State offers ?green? appliance incentives

    Local residents who are thinking of purchasing an appliance in the near future may be able to receive a rebate from the state government. As part of the federal stimulus bill passed a year ago, consumers who purchase energy-efficient appliances may be able to receive a rebate of one-third or even one-half the cost of the appliance. Consumers can reserve a rebate beginning Monday, which will be handled at the state level by the Office of Energy Independence (OEI). In a press release delivered earlier this week, OEI wrote that the program will provide approximately 9,000 rebates statewide.

    Chuck Atwood, the manager of Archer Appliance and Electronics, said that the rebate is available for things like water heaters, refrigerators, clothes washers and dishwashers. He said that the majority of ?Energy Star? appliances qualify for the rebate. In order to receive an Energy Star rating from the federal government, an appliance has to use 20 percent less energy than the standard industry model.

    ?More than 85 percent of the Energy Star appliances will qualify for the state rebate,? said Atwood.

    Atwood remarked that in order to receive the state rebate, some appliances needed to be even more energy efficient than those that qualify for the Energy Star rating. He said saving energy is easier when the appliance is large, and very difficult when it is small.

    ?To get into a 30 percent reduction, you?re looking at a very expensive unit,? said Atwood. ?To get that percentage of savings, you have to have a bigger unit. An 18 cubic foot refrigerator is a fairly small refrigerator, and to get a 30 percent savings out of something that small is extremely difficult to do. The more cubic footage you have to work with, the easier it is to make the unit more efficient.?

    He said appliances that don?t use much energy are not eligible for the state rebate.

For the full article, see our Feb. 24 print edition.