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FCA RELEASES GUIDE TO NAVIGATING SEA OF INCENTIVE PROGRAMS

Comprehensive index to incentives for energy, water efficiency upgrades, renewable energy installations

HOOD RIVER, OR - Farmers Conservation Alliance (FCA) announces the release of their new publication, The Navigator: Rural Oregon's Guide to Saving Money by Saving Resources, now available for free throughout Oregon and online at TheNavigator.org.
The Navigator is an 80-page booklet featuring a comprehensive index to all of the incentives available to Oregon households, small businesses, and farms (from federal and state tax credits to cash rebates from local utilities) for energy and water efficiency upgrades and renewable energy installations. FCA is distributing 25,000 copies for free throughout rural Oregon and also offers an online version for free download. The online version has the added benefit of being searchable for keywords like "clothes washer" or "solar hot water" to help save time finding project-specific information.

The Navigator

FCA's partners on the project are the Oregon Department of Energy, USDA Rural Development, and the Oregon Investment Board through the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District. The booklet includes a letter of endorsement from Governor Ted Kulongoski.
Farmers Conservation Alliance (FCA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, social enterprise in rural Oregon focused on green technologies, solutions and outreach campaigns that benefit both the environment and agriculture. FCA was created in 2006 to bring to market an innovative fish/irrigation screen technology that allows farmers to pull water from rivers or lakes to irrigate their crops. This technology, the Farmers Screen, reduces operation and maintenance costs while protecting the lives of fish, especially endangered salmon species.
FCA was licensed for this technology by the Farmers Irrigation District of Hood River, Oregon, with the responsibility for developing and implementing a strategy to market, maximizing screen revenue, and investing screen profits into other solutions that benefit both fish and farms. The Navigator is an example of one of those solutions.

What The Navigator does:

Provides a comprehensive and up-to-date (including 2009 economic stimulus programs) guide to all incentives available in Oregon for energy efficiency upgrades, renewable energy technology installs, and water conservation/efficiency system upgrades.
Catalogs those incentive programs with a system that clearly illustrates which programs are applicable for households, small businesses, or on the farm. (There is also a small section detailing community-scale programs and programs specifically available to tribal governments or community groups).
Indexes each incentive program to the specific type of upgrade project (from buying a new clothes washer to installing a wind turbine) for which it applies, with specific incentive amounts, program requirements, agency form numbers and other essential information detailed.
Provides shortened URL for each incentive program website's specific page that deals with each type of upgrade project, helping to eliminate time wasted searching online for the one web page that has the information a person would need to find the incentive information for their one project.
Provides a two-page quick reference table of all Oregon utilities, and the types of projects that each utility provides rebates or other incentives for.
Features 80 pages of information on ways to save money by saving energy and water resources, with only a total of 3.5 pages of "advertising" - the ads actually displaying relevant information from FCA and their project partners.
Provides "Do The Math" examples of how to calculate the actual cost of any project and the potential payback period of that project. We provide a worksheet at the back of the book that can be torn out and photocopied for use over and again for any sort of upgrade or install.
Provides a directory of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Resource and Conservation Districts, OSU Extension Center Field Offices, Watershed Councils, and NRCS Field Offices throughout Oregon with websites and phone numbers
Provides a Glossary of Terms and a list of common acronyms.

What The Navigator does not do:

There is no information on vehicle tax credits
There is no list of energy or water-saving tips

Paper copies of The Navigator are now being distributed throughout Oregon at the EORenew office in John Day, most local Soil and Water Conservation District Offices, Oregon Department of Energy offices, USDA Rural Development and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) field offices, and some OSU Extension Centers. The online version can be found at TheNavigator.org, and is available for free, immediate download.

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