To call the Joe Biden presidency controversial would be the understatement of the year. America is more polarized than it's ever been at any point in history, and each side just blames the other for every single problem the nation faces. It's the same song, stuck on repeat, only turned up a lot louder. One of the most controversial things Joe Biden has done is to push for and sign the Inflation Reduction Act, a multi-trillion-dollar bill that was sold as reducing immediate inflation, but rather ended up being a bill to fight climate change. Wherever one might stand on the political aisle, it's easy to see how this sort of misrepresentation is causing anger and confusion. Though now that the bill is signed into law, there's no un-breaking that teacup. Americans simply need to make the best of it. One possible silver lining for many Americans is that they may be eligible for an Inflation Reduction Act climate incentive grant. The government is spending trillions of dollars, and some of that is slated to go toward normal Americans making climate-friendly personal changes.

News broke earlier this week on outlets like CNN, CNBC, NYT, etc, about tax credits and rebates if Americans go "green" in their personal lives. Many of these measures are not new. Tax rebates for energy efficiency, for instance, have been around for over a decade. The only real difference here is that now it's coming directly from the federal government and not a state-based program in conjunction with the federal government. What this means, in a nutshell, is that if you install solar panels in your home, and/or retrofit with green-certified energy efficient appliances, you can get thousands of dollars in tax rebates, which will end up greatly reducing your net costs for helping the environment. These rebates also include switching out your windows, changing water heaters, etc.

These are not like your typical grants, however. That may seem unfortunate to many Americans, who heard a compact version of this story and believed that they could go and quickly apply for a government grant that would pay for their energy upgrades. No, this is not how it's going to work. The government is giving grant money, but most of that is going to federal agencies like the IRS, who will use that grant money to reimburse ordinary homeowners for making these changes. Yes, this seems a little confusing, especially since a lot of America's mainstream media offered up a different version of the story. Perhaps they wanted to make Joe Biden's policies look a lot more positive, or perhaps they were just lazy. Any way you slice it, the real news is that you cannot personally apply for these grants. They're all a series of rebates.
 

Two Important Points You Should Know

Other than these grants not being for average Americans, and only for government agencies, here are two other very important points you should understand, if you're interested in receiving these rebates.
 

1: There is a Monetary Limit

When these sorts of rebates first started in America, a lot of Americans believed that it was essentially a government reimbursement program, much like the government tends to do with certain charitable donations. So you may imagine many people's shock when the government only gave out small tax rebates. These rebates are slated to be larger, but they're maxed out at $10,000. That means if you spend $40, $50, $60,000 on windows, solar panels, etc, the federal government is going to cap your rebate at $10,000. So, basically, what you will be dealing with is a net-savings discount, not an actual reimbursement. Use this information and spend your money accordingly.
 

2: These Benefits Will Not Be Immediately Available

Perhaps the biggest controversy in the Inflation Reduction Act is that literally nothing within that bill, be it for the climate or inflation, will actually go into effect for a hypothetical change until late 2023 and beyond. The same goes for the $10,000 capped rebates. You will likely not be able to receive any sort of rebate until the end of next fiscal year, and even that is up in the air. Some in the government are claiming that these rebates will not go into effect until the end of 2024. The idea with the government is that they're trying to keep Biden's budget windfall, and so they're pushing spending back year after year.

These rebates may be very good for you and your family, but you should proceed with caution if spending a lot of money on changes.