There is no free lunch, so the saying goes, but there may be free strip doors. Again for 2009, several California investor-owned utilities are offering rebate programs to motivate customers to install certain energy efficient equipment and fixtures. Covered items include strip doors and swinging plastic doors.
Under the program, customers must first install new strip curtains or plastic swinging doors on doorways of walk-in cooler or freezer boxes or refrigerated warehouses. They can then submit a rebate form to one of the participating utilities, which include Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE). The utility then reimburses the customer $3.00 per square foot calculated on the size of the doorway. Depending on the supplier and the type of door purchased, this rebate can cover the full cost of the door. For example, searching a couple of online sources, I found an average price of $63 for a 3′x7′ strip door with 8 strips with 50% overlap. The calculated rebate on the door–$63 (3 x 7 x $3). (In this example, the customer would incur shipping costs, so technically, the door would not be completely free, but it’s pretty close.)
The popularity of the rebate program, which was created by California’s energy regulators in 2005 in an effort to eliminate the need to build three new power plants, has created a problem. The $2 billion funding for the program, which came from increased rates charged to the utilities’ customers, was intended to last through 2008, but the unexpected popularity of the program caused the funding to run out during 2008. This left about 12,000 customers waiting weeks or even months for their rebates. Fortunately additional funding for the program has been appropriated, and the 2008 and 2009 rebate checks are once again flowing. {Baker, David R. . “PG&E rebate program gets cash advance.” SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle) 14 Mar 2009 C - 1. 19 Mar 2009.}
If you are interested, the links to the PG&E and SCE rebate programs are as follows: (PGE ; SCE).
Note: Chase Doors, the host of this blog, manufactures and sells door products, including the strip doors and swinging plastic doors mentioned in this article. Additionally, it hosts a related e-commerce site www.stripdoorsonline.com one of the sources from which pricing referred to herin was obtained.
Tags: energy rebates, strip doors