Steven F. Hayward commented here and here critiquing Mitt Romney's statements on global warming and energy efficiency. He makes a good case that Americans needed feel like the energy hogs of the world, but if the main goal is to achieve energy independence, more efficiency in our use of energy would seem to be one of the easier things we can do.

Romney spent his LDS mission in France. I spent mine in Germany, and he must know that those nations can be more efficient in transportation because their populations are more dense and public transit can be provided more efficiently. I never needed a car because we could either ride bicycles or take street cars to anywhere we needed to go.

Hayward quotes Romney, "We could do a lot better. I'd like to see our vehicles, and our homes, and our systems of insulation and so forth become far more efficient. I believe that we have a role in trying to encourage that to happen." I don't get the feeling that Romney favors a tough top-down control model. Certainly, that is the opposite of his views on health care. "Trying to encourage" things through market principles is more his style.