Any savings or funding you receive is equally valuable if it helps achieve your climate goals. So really, it's a matter of determining 1) what you're most qualified for 2) what requires the least effort and 3) what can you win soonest. Let's start by taking a look at the different funding types in the IRA.

• Grants. Grants are  direct funding from the government towards promising projects. They're offered to nonprofits, local governments, startups, large businesses and more. The IRA has placed the majority of its grant applications on their website meaning a sam.gov and a grants.gov login is required. Sometimes there are cost share requirements which use terms such as "applicants seeking up to 50% of the cost." This means if a project will cost $20,000, the grant can only fund up to $10,000. Grants are most likely to go to projects that meet their requirements. If the expressed goal is to electrify the grid, the best technology will win. If the goal is to provide clean water to an underserved community, the application who helps the most people will be prioritized.
• Loans. There are two subcategories here. Good old fashioned loan guarantees, and loan credit subsidies. $40 billion of loan guarantees offer far better terms than what can be found at a normal bank. This includes lower interest payments and decreased or removed collateral. Credit subsidies cover premiums paid by loan recipients that the government has usually required as a "self-pay risk" in the past. This basically was intended to mitigate the risk that a borrower would not repay their debt.

• Consumer Tax Credits. Ever used TurboTax? These are those things that cause your annual return to jump way up! The most popular example is the EV-credit offered to qualifying EV purchases during the prior year which saves $7,500 per person typically. Typically these require a form. In this example, Form 8936 simply must be included in your annual tax return. It's not as bad as it looks. The form has easy instructions such as adding your vehicle identification number and calculating a simple phase-out explained in their instructions.
• Commercial Tax Credits. A common tax credit is a certain amount per unit of energy produced such as $1.00 per gallon of biodiesel or $0.03 per kilowatt hour of electricity produced. Oftentimes there is "stackability criteria". Meaning Tax Credit A cannot be included in addition to Tax Credit B. In these instances it is best to pursue whichever option yields the highest return. There is also oftentimes direct pay eligibility. A tax-exempt nonprofit may utilize this for example. Since they do not fill out tax forms, they will send in a tax credit form and receive direct payment from the government. Finally, oftentimes there is bonus credit availability based on meeting certain levels of labor qualifications. The government added this as one of many ideas to help workers while also helping the environment!
• Direct Federal Spending. This is simply money the government will spend on their own. Oftentimes it is to modernize a government entity such as the post office or clean up a national park. This means there is no qualification or eligibility process for these funds.
• Others? There are smaller sections such as cooperative agreements and contracts. These are most similar to grants.