I guess since I'm talking already I'll introduce
myself my name is Maggie Kozak. I work for clean energy resource teams my role is our events
and seed grants. Pete I'll pass it over to you. Sounds great good afternoon everybody Peter
Lindstrom also with CERTs I worked primarily with local governments and schools and businesses
and nonprofits and a bunch of other people Shaylyn hi everyone Shaylyn Bernhardt I'm the
communications manager for the clean energy resource teams well let's get rocking and rolling
here I suspect many of you know about CERTs and what we're up to but just a friendly reminder
that we connect individuals and communities to clean energy projects all across the state
we're a Statewide organization and we've been doing this for 20 years plus 21 years now and
so that's that Sears and we're gonna be talking about tax credits we're going to be talking about
rebates and all sorts of good things and and we used to just talk about this in the context
of the inflation reduction act but now that there's so many of these opportunities through
the state through you your utility we've we've expanded it but let's Dive Right In we have
this tax credit it's been on the books for a while but it's been expanded recently the energy
efficient home improvement credit 30% tax credit so if you have a tax appetite you are eligible to
receive this tax credit it that used to be capped at $500 for your lifetime $500 for your lifetime
that's changed there's still a cap $1,200 cap for Home Improvements things like energy audits
insulation Windows Doors that sort of thing but it's no longer a lifetime cap it's a $1,200
annual cap which is really nice and you can kind of plan out your improvements Year bye knowing
that this cap or no knowing that this credit is in place and if you're interested in a heat
pump then that then then you can take a $2,000 tax credit for the for that Improvement so 3,200
annual cap if you include that heat pump and again they're they're for insulation doors windows
some energy efficient appliances and then heat pumps you're familiar with heat pumps most
likely transferring heat instead of instead of creating it this heat pump is a heat pump
tax credit is available right now $22,000 tax credit and I would say just an overall shift
is towards electrification that these really these tax credits these rebates are really
aimed at electrifying your home and your business just a somewhat of a side note there's
in in Minnesota there's a What's called the air source heat pump collaborative and they do a great
job on educating residents on what air source heat pumps are all about and what contractors are out
there that do these types of insulations and what sort of rebates are out there by each utility
so that's the air source heat pump collaborative it's a it's a great resource so let's move on to
rebates Federal rebates that are being channeled through the state there's two major ones that are
brand spank and new home the homes rebates and the here rebate program and so the feds allocated
almost nine billion dollars for these two rebate programs the state each state is is setting up
what they what exactly they they look like so with the home rebate program this is an interesting
one it's a what they call a whole house rebate and it's based on either a modeled approach or
a measured approach and what I mean by that is you've got that you got that home energy audit
completed you know that you need some insulations some lighting some other improvements and you're
working with a contractor who uses some software and they model out what your savings will be
and if that model shows 20% Energy savings that's a $2,000 rebate for you if it shows 35%
or more that's a $4,000 rebate for you under the the measure measured approach that's where you
measure your electrical consumption beforehand you do the improvements and then you measure it
after the improvements and again you hit that 20% Mark $22,000 rebate 35% or more a $4,000 doll
rebate and if you're low low or moderate income resident those rebates double so at the low end
it's 20 000 on the high end it could be upwards of $8,000 rebate through the homes programs
for here it's a little bit different homes I I'll say so I'll just back up real quick homes is
for anybody and again if you're a little moderate income those rebates double but anyone can tap
into this one here rebates are specific for low and moderate income residents and it's really
a a appliance that's what it stands for as you can see home electrification and appliance rebate
program so you can see what the rebates are for those who qualify on this slide right here both
of the these two rebate programs that I'm talking about hopefully in Minnesota will be rolled out
by the end of the year early 2025 I think at the at the latest but hopefully U hopefully this
fall and this one so here rebates it covers both the the equipment and the installation costs the
thresholds for low and moderate income are it's a 100% rebate if you are 80% area median income
or lower and if you are between 80% and 150% area median income the rebate is 50% so a very healthy
incentive and one one thing that we're really stressing is for folks to get that home energy
audit completed that's a as we're as we're waiting for these rebates to be rolled out people can get
a solid understanding of what they need to do by getting a home energy audit so let's talk the
residential energy tax credit this one's pretty exciting again it's been on the books for a while
there's been a tax credit for for we'll say solar for example it's gone up and down over the years
they call it the solar coaster but it's now set at 30% for solar for energy storage wind geothermal
heat pumps and energy storage is a new one sort of new it it had to in years past it had to be tied
into a solar array that's no longer the case it can be a standalone energy storage systems and
again it's set at 30% till 20 till 2032 I think and then it goes down a little bit and then it
goes down a little bit the year after that but 30% so it's We've jumped off the solar coaster
and it's and it's predictable which is really nice let's talk electric vehicles for a minute
again this one's been on the books for a while too this tax credit for EVS but there's been
some pretty significant changes there's put there is now some income qualifications that you
can see on the screen here for those filing as a single person $150,000 income and married couples
$300,000 or lower and then some certain conditions on the vehicle or the battery it itself that you
can see here and there's this website that's on the screen here fueleconomy.gov if you're Cur
curious about whether or not the vehicle you're interested in qualifies for these tax credits this
is a great website to go to and and you can check that out what's new what so I mentioned this
the EV tax credit has been in place for a while for new vehicles but what what what's changed
another thing that's changed is that there's a tax credit for used electric vehicles and that's a
$4,000 tax credit so let's go through a case study here we have The Adams Family lovely family they
live up in Babbit on a 1300 square foot home built in the 1960s their income is $55,000 it's below
that threshold 80% threshold of area median income and so they qualify for 100% rebates so what does
that look like for them I mentioned it's good to know to kind of plan these out year after year and
so they know this year they're going to ditch that old propane range and and pick up a new induction
stove and they qualify 100% through the he rebates for that U Improvement all the way down to in
a few years they're gonna upgrade their vehicle they're going to ditch the gas car they're going
to get a used EV and and maybe they're gonna get a seven-year-old Nissan Leaf something like that
they can get a $4,000 tax credit for that used vehicle what about the Bradys that's a familiar
looking family lovely family living in Worthington and they have a 1600 square foot home heated
with natural gas the Brady income is $15,000 and that for Worthington is under the 150 150%
threshold so they cover 50% rebates so what does that look like for them they want to get rid
of their car they upgrade their car this year and they can get a a used EV for that $4,000
tax credit maybe they're going to get a we'll say a Toyota Prius Prime lovely vehicle and they
need a charger for that so they're going to get a the charger installed which there's a tax credit
for that oh [ __ ] it is GNA be a nice day W it's gonna be a nice day we can hear you yeah
and so there's a tax credit for charging and then all the way down to in a few years they
want to get a solar array on their home so 30% tax credit for the Brady
family for their home in Worthington all right that's that's a lot of
the tax credits and rebates for homeowners there's also incentives for businesses so 30%
tax credit for businesses that are interested in in solar it goes down to 6% for larger projects
over a megawatt unless you meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements and then it's
back up to to 30% and there's a new thing out there that's really cool and really taking off
called transferability so if a business doesn't want to use the tax credit or they don't have
a tax appetite they can sell that tax credit on their the open market and and get cash for it and
that's a brand new thing that is really taking off and there's these what what what are called adders
so I mentioned 30% minimum tax credit for for solar geothermal wind projects but there are what
what are called adders also so if it's if you do certain things or if it's located in certain areas
then that tax credit can go up so for example I was talking to a superintendent of schools this
morning who's going to do a solar project and most likely that project is going to use made in
America components so that or so-called domestic content components and so that 30% tax credit goes
up to 40% because there's a 10% adder for domestic content if you are in an a an energy community
and that's defined as if the array is located on a Brownfield site or if the community you are in has
high fossil fuel employment or a closed landfill those are energy communities there's a 10% Adder
for that so you can see this tax credit which by the way was on its way down down to 10% now has
the potential to be 40 50 60% which is just just a humongous game Cher and there's this brand new
thing called domestic content or sometimes called elective pay you'll you'll see both they mean
the same thing direct direct pay direct pay or elective pay and it allows non- taxpaying entities
to tap into these tax credits and so your cities counties schools faith communities not any
nonprofit can now get a minimum 30% payment from Uncle Sam for these types of projects
for solar storage geothermal electric vehicles and EV charging in certain locations so that's
that's a game changer as well there are so I mentioned at the outset lots of federal changes
but oh my gosh the state's been busy too and we'd be here all week if we had to present
on each one of these small little bulleted items on the on the left side of the screen but
these are some new things in the last year or so passed by the state which are really
exciting some have been rolled out and and many of them are still in the works
and we can we can we can go to them into them if folks have questions on that but
here's just a few a few of the new energy programs and that's me we'll be we can share
our slides and that's my contact information happy to work with you as you're going through
your particular project or working with you with the communities that you are a part of with that I
will stop sharing and turn it over to my colleague Shaylyn thanks Pete hey everyone I'm gonna give
you a really quick 8 minute 30 second spiel on our new community energy ambassador program
and then we'll open it up for questions the rest of the hour and you can ask whatever you'd
like but right now let me share my screen with you and all much does anyone have any questions yeah go ahead sorry in the chat Shaylyn
I no there are several questions and so I shall defer to you and Pete in answering them what are
they Maggie oh there's an idea Pete I could read them aloud oh the let's see for accessibility
and because this is being recorded I'm going to go ahead if it's okay with every and read some of
the ones that have already been answered unless we think that's a bad idea okay cool someone
asked does homes apply h o m all capitalized apply to Manufactured Homes as well and Shaylyn
thoughtfully put in there the here the specifics from the Minnesota Department of Commerce
existing single family homes and multifamily buildings will be eligible where there's a
link then someone asked on electric wiring is it whole house or can it be applied to EV
submetering opportunities Shaylyn answered the program is still getting worked out so all
that we found is that upgrades to a home's electrical panel and wiring will be eligible
did you did you do you have any other specifics beyond that no that so there's a tax credit as I
mentioned for charging which includes the wiring but that charging tax credit it's a unique one
in that it is not available everywhere it is only available in rural parts of America and
low and low income parts of America so I will drop in a link to a map where you can put in your
address and see if you qualify for that tax credit and Pete I suspect perhaps many places that the
federal government thinks of as rural minnesotans don't necessarily think of as rural so it might
be worth checking if you live in a small Minnesota city is that sound yeah although I was really
pleased I'd say 90 95% of the state is covered by the tax credit but I was also surprised when
you really zoom in on some cities it's by census track so you know parts of Worthington do qualify
and parts of Worthington don't qualify parts of St Cloud qualify parts of St Cloud don't qualify
lots of parts of Minneapolis and St Paul qualify and lots don't qualify so it's it's the the the
safe thing is don't assume anything check on the map and and that'll answer that 100% very
good sounds super worthwhile that map Shaylyn added in the chat the new energy programs from the
Minnesota Department of Commerce someone asked do you have information on the residential audo audit
requirements and Pete put in said yes and listed them in the chat question about that question
Lori asked that question and Lori were you talking about requirements to qualify for a free audit
or were you talking about because I know some folks are wondering if they can perform their
own DIY home audit and qualify and that doesn't actually the there's a we have we have information
on our website about what oh go ahead Lori can you clarify yeah I really wanted to to know overall
all of those things that you just mentioned so what is what is the requirement for the audit
itself and then what items require an audit in order to qualify for the tax credits so I think
by sharing the link we'll be able to figure that out and I don't think it's the rebate programs
in Minnesota some of the Minnesota Energy rebate programs that will require the home energy audit
correct Pete and I've seen on the that website that they used to have listed and I couldn't
find it recently and so I don't know if it's no longer a requirement but it used to say that
in order to meet the rebate or be eligible for a rebate a home energy audit had to be performed
within 18 months the previous 18 months by a certified professional and that was all that I
had previously found but I don't know if if that's changing since the rebates aren't available
yet like nothing is technically set in stone but thank you am I am I totally lying Pete
sounds legit okay great not lying very good very good not intentionally lying in the chat
we also have a couple more links that Shaylyn included for energy assessment benchmarking and
from the Minnesota Department of Commerce someone asked do you have someone who can announce this
program at our upcoming event alternatively do you have slides we could share on Sear's behalf
and this is a question we have not answered yet Shaylyn I suspect you have thoughts on that
matter yeah so I'm going to because I don't like how many times I stuttered during my Spiel to
you all I'm going to re-record it later and that will be on the community energy Ambassador website
so if you want to like share that little video you can I'll also include the slides if you want to
share the slides and depending on what your event is and what folks calendars look like somebody
might be able to present in person we also have like I said we have a lot of networking events
coming up that people are more than welcome to attend where our Regional coordinators will
be giving this a similar type of overview so another new question in the chat do any of the tax
credits at the state or federal level help fund roof Replacements if it's too old to enable solar
installation I thought that was a thing question mark I don't think so no okie dokie too bad
ah someone asked are all the residential tax credits specific to retrofit
homes or are new construction homes eligible that's to be determined with
the the state rebate programs they list on their website a a solid maybe a solid we're
thinking about it for the rebates again those of the homes rebates there are tax credits for
new construction federal tax credits for new construction cool and the next person
asked a similar question are the rebates available only for existing homes
for example not new construction I think tax credits can be applied in new
construction appreciate confirmation on this and confirm next question for the
commercial tax transferability is there any kind of marketplace to sell these or is
it more a matter of businesses finding each other I am not really positive on that yeah I've
seen some reports on on these types of sales but how they're doing it I am not I'm not 100%
positive quite frankly always good to be honest what would you say new question what would you say
about the work to connect landlords and renters to this information how does income eligibility work
in those circumstances we are actually developing a specific renters suite of materials that will be
available soon and I know one place that I point people to is Rewiring America they have a lot of
they focus a lot on electrification in general and have a ton of resources for renters including
information about how to like advocate for your like the residence in your building or in your
units and how to like talk to your landlord about making some of these upgrades and we've kind of
talked internally as staff about some of that and how that can also like be a problem for people
sometimes too if yeah so there's lots of research that requiring America we're working on we'll
have stuff rolled out in in June specifically for renters too is there anything else Pete
that you have oh that's great Pete included in the chat a link to charging tax credit map and
then we have a question can you please further Define what a tax appetite is and perhaps
give some examples of a tax appetite you bet that's a fancy phrase for just meaning if you owe
taxes tax appetite if you owe taxes that's who can take advantage of the tax credit me I'll add on
to that by saying many of these tax credits are what's called nonrefundable meaning if you
owe $400 in taxes to the federal government but you get a you're eligible to receive a $500
tax credit you can only that'll bring down your tax liability to zero you won't make one you
you won't get a check for $100 from the feds it's non-refundable go ahead Carmen hey Pete
you probably weren't surprised to get that question from me I had that's a great question
yeah so okay and I know probably none of us on the call are tax experts so and we're trying to
be careful in how we respond to these questions from people but when you say owe taxes do you
mean like people get taxes withheld from their paychecks for example yeah and say over the course
of the year they've withheld $5,000 and normally they would like that's just even Stephen they've
paid in what they would owe is that what you mean about ow or do you mean they I mean what the what
what Uncle Sam is expecting from Carmen in h year 2023 total that's that that's not yeah so it's
not like how much is left like you know withheld or anything like that it's like if Uncle Sam is
expecting $5,000 from Carmen and then you get a tax credit of $500 now Uncle Sam is expecting
$4,5 00 from Carmen even if you've and if you've paid if you've withheld $5,000 and now you find
out you get a tax credit of $500 then you'd get a a tax refund perfect thank you that's what I
needed to understand better we had heard some different interpretations so I appreciate that
gri just like Shaylyn said hopefully I'm not lying either so double check my work oh dear before you
put it in some user some some user guide or some that I know you're working on according to Peter
Lindstrom yes exactly kin I linked to our we have those on our inflation reduction at guide we have
those little call outs at the very top with kind of like the questions we get asked the most and
there's a specific thing about tax credits and rebates and what the difference is and we link
directly to the IRS where it like talks about taxable income and and we try to kind of Define
it there too so that if you want to also if you want to copy and paste that and add it feel free
to use our language thank you very much back to our little chat we have a new question excuse me
does anyone have resources for window replacements it's not always most cost effective to replace
your window there was a from experience NOP speaking from what Joel Haskard has told me over
the three-ish years I've worked at CS there was a c seed Grant a few years back and a group called
slipstream did a really cool video series on whether to replace windows or to repair them and
I will try to find that and pop it in the chat and that's not necessarily resources for window
replacements but it's kind of a good educational thing but I don't think we can actually recommend
businesses for Replacements if that's what you meant or grants I'm suspect it's probably to your
point about high costs probably trying to lower those costs and perhaps that oh Joel go ahead Joel
I will just the smallest rebuttal would be that there is some pretty great research on really
high efficiency windows that are happening out there in the world so I won't completely poo poo
window replacement because there are some pretty amazing high efficiency triple pane windows out
there and I know that there's a few utilities that have rebates for such things so if you can
find a good utility rebate plus a window that you think is really going to save a lot of money
for you but in general there's there's there's a wide family of Energy Efficiency Technologies
out there that that you may want to look into as well how's that for a more nuanced answer
thanks Joel I'll stop quoting you and saying that you tell people never to get their windows
or plac as someone who lives in a home that has new windows I will say it has really enhanced
my quality of life never mind the price tag onto our chat again a new question followup could
roof upgrades apply in the weatherization column rebate Joel you still on there I feel
like Joel might maybe if it's if you're adding insulation I would say for sure
yes just shingles I I would be surprised all righty and I I have a less educated
comment but I would just say I think certainly within the weather is AI service
provider World there is starting to be some pre weatherization opportunities coming into
fruition where I believe but that is for folks getting weather weatherization Services and
I think roof are in that pre weatherization world but now this is the part where I get
all squirrely and say don't quote me on this thanks Joel scrolling through the little
thought Carmen of Cub Minnesota offered that some lead removal programs may help pay for
window replacements Carmen thinks she's heard about that and Shaylyn put a link in or well said
that windows are eligible eligible for tax credits from the IRS form 5695 on residential energy tax
credits and dum dum dum there was I want to know more I'm sorry I want to know more about this
puppet show about climate from the Chipawa at the Chipawa Middle School I think Don I think we might
need to find a way to like record that and in include that in our community energy ambassador's
resources that sounds amazing that would be awesome Yale Yale climate Comm connections and
The Weather Channel have taken an interest in it and I've recently gotten interest for doing
our our climate education via puppet shows from Pennsylvania and all over so any way we can get
the word out that would be great so that's amazing yeah I'd love it if everyone could come it's
North Oaks is the is the town right here in the Metro where where it'll be on June 9th because
that is National Children's Day awesome and I thought what better way than to honor our
children's future with you know a a livable World well I'm going to drop something in the
chat if you are someone on your team has time add that event to our events calendar anything
related to clean energy in Minnesota can get added to that events calendar and that's the
page that we go to when we're promoting stuff on social media so like we'll take those event
listings and pop them across social and add them to our newsletter and stuff too so and sometimes
attend if it's a public show thank you those are all the questions that we have in the chat
which means we are we have time for more questions if people have any and Carmen added
another comment regarding Windows from City of Minneapolis does talk about removing lead paint
that as an example so any other questions people have feel free to unmute if that is more
convenient for you than writing in the chat and just to fill in the silence because that's
what I do a lot please check out the community energy ambassadors page we're still updating and
adding things to it and let us know if you have questions let us know if you have ideas like
I said we'll be putting up a we have so many resources that we're about to like publish that
are are resources that we've already produced that we've just recently translated into to
many different languages and and if there's anything that you or your community or your
organization could benefit from let us know because we really want to make sure that all
of our resources are accessible and you know not everybody wants a paper product to read
and so if you have other ideas for for ways we could make our resources better and more
useful for your community please let us know that in info@cleanenergy resource team.org
email address is a good one to send it to I try to check it every day if not multiple times a
day and yeah we'll get back to you as soon as we can well it looks like we are four minutes
you know from closing time and I don't see more questions so I don't know Shaylyn or Pete any
final thoughts before we close out today's session me just say thank you for joining us and let's
keep in touch and let's get the word out on these ambassadors there's so much information
that is that is available now but and a lot of information that's just coming out so we're
all learning together and I know a lot of folks have will continue to have a lot of questions so
keep it up everybody and stay tuned yeah and it like I said once again if there's ways that
we can partner or support what you're doing there are a lot of different groups that are
trying to get the word out about the IRA and about clean energy resources and man I wish
there was a way we could make sure we're not duplicating effort so if there's ever a way
that we can promote what you're doing too or help you create something or make something
that we have more accessible to you and your community let us know we are we don't we don't
we try not to corral our stuff too much but we will also share out this recording and slides and
more links later on too to all of you so thank you thanks everybody enjoy the rest of your
afternoon bye thanks for your time thank you
