Want to help the U.S. kick the oil habit?

The single biggest thing that we could be today is renewing the investment credits for solar, wind, and other alternative energy projects.

Here's my post about last month's National Clean Energy Summit as well as a new story from CNN:

The tax credits are substantial.

They currently give wind, geothermal and biofuels projects 2 cents for every kilowatt hour produced. The current market price for electricity is about 5 cents per kilowatt hour, so it works out to a subsidy of about 40%, according to the Energy Information Administration.

For solar, businesses and individuals can get 30% of the cost of a solar plant or home installation refunded by the government.

These tax credits have been around in some form since the early 1990s, but since the late 1990 have only been renewed on a yearly basis.

That's a problem for anyone trying to develop large sources of renewable energy.
People putting solar panels on their roof usually are able to take advantage of the tax credit because they should be able to have the panels up and running in less than a year.

But finding someone to pony up the money to build a massive utility-sized solar project - which can take three to six years to build - is a lot harder if the long-term availability of the tax credit is uncertain.

"If you do just one year extensions, you don't create market stability for the larger projects," said Monique Hanif, spokesperson for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The delay means more money spent on foreign oil. And on a day when the jobless rate hit a five year high, renewing these tax credits--and giving them a longer lifespan--would help to create jobs here in America.

Write your Senators and Representative and ask that they find a way to renew these alternative energy tax credits now!