Saving Green While Going Green

02/10/10 5:26 pm | reporter: Neville Miller producer: Raymond Rivera

Charleston, SC - If you are in need of a new refrigerator or washing machine, you may want to think about buying one that is energy efficient.

?With the washing machines, the actual savings that you will experience over the lifetime, it?s actually a third of the water consumption and a third of the energy usage opposed to the average top load washers,? said Charlie Bodine, appliance sales specialist at Lowe?s in Mt. Pleasant.

Not only will you save money on your utility bills, beginning on March 31, a federal rebate program will give you money for buying Energy Star appliances.

?There will be an instant rebate offered on dishwashers, washing machines, refrigerators that all qualify under the Energy Star logo,? said Bodine.

Rebates range from $50 for refrigerators and dishwashers to $100 for washing machines.

?It is about saving money for yourself, you will save money on you electric bill, your water bill,? he said.

The federal government is giving South Carolina $3.9 million for the appliance version of cash for clunkers, money that can also be used for larger, more expensive Energy Star appliances that need to be installed by a contractor.

?Those include hot water heaters, solar hot water heaters, tank-less hot water heaters and central heating and air units and gas furnaces,? said Mark Timms, owner and operator of Carolina Energy Star.

Depending on the appliance installed, you will get a check in the mail that could be as much as $500 dollars. However, to cash in, Timms says you will need to act quickly before the funds run out.

?It?s probably going to last a day or two days at the most,? Timms said.

You can also apply for tax credits from the Department of Energy and get back $1500 or 30 percent of the price of the appliance.

If the IP tells you anything other than Iva,S.C. this time you need to find a better way of tracking IPs.

I have told you in every post where I posted from.

I am not Mark you dumbass!

What a FING MORON you are Smartie!

I do not know Mark.

This is a business on S. Main st. in Anderson,S.C. (not Greenville)

South Carolina Appliance Rebates

The State of South Carolina will implement a rebate program to help residents replace older, inefficient appliances with new, ENERGY STAR® qualified and ultra-efficient appliances. The program is tentatively scheduled to begin on March 31, 2010 and will end when funds are depleted.

Rebates for refrigerators, clothes washers, dishwashers, and room air conditioners will be available instantly at participating retailers. "Pre-qualified" contractors will provide consumers with mail-in rebate applications for water heaters and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment.

Eligible products include

* Refrigerators

* Clothes washers

* Dishwashers

* Room air conditioners

* Gas condensing water heaters

* High-efficiency gas storage water heaters

* High-performance gas storage water heaters

* Gas tankless water heaters

* Electric heat pump water heaters

* Solar water heaters

* Gas furnaces

* Central air conditioners

* Air source heat pumps

* Geothermal heat pumps

South Carolina encourages recycling of all old appliances.

Contact: South Carolina Energy Office

Total Funding: $4,298,000

Program information subject to change. Rebates may be offered for a limited time only. Before purchasing a product, check with your program sponsor to ensure rebates are available, and to confirm product eligibility and program requirements. Products purchased must meet efficiency criteria as established by the state.

total of $3.9 million will be available in rebates to South Carolina residents purchasing ENERGY STAR appliances in the state beginning March 31, 2010 and continuing until all funds are exhausted. This program is funded by South Carolina?s share of federal stimulus funds being distributed to each state for appliance rebates. Rebates will not apply to online purchases or purchases made prior to March 31, 2010.

For appliances purchased in a store, the rebate will be applied instantly at the register. Installers of whole-house equipment such as water heaters and HVAC systems will reserve rebates online and then provide customers with mail-in forms. Customers participating in this program will be required to let retailers and installers recycle their old, inefficient appliances to ensure that they are taken off the power grid.

Products to be Rebated Rebate Levels ($)

Clothes washers $100

Dishwashers $50

Refrigerators $50

Room Air Conditioning Units $50

Central Air Conditioning Units $200

Heat Pump $500

Gas Furnace $500

Gas-Condensing Water Heater $400

Electric Heat Pump Water Heater $400

Hi-Efficiency Gas Storage Water Heater $100

Hi-Performance Gas Storage Water Heater $200

Gas Tankless Water Heater $400

Solar Electric Water Heater $400

Solar Gas Water Heater $400

To find a participating Retailer or Contractor near you, use the search tool shown in the menu on the left.

ARRA Fraud Prevention Hotline

(803) 832-8877 or (800) 411-8893

1201 Main Street

Suite 715, Box 27

Columbia, SC 29201

Store/Business Name: Carolina Energy Star

Store Number:

Contractor License Number: 48238

Address: 2202 middle st sullivans island, SC 29482

Phone: (888) 377 - 1882

Preferred method of contact: Phone

Contact Name: Mark Timms

Business Type: Contractor

Oh my, and they even give the number of a fraud prevention hotline.

Contractor Mark Timms already has 20 rebate-based jobs booked across the region through his Isle of Palms-based business, Carolina Energy Star.

"They know it's first-come, first-served and once the money runs out, it's gone," Timms said. "When the (Energy Office's) administration Web page opens at 7 a.m. Wednesday, I will punch everybody's name into the system to make sure they get the rebate."

Energy Star ratings face fraud, abuse

By Frederic J. Frommer | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Saturday, March 27, 2010

WASHINGTON - Fifteen phony products - including a gasoline-powered alarm clock - won a label from the government certifying them as energy efficient in a test of the federal "Energy Star" program.

Investigators concluded the program is "vulnerable to fraud and abuse."

A report released Friday said government investigators tried to pass off 20 fake products as energy efficient, and only two were rejected. Three others didn't get a response.

The program run by the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to identify energy-efficient products to help consumers. Tax credits and rebates serve as incentives to buy Energy Star products.

But the General Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, said Energy Star doesn't verify claims made by manufacturers - which might explain the gasoline-powered alarm clock, not to mention a product billed as an air room cleaner that was actually a space heater with a feather duster and fly strips attached, and a computer monitor that won approval within 30 minutes of submission.

The alarm clock's size - 11/2-feet high and 15 inches wide - and model name "Black Gold" should have raised alarms with Energy Star, but the automated review system didn't catch on to the deception.

"EPA officials confirmed that because the energy-efficiency information was plausible, it was likely that no one read the product description information," GAO said.

In addition, the four phony GAO companies were able to become Energy Star partners, giving them access to the program's logos and other promotional resources. Energy Star didn't call any of the companies or visit the addresses, and sent only four of the 20 products to be verified by a third-party, GAO said.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee who requested the study, said that "taxpayers are shortchanged twice" when Energy Star products are not thoroughly vetted - when consumers are willing to pay more for the products, and when taxpayer dollars are spent encouraging the purchases.