The Cash for Caulking Stimulus Plan

The Cash for Caulking program (officially known as the Homestar Plan) is scheduled to be approved by the US government in December 2009, and will provide billions of dollars in incentives and rebates to homeowners that complete various home weatherization and insulation projects, as well as upgrading or replacing old appliances with energy-efficient ones.

Like the Cash for Clunkers stimulus plan launched earlier in 2009 for the auto industry, the purpose of Cash for Caulkers is two-fold: to encourage US consumers to spend to help the economy but to also do do in an energy-efficient manner, as far as encouraging improvements that will cut future energy bills and reliance on fossil fuels.

Cash for Caulking will provide rebates and incentives for a wide range of projects including:

• Duct sealing
• Basement insulation
• Installation of programmable thermostats
• Attic insulation
• Upgraded heating equipment
• Sealing air leaks
• Window upgrades
• Purchasing energy efficient appliances
• Insulating water heaters

While some details still need to be worked out and finalized, the current version of the plan features a list of 10 projects like the above listed ones, and homeowners could be eligible for up to $2,000 in incentives if they did two projects, or eligible for $3,500 in incentives if they do four or more (although the government money can’t be used to pay for more than 50% of the total costs of the projects).

For homeowner looking to tackle bigger projects, households that complete a project that reduce their total energy consumption by 20% or more could be eligible for a $4,000 subsidy (again, with the government money paying for up to 50% of the total project cost).

Under the most recent version of the Cash for Caulkers plan, homeowners could be eligible for a maxium total of $12,000 in incentives, if they took advantage of all of the possible savings.