Commercial Green Building Incentives & Rebates
Has your business taken advantage of the low- and no-cost ways to save money on your energy bill? EnergySmart Energy Advisors can meet with your business to offer free energy-saving products and share tips, case studies, and opportunities for easy energy savings. EnergySmart at Work or call 877-505-6722. |
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Quick Links
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Upcoming Commercial Brown Bag Seminars
Tue, March 13, 2012 12:00 PM • REI Community Room, 1789 28th St, Boulder
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Colorado utilities, state government, local government, and non-profits have a wealth of technical assistance - and financial assistance - to help you implement energy efficiency improvements in your business or facility. The links below provide you with program profiles, so that you can determine which of them meets your energy efficiency needs.
Utility Programs
State Programs
Federal Programs
Boulder County
EnergySmart at Work The commercial program is designed to stimulate investments in energy efficiency by the property owners and tenants in the commercial building sector.
EnergySweeps: For a limited time, Energy Advisors from EnergySmart: Your Efficiency Solutions are "sweeping" thorough selected areas in the City of Boulder. Energy advisors will go door-to-door to install free energy-saving products and help local businesses search for wasted energy. Call Call 1-877-505-6722 to schedule your free, no-obligation Energy Sweep assessment.
Through the Boulder County Energy Efficiency Pilot, new LIGHTING rebates for Boulder businesses and commercial properties are now available (these are in addition to utility rebates!). These rebates are limited through March 31, 2011 and are on a first-come, first serve basis.
ClimateSmart Commercial Loan Program Commercial and institutional properties including non-profits, apartment buildings, small manufacturing facilities and multifamily, low-income and/or elderly housing complexes are all eligible for the commercial ClimateSmart Loan Program.
Boulder County PACE Program is a free program in Boulder County committed to providing local businesses with technical assistance to improve their energy efficiency, zero waste management, and water conservation.
City of Boulder
Solar Rebate Program*
This program is available to residential and commercial customers that install solar paneling or solar water heaters after December 14, 2006. The rebate is approximately 15% of the total sales tax for the purchase of the equipment within the City of Boulder.
Smart Regs The SmartRegs proposal includes recommended changes to Boulder’s Housing Code and Rental License Code and incorporates energy efficiency requirements as part of the code updates to address Climate Action Plan (CAP) objectives. At a third reading on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010, SmartRegs was unanimously approved after more than a year of collaboration with various community and technically-based subcommittees, city advisory boards and residents. The adopted ordinances will go into effect on Jan. 3, 2011. Stay tuned the SmartRegs website for implementation information
10ForChange 10 for Change is a volunteer program for City of Boulder Businesses to get recognized for saving energy while saving money.
Other Local Programs
Northeast Metro Pollution Prevention Alliance NEMPPA offers technical and financial assistance to businesses located in the northeast Denver metro area interested in implementing energy efficiency measures in their facilities.
Utility Programs
Many, if not most, utilities offer energy audits or assessments to help businesses pinpoint areas for energy efficiency improvements.
Xcel Energy offers a number of energy efficiency and demand-side management programs to its commercial and industrial customers. Xcel Energy Conservation Rebates & Incentive Information:
- Xcel Energy Onsite Assessment $1,000 value for $200. Experts will assess the efficiency of your existing building’s energy use and report opportunities for improvement.
- Lighting Efficiency Five programs to lower your lighting costs and earn rebates
- Cooling Efficiency Xcel Energy offers Cooling Efficiency rebates for Colorado business customers who install energy-saving cooling equipment. Qualifying equipment must be purchased and installed after Jan. 1, 2006, to qualify for our rebates.
- Furnance RebatesCash back when you install a qualifying energy-efficient model
- Motors Efficiency Rebates to help lower your operating costs, improve your return on investment, and your margins because 98% of your motor’s cost is toward energy
- Recommissioning - Recommissioning helps you find and solve mechanical system problems that make your facility expensive to operate. Recommissioning can help lower energy costs by an average of 10 percent.
- Custom Efficiency - With Custom Efficiency, by ConservationWise from Xcel Energy SM , you can get money back for choosing energy-efficiency investments that exceed standard options, but aren't covered under our standard conservation programs.
Platte River Power Authority (for Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland, and Estes Park) provides electricity to its four member communities through their municipal utilities, including Estes Park Light and Power, Fort Collins Utilities, Longmont Power and Communications, and Loveland Water and Power Department. Each of these four utilities offers financial incentives for high-efficiency cooling, lighting, and other equipment.
Longmont Power and Communications (LPC)
- LPC's Commercial Energy Efficiency Program Longmont businesses can receive up to $500 per kilowatt (kW) for investing in energy efficiency improvements. This incentive is offered to all commercial rate customers by LPC and Platte River Power Authority for installing energy efficient equipment or controls that reduce electric demand during the summer peak period. Qualifying electric efficiency measures may include, but are not limited to, lighting, heating, ventilation, cooling, motors, manufacturing equipment, thermal energy storage, controls or other technologies.
- Lighting Audit Commercial customers have the option to participate in this utility-sponsored lighting assessment. The assessment will analyze a facility’s lighting systems and recommend lighting that is more energy efficient.
- LPC Energy Audit This free energy audit will review previous electric bills, offer suggestions for areas of improvement, estimate annual savings, and present the customer with a list of possible incentives
Poudre Valley REA
State of Colorado
The Colorado Governor's Energy Office (GEO) is providing rebates to Colorado businesses and organizations who pay commercial utility rates and who purchase and install qualifying photovoltaic (PV), solar water heating, and wind energy systems. Eligible entities can include businesses, nonprofits and agricultural producers that receive 50% or more of their income from agricultural production. Xcel Energy and Black Hills customers do not qualify for PV rebates due to existing incentives.
Public or Government Applicants Due to federal requirements, commercial buildings that are owned and or managed by a governmental entity are not eligible for rebate funding. Grant funding to governmental entities and some non-profits will be available through a Request for Application process later in the year. Visit the GEO calendar of grants here.
Federal
Tax Deductions for Commercial Buildings
Energy-Efficient Commercial Building Tax Deduction - A Federal tax deduction, which reduces taxable income, and is worth up to $1.80 per square foot in commercial buildings. Set to expire in 2013, the incentive rewards efficiency in lighting, mechanical systems, and the building envelope. Projects that can show a savings of 50 percent over ASHRAE 90.1-2001 using a whole building simulation are eligible for the full amount. Partial deductions are allowed for efficiencies in the listed systems.
Extension of Energy Investment Tax Credits - The 30% investment tax credits (ITC) for solar energy and qualified fuel cell properties are extended to January 1, 2017. The 30% ITC now also applies to qualified small wind energy property. The cap for qualified fuel cells increased to $1,500 per half kilowatt of capacity. Finally, a new 10% ITC is available for combined heat and power systems and geothermal heat pumps.
Commercial Building Initiative works with commercial builders and owners to reduce energy use and optimize building performance, comfort, and savings.
Other Programs
Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) at Colorado State University offers FREE plant assessments providing recommendations for improved energy efficient operations. The service is available to industrial energy customers in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
ENERGY STAR® provides a host of technical assistance tools to make your business, building, and processes more energy efficient.
Pollution Prevention P2, run by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, provides grants, technical assistance, and education on best management practices for companies that want to reduce waste.
