Colorado launched a rebate program Thursday to help income-qualified residents pay for upgraded, energy-efficient equipment in their homes as part of a Biden-era initiative to address climate change.
Colorado will distribute $54 million to fund rebates over the next few years as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by then-President Joe Biden.
Although President Donald Trump has moved to retract federal money from many Biden administration programs, especially in Democrat-controlled states like Colorado, this funding remains intact, and Colorado is one of about a dozen states that have announced it will spend the money in the coming year, said Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, which will oversee the grant money.
“We think this is going to be a really significant rebate to help a lot of people across this state make upgrades that will make their homes healthier and more comfortable while reducing our emissions,” Toor said.
A 2022 study led by Stanford University’s School of Sustainability found that the methane leaking from stoves that burn natural gas inside American homes released a comparable amount of carbon dioxide emissions as 500,000 gasoline-powered cars on the roads. The researchers estimated that natural gas stoves emit up to 1.3% of the gas they use as unburned methane, according to the study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Home methane leaks from gas stoves and water heaters expose people to pollutants that can cause various respiratory diseases. In 2023, another Stanford study determined cooking with a gas stove in your kitchen can emit as much benzene into a home as second-hand tobacco smoke, depending on ventilation and the size of the house.
The rebates are part of Colorado’s overall strategy to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, cutting the state’s role in global warming and climate change.
Program participants in Colorado can receive up to $14,000 in rebates to offset the costs of electric kitchen ranges, heat pumps, heat-pump water heaters and the electrical wiring necessary to install those items. Participants must be low- to middle-income earners, based on their area media income.
To participate, Coloradans must first submit an online application to verify their income, said Raine Queenan, the energy office’s senior program manager for home electrification and appliance rebates.
Once residents receives approval, they can contact a registered contractor, who will conduct a home assessment and submit a plan for approval. The contractor will then subtract the approved rebate amount from the homeowner’s total cost for a project, and the money will be paid to the contractor, Queenan said. So far, 45 contractors have been certified to participate.
The energy office has measures in place to eliminate price inflation from contractors, including two routine audits throughout the application process, Queenan said.
And Toor said consumers will notice if contractors are inflating prices because not every customer will qualify for a rebate, and people will discover it if some are being quoted different prices, he said.
“Consumers will notice if one contractor is jacking up their prices,” he said. “It’s a little harder to jack up prices if you’re only jacking them up for some of your customers.”
To learn more about the rebates, visit energyoffice.colorado.gov/home-energy-rebates.
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