First it was Al Gore with an Inconvenient Truth. Now Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken introduced a legislation that seeks to create a Strategic Energy Fund that will help pay for research, development, ad deployment of energy technologies. The $50 billion dollar fund is expected to help reduce America's oil dependence and GHG emissions.

The US policy on renewable energy is to produce 20% of its total electricity requirements from renewable resources by 2020 with an extension of production tax credit for generating electricity from alternative sources for 10 years. A legislation such as this Strategic Energy Fund will help speed up the development of renewable energy resources, such as the development of cellulosic ethanol, hypercars, wind and hydro plants, and other much needed infrastructure and software such as financing support.

According to Senator Clinton "Our present system of energy is weakening our national security, hurting our pocketbooks, violating our common values and threatening our children's future. Right now, instead of national security dictating our energy policy, our failed energy policy dictates our national security."

The tide thus changes. If this legislation pushes through, oil companies may feel the brunt of the new fund raiser but Americans may now have a better chance and a more active participation in managing global climate change.

Read more about this development here.