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Tuesday 24 January 2023

Biden’s next climate hurdle: Enticing Americans to buy green

Continued from Front sues. NORC poll. Among those,
It’s also collaborating with at least half said financial
But it also means the ad- Rewiring America, a non- incentives would not make
ministration’s battle against profit focused on ways to a difference in their deci-
global warming will be electrify homes and busi- sion.
waged “one household nesses, and companies like Homeowners typically are
at a time,” said Shannon Airbnb, Redfin and Lyft. As reluctant to swap out fur-
Baker-Branstetter, who part of the effort, Rewiring naces or water heaters
works on energy issues at America created an online until they absolutely have
the Center for American calculator that shows what to shell out the money for
Progress, a liberal think tank credits or rebates hom- them.
closely aligned with the eowners might be eligible “One day the heat won’t
White House. for, depending on their ZIP turn on and it’s negative
“It is very incremental,” she code and income. 10 (degrees) outside and
said. “So it requires a very Buying a heat pump or in- you say, ‘Oh crap, I’ve got
sophisticated communica- President Joe Biden drives a Cadillac Lyriq through the showroom stalling solar panels is “a to get a furnace,’” said DR
tions strategy.” during a tour at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022, in Detroit. major expense line and a Richardson, co-founder of
Biden acknowledged the Associated Press major opportunity for sav- Elephant Energy, a Colo-
hurdle during a recent ings,” said Ari Matusiak, rado company that helps
Cabinet meeting as he That’s on all of us around ments, contractors, retail- the group’s founder and homeowners install electric
talked about the incentives the table here to make sure ers and social media influ- CEO. “So it’s really impor- heat pumps and other ap-
that are becoming avail- we get that message out encers to get the word out. tant to make sure people pliances.
able this year. clearly,” he said. “Lowering utility bills is go- are aware of the resources “So the biggest challenge
“Folks need to know how to The White House says it is ing to be a key driver,” said they have available and from our perspective, and
take advantage of these piecing together a plan to Josh Peck, a senior policy the benefits they can un- from a climate perspec-
benefits that we passed. partner with state govern- adviser on clean energy is- lock in terms of bringing en- tive, is to get people to
ergy bill savings.” think ahead of time about
But the White House faces how to replace these as-
an uphill battle. sets.”
Polling shows that while Most homeowners don’t
Americans support action understand what equip-
to slow climate change, ment qualifies for a rebate
they are broadly unaware or a tax credit — and even
of the Inflation Reduction contractors are not always
Act, the massive legislation aware, Richardson said.
that includes financial in- While some heat pumps
centives to lower emissions, qualify for a full rebate, oth-
and skeptical of their own ers do not or are only eligi-
role in the climate crisis. ble for partial rebates.
An AP-NORC poll released Not all of the incentives are
in September, one month ready either. While people
after the law was signed, can get a tax break on the
found that 61% of U.S. cost of an electric car, solar
adults said they knew little panels or heat pump, re-
to nothing about the legis- bates for low- and middle-
lation. And despite the mul- income Americans seeking
tibillion-dollar investment in to make their homes more
climate solutions, only a energy efficient are not yet
third said it would help cli- available. The Energy De-
mate change; about half partment is still developing
said it wouldn’t make a dif- the system to distribute that
ference. money.
The White House says it’s Cecilia Muñoz, director of
not rattled by the results. the White House Domes-
The goal is to make sure tic Policy Council in the
consumers know the fi- Obama administration,
nancial benefits of energy said she learned in her ten-
efficient products at the ure that it’s critical for gov-
moment that they’re mak- ernment to invest in the de-
ing key decisions on which livery of policies.
products to buy, Peck said. “Too often we as advo-
“One of the challenges cates and policymakers
here is trying to meet con- applaud when policy gets
sumers where they are enacted and then stop
when they make decisions paying attention,” she said.
about these purchases,” Instead, they need to de-
he said. sign ways to target people
Majorities of U.S. adults said directly to help them “un-
they are unlikely to install derstand the steps that
solar panels or buy an elec- they can take and the
tric vehicle in the next three ways that the government
years, according to the AP- is going to make it easy.”q