CQPolitics

A sweeping energy bill under consideration by a House panel not only would try to curb global warming but would also create a federal program on adapting to climate changes that may be inevitable.

Coming off the heels of the average cost of a gallon of gasoline breaching $4 the previous summer, last fall's stimulus package created fresh economic incentive for consumers to buy hybrid vehicles, including tax credits on the three classes of electric vehicles.

Ask Washington politicians what they're doing about climate change or America's dependence on foreign oil, and the talk pretty quickly zeros in on "green technologies."

Windmills were developed centuries before the Industrial Revolution to harness nature's airstream to automate tasks, but the problem is that wind farms are often located in remote areas that can't easily be linked to population centers without new transmission lines.