An Apollo Program for Climate Change

The first priority for any program to reduce carbon is establishing a long-term, public-private funding partnership to research, develop and deploy emissions-reduction technologies into the market.

This effort could be financed through a small fee (one-twentieth of a cent) applied to every kilowatt of energy sold in the United States. Combined with matching federal funds, this could provide about $4 billion annually -- enough, experts believe, to develop the technology to reduce emissions 25 percent below 2000 levels by the year 2030, with dramatic reductions thereafter.

Besides finding new ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, we need to do research to achieve breakthroughs in renewable energy, nuclear technologies and reductions in demand, as well as improvements in high-voltage transmission systems and the retrofitting of existing fossil-fuel plants. Achieving a future of low carbon emissions is not a matter of choosing one technology over another. All must play a role.

Rather than simply passing emissions caps and hoping for the best, Congress should develop a comprehensive package of technology investment, renewable energy and energy efficiency mandates, tax incentives, and policy changes to reduce carbon emissions in the near and long term.

It is possible to create an economically sustainable low-carbon future by investing in technology now and deploying these technologies worldwide.

We need to start today, with the Kennedyesque goal of making the transition from 250 years of carbon-intensive growth to a low-carbon future in the next 25 years.

That's an ambitious but achievable goal that all Americans should be able to support.

The writer is chairman and chief executive of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. MidAmerican is 85 percent-owned by Berkshire Hathaway, whose chairman, Warren E. Buffett, is on the Washington Post Co.'s board of directors.