Show us the money: Cash for Caulkers poised to return - WalletPop asks, can it work?

Cash for Caulkers, the Obama administration's push to subsidize home energy efficiencies via tax credits, faltered before 2009 came to a close -- but is expected to return this month.

So let's take a breath and ask some basic questions, such as whether such credits will work and what models around the country suggest alternative approaches?

In conversations with various ground-level groups, WalletPop came away with a variety of intriguing perspectives about the federal Homestar proposal, from frustrated homeowners and entrepreneurial municipalities, from measured energy consultants and curious insulation installers. Here is a sampling: