We’ve all “heard” about green rebates, but what about turning those mutterings into cold, hard cash?

Evidently, there’s more than $4 billion in eco-rebates out there, just sitting on some contractor or retailer’s shelf – in your zip code, under your nose, literally at your fingertips. According to a 2011 survey from Harris Interactive, only 13% of homeowners make home improvements that allow them to take advantage of these billions. More than 60% of Americans are completely in the dark that they even exist. Ironic, considering that all utility payers (renters, too) pay into these rebate programs via those Delphian surcharges.

Thankfully our intrepid reporting has led us to a free, easy, user-friendly service with a cute interface called Save Big Bread. It’s the Kayak of the home improvement industry with a two-pronged green approach:

1. Customers can save lots of green from their searchable database.

2. Contractors and manufacturers are authorized to provide energy-efficient, rebate-heavy products and services that are beneficial for our planet’s well-being.

Homeowners in the market for prohibitively expensive home improvement items (furnaces, windows, air-conditioning units, solar panels) can get a quote from SaveBigBread linking to state, utility and manufacture programs offering green rebates.

At this point you might be rolling your eyes to the tune of rebates, shmeebates. But we’re not talking $5 off a $78 Very Sexy ® push-up from Victoria’s Secret. These rebates can equate to significant savings worth thousands of dollars.

As a rule, rebates are not as sexy as the Very Sexy ® bra. That’s the fault of bad copywriting.

“These rebates are a mirage,” explains Tony Maull, founder and President of Save Big Bread. “The way they’ve been marketed these programs are not consumer friendly.”

Save Big Bread is about transparency and access to attainable, digestible information.

“What we’ve done is taken on the burden of going into the program sites and structuring that information. We rationalize it and let the consumer choose…the savings, and the people who can do the work authorized by the program.”

They will even help you with the paperwork, ensuring that the rebate materializes not as concept but as actual, spendable cash. Victoria’s Secret is not going to give you that kind of boost.

Image: Installation of the Toncelli Eurocucina at the 2012 International Kitchen Furniture Exhibition in Milan

The post An Energy Efficient Way To Boost Your Green Rebates appeared first on EcoSalon.

Give your dated, energy suck of a kitchen a thoroughly efficient makeover.

Talk about ravenous. According to the National Association of Home Builders, residential electricity use accounts for approximately 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the lion’s share fuming from our kitchen appliances. The fridge is a particularly hungry beast, chomping up 17% of the electricity used in a typical American home.

Replacing outmoded appliances with newer eco-considerate ones can save you money in the long haul, and make you feel a little less guilty about wasting (your) energy during late-night food recon missions in front of an open refrigerator door. So what are you waiting for? Shop for efficient ice makers and appliances today!

The Ice Cool is undoubtedly cool. It relies on a hybrid cooling technology, which is up to five times more efficient than major consumer brands on the market. Mason anticipates, “the reduced energy demand of 5,000 of my fridges would save one whole power station, and it would be like shutting down another one when they run passively.”

The washing machine is another kitchen-realm appliance that could use an energy makeover given that 70-90% of the electricity required is used to heat the water alone. This washer from Hoover, with a 22 lb drum size, can reduce the number of loads you do by half. Plus it weighs laundry and adjusts cycle times, water and electricity usage accordingly.

Feast your eyes on the picture below:

Perhaps you have no idea what you are looking at? It’s called FlexInduction, a stovetop innovation that allows you to heat pans of any size positioned anywhere within the zone. What that means is this: it’s like watching water boil, but more efficiently because pans are heated from the outside in.

The FlexInduction system from Neff also features an LED display and timer, automatic pan recognition and power management function.

If you like to whistle while you sauté, the SolarDAB portable radio is for you. Situate it on a sunny windowsill and the batteries will recharge themselves for up to 27 hours.

The Nahamer T450 calls itself “the first environmentally sustainable toaster.” It’s a lovely little bread conductor that’s 20% faster than its cohorts and uses half the energy. Anyone who’s ever had a toaster will appreciate that the Nahamer is designed to be disassembled and repaired instead off tossed out and replaced. What’s truly sleek is the Toast Drop system, which slides your toast straight onto your plate. Better than butter.

The food processor is often touted as one of the most used appliances in the kitchen. I’m addicted to my Bosch, but this multi-use, foot-pedal-powered blender/coffee grinder/chopper and cutting board has me drooling.

Christoph Thetard’s eco-friendly concept features built in storage for all of its various and sundry attachments. The flywheel, meanwhile, mounted inside a finished wooden case, can generate 350 watts of power per minute.

Finally, coffee: the guts and brawn of your morning. The solar energy coffee maker by Gun ho Lee appears to be in development, prompting an internal reminder that patience – like fair trade beans – is a virtue.

As is this design:

If you’ve come across any sleek, eco-friendly appliances EcoSalon should know about, tell me about them at emily@ecosalon.com or tweet to @ecosalon.

Image: Marco Calderisi

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