The Greener Side of Wall Street's Bail Out

When I woke up the other morning to find snow on the ground, I was forced to come to grips with two things: 1) winter is coming and 2) the year is almost over.

A few months back, I posted an advanced warning to those of you looking to make every-efficient improvements to your spaces: do it before the end of the year or lose out on tax incentives. For those rushing around trying to find funds for last-minute projects, I'm happy to report that relief is here -by way of the Wall Street bail out plan.

Now you might be thinking, "Ok, Dadson Diaries, the bail out might make it a little easier for me to find funding for these improvement projects, but that's not helping the fact that there's only a little over a month left in 2008!"

Turns out the bail out plan, titled the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, includes a little thing called the the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008. You can check out the link for the full scoop, but here's a little bit of it I think you time-starved, money-strapped business owners will enjoy:

"Extension of Energy-Efficient Buildings Deduction. Current law allows taxpayers to deduct the cost of energy-efficient property installed in commercial buildings. The amount deductible is up to $1.80 per square foot of building floor area for buildings achieving a 50% energy savings target. The energy savings must be accomplished through energy and power cost reductions for the building's heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water, and interior lighting systems. This bill extends the energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction for five years, through December 31, 2013."

Also, here's a brief article on the topic that's currently featured on the BusinessWeek website.