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By Todd Woody
The elimination
of US tax credits for residential heat
pumps, solar panels and batteries will make
electrifying your home more expensive in 2026,
and tariffs and
made-in-America mandates could add additional
costs.
Just how pricey
remains to be seen. New financing models could
help keep some solar and battery costs in check,
according to Emily Walker, director of insights
at online solar marketplace EnergySage.
Here’s some of what
you need to know.
A worker
installs solar panels on a rooftop. Photographer:
Mario Tama/Getty Images
The
impact of the tax credit repeals
The expiration of
the 30% federal tax credit for solar and battery
installations at the end of 2025 doesn’t
necessarily make the equipment more costly to
buy but for homeowners with a tax liability, it
does end the ability to reduce or erase their
tax bill. A typical solar and battery system
generated tax credits worth about $10,000.
You
can still save by leasing
Tax credits remain
for leased solar systems through the end of
2027, though the installer receives the
incentive and passes on the savings to
homeowners through lower monthly payments or
other cost reductions.
Tariffs
and new rules raise costs
To receive the tax
credit, leased systems must comply with new
domestic manufacturing requirements that took
effect Jan. 1, 2026. The federal government,
though, has yet to issue final guidance on what
percentage of components from China and other
countries are prohibited under the Trump tax
bill enacted in July.
Read the full
story to find out more about the new
model of solar financing.
Kim Stanley
Robinson’s life project has been imagining
utopias. He’s a science-fiction writer best
known in climate circles for writing Ministry
For The Future, which depicts a future in
which the world grapples with climate change
following an extreme heat event that kills
millions. Robinson joins Akshat Rathi this week
on Zero to discuss how to create better futures
and whether it’s right to pursue abundance.
Listen now, and
subscribe on Apple, Spotify or YouTube to
get new episodes of Zero every Thursday.
The US is awarding
$900 million each to Centrus Energy Corp. and
two other nuclear
fuel makers as part of an effort to
restart domestic production and wean the US off
of enriched Russian uranium.
Centrus’
Ohio facility, which can house thousands of
centrifuges to enrich uranium. Photographer:
Jed Rosenberg/Bloomberg
The funding for
Maryland-based Centrus will go toward the
development of next-generation reactor fuel,
according to the Energy Department, which is
announcing the awards later Monday. Funding will
also go to Peter Thiel-backed advanced nuclear
fuel enrichment startup General Matter and to a
subsidiary of Orano SA, which is planning an
enrichment facility in Tennessee.
The announcement
comes as President Donald Trump’s administration
throws its weight behind expanding the US
nuclear industry. But the funding, which
was awarded by Congress in 2024, was part of a
plan by former President Joe Biden’s
administration to wean the US off of cheap
enriched Russian uranium and help restart a
long-dormant domestic industry for enrichment
and other specialized services needed to
manufacture nuclear fuel.
Read
the full story.
Millions of
Australians face an increasing risk
of urban wildfires similar to the deadly blazes
in Los Angeles last year. Suburbs on the fringes
of centers, including Sydney, Melbourne and
Perth, house at least 6.9 million inhabitants
and, like regions impacted in LA, adjoin highly
flammable grasslands, according to a new
report.
European power prices
went negative a record
number of times in 2025. Germany logged
573 hours of negative prices in 2025, a 25%
increase from the previous year. And Spain,
which experienced negative prices for the first
time in 2024, has since seen them double
year-on-year.
Top soy traders
exited a landmark deal created in
Brazil to protect
the Amazon against deforestation. Industry
group Abiove, which has among its associates
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Bunge Global SA and
Cargill Inc., said it is withdrawing from the
Soy Moratorium. The move is a major setback to
the 19-year-old initiative.
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