At least the energy bill starts us on the path to cutting emissions. Actually, it's kind of amazing how just increasing fuel efficiency standards 40% and ramping up biofuels takes such a large chunk out of our emissions. Further tightening them past 2020 should help even more.

RES and ramping up energy efficiency could take another big slice out, and we still wouldn't have broken a sweat. Makes the last chunk seem much more manageable, no?

in there.  That's priority #1, followed by a greenhouse gas reduction bill ASAP.

Gristmill's negative reaction to this bill?

Would I have preferred a stronger bill? Of course. Is something better than nothing? Definitely.

But honestly, I'm kind of sick of environmentalists playing the "we only get one bite at the apple!" card. It's easy to dig your heels in and demand your bill or nothing, then brand the people who crafted the compromise as sellouts.

We're passing the best legislation we can get now, we'll hope to make gains in November, then we'll try to toughen standards next year. That's how sausage-making works on Capitol Hill.

Another bite at the apple, even if it's not the best tasting apple around?

http://www.usnews.com/articles...

I'm not the one with the energy knowledge here, but this seems like another decent bite out of the apple -- the incandescent bulb will be phased out between 2012 and 2014.  The article I cited has some FAQ's which were interesting.

..lighting accounts for under 10% of U.S household electricity use, let alone total U.S. energy consumption.  See the graph below for the impact of the entire energy bill just passed (including phasing out incandescent light bulbs).  It's a start, but not even close to what we need in terms of greenhouse gas reductions.