Faced with a faltering economy, fatigue over the health care fight, and the prospect of congressional elections this November, proponents of a carbon cap-and-trade bill in the U.S. Senate face high hurdles when Congress returns from its winter recess next week.

The Obama administration and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the lead author on the climate bill, insist that they are proceeding with plans to pass climate and energy legislation this year.

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As debate heats up around the proposals for clean energy legislation in Congress, one of the main points of contention is the amount of money it will cost.  More specifically, everyone wants to know how the average American household will be impacted by the respective energy bills in the House (Waxman-Markey’s American Clean Energy and Security Act) and the Senate (Kerry-Boxer’s Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act).  This article will investigate the change in energy prices one can expect from legislation that could be passed within the coming months, and try to sift through the wide discrepancy in figures that are being tossed around.  Then some recommendations will be presented as to how energy usage can be reduced, to preempt any anticipated rises in cost.

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Four Democratic U.S. senators are calling on their leadership to pass legislation setting renewable energy targets but to postpone the key element of a major climate and energy bill, which would put a cap and a price on carbon dioxide emissions.

The move by the senators — Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, both of North Dakota — could pose a major challenge for cap-and-trade legislation that was passed by the House of Representatives in June and is now before the Senate.

Referring to the renewable energy and cap-and-trade provisions, Sen. Lincoln told Bloomberg News,
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