Forecasters say the president’s clean-energy incentives will be more effective than they had originally expected, in part because of new federal regulations.

Forecasters say the president’s clean-energy incentives will be more effective than they had originally expected, in part because of new federal regulations.

The estimated price tag for President Biden’s clean-energy and climate agenda has effectively doubled since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law a year and a half ago.

Nearly all of the increase is attributable to forecasters’ belief that the law will be more popular than they had originally expected, in part because of the way the Biden administration wrote certain regulations. That rising price tag may actually be good for reducing greenhouse gas emissions — and for the U.S. economy.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed on a party-line vote in summer 2022, includes tax credits and other subsidies for low-emission energy technologies that are meant to help wean the nation from fossil fuels.

Many of those credits are effectively unlimited, meaning the more people or companies choose to claim them, the more they will add to federal deficits. The uncapped credits include incentives for manufacturers to build solar-panel or wind-turbine factories, and for consumers to buy electric vehicles. Budget scorekeepers have to estimate how popular those credits will be, in order to forecast how much they’ll cost.

Non-paywall link

    • @MicroWaveOPEnglish
      25•9 months ago

      From your article beyond the headline:

      Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a climate change law passed last year, made oil and gas auctions a prerequisite for renewable energy development. It also, however, requires higher royalty rates and minimum bids meant to boost taxpayer returns.

      Biden’s Interior Department has issued far fewer new leases than previous administrations. The agency issued 527 leases in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined, compared with 2,740 in the previous two years, during the Trump administration, according to BLM data.

    • BombOmOmEnglish
      7•9 months ago

      We have seen huge restrictions on oil products due to Russia invading Ukraine. Countries need to get their oil from somewhere else; with the US being one of the best options for bulk sourcing.

    • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin
      7•9 months ago

      Yeah it’s almost like a war suddenly broke out that cut most of the US’ allies off from their normal oil supplies meaning that even in transition to green energy the US has to raise oil production to balance the prices out!

      To transition from one source of energy to the other you have to still have the first source to make it as easy as possible.

    • @[email protected]
      6•9 months ago

      Yep. Walking the walk.

      Biden canceled the keystone XL pipeline.

      Biden actually committed money to combating climate change, which no president has done in any significant capacity until now.

      Biden stopped a bunch of drilling on public lands that was illegal until dumps made it legal for a few years.

      Biden’s renovating hundreds of thousands of government buildings and government vehicles with sustainable technology.

      Biden established two white house committees focused on identifying and recommending solutions for environmental problems in the country that affect communities.

    • @[email protected]
      0•9 months ago

      I am going to guess you are not American. Our system is kind of fucked I’ll admit, but at the moment it appears our options will be Biden or Trump. Knowing what you know who would you vote for? In our current system a third party vote used to be the signal of “our two party system sucks.” But in the present world it feels like we’re stuck with either meet and the middle and hope or burn it all to the ground.