How the Bailout Benefits the Environment

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Everyone knows the $700 billion bailout package is a boon for Wall Street. But it turns out green consumers stand to benefit too. According to Fortune and the Environmental News Network, the legislation includes a number of perks for the eco-friendly, including:

—A 30 percent tax credit for homeowners who install solar panels after December 31, 2008.

—A $1,000-per-kilowatt tax credit for homeowners who install wind power, with a cap of $4,000.

—Tax credits of $3,000 or more for the purchase of fuel-efficient, plug-in hybrid vehicles.

—Incentives to grow renewable fuels such as biodiesel and renewable diesel at home.

The bill also supports big businesses that go green. A 30 percent solar investment tax credit has been extended to 2016, and utility companies including PG&E and Southern California Edison can now claim this credit for large-scale solar power projects.

—Nikki Gloudeman

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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