I hope they have the energy for that

I know it's early in the game yet, so I hate to jinx anything, but it appears (I know appearances can be --and have so far been-- deceiving.) that Congress might actually pass something worthwhile over the Executive branch's indignation. And it hits near to home for them: the energy bill. Up until now (and as yet, the streak seems unbroken) all the major issues that this mandate-from-the-people Congress were sent to Washington to address, they've rolled on.
Wiretapping? Oh, well I guess that's okay, Mr. President. Iraq? Oh, after the surge, sure, Mr. President. New attorney general who won't get off his pansy ass and cop to the fact that waterboarding is torture? Yeah, alright, Mr. President, just this once.
Now, they have an energy bill that will actually force the oil companies to pay higher taxes (like that's not gonna trickle down) and will force auto manufacturers to make more fuel-efficient cars (which they have the technology to do) and will force utilities to get fully 15% of their energy from a renewable source. By 2020. So they've got a few years to work out the details.
Already the utilities are grumbling because, gosh! golly! there's not enough wind everywhere for those big fancy windmills to be cost-effective. (I guess, Chicago's claim to fame as the Windy City is all rumor and hearsay. There is no wind in the Midwest.) But the last time I checked, renewable energy isn't necessarily wind. According to the government's own source, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, there's biomass, geothermal and solar.

It's time to stop with the "cost-effective" crap. If we Americans were interested in cost-effectiveness, we wouldn't be dumping millions of dollars A DAY into Iraq,

or buying gas-guzzling SUVs,

or driving those gas-guzzling SUVs two miles to pick up a gallon of milk and then another mile to get a burger and fries --in the drive-thru,

or cranking our air-conditioning so high you need a sweater in the middle of July,

or having 8 televisions,

or spending six hours a day watching said televisions,

or leaving the light on 24-7 because Fido is scared of the dark,

or ---I could go on and on.

Almost none of what we Americans do, in general, is cost-effective. In fact, long term, most of what we do is cost-defective. And relying on renewable energy is, long term, the single most cost effective thing we can do for the planet.

So suck it up, Washington, D.C., and pass the damn bill. And the rest of you stop griping and take a walk.