Re:Bret Victor: What can a technologist do about climate cha...
by rayiner on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @08:23AM
(#40131115)
They probably will, but do we have an effective way of subsidizing the up-front cost? In Maryland it cost me $16,000 to install heat pumps in our 2 story home a few years ago. Since then, the infrastructure act’s 30% subsidy has come into effect, but that has been more than eaten up by increasing costs. Contractors can just jack up the price to capture the full value of the subsidy because of the lack of licensed hvac installers. A few thousand dollars worth of made-in-China equipment turns into a $10,000 install. Do we have a way of dealing with that?
People will save money by transitioning to EVs and heat pumps.
Often the big barrier is an upfront cost that makes them just continually pay a higher monthly cost, or a long payoff time.
There's various ways to financially engineer that and unlock the savings and government often plays a vital role in that since the switch has various other benefits, like less death and disease.