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Gov't to revive eco-point building incentive program

10 Comments

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Tourism plans to revive an eco-friendly building incentive program in which individuals and companies constructing new homes and or renovating homes will be eligible to receive eco-points equaling a maximum of ¥450,000 for energy efficient design and or other environmentally responsible criteria.

Applications will be accepted from March 10. Points can be exchanged for a variety of eco-friendly appliances, agricultural products or for gift certificates usable all over Japan.

Homes fitted with solar panels, double-paned windows and other energy-saving devices will be eligible for points equal to ¥30,000. Homes that are equipped with insulated foam around windows and outer walls in order to cut back on the use of heating and air will be also eligible for ¥30,000 in points per residence. Homes built with earthquake-resistant structures and homes that are updated to be more earthquake-resistant will be eligible for an extra ¥30,000 in points.

The ministry announced that only construction contracts signed between Dec 27 and the end of March 2016 will be eligible to participate in the program. With the limited time period of the incentive, the ministry hopes to encourage as many people as possible to take part in energy conservation efforts.

Following the government's decision to revive the eco-point program, an additional ¥80.5 billion was added to the fiscal budget at the end of last year.

© Japan Today

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10 Comments
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Stopping and re-starting programs like this for very limited times is not a great incentive.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Rather than these perks to industry and homeowners, just set tough standards that have to be met and industry will make innovative and cost-cutting adjustments.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Homes fitted with solar panels, double-paned windows and other energy-saving devices will be eligible for points equal to ¥30,000

What a pisspoor incentive. It's ridiculous that in 2015 double glazing (with thermally efficient frames, too) and proper insulation isn't mandated for all housing.

Making these optional extras only widens the quality of life, health and wealth gap between the haves and have nots.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Agree, whilst this is a good step in the right direction it would be fantastic if it was mandatory to meet some of the basic criteria. And considering the turnover rate of Japanese housing the effect would be achieved in quite a reasonable about of time.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Blatant Greenwashing! A system where buying a 32" TV gets you 5000 points but buying a 52" TV gets you 10,000 so called "eco" points. Should be renamed "Consumption Points"

4 ( +7 / -3 )

The ministry announced that only construction contracts signed between Dec 27 and the end of March 2016

... so they want people to build or renovate homes during the coldest time of the year? What idiocy. I'm struggling to keep my place warm and the bureaucrats decide, "Now is a GREAT time to have someone come over and replace your windows!".

I shake my head at the incredible stupidity operating here. This is clearly just a measure designed to boost tax before the end of the financial year to make it LOOK like Abe's backwards economic policies are doing well.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Sensenotsocommon exactly that amount is not enough to even pay for a tiny bathroom window..let alone the high grade thermal ones. amount like that cant even be considered as any kind of incentive

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I would love to have my house re-insulated. when it was built, they builder only used thin Styrofoam(no wonder my heating bills are crazy), but to have it re-insulated would cost about 1.2 million yen. The gov't is offering Y30 000, what a joke, who is going to accept that. It is barely 2% of the cost, some incentive!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Sounds like a good idea though 30,000 yen doesn't seem much. Labor alone could be upwards of 10x that amount.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

More taxpayers' money wasted because those amounts are not an incentive, so they'll be giving money to those would doing these renovations anyway. At times, Japanese governments and bureaucrats appear to have the critical thinking powers of children.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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