Clarification and Incentives

First off, I’d like to respond to a comment by This Guy on my Religion and the Environment post. Since This Guy was unclear on what I meant for the post, I would like to make sure it is clear for everybody. This Guy pointed out my usage of the term “religious groups.” I guess that was poor wording on my part. By religious groups, I should have said religious denominations. Different denominations are starting to catch on to the green movement. Like I said in my post, the Southern Baptist Convention released a statement geared toward supporting the environmental movement. This Guy also pointed out “expect[ing] something like sermons about going green.” I wish I could find the video I’ve been searching for, but it seems to be lost somewhere on the World Wide Web. The video depicted the preacher and the congregation of Vineyard Boise, a church in Idaho. The preacher gives sermons on environmental friendliness and sustainability and the congregation thoroughly enjoys it and is growing tremendously as evidence. I hope this clears the air This Guy.

I’d like to briefly say something about incentives. I’m pretty sure everyone knows what an incentive is and why you would want one, so I just want to give a few examples of some. From the federal government, the residential community can get a 30% tax credit, up to $1500, for the cost of energy-efficient improvements such as Energy Star products. For residents who install a type of renewable energy resource such as solar heating systems or small wind systems, a 30% tax credit is given. Lastly, an incentive that will end in the next couple of years offers tax credits for purchasing hybrid cars. The amount of tax credit depends on the hybrid vehicle chosen. Extra incentives are also given to plug-in electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid conversion kits. Additionally, each state gives out its own incentives. Check out the incentives for your state at http://www.dsireusa.org/.

Green Tip Número Oito (Number 8): Instead of using Bing or Google to fulfill your internet searching fetish, give Blackle a try. Blackle is a search engine that is powered by Google. The screen is almost completely black because it takes more energy to portray a white or light colored screen. The bottom of the page even tells you how many watt hours have been saved (the current count is 1,534,336.519!