Evolved Energy Research (EER), in collaboration with the ZERO Lab at Princeton University, modeled the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) recently passed by the US Senate. EER’s work, as part of the Rapid Energy Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit (REPEAT), has provided timely, independent assessments of the impact of proposed federal legislation over the last 18 months.
In this analysis, the EnergyPATHWAYS and RIO platforms were used to estimate the change in demand-side and supply-side technology deployment driven by provisions within the IRA. The analysis also compares the impacts of the IRA bill to the Build Back Better Act passed by the US House last fall, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November of 2021 (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) which represents a current policy baseline. Compared to this baseline, the IRA will:
Cut annual emissions in 2030 by an additional 1 billion metric tons and achieve an emissions reduction of 42% by 2030 from 2005 levels.
Reduce annual consumer energy expenditures by nearly $50 billion annually in 2030, helping to reduce the impacts of inflation on household spending.
Increase renewable energy deployment by nearly 60% and accelerate electric and fuel-cell vehicle deployment four-fold by 2030 compared to existing policy.
Additional follow-on work from the REPEAT project will assess the air quality and jobs impacts of the IRA, along with refinements to the macro-energy system modeling to evaluate as many provisions within the bill as possible.
Find the full REPEAT report on the impacts of the bill here.