6-11 IAN Climate Solutions

 Is there a way to be reimbursed by doing the right thing environmentally. Well if you’re in Idaho there appears to be a way. I’m David Sparks and that story is next. Taxes can be simple for a lot of folks but if you own a farm or business, things can be very complicated and it may serve you well to be familiar with tax breaks, tax incentive and rebate programs. There are even grants that farmers and ranchers can apply for in the arena of renewable energy according to financial expert Leif Elgethun who works with a green company out of Seattle called Climate Solutions.

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.

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 MCall 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. 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. For additional information on clean energy or more on the REAP program, visit harvestcleanenergy.org.