You can dramatically lower the cost of energy upgrades with incentives offered by your utility company, and local, state and federal governments. This article is a summary for New Mexico homes from the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, www.dsireusa.org, which is a state-by-state directory. There you can also find incentives for commercial, industrial and agricultural applications as well as rebates on appliance purchases.

Local Incentives

• Kit Carson Electric Co-op, Taos – “KCEC customers who install an Electric Thermal Storage (ETS)/Heat Pump system or a stand-alone ETS system qualify for a discounted, Time-Of-Use electric rate for space and water heating usage. Customers are also eligible to receive rebates ranging from $924 up to $3009 depending on the size of the system.”
• PNM – PNM will purchase RECs (renewable energy credits) from net-metered solar PV customers at $.13/kWh for 12 years for a system up to 10kW. On systems from 10kW to 1W, the REC is $.15/kWh for 20 years. PNM applies these credits towards their obligations to the NM RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard), “which requires 4% of the total generation capacity to come from solar electricity by 2020, and 0.6% from distributed generation in 2020.”
• El Paso Electric Company – EPE purchases REC’s (renewable energy credits) from its New Mexico customers who have a small (up to 10kW), net-metered PV system installed. The rate is $0.13 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for a period of 12 years, and the credits are applied to the NM RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard).
• Farmington Electric Utility System – FEUS credits the retail rate of a kWh to residential customers with systems up to 10kW systems of PV, wind, hydro and ‘other (unspecified) non-carbon-based fuels.’

State Incentives – Personal Tax Credits

• Solar Market Development Tax Credit – solar hot water, solar space heat, solar thermal process heat, PV, solar space cooling. Tax credit of 10% of purchase and installation costs with a $9,000 cap and maximum 10-year carryover. Heating for pools and hot tubs does not qualify. http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ECMD/CleanEnergyTaxIncentives/solartaxcredit.htm
• Sustainable Building Tax Credit – passive solar space heat, solar hot water, solar space heat, PV, wind and daylighting. The credit depends on square footage and certification. The home must be certified as Build Green NM Silver or higher, or LEED-H Silver or higher, or be an Energy Star certified manufactured home. http://www.cleanenergynm.org
• Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (Personal) – Tax credit of $.01/kWh for wind and biomass, $.027 (average) for solar thermal electric. The minimum size requirement is 1W. http://www.cleanenergynm.org

Federal Incentives

• Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit – 30% for solar hot water, PV, wind, fuel cells, geothermal heat pumps, and other solar electric technologies.

- $2000 cap on systems installed before 1.1.09

- No cap on systems installed after 12.31.2008

- Expires 12.31.2016

• Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Credit – 30% with $1500 cap for 2009-2010 installations of water heaters, furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, air conditioners, building insulation, windows, doors, roofs, circulation fans used in a qualifying furnace, biomass, stoves that use qualified biomass fuel. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index#7
• For more information on federal tax credits, see the Energy Star website, http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index#7, and the USDOE’s Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy website, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/financing/.

Post from: The Good Human

Financial Incentives For Energy Efficiency In New Mexico.

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• Central and window air conditioners
• Heat pumps
• Furnaces
• Washing Machines
• Dishwashers
• Freezers
• Refrigerators
• Water heaters

For more info, check out the Energy.gov website.

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Last night I attended a screening of “Standing Silent Nation”, a heartbreaking documentary about a Lakota Sioux family trying to make a living growing industrial hemp and the DEA’s seemingly illegal raids on their tribal lands.

Industrial hemp is an ecologically friendly crop that is totally sustainable; it grows very quickly without needing a great deal of care or water, it does not sap the nutrients out of the soil the way many other crops do, it is resistant to fungus and insects so it does not require toxic pesticides, and it commands a great deal of cash. Hemp can be used to make a wide variety of eco-friendly products including paper, clothing, shoes, lotions, soaps, lip balms and biodegradable plastics. It can be pressed into oil or milled into a very nutritious flour to be used in food products, and it can even be pressed into bricks and used like adobe to build homes with. Here’s the catch: while it is legal in this country to possess products made from hemp, it is not legal to grow hemp as a crop. This means that great costs and carbon miles are incurred to import this sustainable product when it could be grown right here in the US, creating good jobs and enlivening local economies.

Now, for those that do not know, there is a vast difference between industrial hemp and the marijuana plant. The marijuana plant contains about 20% THC (the active drug) while industrial hemp contains less than 1%. There is no way to use industrial hemp to produce marijuana, and many other countries such as Canada, England, Spain, China, and France, have found a way to differentiate between the two plants. In fact, our own government used to separate industrial hemp from marijuana and many of the products used in WWII were actually made of hemp; American farmers were even encouraged to grow hemp by the USDA to support the war effort. Clearly, it is possible to separate industrial hemp from illegal marijuana production, so the question is, in light of all the ecological and financial benefits of hemp, why does the government refuse to acknowledge that the hemp plant is not marijuana?

The Lakota people portrayed in “Standing Silent Nation” are incredibly poor and underemployed, mainly because the federal government has effectively destroyed their indigenous way of life and made it nearly impossible for them to escape poverty. The entire Black Hills region used to belong to the Lakota people; however, the federal government has repeatedly taken more and more of their sacred land away, until the present day Lakota are left with only a series of disconnected parcels of land. While the Pine Ridge reservation highlighted in the movie consists of a couple of million acres, only a small percentage of the land is suitable for farming or raising animals. This leaves thousands of people without work, even though they are willing and able to do so. Enter the White Plume family, who learn about the amazing properties of growing industrial hemp. The White Plumes believe that this could be the way to get themselves, and many of their people, out of poverty while at the same time producing a product that is completely sustainable and good for the earth. They are under the impression that, due to an agreement made with the United States government in 1868, they are free to grow any crop that they wish on their own sovereign land. When their crop is almost ready for harvest, DEA officials come illegally onto tribal land with semi-automatic weapons and conduct a “raid”, destroying this family’s entire livelihood and their hope of overcoming poverty. This atrocity happens again at the next two harvests as the family goes to court and tries to fight on two accounts:

1. That growing industrial hemp should be separated from growing marijuana
2. That they have the right to grow hemp on tribal lands, even if it is not legal in the rest of America.

You can read more about the plight of the White Plume family here. And while this case seems to be over and this family will probably never get back what was taken from them, the best thing we can do is educate people about the benefits of hemp and help get legislation passed that will make industrial hemp production legal in this country. If you want to get involved and see what you can do to help, check out the Take Action page on Standing Silent Nation.

Photo by prairiedustfilms .

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Dear EarthTalk: My old computer finally bit the dust and I am in the market for a replacement. Are there any particularly “green” computers for sale these days?

Thanks in part to pressure from non-profits like Greenpeace International—which has published quarterly versions of its landmark “Guide to Greener Electronics” since 2006—computer makers now understand that consumers care about the environmental footprints of the products they use.

The latest version of Greenpeace’s guide gives high marks to Toshiba, Lenovo, Sony and Dell for increasing the recyclability of their computers and reducing toxic components and so-called “e-waste” (refuse from discarded electronic devices and components). The group also credits Apple, HP and Fujitsu for making strides toward greener products and manufacturing processes, but emphasizes that even such top ranked companies have lots of room for improvement when it comes to the environment.

PC Magazine, the leading computer publication for consumer and business users, recently assessed dozens of personal computers according to environmental standards it developed in-house based on energy efficiency, recyclability and the toxicity of components. The publication also factored in various “green” certification schemes such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s EnergyStar program, the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, Taiwan’s Greenmark and the computer industry’s own Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT).

The top choices for green desktop computers, according to PC, are Apple’s Mac Mini, Zonbu’s Desktop Mini, HP Compaq’s 2710p and dc7800, Lenovo’s ThinkCentre a61e, and Dell’s OptiPlex 755. As for laptops, the greenest current models include Dell’s Latitude D630, the Everex Zonbu, Fujitsu’s LifeBook S6510, and Toshiba’s Tecra A9-S9013.

Perhaps more important than the green-ness of your new computer is what you do with the old one. Stuffing it into the trash or setting it out for curbside pick-up may be the worst thing you can do with an outdated computer, as heavy metals and other toxins inevitably get free and get into surrounding soils and water. If the machine still works, donate it to a local school that can put it to use, or to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, either of which can re-sell it to help fund their programs. Another option is to donate it to the National Cristina Foundation, which places outdated technology with needy non-profits.

Once you’ve gotten rid of an old computer and outfitted yourself with a spiffy new green one, you might just want to score a few green accessories. Brooklyn, New York’s Verdant Computing, which bills itself as a purveyor of “the greenest computer products on the web,” sells remanufactured ink and toner cartridges, laptop cases made from recycled plastic, GreenDisk CDs packaged in recycled plastic jewel cases, solar-powered MP3 accessories, energy-saving printers and even a software program, GreenPrint, which modifies the print programs on your computer to economize on paper and ink/toner use. Verdant also has most products shipped to consumers directly from the manufacturers to save re-shipping.

CONTACTS: Greenpeace International, www.greenpeace.org; PC Magazine, www.pcmag.com; National Cristina Foundation, www.cristina.org; Verdant Computing, www.verdantcomputing.com

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881 USA; submit it at EarthTalk; or e-mail us. Read past columns at our archives.

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