According to a recent story by reporter John Lund of WILX-TV, Michigan will now add furnances & hot water heaters to the list of appliances available for rebates from the State of Michigan. It is another effort to stimulate the economy & help homeowners upgrade their inefficient appliances to more energy saving versions.
Starting Aug. 1, the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth will offer rebates on hot-water heaters and furnaces. But those products are just the new addition to the Michigan Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program."Most of our rebates- we've given out 62,000 rebates, and most of them have been for refrigerators, clothes washers and dish washers," said Department of Energy's manager of technical assistance, John Sarver.
The program, part of the Federal Economic Recovery Program, has been around since February. It is like last year's Cash for Clunkers in the automobile industry. Except, this time, it's major appliances.
"This is most likely a one-shot deal, from the federal government," Sarver said. "These are federal dollars administered by the state to save energy, but also stimulate the economy."
The Michigan Trade Up program is similar to others around the country. But analysts say that Michigan is giving out more rebates than any other state.
"If we stay on the schedule, we should give out about 115 to 120,000 in rebates and that's about 13 times the amount of rebates other states will give out by the end of our program," said Stephanie Epps, appliance analyst for the Department of Energy.
Available at retailers wherever appliances are sold, the new eligible appliances are rated "energy star" or better, and are strictly for residential usage. Over $2 million is available for the furnace and hot water trade-ins, while $6.6 million is available for fridges and washers.
"Quite a bit of money available, but we're thinking that with the addition of the natural gas furnaces and hot water heaters, that the money will go fairly quickly," Sarver said.
Sarver estimates that the programs funds will be depleted by November.
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