Energy Policy - Russian Opportunity for a new policy!

Russian unfortunately aggression against Georgia, or reprisal gone too far (what ever you call it) gives politicians in the US some great political cover for doing the right thing on energy policy. I hope they use it.

Some Suggestions:

• Offshore drilling, use Russia's action as an excuse to back out of uncomfortable political positions.
• Renew the tax breaks for Solar and Wind. Again use Russia's action.
• Get rid of Ethanol from corn extreme subsidies, focus on non food crops.
• Remove the tariff from Brazilian Ethanol.
• Somehow fund Mexico to fix their oil fields. It can be in the form of a loan.
• Set green standards for buildings - now I am really wishing.
• Tighten the mileage requirements for automobiles even more.
• Set up an X Prize for batteries, fuel efficiency, solar efficiency, solar panel cost, LED cost and electric cars with the award of a Billion Dollars for the winner of each category. The Economic benefit of vast improvements would be huge and I would hope it would speed up the process by years. Batteries is a great example of an area that has not improved much for a long time. May be these are not 100% the right technologies to back, but do something to encourage them.
  
• Require solar water heaters on all new houses in sunny areas of the US.
• Reduce NIMBY for Windmills offshore. Europe can do it, why can't we.
• Create an Interstate DC High Voltage Grid for the entire US. Just as the Eisenhower Interstates did a huge amount for commerce, this would help a huge amount. Especially in using Wind Power.