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A major goal of the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate legislation that passed the Senate this week, and is poised to pass the House on Friday, is to incentivize more individuals to electrify their lives. By subsidizing “green” purchases—from solar panels to heat pumps to electric vehicles—the legislation aims to reach households that would otherwise struggle to afford such a transition.
But the subsidies come in all shapes and sizes, as this breakdown from Rewiring America outlines. And in the eyes of the buyers, certain subsidies appear more beneficial and enticing than others due to how, or when, they kick in. Cost is top of mind for all consumers, experts say, but subsidy details tend to be more important for lower-income buyers than for their wealthier counterparts.
A July survey from Stevens Institute of Technology found that while 52% of U.S. adults agree that the long-term benefits of green energy outweigh the cost, only 36% are personally willing to pay more for green energy. What’s more, the survey found that cost is a consideration for all people, regardless of how likely they are to seek out green energy technologies for personal use.
“If you want to really push people to look at clean energy technologies, you need to be looking at it from an economic perspective,” says Philip Odonkor, assistant professor at the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens, who commissioned the survey. “It’s cost that drives action.”
Read More: The Inflation Reduction Act’s Name Says A Lot About The Climate Fight
John Paul Helveston, an assistant professor at George Washington University’s Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, has researched the impact of different subsidies. By surveying adults’ preferences of different incentives—effectively simulating the buying process in a…
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Source : time
