IT SOUNDS like a wish list from an environmental group: new standards for fuel efficiency in cars; laws forcing power companies to produce 15 per cent of their electricity through renewable sources; traditional, inefficient 100-watt light bulbs to be banned; federal government operations to be carbon neutral by 2050.
But at least some of these proposals are actually likely to become US law, after the second of two related energy bills passed Congress on 4 August. The legislation could still fail, but green groups are cautiously optimistic. “It’s a substantial down payment in reducing global warming emissions,” says Philip…
