Any homeowner knows home renovations are costly and stressful. But what if you actually made money by updating your home?
It's possible, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. The two-year-old law marks Congress' biggest clean energy and climate action to date, helping you make eco-minded renovations to your home for less.
Through the IRA, Congress dedicated almost $370 billion to climate action — and some of that money can go straight into your pocket while you make planet-conscious home renovations.
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🔘 $1K to $5K 💵
🔘 $5K to $10K 💰
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The IRA offers sizable rebates for a wide range of energy-efficient home improvements, including heat pumps for heating and cooling, water heaters, attic insulation, new windows, and even eco-friendly appliances such as washers, dryers, and stoves. If you're making eligible home efficiency updates, that could total up to $8,000 through the Home Efficiency Rebates program.
Currently, the Home Efficiency Rebates program is available in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. Energy.gov has a map of all states' application status for funding here. Even if your state or territory does not yet have a rebate program set up, you may still be able to save on eco-minded home upgrades via tax credits.
But that's not the only way you'll save money with the IRA. Households with a qualifying income can benefit from the separate Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program that has also started to launch in certain states.
While that program has more qualifications needed for eligibility, it does not require proof of saving at least 20% on energy efficiency, though most if not all upgrades included should individually accomplish that level of energy bill savings over what they are replacing. All told, converting to electric appliances, installing solar panels, upgrading your heating and cooling, and other eco-minded home updates can save you thousands of dollars while also curbing the use of expensive gas, coal, and other polluting fuels.
On that note, electrifying your home and household appliances helps the environment, too. Swapping to cleaner forms of energy is essential for the future health of our planet. Polluting dirty energy sources like gas and coal, which the country has historically relied on for energy, have detrimental environmental and public health impacts, as the Natural Resources Defense Council explained.
While navigating the fine print may sound complicated, there's an online tool that makes claiming IRA incentives easy. Rewiring America, an electrification nonprofit, has a free online savings calculator to help you identify available tax incentives and discounts.
To see if you qualify for IRA rebates and credits — and how much you can save — visit Rewiring America's Incentive Calculator for complete and customized recommendations.
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