Enter the phrase “moderation in all things” into the Google internet search engine and you’ll get 74,600 results. This article makes 74,601.

As the U. S. Congress continues its deliberations on national legislation to address climate change, and the international community wrestles with how to implement policies that will reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, yet allow developing nations to emerge from abject poverty, and Michigan lawmakers attempt to pass legislation mandating the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in an effort to stall the need to build new base load generation, they should all keep in mind this oft-used phrase.

Extremism on either end of the debate—those who say, ‘do nothing because climate change is not man-made’ on one end, to those who advocate that we should ‘ban all coal-fired power plants and park all cars’ on the other—will not lead to acceptable solutions that can both reduce CO2 over the long-term and do so without bankrupting our economy or resulting in unacceptable lifestyle changes. Some estimates indicate that following certain paths to reduce CO2 could quadruple electric bills in the next 20 years. That’s not an acceptable approach. So, what do we do?

We have reached a point with policymakers that will inevitably lead us to adopt some measures of control on CO2. Carbon dioxide released during the burning of fossil fuels is considered to be a significant “green house gas.” And the two biggest contributors to CO2 emissions are automobiles and coal-burning power plants. In fact, these two sources alone are thought to contribute approximately two-thirds of all CO2 emissions in the United States. For that reason, policymakers are focusing their efforts on these two areas in an effort to reduce U.S. emissions of CO2.

With respect to automobiles, last year Congress raised the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. These are federal regulations intended to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. With higher standards, cars will get better gas mileage for the same gallon of gas, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions for each mile driven. This will not solve the issue completely, as cars and trucks will continue to burn gasoline and as the number of cars on the road continues to grow, overall emissions will likely increase—but it’s a start.

The real solution to addressing CO2 emissions from the transportation sector is the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. These are full-fledged automobiles that incorporate advanced battery designs used in conjunction with high-efficiency gasoline engines that allow the car to run significantly more miles on electricity alone. We are also making advancements in all electric vehicles, and if you think such a car would be nothing more than a dressed-up golf cart, check out www.teslamotors.com. As advancements in the automobile sector are made, the big issue of how to address CO2 emissions from power plants remains. But there are solutions to that, as well.

On the next page is an article entitled “A Sound Approach To Climate Change,” which summarizes a comprehensive approach to reducing CO2 emissions in the electricity sector. The approach relies on using a full portfolio of energy efficiency, increased use of renewable energy, nuclear energy, and advancements in coal plant technology to address CO2 emissions.

The strength of the full portfolio approach is that it seeks to gain reductions in CO2 emissions by not relying on just one solution, but many. There are some who say we should not build any new coal-fired power plants and simply rely on renewable energy and energy efficiency to meet our needs. That would be nice, but it won’t work. Even in Michigan, with our slower-than-national-average growth, demand for electricity increases year to year by about 1 to 2 percent, and even higher for the electric cooperatives, with some cooperatives seeing growth of 4 to 5 percent per year. Add to the growth the fact that the average age of the electric generation fleet of plants in Michigan is approaching 50-plus years, and we are faced with the real need to build new generation facilities—and soon. In fact, in studies over the last two years, the Michigan Public Service Commission indicates that even with increased use of renewable energy and energy efficiency Michigan will need to build at least one new power plant within the 2012 to 2015 time frame and then several more plants thereafter. Renewables and energy efficiency alone will not keep the lights on.

All in all, the only real solution to address CO2 emissions in the electric utility sector is through a comprehensive approach that does not rely on just one solution, but a little bit of many solutions—moderation in all things.