In 1993, President Clinton pledged to reduce US C02 emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. Instead, the nation's C02 emissions are now projected to rise at least 13 percent by the end of the century. In 1996 alone, US emissions shot up 3.5 percent. During the remaining years of Clinton's term, no other action would have a greater impact on cooling the impacts of global warming than a serious federal program to reduce the cost of solar cells.
Solar cells are an astonishingly attractive way to make electricity.
Solar cells produce no greenhouse-warming carbon dioxide. Moreover, polls routinely report that most Americans would prefer to get their energy from the sun. Unfortunately, solar cells are not yet cost-effective for widespread use in the US or any other industrialized country. Fortunately, this is a problem we know how to solve. Massive government purchases by the Defense Department and NASA quickly led to design innovations and efficient mass production.