Reduce Greenhouse Gases Profitably; A Regulatory System That Rewards Energy Companies for Innovations That Boost Efficiency Can Appeal to Environmentalists and Industry Alike (Energy EFFICIENCY‪)‬

After the Senate's failed effort to pass the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, Congress could conclude that reducing greenhouse pollution is a political impossibility--the costs too high, the benefits too uncertain, the opposition too entrenched. But that would ignore a convenient truth: Technology already exists to slash carbon emissions and energy costs simultaneously. With a little political imagination Congress could move beyond Lieberman-Warner and develop an energy plan that satisfies both pro-business and pro-environment advocates. The Lieberman-Warner bill would create a cap-and-trade system to govern carbon emissions from power plants and major industrial facilities. What the bill does well is to limit greenhouse gas emissions to 19% below the 2005 level by the year 2020. The bill further demands a 71% reduction by 2050. Some argue that these goals should be stricter or looser, but the legislation does at least set clear targets and timetables.