Providing Assistance for Clean Energy

Providing Assistance for Clean Energy. I'm Greg Martin as Line On Agriculture presents the Harvest Clean Energy Report. Tax season has just passed and fortunately the Martin household files a fairly simple and straight forward tax return which means in most cases we do it ourselves. But like those situations where things get a bit tricky with this deduction and special sets of rules, it's best to consult an expert. Leif Elgethun is one such expert who provides help to businesses and ag producers who are looking to get into renewable energy projects. ELGETHUN: I'm working with Climate Solutions and their Harvesting Clean Energy program to package grants for the USDA's Rural Energy for America Program, REAP. And we're also working with the Research Conservation Districts in Idaho to provide subsidized energy audits for agricultural producers and small businesses in rural America. Elgethun talks about some of the various projects that folks in Idaho are getting doing. ELGETHUN: Some of the projects are really varied. We've currently been working on anything from improving lighting efficiency on diaries to geothermal heating for greenhouses to photovoltaic on buildings in MaCall so there are quite a few opportunities out there and they really run the gamut of anything you can think of that improves energy efficiency or adds renewable energy to a small business or agricultural producer. Before getting started on a project it is important to do your homework and Elgethun says to get some preliminary work done. ELGETHUN: One of the things we recommend doing is for people to get an energy audit or a performance index completed on their project to see what exactly their project is going to cost them as well as what the payback periods are. And that particular program is also being subsidized through the USDA and we can actually come on out to your dairy or your farm or your small business and look at your lighting, look at your insulation, look at your pumps and also answer questions that they may have about some of the renewable energy options that might be available on their particular site. According to Elgethun there really is a lot of help out there for people thinking about a project and he says that can be a bit of a surprise. ELGETHUN: You know I think what surprises a lot of people more than anything else is the amount of assistance that is becoming available to help them make informed decisions. For additional information on clean energy or more on the REAP program, visit harvestcleanenergy.org. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network. www.harvestcleanenergy.org