Electrifying your vehicle, home, and appliances is one of the easiest ways to keep more money in your bank account and pollution out of the air. Making the initial switch, however, may cost more than you have in your account to begin with.
Thankfully, the Inflation Reduction Act was put in place — in part — to help homeowners cover the upfront costs of these eco-friendly upgrades. Enacted in 2022, the IRA is the most significant piece of legislation of its kind, and its purpose is to support the transition from dirty energy to cleaner, more energy-efficient technologies.
The Washington Post reported data that shows that in 2023, over 3 million households claimed $6 billion in credits for solar panel installation and related projects and $2 billion for other home improvements, such as new windows and air-conditioning systems.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the nearly $400 billion act specifically allocated $8.8 billion for home-energy rebates, which are just now rolling out. This means you can now, or soon, become one of the millions of households benefiting from the billions in these savings (with tax credits available already).
The rebates apply to items that improve your home's energy efficiency, such as heat pumps, induction stoves, solar panels, Energy Star-rated appliances, smart home systems, and weatherizing insulation.
Aside from saving homeowners money, these upgrades also contribute to healthier air in and outside our homes.
As reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, when we burn dirty energy sources such as oil and gas to power our homes, they release pollution linked to health concerns.
For example, gas-powered stoves pump toxic fumes right into your home that can lead to asthma and other issues. The modern electrical appliances covered by the rebates do not, which keeps the air in your home cleaner and reduces the risk of such health concerns.
The gases generated by dirty energy also trap heat in our atmosphere, and our reliance on these sources for power is the leading cause of rising global temperatures, according to the United Nations. The effects of these rising temperatures include threats to the global food supply, more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, and many other concerns.
If saving money while helping save your household and communities from these risks sounds like a win-win, but getting started feels overwhelming, there are tools to help make it as easy and cheap as possible.
The free tool from the nonprofit Rewiring America makes the process easy by helping you identify which incentives will work for you, whether you rent or own your home. The tool helps navigate available tax incentives, find contractors, and ensure that upgrading your home doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.
Leah Stokes, a political scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who advocated the inclusion of the climate credits in the law, told the Post: "The reality is, the American people want to adopt solar panels, heat pumps, and electric vehicles, and the federal Inflation Reduction Act is helping them do it."
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