What the Stimulus Package Does for Renewable Energy

With about $50 billion in spending and $20 billion in tax provisions, energy won big in the stimulus package.

Spending projects include $11 billion for the electrical grid, $2 billion for advanced battery technology, and $5 billion for home weatherization. Grants for energy programs also are major routes for cash, with $6.3 billion going to states and towns. An additional $300 million funds state and municipal purchases of electric and hybrid cars. (They appear in other parts of the package, too: The federal government will buy $300 million worth. There's also a 10 percent tax credit for those who convert their cars to electric power and a 50 percent credit to gas stations that install pumps for alternative fuel like ethanol.)

Science wins big. Some $8.8 billion goes to energy research. That includes $800 million for clean coal, $1.5 billion for industrial carbon capture, $800 million for biomass, and $400 million for geothermal energy. And $300 million of R&D funding goes to the military.

The package also supports green building. Federal buildings will get $4.5 billion in renovations; public housing, $4 billion. An additional $250 million is slotted to make affordable housing more energy efficient, in part by installing insulation.

On the tax side, it authorizes $1.6 billion in clean energy bonds on top of the current $800 million. Green energy manufacturers get a 30 percent investment tax credit, while another 30 percent credit is for homeowners who install energy-efficient technology like wood stoves.