If the Senate does, in fact, pass the Home Star bill, do you think it’s got enough cash to make an impact on your business?

Right now, the bill says it will provide $6 billion in rebates for homeowners who make energy efficiency upgrades to their homes. But keep in mind that that money also has to cover all the administrative costs of operating the program, so it’s actually a smaller amount that would be available to fund the rebates.

After the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) passed, some states received funds to offer rebates similar to what Home Star would provide on a national level.

Have you heard about how the state rebate programs turned out? Check out this YouTube video to see how quickly the funds for Arizona’s Energy Star Appliance Rebate program were used up.



Whoa - did you catch that? Within 3 hours and 38 minutes, all the Arizona rebates had been reserved. That included more than $3.1 million for clothes washers, $1.4 million for water heaters, and $400,000 for dishwashers.

Could this be the future of Home Star? Will all the rebates and money be snatched up so quickly you won’t have time to get in on the action?