Home Energy Improvements Can Garner Tax Credits

ORONO, ME— Many Maine homeowners may benefit from investing in home energy efficiency, according to Donna Coffin of University of Maine Cooperative Extension. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 includes tax credits for making home energy-efficiency improvements such as added insulation, replacement windows and doors, and upgrading heating or cooling systems.

The ARRA improves upon 2006 tax credits that allowed homeowners claim 10 percent of the cost of improvements, up to $500. This new program increases the credit to 30 percent of the cost of improvements, up to $1,500.

Eligible improvements include insulation materials designed to reduce the home’s heat loss or gain, exterior doors and windows, and metal or asphalt roofs with appropriate design. Installation or labor costs can not be included. Generally the manufacturer will certify that their product meets the design criteria to qualify for the tax credit.

Heating, cooling and water-heating equipment is also eligible, including electric heat-pump water heaters; electric heat pumps; central air conditioners; natural gas, propane or oil water heaters; natural-gas, propane or oil furnaces; hot-water boilers; advanced main air circulating fans; and biomass stoves that use “plant-derived fuel available on a renewable or recurring basis, including agricultural crops and trees, wood and wood waste and residues (including wood pellets), plants (including aquatic plants), grasses, residues and fibers.” The installation costs of this equipment can be included in the tax credit. These improvements need to go into service in 2009 and 2010.

To qualify for the tax credit, the improvements need to meet guidelines under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) ENERGY STAR program. Go to www.EnergyStar.gov for details.
The $1,500 cap applies to both 2009 and 2010. If you use the $1,500 worth of energy efficiency tax credits in 2009, you can not qualify for an additional $1,500 in 2010. However, the cap does not apply to alternative energy systems such as geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, wind, or photovoltaic systems. These systems fall under the Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit program, which allows 30 percent of the cost of the system, with no cap. For more information on federal and state rebates, credits and incentives go to the U.S. DOE’s Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency at www.dsireusa.org.

Coffin advises homeowners to do everything possible to conserve energy in the home before going to the big-ticket items in alternative energy systems. This includes weatherizing doors and windows, adding insulation to the attic, and updating heating and cooling systems. Once conservation measures are in place, then you can consider alternative energy systems to enhance energy savings and reduce energy consumption. For more ideas on saving energy, visit UMaine Extension at extension.umaine.edu.

SNAP BEANS AND CUCUMBERS: MAINE FOOD FOR JUNE

ORONO, ME—University of Maine Cooperative Extension publishes information to help you find, grow, use and store in-season fruits and vegetables in Maine. Visit extension.umaine.edu to order or download bulletins to fit the season, including July favorites such as Let’s Preserve Snap Beans, Let’s Preserve: Pickles, and Vegetables and Fruits for Health: Cucumbers, Green Beans and Wax Beans.

Extension Educator Kathy Savoie from UMaine Extension Cumberland County cautions that you should get up-to-date information if you are planning on canning food. Over the years there have been changes in scientific expertise as well as canning equipment, so there is new information on the best methods, canners, jars, and seals to use to ensure a safe result. Updated recommendations are as close as your local UMaine Extension office. Visit extension.umaine.edu or call 800-287-0274 to find an office and local food preservation workshops near you.

Freezing green beans in season and making your own homemade pickles are simple and easy ways to increase your access to a year-round supply of local foods and to reduce your grocery bill. UMaine Extension programs are open and accessible to all in accordance with program goals.

Home Energy Evaluation Can Guide Summer Home-Improvement Projects

ORONO, ME—University of Maine Cooperative Extension has published How to Do a Home Energy Evaluation, part of Maine Home Energy, a new series of educational bulletins on home energy use. How to Do a Home Energy Evaluation includes a checklist to help you determine how to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy use in your home. It is available for purchase or free download, along with the other Maine Home Energy bulletins, at extension.umaine.edu—or you can contact your county UMaine Extension office (call 800-287-0274 for contact information).

UMaine Extension’s energy evaluation bulletin recommends that you begin by reviewing a year’s worth of energy bills to estimate how much energy your home uses. Then use the bulletin’s checklist to detect drafts and check insulation, windows, and fixtures, and determine what energy-saving improvements make sense for your situation. For instance, you could repair leaky faucets, clean radiators and hot-air outlets, service your furnace, install florescent or LED lighting, or install window treatments. Keep in mind that, while you may be able to do some improvements yourself, you may need to hire a professional for more complicated or difficult tasks. It’s a good idea to evaluate the cost and the potential payback of high-cost changes such as new appliances before investing.

If you want a comprehensive understanding of your energy usage, or if you want to apply for rebates, loans, or grant funds, you will need to hire a certified auditor. The Maine State Housing Authority maintains a list of certified energy auditors at www.mainehousing.org.

If you use certified ENERGY STAR materials, many of the energy conservation improvements you make could qualify you for a 30 percent tax refund, up to $1,500. A joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, ENERGY STAR provides a labeling system for products that deliver the same or better performance as comparable models while using less energy and saving money. There are also tax refunds available for alternative energy systems and fuel efficient cars. To learn about the tax refunds and incentives available to you, check the U.S. Department of Energy’s Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency at www.dsireusa.org .

“Take-A-Chance” Silent Auction at Maine 4-H Days in Windsor

ORONO, ME—4-H, the youth development program of University of Maine Cooperative Extension, will hold a Take-A-Chance silent auction on June 27 at Maine 4-H Days at the Windsor Fairgrounds. The auction opens at 5 p.m., with the drawing beginning at 7 p.m.

Tickets for the auction will be 10 for $2.50 and packaged in envelopes worth $2.50, $5.00, $10.00, $20.00, $50.00 and $100.00. (No wrinkled or bent tickets, please.) Dollar tickets will be sold for items valued at more than $100.00.

UMaine Extension 4-H youth are collecting gift certificates, handmade items, and fresh products like goats milk cheese. There will be a food booth open during the auction.

For more information contact UMaine Extension’s 4-H office at (207) 581-3872 or (800) 287-0274 (in Maine), or e-mail mbailey@umext.maine.edu. You can also visit the events calendar at extension.umaine.edu.

Auction proceeds will help send 4‑H youth and their animals to the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts, where more than one hundred 4‑Hers from Maine participate in animal events. UMaine Extension programs are open and accessible to all in accordance with program goals.

Hampden to install rain garden with help of UMaine Cooperative Extension

Contact: Laura Wilson, (207) 949-2167; Aimee Dolloff, (207) 581-3777

*Note to members of the media – The best opportunity to see the garden in progress and speak to volunteers and Hampden Mayor Matthew Arnett will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 18.HAMPDEN, Maine.

Hoping to set an example for residents, the town of Hampden has teamed up with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and others to create a large-scale rain garden in front of the town office.The garden will be installed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, and Friday, June 19, by UMaine Cooperative Extension Assistant Scientist Laura Wilson and a group of volunteers, including three cadettes from the Hampden Girl Scout Troop and members of the Cyberhounds 4-H Club. Wilson welcomes more volunteers, who will work in shifts from 9 a.m. to noon and noon to 3 p.m. both days.

There are several environmental benefits to installing rain gardens, which help reduce rainwater runoff by allowing it to soak into the ground as opposed to flowing into storm drains and surface waters causing erosion, water pollution, and flooding.

Hampden's garden will include all native Maine plants, such as swamp milkweed and high bush blueberries.As part of the collaborative effort, both the town and the Bangor Area Storm Water Group paid for the garden to be designed by CES, Inc., an engineering consulting firm in Brewer. The Town purchased the materials, which were obtained with help from the Penobscot County Soil and Water Conservation District.

The native plants all are hardy perennials and don't require fertilization so are more environmentally friendly. "The town of Hampden wants to provide an example to the community of what can be done to treat stormwater before it reaches the local streams," says Wilson. "They hope individuals will also install these on a smaller scale on their own property."A free guide from Umaine Cooperative Extension about how to install a rain garden in your yard is available at www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/PDFpubs/2702.pdf.For more information or to volunteer, call Wilson at (207) 949-2167.

Whole Foods Market Partners with University of Maine Cooperative Extension for Food Preservation Expertise

Contact: UMaine Extension: Kathy Savoie,(207) 780-4205; Douglas Babkirk, (207) 712-1414. Whole Foods Market: Barbara Gulino: Barbara.gulino@wholefoods.com, (207) 774-7711.

Members of the news media are welcome to cover any of the food preservation classes in the Portland store. To do so, please coordinate with Barbara Gulino.

ORONO, Maine— Whole Foods Market has called on the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for food-preservation advice. The UMaine Extension’s canning and preserving Web site is featured in “This Is What Summer Tastes Like,” a seasonal entertaining guide available in Whole Foods Market stores throughout the country.

“Preserving delicious summer fruits and vegetables is an amazing way to enjoy the tastes of flavors of summer’s seasonal harvest year-round,” said Barbara Gulino, marketing team leader at the Whole Foods Market Portland store. “With UMaine Cooperative Extension’s extensive knowledge of food preservation we hope the partnership will help educate our shoppers and other people in the community about how simple and cost effective it can be to preserve locally grown summer favorites.”

In addition to the Web site (www.extension.umaine.edu/food/) Whole Foods Market has sponsored food preservation outreach throughout southern Maine this summer, including a series of classes at the Portland store, located at 2 Somerset St. Cooperative Extension educators will present free workshops at Whole Foods Market from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturdays June 27, July 18, Aug. 15, Sept. 12, and Oct. 3; 9-10:30. The classes will cover jams and jellies, pickles, tomatoes, apples and root cellaring.

“It’s a partnership,” says Extension educator Kathy Savoie, a food safety expert based in Cumberland County. “This reinforces that we are the go-to place for food preservation information.

”Whole Foods Market’s sponsorship will allow UMaine Extension to hire two program aides to assist in offering food preservation education, including the Master Food Preservation training series. The partnership will continue this fall with a “5 Percent Day” fundraiser, in which five percent of the Portland store’s daily sales will benefit UMaine Extension’s ongoing food safety and preservation efforts in Cumberland County.

“A large part of it is Barbara Gulino realized we were credible, timely, relevant and we can respond immediately,” Doug Babkirk, associate director of UMaine Extension, says of the partnership.

UMaine Extension leads food preservation workshops statewide and offers up-to-date information online and through a variety of publications. The Cumberland County office also offers the Master Food Preserver program, a more intensive course that gives participants the expertise to go out and teach others how to preserve, extending the organization’s outreach. This summer, UMaine Extension educators also will visit farmers markets throughout Maine to give informal food preservation demonstrations.For a county-by-county list of UMaine Extension’s food preservation workshops, visit http://www.umext.maine.edu/foodpreservation/workshops.htm or call 1-800-287-0274. To ensure safe canning practices, UMaine Extension also provides testing for pressure canning gauges.

For information, contact your county office: http://www.umext.maine.edu/counties.htm

UMaine Extension and the Maine Congress of Lake Associations Offering Boat Inspection Training: How to examine boats for invasive aquatic plants

Contact: Laura Wilson (207) 581-2971

Orono, ME—University of Maine Cooperative Extension in conjunction with the Maine Congress of Lake Associations has announced that a courtesy boat inspection workshop to help protect lakes from invasive aquatic plants will be held on June 15th at the Milo Town Office. The workshop will begin at 6 p.m. and end at 7:30 p.m. Registration is free. For more information or registration, contact Maggie Shannon at the Maine Congress of Lake Associations at 1-877-254-2511 or e-mail info@mainecola.org. You can also visit the events calendar at www.extension.umaine.edu. UMaine Extension programs are open and accessible to all in accordance with program goals.

Boat owners and those who desire to help protect Maine lakes will benefit from the training. They will learn how to inspect boats for invasive aquatic plants which are a threat to lakes nationwide.