The U.S. financial bailout plan, signed into law Oct. 3, includes a tax credit for plug-in hybrid drivers, boosts subsidies to invest in non-conventional fossil fuels, and offers breaks to develop technologies to burn coal more cleanly and to sequester carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants underground. These are just some examples of the help the plan gives the clean energy sector.

The law will give drivers of plug-in hybrid vehicles a tax credit between $2,500 and $7,500, depending on the capacity of the battery. Larger vehicles, such as trucks, receive larger credits.

The law extends the alternative fuels tax credits and extends for one year the existing $1 per gallon credit for biodiesel and renewable diesel production.

For solar energy alone, the plan provides an eight-year extension to the 30-percent tax credit for solar residential and commercial solar installations, eliminates the $2,000 cap on that tax credit for solar electric panels installed after the end of this year and allows utilities to benefit from these tax credits.