WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Joe Biden persuaded Democrats in Congress to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change. Now comes another formidable task: enticing Americans to buy millions of electric cars, heat pumps, solar panels and more efficient appliances.
It鈥檚 a public relations challenge that could determine whether the country meets Biden鈥檚 ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.
Relying on tax credits and rebates made more politically palatable than regulations that force wholesale changes in polluting industries.
But it also means the administration鈥檚 battle against global warming will be waged 鈥渙ne household at a time,鈥 said Shannon Baker-Branstetter, who works on energy issues at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank closely aligned with the White House.
鈥淚t is very incremental," she said. "So it requires a very sophisticated communications strategy.鈥
Biden acknowledged the hurdle during a recent Cabinet meeting as he talked about the incentives that are becoming available this year.
"Folks need to know how to take advantage of these benefits that we passed. That鈥檚 on all of us around the table here to make sure we get that message out clearly,鈥 he said.
The White House says it is piecing together a plan to partner with state governments, contractors, retailers and social media influencers to get the word out. 鈥淟owering utility bills is going to be a key driver,鈥 said Josh Peck, a senior policy adviser on clean energy issues.
It's also collaborating with Rewiring America, a nonprofit focused on ways to electrify homes and businesses, and companies like Airbnb, Redfin and Lyft. As part of the effort, Rewiring America created that shows what credits or rebates homeowners might be eligible for, depending on their ZIP code and income.
Buying a heat pump or installing solar panels is 鈥渁 major expense line and a major opportunity for savings,鈥 said Ari Matusiak, the group鈥檚 founder and CEO. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 really important to make sure people are aware of the resources they have available and the benefits they can unlock in terms of bringing energy bill savings.鈥
But the White House faces an uphill battle.
Polling shows that while Americans support action to slow climate change, they are broadly unaware of the Inflation Reduction Act, the massive legislation that includes financial incentives to lower emissions, and in the climate crisis.
, one month after the law was signed, found that 61% of U.S. adults said they knew little to nothing about the legislation. And despite the multibillion-dollar investment in climate solutions, only a third said it would help climate change; about half said it wouldn鈥檛 make a difference.
The White House says it's not rattled by the results. The goal is to make sure consumers know the financial benefits of energy efficient products at the moment that they鈥檙e making key decisions on which products to buy, Peck said.
鈥淥ne of the challenges here is trying to meet consumers where they are when they make decisions about these purchases," he said.
Majorities of U.S. adults said they are unlikely to install solar panels or buy an electric vehicle in the next three years, according to the AP-NORC poll. Among those, at least half said financial incentives would not make a difference in their decision.
Homeowners typically are reluctant to swap out furnaces or water heaters until they absolutely have to shell out the money for them.
"One day the heat won鈥檛 turn on and it鈥檚 negative 10 (degrees) outside and you say, 鈥極h crap, I鈥檝e got to get a furnace,鈥欌 said DR Richardson, co-founder of Elephant Energy, a Colorado company that helps homeowners install electric heat pumps and other appliances. 鈥淪o the biggest challenge from our perspective, and from a climate perspective, is to get people to think ahead of time about how to replace these assets.鈥
Most homeowners don鈥檛 understand what equipment qualifies for a rebate or a tax credit 鈥 and even contractors are not always aware, Richardson said. While some heat pumps qualify for a full rebate, others do not or are only eligible for partial rebates.
鈥淪o it鈥檚 just a nightmare if you鈥檙e not used to working in building spreadsheets to analyze and understand all this stuff," he said.
Not all of the incentives are ready either. While people can get a tax break on the cost of an electric car, rebates for low- and middle-income Americans seeking to make their homes more energy efficient are not yet available. The Energy Department is still developing the system to distribute that money.
Cecilia Mu帽oz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Obama administration, said she learned in her tenure that it鈥檚 critical for government to invest in the delivery of policies.
鈥淭oo often we as advocates and policymakers applaud when policy gets enacted and then stop paying attention,鈥 she said. Instead, they need to design ways to target people directly to help them "understand the steps that they can take and the ways that the government is going to make it easy.鈥
The Energy Department has begun releasing information to states about their allotment of $9 billion to support household energy upgrades, including weatherizing homes and installing heat pumps.
And Biden, a self-described 鈥渃ar guy,鈥 has been doing his part to promote electric vehicles, making appearances at the in September and on the TV series "Jay Leno鈥檚 Garage.''
Donnel Baird, founder and CEO of BlocPower, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company that partners with utilities, government agencies and building owners to improve energy efficiency, has worked with Lowe鈥檚 and other retailers to promote green appliances.
The idea, Baird said, is that 鈥渢he checkout person says, 鈥榊ou know, you can get a tax credit if you don鈥檛 get that gas lawn mower and get a green one instead.'鈥 While such engagement may not have immediate results, Baird said he鈥檚 confident the tax credits and other benefits of the climate law will become better known.
鈥淚t took years for the ACA to get going,鈥 he said, referring to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. 鈥淚 think the same thing could happen with this law.鈥
Dan Pfeiffer, a former top communications adviser to President Barack Obama, sees another lesson in the Affordable Care Act.
鈥淭he ACA got more popular the more that Republicans tried to repeal it," he said, suggesting that Biden take advantage of any Republican efforts to roll back to the Inflation Reduction Act to draw more attention to the law's benefits.
鈥淚 have no doubt the White House has thought of all of this," Pfeifer said. But the problem is that none of it is easy.鈥
He added: 鈥淭he bulk of the work starts now."
