I agree completely, Billie. A lot of these "green energy initiatives" are way overblown, both in the amount of money actually being spent on them as well as how much effect they will ever have.

In my opinion, if the political leadership of the country really wanted to lay a cornerstone of a new energy policy, they'd do two things...

• Pass legislation that would drive the country towards nuclear power for electricity. Does it make sense that it takes 10-15 years to bring a nuclear powered generating facility online in this country? For crying out loud, France generates 90% of its electricity using nukes and can bring a plant online in half that time.

• Secondly, pass legislation that will drive the U.S. consumer towards buying much, much smaller and fuel efficient cars and trucks. As long as gasoline is reasonably affordable, U.S. consumers will keep driving SUVs, trucks, and other less efficient vehicles. There may be other ways to accomplish this, but passing a stairstep significant increase in federal gas taxes might do the trick. With advanced notice of the stair step increases, the auto companies could prepare for the demand for smaller, more fuel efficient cars. And knowing that higher-priced gas is coming would drive the consumers in that direction as well.

I'm not wed to the idea of a gas tax. Maybe a stairstep increase in CAFE standards could accomplish the same thing. But until we do something that actually reduces our consumption of gas and oil, the flow of money to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East will continue. Doing nothing is not an option.