Homeowners interested in adding rooftop solar panels, installing heat pumps and otherwise green-ifying their houses have plenty to like in the big climate, health and tax package likely to pass Congress in the coming days, Alex Fitzpatrick reports.

Why it matters: For consumers, the bill — called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — has an array of rebates and tax breaks that will reduce green tech's upfront costs. That tech, in turn, generally leads to lower long-term energy bills, among other benefits.

• More broadly, for every home that goes green, our communities get just a little cleaner as less greenhouse gas is emitted, helping to curb the climate crisis.

Among the IRA's most important green home provisions: It extends a 30% federal tax break for rooftop solar installations for 10 years.

• That incentive has been repeatedly left teetering on the legislative edge over the last few years. Guaranteeing its existence for another decade adds certainty for homeowners and the rooftop solar industry alike.
• Plus, home battery systems — which store energy generated by rooftop solar systems for later use, say, during a blackout — will qualify for the 30% credit for the first time.

Other IRA highlights include:

• Rebates and tax credits for installing new, energy-efficient appliances — including heat pumps, electric stoves and electric dryers — as well as new circuit breaker boxes, which sometimes need to be replaced when retrofitting older homes.
• New incentives for developers to build energy-efficient homes, or to retrofit older ones.

What they're saying: "In transitioning from a fossil fuel economy to a clean energy-powered, efficient electric economy," says Ari Matusiak, CEO of electrification advocacy nonprofit Rewiring America, "what we will be doing is effectively transferring wealth back from energy producers to energy consumers."

Donnel Baird, CEO and founder of retrofitting startup BlocPower, says the low- and moderate-income customers he works with "want to shift to clean energy for a variety of reasons, but they often can't afford the upfront costs — they don't have the budget."

• The IRA's incentives, he says, will "make it so much easier and so much cheaper for working people and low-income people to access clean energy."

Baird also argues that electrification will have big public health benefits, citing recent research saying gas stoves emit pollutants that can worsen or cause respiratory illnesses.

• "Cooking with gas in our homes is going to end up being like lead paint," he says. "It's this thing that we all thought was fine. And then it turns out that lead paint causes neurological disasters in kids."

Yes, but: Modernizing homes will still be expensive, even with the IRA's rebates and tax breaks.

What's next: The IRA has already cleared the Senate, and it's broadly expected to pass the House by the end of this week. If that happens, the various homeowners incentives will phase in over time after President Biden signs the bill into law.

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Electric vehicle prices were supposed to be heading in reverse right about now. Instead, they're in sixth gear, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports.

Why it matters: Automakers and experts had long projected steady declines in EV prices as battery costs fell.

Driving the news: Ford announced Tuesday that it's raising the price of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup by around $6,000-$8,500, depending on the model, to a starting price of about $47,000-$97,000.

• That follows similar price hikes by several other brands, including Tesla, Rivian, Lucid and GMC.

By the numbers: The average EV transaction price in July was $62,893, up 14.8% from $54,797 a year earlier, according to Edmunds.

Between the lines: Spikes in raw material costs have undermined efforts to drive down EV prices.

• And impending changes to federal EV tax credits could further increase buyers' out-of-pocket costs.

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Longtime consumer protection advocate Ralph Nader is calling on federal regulators to block Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD), semi-autonomous feature, Alex reports.

Why it matters: Nader, whose 1965 bestselling book "Unsafe at Any Speed" brought about major auto industry reforms, is a hugely influential voice in the car safety world.

What they're saying: "Tesla’s major deployment of so-called Full Self-Driving technology is one of the most dangerous and irresponsible actions by a car company in decades," Nader said in a statement yesterday.

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration "must use its safety recall authority to order that the FSD technology be removed in every Tesla," he added. "Together we need to send an urgent message to the casualty-minded regulators that Americans must not be test dummies for a powerful, high-profile corporation and its celebrity CEO."

Tesla did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

The intrigue: Nader's statement arrived just days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk hyped a "big" new FSD release.

The big picture: Safety regulators are probing Tesla and its FSD feature after a number of crashes, and amid mounting concerns that drivers misunderstand the limits of the technology — which requires drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and stay alert at all times.

How do What's Next readers feel about Amazon's planned acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot?

• "I think it's great that iRobot is being bought by Amazon," says Ryan H. Naismith. "If they can get tighter integration between my smart devices, that's a plus for me."
• "As a retired couple, I don't see how they'd get much value in the way of information from us," writes Mark Israel.
• "I have two Roombas," emails Tracey Kelly. "With Amazon ownership,  I would not buy [one] again. Way too Big Brother for me! My Alexa, given to me as a gift, is gathering dust in a closet … obviously unplugged!"

Paid time off to nurse a hangover took the top spot in a recent survey asking workers about their most-desired unusual job perks.

• The poll was commissioned by HR software firm Trusaic and conducted by YouGov.

By the numbers: Nearly a quarter of respondents (23%) wanted "paid celebration recovery leave" — a.k.a. hangover days.

• 21% dream of access to a sleep analysis app.
• 17% would like time off to process romantic breakups.

Yes, but: It's a bit of a silly poll — and everyone knows you can take a sick day for hangover recovery.

Methodology: The sample size was 1,230 adults, and the poll was conducted online between July 20-22. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all U.S. adults 18+.