Building a passive house in the Czech Republic will be easier

Brno - The first subsidies for passive houses in the history of the Czech Republic. How to obtain them? The answer was provided by Minister of the Environment Martin Bursík, who announced a new subsidy program in the second week of April to support energy savings in residential buildings called ZELENÁ ÚSPORÁM.
      A completely new feature of the program is the possibility for any individual to apply for a subsidy for insulating their existing family house or for the construction of a new passive house. All subsidies are entitlement-based.

The Green Savings program is divided into 4 areas of support:
A. INSULATION of family and apartment buildings - it is possible to obtain up to 682.5 thousand CZK for a family house and 162 thousand CZK for an apartment (max. however 50% of costs)
B. CONSTRUCTION of a new family or apartment PASSIVE HOUSE - it is possible to obtain 220 thousand CZK for the construction of a passive family house or 140 thousand CZK for a passive apartment unit
C. obtaining a RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE for heating the house and water heating (sources for biomass, heat pumps, or solar collectors) - it is possible to obtain up to 80 thousand CZK for a biomass source or solar-thermal collectors with heating for a family house (support is again limited by a percentage of the total acquisition costs) or up to 35 thousand CZK for solar-thermal collectors with heating for an apartment unit
D. obtaining a BONUS when combining the above areas - amounts to 20 thousand CZK for a family house and 50 thousand CZK when combining measures

      The provider of the subsidy is the State Environmental Fund (SFŽP). The acceptance of subsidy applications will begin on Earth Day - Wednesday, April 22, 2009. Application for a subsidy will be possible at the regional offices of SFŽP or at the branches of authorized banks. The banks that will administer the applications will simultaneously offer to provide a loan to cover the remaining part of the investment. Applications for a subsidy from the Green Savings program can be made both before and after the implementation of the measures (except for measures completed before April 1, 2009).