Maryland’s 1st Green Community!
Posted on | May 28, 2009 | No Comments
It is with great enthusiasm that I invite you to come to the Muddy Boots Tour and
Ground Breaking of Maryland’s 1st all Green Community!
Maryland’s very 1st Green Community is about to become a reality!!! The ground breaking of the 1st of 72 green homes is scheduled for Friday. How are green homes built? With energy efficient lighting, heating/cooling systems and appliances; superbly insulated walls, ceilings, windows and doors; water conservation fixtures and plumbing systems, recycled and low VOC (volatile organic compound) materials, opportunity to go “off the grid” with solar and geothermal options; homes built to and above LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficiency Design), NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) and Energy Star green building standards. To draw a car analogy…these homes will look and perform like BMWs with the gas mileage of a Prius. To compliment the green homes, the entire community is built around a series of rain water capture systems and holding ponds. These are not only beautiful, but also designed to protect and enhance the health of the small tributary streams that flow into the Severn River and then into the Chesapeake Bay. Green is no longer the future of building in Maryland. It is now a reality. The Green Community model home (for which this ground breaking is scheduled) is planned to be a working, teaching resource as well as an example for all builders in the area. The public will be invited to see, touch and experience what makes homes green. This is a giant leap forward in bringing Maryland into the Greener future!
Friday, May 29th 9:30am (press and politicians invited in addition to public) or
Saturday, May 30th 11:00am - 2:00pm (public)
The Preserve at Severn Run
Holladay Park Ave., Gambrills, MD 21054
Please RSVP
Can’t afford currently to install Solar, Wind, or Geothermal Energy at your home? Here is an affordable alternative!
Posted on | May 9, 2009 | No Comments
Want to lessen your carbon footprint but…Can’t afford currently to install Solar, Wind,
or Geothermal Energy at your home? Here is an affordable alternative!
You can buy energy produced by wind generators anywhere in the country at a locked in price per kilowatt hour for a period of one or two years. By doing this you are paying for electricity to be produced by wind rather than other methods such as coal or gas fired power plants. The result is that in our country less coal or gas is burned to produce electricity (and less carbon is released into the atmosphere) and more wind generators are supported to produce electricity. Read more
Do You Qualify for the Latest Stimulus Package Energy Efficiency Tax Credits?
Posted on | May 9, 2009 | No Comments
Does any of this apply to me?? How do I find out??
A great place to start is to go to www.energystar.gov . This site is updated regularly and has the latest information. If you travel down to the bottom of the home page on this site, you can click on “1040 Tax Credits” to access the latest on stimulus package energy efficiency tax credits. Some recent changes brought about by the stimulus bill are:
- Federal tax credits have been increased from 10% of the cost of energy upgrades to 30% with the maximum credit increasing from $500 to $1500. For example, if you add insulation to your home, the tax credit would be for 30% of the cost up to a maximum of $1500.
- Large products such as geothermal heat pumps, solar panels, and solar hot water heaters are no longer subject to a $1500 maximum. Now you can receive up to 30% of the cost of installation of products such as solar panels, etc.
- Federal tax credits effective until 2009 are now extended to 2010
On the EnergyStar homepage you can find the latest in local special offers and rebates. Click on “Rebate Finder” under the “Products” section and enter your zip code to see what is available locally - such as an instant rebate on CFL light bulbs from BGE.
WHAT TYPE OF “GREEN” ARE YOU OR DO YOU WANT TO BE? STORIES OF GOING GREEN
Posted on | May 9, 2009 | No Comments
“Going Green” around your home to help the environment (and your pocket book) can take lots of different forms and can require different levels of commitment from easy to hard core fanatic. Some help the pocket book immediately and others may require a financial commitment that may take a few years before it pays off monetarily though the help to the environment may be immediate. Read more
Maryland Designates Funds to Assist Homeowners in Updating Septic Systems
Posted on | May 9, 2009 | No Comments
The state of Maryland has money designated for private home septic system upgrades called the Bay Restoration Fund. It is designed to help you do the following for free:
- repair an existing system
- upgrade an existing system with a nitrogen reducing pretreatment unit (These units are designed to remove nutrients like nitrogen that septic systems release and that may find their way into the Bay)
- install a nitrogen reducing pretreatment unit so that you can add an addition that increases the square footage of the home
- provide free maintenance on a nitrogen reducing pretreatment unit for 5 years
Where do you go to get more information about the Bay Restoration Fund and to obtain an application to improve your system?
In Anne Arundel County go to www.aahealth.org and click on “septic systems” under “Hot Topics”. Read more
Save Money on Energy with an Energy Audit
Posted on | May 6, 2009 | No Comments
Don’t know about you, but right now I’m looking for ways to reduce my bills (especially the ones that keep going up!!!)
Are you thinking: “hmmm… could my house benefit from an energy tune-up? I know how to get my car tuned-up, but how do I go about getting my house tuned-up… and does it need it?”
Most homes can reduce their energy bills by 20% to 30% with a few quick and inexpensive changes. So if your bill is $300 a month, would it be worth a little investment of time and knowledge to save $100 of that each month? When you add that up, it’s $1,200 a year (and that’s at current energy prices!) “OK, I’m considering it, now how do I go about this?” Read more
