energy ideas.Just wait, old B.O. is just gettin started. Wait and see what it will be like in 4 years. And what about the 8,000$ tax credit that came out for first time home buyers? On the surface it looks good, but you really have to read into it to see that you have to pay the 8 grand back later........ what a great idea
So anyways, what is your opinion of the geo system so far? I have always been interested in them.

 

[Pauls72]

B.O.'s Federal incentives for alternative energy system look pretty good so far. For Geothermal off your federal taxes you can deduct 30% of your cost for the entire system, installation and any additional work required to install it.

Each state has their own incentives, some our pretty good, others are useless. You can look here for your states incentives:
http://www.dsireusa.org/


Cost of the Geothermal system was about 10% more than a new high efficiency boiler for our current hot water baseboard heat.

Cost of the Geothermal system was about 20% more than a new high efficiency gas forced air system.

That cost includes over 100 ft of trenching and line to dump the water return into the lake behind us. I did my own electrical work for the system which was $175 in supplies.

We went with an open loop system so we needed a new well with a larger pump. Our 1960's/1970's vintage 1/3hp pump with a 1-1/2" well pipe was not going to cut it. Plus it no longer meets new code for new well's. So we had a new 4" well with a constant pressure pump installed. New well was $3500 and was not included in the above cost. You don't need the constant pressure pump and you can go with a smaller pump, so our well options where $2400, $2800 or $3500. On the good side the constant pressure pump only needs a little 3 gallon pressure tank, so we no longer have the big 55 gallon one. Also we can adjust the pressure through the electronic control unit any place between 45 and 110 psi, default is 70 psi.

We are in the middle of an addition and remodeling and are adding 720sq ft to the house, so we needed a new furnace. We already had forced air for the AC, so we had the duct work and could go multiple ways.

We are not using the Geo system yet as there are clauses in the contracts that wallboard dust creates havoc and voids the warranty. So till the construction is done it's just sitting here.

Our electric company offers a $50 a month rebate for 5 months.

You can also have an open loop system that dumps into a dry well or even just out into a field. Our Geo system will use up to 4 gallon per minute for max heating or cooling. Should be good to zero degrees, if the temperature goes lower, it has electrical heat coils for auxiliary heat.

If you go with a closed loop system you need between 250-1000 ft of tubing per ton of heating/air conditioning. Depends if you go horizontal or vertical and the type of soil you have. Cost for us to put in 3000 feet of horizontal closed loop would have another $4K.

I looked at having solar panels for the hot water heat. But I really did not want the panels on the roof plus the one or two large hot water storage tanks in our tiny basement. It was very costly too.

 

[patman]

Great info, thanks for posting that...

I've been thinking of pursuing a geothermal or solar system, not sure if it's in the cards or not though. We bought the place with kerosene Monitor heaters, which originally I figured we'd replace with a basement FHA system or something, but...it's kept us fairly toasty, so...they stayed. Problem is, the price of heating oil has obviously gone up in price...and K1 kero is roughly another 20% premium on top of that. To make matters even more interesting...it's a log house, so you can't just run pipes/ducts through the exterior walls because they're solid wood. We have 3 Monitors, one in the basement, and two on the first floor (nothing on the 2nd floor) so...theoretically we could duct in from the basement to those 3 spots, and have the equivalent system.

I'd ask how you like the system, but...you're not running it yet. What's your expected total cost for the heating season?