Goodbye, gas water heater --- Some the changes from IRA...

[mysteryowl]

Goodbye, gas water heater

A suite of rebates and tax credits will make it cheaper for Minnesotans to retrofit their homes to cut fossil fuel use.

Homeowners could get $8,000 toward the cost of installing a heat pump for home climate control; $1,750 for a heat-pump-fed water heater; $840 for both electric clothes dryers and electric stoves; and $1,600 for insulation.

Heat pumps draw thermal energy from outside air, the ground or water and push it inside a house in the winter; in the summer, they do the reverse. They've been more popular so far in rural Minnesota, as an alternative to propane heating systems.

Some of the rebates are for upgrades to accommodate higher electricity usage, such as $4,000 for larger breaker boxes or $2,500 for wiring.

"It's the type of thing that isn't necessarily sexy, but it's going to be really, really important for this energy transition," said Joe Dammel, of the St. Paul-based nonprofit Fresh Energy.

The different household income limits for the new rebates could exclude some interested customers, said Richard Graves, director of the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota.

"This is the kind of stuff we need to be scaling as fast as we possibly can, and I'm just worried that might slow things down a little bit," Graves said.

https://www.startribune.com/5-changes-minnesotans-will-likely-see-from-the-historic-climate-bill/600198133/

This looks good!

[progree]

1. Very good discussion on this at

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217043951

I have some decisions to make, sigh.