Thursday, June 10, 2010

Washington, D.C. – Representative Dina Titus of Nevada’s Third District joined with Representative Dean Heller of Nevada and Representatives Gabrielle Giffords and Trent Franks of Arizona to introduce today bipartisan legislation that provides a tax incentive for energy efficient natural gas heat pumps.

“Expanding this important tax credit to include natural gas heat pumps will not only help reduce our dependence on oil, but it will help Nevada businesses and families save money on their energy bills by promoting efficient technologies,” Congresswoman Titus said.  “In addition, promoting efforts to reduce our water usage and preserve this precious commodity are critical for desert communities in Southern Nevada.”

Currently, a 10 percent tax credit is available to businesses and a 30 percent credit is available to homeowners for geothermal heat pumps.  This legislation would expand the credit to apply to natural gas heat pumps as well.  Utilizing natural gas at the point of usage is as much as three times more efficient than burning natural gas in central station power plants to provide electricity to buildings and homes.  In addition, central station power generation uses as much as a gallon of water for each kilowatt hour of electricity produced compared to heat pump technologies that require little to no water.

To be eligible for the tax credit under this legislation, the technology must be highly efficient – at least 20 percent more efficient than the best available gas furnaces on the market today.  The credit will facilitate lower costs for consumers by reducing electricity demand charges and by using inexpensive natural gas during summer months and gas very sparingly during the cold winter months.

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Tags: energy, tax relief