Warming your house the green way just got more expensive
The Indicator from Planet Money
NPR
4.7 • 9.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
People wanting to purchase heat pumps might soon face sticker shock. Many consumers have sought out energy credits to find a greener and more affordable alternative to heating oil, but the tax credit to help make them cheaper has expired. Today on the show: how homeowners, the renewables industry, and its critics all feel about it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | NPR. |
| 0:01.8 | This is the indicator from planet money. |
| 0:13.7 | I'm Darym Woods here with friend of the show, Nate Hedgy, host of the public radio |
| 0:17.6 | podcast Outside In. |
| 0:19.1 | Great to be back. |
| 0:20.1 | You've not been on the show for a while. No, I was busy moving. I'm in Juneau, Alaska now. And actually, lately, I've been spending my days digging out of the absolutely record-breaking amount of snow we had. Yeah, I've been doing a good bit of shoveling here. It has been quite the brisk winter, must say. Yeah, sub-zero temperatures across the country. |
| 0:39.9 | And I'm sure folks are looking at their energy bills with their jaws dropped. Like, I spent more |
| 0:45.2 | than $1,000 on heating oil already this winter. But if Americans want to make their homes more energy |
| 0:52.5 | efficient after this cold snap, it might cost them extra. |
| 0:56.3 | Yeah, and that's because a series of clean energy tax credits have officially expired. |
| 1:01.4 | They saved many people thousands of dollars on everything from heat pumps to insulation to energy efficient woodstores. |
| 1:08.0 | And now they are no more. |
| 1:09.7 | So today on the show, what that means for homeowners |
| 1:12.0 | and the renewables industry. Plus, who's happy these tax credits are gone? This message comes from |
| 1:20.1 | TED Talks Daily, the podcast from TED. Curious how to introduce yourself so you actually get |
| 1:25.5 | hired? Or why people are starting to sound like chat GPT? |
| 1:29.6 | There's a TED Talk for that. |
| 1:31.1 | Listen to TED Talks Daily, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:34.5 | Only 11% of rental units allow big dogs. |
| 1:38.0 | But what exactly is a big dog? |
| 1:40.5 | The answer could mean the difference between life and death. |
| 1:43.2 | Control F is a new podcast about |
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