President Biden Announces $7 Billion in Grants for Low-Income Households to Go Solar
President Biden has announced $7 billion in grants for low-income households to go solar, as part of his administration’s efforts to address climate change. The grants are part of the EPA’s Solar For All program, which was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.
The $7 billion in grants will enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy. Focus on low-income communities is in line with the administration’s “Justice40 Initiative,” which targets 40% of federal climate funding on disadvantages communities. These projects are estimated to save $350 million in electricity costs per year and avoid 30 million tons of carbon pollution over the next 25 years.
Biden also announced an expansion of his American Climate Corps, which was originally launched in January 2021. The goal of the Corps is to employ over 20,000 young people in climate-related jobs across the country. Today’s announcement includes the opening of a website where job-seekers can apply to some 2,000 current open positions across 36 states and Puerto Rico.
Biden announced the funding at Prince William Forest Park in Virginia, a park which was originally developed by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps. This was part of FDR’s New Deal, which focused investment on US infrastructure spending to help the country recover from the Great Depression. This heavy infrastructure spending helped catapult the US into global leadership for the second half of the 20th century.
