Green Tax Credits

2009 Top Green Tax Credits and Deductions
A tax credit is a one-for-one dollar reduction in your total tax bill. Think of it as the government literally giving you a credit for a particular amount of money off of your tax bill. A tax deduction on the other hand reduces your taxable income. Once you have all of your deductions taken off of your total income, this amount is then the amount of money you will be taxed against. The difference is a large one in that a tax credit is much more beneficial than a deduction, but both are useful in reducing your tax bill.

Green Energy Home and Auto Tax Credits in the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package
As a soon to be home owner, I was surprised at the amount of "green" tax credits available in President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package (aka 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). The $1500 energy efficiency credit has been well publicized, but there are a lot more goodies in there that you could save you a lot of money when it comes to tax returns next year, and reduce your carbon footprint to boot.