tax credits

Just in time for tax season, Congress has given American homeowners and businesses a chance to keep a little more of their hard-earned money. Late on January 1, 2013, the “fiscal cliff showdown” ended with the House passing a bill to avert income tax increases for Americans and large cuts in spending for government programs. What many...[read more]

The technological revolution allowing for the cheap extraction of natural gas from shale occurred thanks to more than three decades of government subsidies for research, demonstration, and production, a new Breakthrough Institute investigation finds. Both directly and indirectly, the government was behind the critical moments and tools...[read more]

The federal tax credits available for energy efficiency upgrades including insulation, air sealing products, energy efficient appliances, windows and more is set to expire on December 31, 2011. If you’d like to take advantage of the tax credit, any products need to be purchased and installed by then. The federal tax credit for energy...[read more]

Battle lines are being drawn in Congress over whether to renew tax credits and import tariffs for American ethanol – based on a regional, rather than partisan divide.[read more]

Even outsiders know that the solar energy industry has experienced huge growth during the past few years. This is particularly true of 2009, where solar energy prospered in spite of a worldwide recession. In the U.S., this prosperity is largely due to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.   This Act, also called ARRA,...[read more]

I recently wrote about how privately held biodiesel producers were going out of business at the same time that government entities were starting biodiesel operations to supply their own needs. I thought it was somewhat troubling to see biodiesel production shifting from private sector to the public sector. Around that same time, a...[read more]

Last week the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released its annual report on the US wind industry. By most measures it reflects another banner year. New wind power installations topped 10,000 Megawatts for the first time, bringing cumulative capacity to just over 35,000 MW, roughly 93% of which was added in the last 10 years....[read more]

A host of new tax credits are now available thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The only drawback is that there are so many ways to reduce your tax bill by investing in energy efficiency and renewables, that it may be hard to keep track of them all. While visiting Seaway Manufacturing Corporation in Erie,...[read more]

Here is an interesting lede from a story in RenewablesBiz.com titled Non-conformity Taxing Developers: Ask any renewable energy project developer what saved the market from total collapse in 2009 and the unanimous answer would be the cash grants program from the U.S. Treasury. That's the Section 1603 program changes in the Recovery Act...[read more]

My critique of a proposal for expanded tax credits to promote the electrification of transportation prompted some interesting comments. It also got me thinking again about an underlying problem that leads to the kind of scramble for government favor and largess that is exemplified by such efforts and by the badly-flawed Waxman-Markey...[read more]

By Professor Gregory Bothun and Jesse JenkinsEarlier this week, President Barack Obama signed into law the $787 billion economic stimulus package. The stimulus directs more than $80 billion to start the construction of a new, national clean energy infrastructure. Many are hailing this clean energy investment as unprecedented, which in...[read more]

NY Times Columnist Thomas Friedman wrote a great piece about oil dependence, renewable energy, and America's energy policy called Mr. Bush, Lead or Leave. The op-ed piece passionately calls on Bush, McCain, and other Republicans who are busy promoting drilling for more oil in America, to instead quickly pass legislation to ensure tax...[read more]

I’m a little surprised at some of comments I’ve received on my recent wind energy posts.  The engineer in me cringes at the description of the technology as “useless.”  In the past decade or two I’ve seen some pretty lame applications of technology, and wind energy just doesn’t fall into that category in my mind. Anything...[read more]

Over 100 retailers, manufacturers, and trade and advocacy groups have sent a familiar message to the Senate: Pass the Renewable Energy Tax Package! About two weeks ago over 500 members of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) also sent a letter to Congress encouraging the renewable of the production and investment tax credits...[read more]

The energy bill passed by Congress last December originally contained a beneficial if temporary set of financial incentives to spur the growth of renewable energy technologies in the United States. The bill included a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) that would require states to acquire part of their electric power from...[read more]