-A guest blog written by former intern Komal Hiranandani-

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) have plans to unveil a comprehensive climate change bill in the Senate next weak, tentatively called the "American Power Act." Running on the heels of Earth Day celebrations, this Senate Bill follows the passage of the House's H.R. 2454 Waxman-Markey Bill in June last year.

A lot has happened between then and now. President Obama attended the Copenhagen climate summit in December, which acknowledged the scientific need to prevent climate change, acknowledged the assistance needed for developing countries to transition to clean energy economies, and saw the U.S. agreeing to pledge aid to developing countries for this purpose. However, the summit failed to produce the binding agreement across nations to take specific measures to fight this threat. The U.S. Senate debated the Kerry-Boxer climate bill that tried to follow H.R. 2454, but this moved fizzled out as Senators refused to come together and other issues clogged the agenda.

The global community has a moral obligation to reduce its greenhouse gases. Climate change talks in Copenhagen are set to begin in slightly over 46 days. And yet the United States is far from passing any legislation that would truly curb our greenhouse gas emissions below the scientific recommendations of 25-40 percent of 1990 levels. The House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. This bill, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, proposes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only 17 percent of 2005 levels, or in other words: 4 percent of 1990 levels.

On July 10, the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted a summit on energy security.  Experts from a variety of government agencies and organizations discussed the different ways that America can attain a cleaner, more diverse, and more sustainable energy economy.  Although the speakers tended to disagree on how the United States can achieve energy security, all agreed that the future must involve a dramatic expansion of renewable energy production.  The devil, of course, is in the details.

It turns out that the pursuit of energy efficiency isn't just some newfangled political fad thought up by climate scientists and mechanical engineers... it's in our genes! According to a team of researchers at the University of Arizona, humans learned to walk upright because doing so uses less energy than traveling on all fours. This is a fun fact, all by itself, but I can't help thinking... maybe pursuing an energy efficiency revolution is the next phase of human evolution?