Turning your house into an eco-friendly home is getting a whole lot easier thanks to climate-focused rebates provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The IRA — which was announced as a historic $369 billion investment in clean energy enacted by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 — is offering up to $14,000 worth of rebates for certain upgrades for households to live more sustainably.
The Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program, supported by the IRA, has set aside funding for households to get up to that amount in rebates on qualifying equipment and appliances, depending on household location and income.
For example, qualifying homeowners can receive up to $1,600 in rebates to improve insulation for windows and doors and up to $1,750 for installing energy-efficient heat pumps. Other features and appliances that are applicable for cash back include induction stovetops, solar panels, and washers and dryers.
By electrifying and weatherizing your home, you reduce your reliance on dirty energy sources contributing to Earth's overheating. That would mean limiting the extreme weather events that are devastating communities and disrupting the balance of fragile ecosystems.
Furthermore, you can protect your family's health, as gas appliances can leak toxic fumes that can cause asthma and other respiratory illnesses — all while saving money on upfront costs and bills down the road.
In addition to the HEAR program incentives, other federal and state incentives for home efficiency are available or will be soon.
While the plethora of options might be confusing or overwhelming, Rewiring America has a free and easy-to-use tool that can simplify the process and maximize your benefits by identifying the incentives you're eligible for. It can even help you find contractors, whether it's for an energy audit or an installation.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced in August that new data from the IRS found that over 3.4 million households took advantage of the IRA in 2023, saving over $8.4 billion on energy-efficiency home improvements.
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"The Biden-Harris administration's top economic priority is lowering costs for American families, and the Inflation Reduction Act is advancing that goal by making home energy upgrades more affordable," U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen said in the news release.
"The law has lowered the cost of clean energy upgrades for more than 3.4 million American families, saving them hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars annually on their utility bills for many years to come," Yellen added.
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