The New Energy Efficient Home Tax Credit — the only federal incentive available for energy efficiency in new homes — was saved from expiration when Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 on January 1 of this year, as part of the closing act of the “fiscal cliff” drama. That action retroactively renewed the $2,000 credit (which is available to builders and developers of energy-efficient new homes) through 2012 and extended it to the end of 2013. To be eligible for the credit, a home must use at least 50% less energy than the baseline established by the 2006 IECC. That’s a change from the previous version of the credit, in which homes built before 2012 used the 2004 IECC as the baseline.
