May 6, 2024

The Biggest Climate Change Bill in History Gives You Money! (Inflation Reduction Act)

The Inflation Reduction Act, coupled with money from the state and local governments and utilities can dramatically reduce emissions and save money for the public

$ave Green Going Green!

We need both systems change and individual action to solve the climate crisis, and we climate activists have been working hard to try to change the system. Climate activism has helped get federal and state laws passed to help fund the clean energy transition. Your utility, the state of Colorado, the Federal government, and maybe even your city now have money to help you transition to clean energy and reduce your energy usage – that is a step in the right direction toward a system we want.

If all of us make use of the available funding, together we can make a huge reduction in emissions – analysis shows if all the IRA funding is used, this alone will reduce US emissions by 40%. This a big chunk of what we need to achieve, but it depends on our individual involvement!

Below is some information and resources to get started. We are working on more resources for our website, so stay tuned! But just for a rough idea, a lot of money is available! From the federal government alone you can get 30-50% of costs – up to $14,000 for electrifying your home, up to $7500 for EV purchase, 30% off solar, geothermal and battery storage. Money available from Colorado and utilities adds to what you can save, and the state also has income-based additional assistance and loans. Keep in mind that all expenditures now will pay for themselves and save you money in the long run because renewable energy is less expensive than fossil fuels.

If you are planning or have already started your own transition, we’d love to hear from you about what you have learned and how you are doing with your projects. Please email us! For ongoing conversations we will create Slack channels for our members to talk about what they are doing to save energy and electrify. Stay tuned for updates.

Background

There are a lot of ways for you to reduce your emissions. First of all, the more energy efficient your home is, the less energy you will use, the lower your carbon footprint, and the more money you will save in the long run. Second, using electricity instead of fossil fuels is better for everyone.

By law, Colorado’s electricity energy grid must be zero emissions by 2040. Even with existing power grid emissions, if you use electricity instead of gas for your transportation, home space and water heating, and cooking, you will emit less greenhouse gas. Clean energy sources will also improve air quality in your home and in our environment.

We at 350 Colorado encourage everyone to take steps now toward using less fossil energy by weatherizing and transitioning to clean energy, and we want to do what we can to help.

The good news is that a combination of funding programs offered by Colorado, the US, and utilities make these programs more affordable and give additional assistance to low and moderate income households.

What are the ways the government and utilities are supporting the clean energy  transition?

  • Federal: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) passed by Congress under President Biden gives billions of dollars in federal loans, grants, and tax incentives to help individuals, businesses and local governments do projects that will reduce emissions.
  • Local and State: Colorado has its own funds to assist people with energy efficiency and electrification. Also, they are coordinating and giving out many of the funds provided by the federal government. Some cities such as Denver have additional programs.
  • Utilities: Utilities are required by Colorado law to reduce emissions. As part of their plans to comply with this, Xcel is giving incentives and rebates for clean energy and energy efficiency projects.
  • Combining: Most of these programs give rebates or tax incentives that are stackable, in other words you can apply funding from many programs to the same project. If you are worried that you don’t pay enough taxes for a tax incentive to be of much help, many of the incentives programs will go through the contractor or retailer, so they get the credit and pass on the discount to you.

What is available and how to find it

  • State income-based assistance:

  • More state assistance

  • Cities:

    • Denver passed a very small local sales tax that funds their office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency. Through their programs you can:
        • Get up to $3,500 off a heat pump which will heat and cool your home.
        • Get up to $1,000 off electric vehicle charging
        • Get up to $4,000 off solar when you have other electric equipment installed
        • Get up to $2,750 off battery storage
        • Get up to $2,000 off an electric service upgrade
        • Learn more here, and follow them on facebook for updates
      • If your city has programs to help you in the clean energy transition, please email Heidi@350Colorado.org so we can add it to this blog

  • Specifically on Electric Vehicles

    Credit: Pixabay

Getting started

  • Make your own wish list, and then prioritize to build a schedule that could be multi-year.
    • Check out this great chart and sample schedule from “Electrify Everything” as an example! But don’t forget that with additional Colorado and utility funding you will save even more than it shows on the chart. See page 2 of the chart for suggested action items, including things you can do right now to make a difference. For instance, you may be able to immediately reduce your emissions by switching your utility electric plan to include renewable energy sources.
  • Consider carefully what to do first:

Image by RachelW1 from Pixabay

    • Energy efficiency is a great way to save energy, money, and reduce emissions (and also keep you warm and cozy in the winter.) If you make your home as energy efficient as possible, then any other projects to reduce your emissions will make even more of a difference. Colorado has state-funded assistance for energy efficiency, and also there is funding for this under the IRA, and through Xcel (and possibly other utilities).
    • Doing an energy audit is an important first step in identifying what projects would help you. Your utility may offer this at a discount, and the IRA provides funding for energy audits. This page has info on how you can get $150 from the IRA to pay for a home energy audit.
    • If you are planning any big changes – like solar, EV charger, heat pumps, etc., you must make sure your electric system is prepared to handle it. Upgrades to your electric system are eligible for IRA funding.

Who do I trust?

  • Contractors that are not familiar with new technology may not be your best bet when hiring someone. We are working on putting together a resource for our members to share recommendations on contractors, and identifying where you can find lists of qualified, experienced, and highly rated installation specialists, so stay tuned!

    • Please share your success stories and/or issues you have had with installers.
  • Some of the funding programs may require that you use a company on a list of approved contractors so be sure to check this before you start getting estimates.
  • Don’t use any company that tries to talk you out of your project or who has never done this work before, no matter how highly rated they are otherwise. For instance, some contractors may tell you a heat pump cannot work in our climate without keeping your gas furnace as a backup, but that is not true.
  • Here is a list of contractors that have been approved by the Colorado Energy Fund loan program, but we recommend still vetting anyone on this list: RENU Authorized Contractor List
  • Our member Dar-Lon Chang of GeoSolar Technologies is a great resource and as an added bonus, his company donates 3.5% of their profits from customers who reference this promotion to Safe and Healthy Colorado to help with efforts to phase out fracking in Colorado.

Additional resources

 

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