Energy incentives are an integral part to helping energy projects get off the ground. Whether the application is commercial, industrial, or residential, there is usually some form of incentive to help. The hard part is finding them!
As we mentioned on our post "De-mystifying Incentives", incentives usually fall into three main categories:
- Tax Deduction
- Tax Credit
- Rebate
But there are other forms of incentives including:
- Free audit
- Grant
- Loan
- Discounts
For the longest time the only place to find reliable incentive information was the DSIRE energy incentive database, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Now there is another resource to help homeowners and business owners find rebates called EnergyGridIQ.
EnergyGridIQ (EIQ) helps you search for incentives just like DSIRE, but it also allows you to upload your energy projects to see if there are any funding opportunities available and it allows business to add promotions and deals for customers in their geographic region. Basically, it's like DSIRE with more interaction between people looking to implement energy projects and businesses willing to help them in their geographic area.
From their "About Us" page:
EIQ’s goal is to capture all of the world’s energy thoughts irrespective of their size or scope using geo-data. Project developers and users anywhere in the world can create and showcase an energy project or an idea that might turn into a project for home, office or the entire community. The project could be to light a home, light a village, put solar on a commercial building, setup a wind turbine on a farm, buy an appliance or something as simple as replace an old refrigerator.
You can also check out the iPhone app WattRebate and the EnergyGridIQ facebook app.
Try it out and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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