The Biden administration started taking applications Thursday for billions of dollars in federal tax rebates meant to flow through states to subsidize home improvement projects that save energy or swap fossil-fueled appliances to electric alternatives.
The combined spending in the two separate programs of President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act — one focused on energy-saving improvements like adding insulation or new windows, the other aimed at funding electrification like switching from gas-fired furnaces to heat pumps – totals more than $8.5 billion.
“Energy savings and electrification upgrades like insulating your home, installing a heat pump, or upgrading to electric Energy Star appliances, lower monthly utility costs and lead to healthier homes,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “Americans living in energy efficient, electrified homes bring us one step closer to a clean, safer future.”
Once called the “fifth fuel” because the total amount of energy wasted roughly equals a whole new source of energy, efficiency efforts are a vital part of reversing the damage emissions from Americans’ cars, homes and businesses cause to the planet’s climate systems. The new federal spending marks what is likely the biggest national investment in history — and how the money flows from federal coffers to homeowners this time will likely set the standard for how future funding is doled out.