The 25C energy efficiency tax credits that were initiated via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are due to expire on December 31st, 2010. Although Geothermal and Solar credits will remain available until 2016, all of the conventional heating and cooling high efficiency tax are about to disappear. The combination of these credits with a hot summer season has created a replacement system volume bump during the cooling season that many contractors may not have otherwise seen in this recession. In fact, it does not appear that a single residential system replacement that we did was not tied to utility rebates and tax credits. Therefore, it is a good assumption that consumers were well aware of these credits and were invested in the value they created by subsequently lowering the net installed cost of a qualifying high efficiency system.

If this is the case, then why not free up some more under-utilized ARRA funds to continue the program? HARDI, the HVAC Wholesalers’ trade association, has been lobbying to do just that. You can support their effort by visiting their lobbying effort web site at www.savehvacjobs.com. This site will automatically fill in an email form for you, find your legislators contact information and send personalized emails from you in support of an extension of the legislation. It literally took me 5 minutes and, as a result, I received the form response from Senator Gillibrand below.

Economic signs are still not all that positive. There is always the possibility of a double dip recession and/or a much longer recovery. Although the tax credits available in the ARRA program may not be the best way to stimulate more HVAC replacements and increase energy efficiency, they are the best vehicle available to us at the moment. Your support is a vote towards an HVAC industry stimulus and a more energy efficient future.

Thanks for your support and please pass the word on.