Bailout includes incentives for going green at home

The bailout that was railroaded through Congress contained precious little that was of direct help to anyone outside of Wall Street but, if you're interested in making your home greener and more energy efficient, there might be a little something there for you.

Realty Times reports that the bill included a 30% federal tax credit for the next eight years for new commercial and residential solar installations, along with a 10% tax credit for certain combined heat and power systems and for geothermal heat pumps. You can read about some of the other special go green tax credits here.

But don't get too excited: the investments required to make a home more technologically green-friendly are often prohibitively expensive. The tax credits help but for most home owners it's probably not practical. Many of the tax credits included in the bill are aimed at commercial property developers.

For tips on making your home more green on an affordable scale, check out HGTV's Green Home. You can even enter for a chance to win your own super high-tech energy efficient palace!