《降低通货膨胀法》中的环境数据
“It is a capital mistake,” Sherlock Holmes onceobserved, “to theorize before one has data.” In the Inflation Reduction Act, fortunately, Congress avoided making that capital mistake a Capitol one.
税收抵免和其他对清洁能源，清洁制造和清洁运输的激励措施主导着IRA的环境支出。但是该法案还对环境数据进行了关键投资。这很重要，因为数据直接告知花费的效率。（如果您的食品储藏室内容上有更好的数据，您可以避免在那额外的橄榄油上浪费钱。）
IRA的环境数据投资可以分为三类：在特定数据集中进行投资，对特定数据基础架构的投资以及对与数据相关的活动的一般支持。让我们仔细研究其中的每一个以及它们的重要原因。
在特定数据集中进行投资
The IRA appropriates $850 million (over six years) for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create incentives for methane mitigation and monitoring。The IRA directs EPA to use some of the funds to “prepare inventories, gather empirical data, and track emissions” related to the incentive program. This information will allow EPA (and third parties) to evaluate the program’s success, which could be very powerful indeed.因为甲烷是如此有效且短暂的温室气（具有20年的全球变暖潜力，比二氧化碳的碳含量超过70倍），科学家同意，迅速切割甲烷排放是减少甲烷的最佳机会之一- 期限全球变暖。因此，了解以及哪种激励措施是否刺激了大量缓解甲烷，这将有助于决策者决定是否以及在何处将缓解激励措施的前进。
IRA为美国农业部自然资源保护局（NRCS）拨款13亿美元（九年），向农民和牧场主提供保护技术援助，并量化气候利益。NRCS was established in 1935 to help farmers and ranchers conserve land, soil, water, and other key agricultural resources. The IRA boosts NRCS’s funding by an additional $1 billion over nine years. But it also kicks in an additional $300 million for NRCS to collect and use field-based data to quantify how much NRCS-based efforts sequester carbon and slash greenhouse-gas emissions. Insights could boost national support for practices likeregenerative agriculture,纳入生态系统服务into agricultural cost-benefit analyses, and良好的土壤管理。
The IRA appropriates $42.5 million (over six years) for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to conduct energy and water benchmarking studies.实用性基准测试可帮助房地产经理了解给定建筑物与其他类似建筑物相对的效率。基准测试结果指导投资升级。例如，一位有100,000美元用于支出的物业经理可以明智地决定将这笔钱花在“低悬挂水果”修复程序上（例如，更换旧的灯泡或在其效率最低的房地产上安装Weatherstrighting Watherstrighting），而不是投资于升级效率更高，仅产生边际投资组合的改进。IRA资金收集数据以扩大跨HUD支持住房的实用性基准测试。
IRA向白宫环境质量委员会（CEQ）拨款3250万美元（在四年内），以收集社区对负面环境影响不成比例损害的数据，并开发相关的决策支持工具。IRA的这一组成部分直接支持拜登政府的Justice40 Initiative。Justice40 establishes a national goal of ensuring that so-called“environmental justice communities”realize at least 40% of the benefits of certain federal investments. But as an executive-led initiative, Justice40 can only direct existing federal funds—it can’t bring in additional money. While advocates havearguedthat the IRA does not go far enough in bolstering environmental justice, designating new funding for the White House to realize Justice40 objectives is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.
The IRA appropriates $25.5 million for the U.S. Geological Survey to “produce, collect, disseminate, and use 3D elevation data.”There’s no other way to say it: 3D elevation data are cool. These data, collected by aircraft-mounted sensors, can be stitched together to produce models of our world underneath surface features like trees and buildings. These models support everything from landslide prediction (see box) to洪水风险评估。IRA funds USGS in continuing to fillgapsin the 3D elevation data available for the United States.使用3D高程数据构建的模型的示例。Clouds of data points (left) can be stitched into 3D elevation models (right) that, for instance, reveal past landslides and steep slopes at risk of failure. These features could be impossible to identify through aerial images that also capture surface features. (Source:USGS。)
Clouds of data points (left) can be stitched into 3D elevation models (right) that, for instance, reveal past landslides and steep slopes at risk of failure. These features could be impossible to identify through aerial images that also capture surface features. (Source:USGS).
The IRA appropriates $5 million (over four years) for EPA to collect and analyze lifecycle fuels data.The diversifying U.S. energy system is triggering heated debates over the pros and cons of different fuels. Hydrogen-powered cars produce zero emissions at the tailpipe, yes. But given the carbon and energyfootprintsof generating fuel-grade hydrogen on the front end, are hydrogen cars really cleaner than their gas/electric hybrid counterparts? Biofuels are all renewable by definition, but当然并非全部创造平等。IRA使EPA能够在经验上为这些辩论做出贡献。
对特定数据基础架构的投资
IRA为国家海洋和大气管理局（NOAA）拨款1.9亿美元（在四年内）投资于高性能计算和数据管理。This funding responds to concerns上调由NOAA的科学顾问委员会撰写，NOAA缺乏继续推进美国天气研究的技术能力。董事会认为，在迅速变化的气候，人口和发展趋势的情况下，这种需求在理解和预测高影响的天气方面尤为严重。
The IRA appropriates $18 million (over nine years) for EPA to update its Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS).ICIS是EPA的主要合规性和执法数据系统，包括用于监管支柱，例如《清洁空气法》和《清洁水法》。虽然过时的数据管理系统几乎不是违反美国环境法的主要原因是猖獗（在过去十年中，EPA合规办公室的资金侵蚀近30％是一个更大的问题），当然无济于事。IRA将增强EPA的运作努力现有计划for modernizing the ICIS.
IRA指示能源部长“制定和发布与住宅电气和天然气能源数据共享有关的国家的指南”。尽管不是投资本身，但此简短规定还是值得提到的。IRA通过能源部（DOE）向国家能源办公室提供资金新的回扣计划那奖励房主进行节能房屋改造。IRA指示能源部长建立与这些计划相关的数据的指南。主动制定此类准则将有助于促进生产数据交换（例如，在试图了解广泛的效率升级如何影响能源需求的人以及预防不良影响（例如，来自不良参与者利用网络的网络攻击）利用网络攻击的网络攻击）。
对数据相关活动的一般支持
In addition to the specific investments outlined above, the IRA appropriates (over the next nine years) $150 million, $115 million, $100 million, and $40 million, respectively, to the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency for activities including “the development of environmental data or information systems.”
这种广泛的语言使机构的纬度可以根据需要分配资源。它还强调了一个事实，即多个机构有紧迫的环境数据和技术需求，其中许多重叠。因此，联邦政府应考虑建立一个集中的实体，A地球的数字服务—“with the expertise and mission to coordinate environmental data and technology across agencies.”
IRA投资于环境数据收集和分析的数亿美元将成为重要的脚手架，以有效地指导未来几年的环境计划的联邦支出，这是由于IRA造成的，这些支出有望大大增加。以及最近的其他关键和未决的立法方案（包括基础设施投资和就业法,筹码与科学法if authorized funds are appropriated, and the恢复美国的野生动植物法这有很大的机会通过这次国会）。数据驱动变更的基础已奠定。该游戏正式上映。
太空经济是巨大的，但其最大的挑战之一是微小的：太空碎片。
到2050年，美国将需要65,000英里的管道才能实现净零排放。这是拜登政府可以扩大低排放，复合材料来支持零净愿景的方式。
氨基酸是重要的但昂贵的输入for large-scale bioproduction. Federal funding can incentivize scalable production, cutting these costs in half.
通过按需基础设施将氧气作为公用事业，可以在全球范围内提高访问和死亡率。医疗保健专家提出，由美国国际开发署（USAID）领导的国际联盟如何改变低收入国家和中等收入国家的医疗氧气市场，以确保每个患者拥有所需的氧气。