Green Innovation Initiative?

Congresswomen Melissa Bean just introduced a series of bills called the Green Innovation Initiative, to provide incentives to builders, businesses and homeowners to invest in green technology and green buildings.

To create the secure energy infrastructure needed to power the future, we must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by developing alternative energy sources and better conserving the energy that we already have. If we want to build a healthy, sustainable environment for our children and grandchildren, we need to prioritize scaling back our current carbon emissions by making our homes and workplaces more energy efficient. Promoting development of these energy-efficient technologies revitalizes our workforce, expands job opportunities and strengthens our economy.

These bills are meant to promote the economic growth, energy preservation and environmental protection future generations are counting on.
Her Green Innovation Initiative consists of:

• H.R. 5597, The Next Generation Homes Act, which promotes the construction and purchase of energy-efficient homes. Provides home builders with tax incentives for construction of homes that are measurably more energy-efficient as defined by the Energy Star and HERS indexes, with the largest incentives reserved for builders of Zero Energy Homes.
  
• Encourages homebuyers to purchase an energy-efficient home when an equivalent, less-efficient home is more affordable, by making that difference tax deductible. So if you buy a home that is $10,000 more expensive because of energy-efficient improvements -- such as better insulation, energy-efficient heating systems or alternative energy sources -- then you can deduct that $10,000 from your taxable income.
  

H.R. 4574, The Commercial Conservation Act, which encourages investment in newer and more energy-efficient HVAC systems in commercial buildings.

• Changes the tax code to reduce the depreciation time for all commercial building heating and air conditioning units from 39 years to 25 years.
  
• Depreciation time reduced to 20 years for units that are at least 10 percent more efficient than existing standards for modern air conditioners.
  

H.R. 5372, Recycling Investment Saves Energy (RISE) Act, which would provide incentives for recycling companies to buy newer and better equipment.

• Changes the tax code to provide a 50 percent accelerated depreciation allowance for companies to purchase advanced recycling technology, which would increase the quality and quantity of recovered material.