I'm changing the climate! Ask me how!

Michigan Democrat John Dingell, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by raising gasoline taxes by 50 cents per gallon and eliminating the mortgage interest tax deduction for homes 3,000 square feet and up.

Yes, he knows he'll "catch hell" for those ideas, which will be part of a "multi-tiered approach" to greenhouse gas reductions in a bill he plans to introduce when Congress comes back from vacation next month.

Many of Dingell's constituents work in the auto industry, which is vehemently opposed to a gas tax hike because of the potential impact on sales of its most profitable vehicles, trucks and SUVs.

And builders are aghast at the the thought of eliminating tax deductions for purchasers of profitbale "McMansions" at a time when interest rates on jumbo mortgages are already up.

"These are all new ideas. I know I'm going to catch hell for them," Dingell told the Detroit Free Press. But we have to make consumption more expensive if we're serious about global warming, he said. "We need to do things that are difficult, costly and will require sacrifice from all of us."

The National Association of Home Builders predicts that while average home size will remain around 2,400 square feet for the next decade, the typical "upscale" home will be 4,000 square feet by 2015. According to the U.S. EPA, the energy we use heating, cooling and lighting our homes (and running all those appliances) accounts for close to 17 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

But builders say they're paying more attention to energy efficiency these days. The EPA says close to 750,000 recently constructed homes meet its "Energy Star" guidelines, and are helping save more than 1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 100 million therms of natural gas a year.

Given the vast leeway for further improvements in energy efficiency of cars and homes, Dingell's bill may make a big splash when it's introduced, before fading from view without a whimper. Although some of Dingell's colleagues may be able to stomach the bill's $100-per-ton carbon tax, they can probably already imagine the attack ads they'll face if they vote to raise gas taxes by 50 cents a gallon.

And even if eliminating the mortgage tax deduction for homes over 3,000 square feet would only affect their wealthiest constituents, those are also the folks who are most likely to vote.

In the end, the bill could be the legislative equivalent of those pardoy Herbalife bumper stickers environmentalists have been slapping on SUVs for years: "I'm changing the climate! Ask me how!"

It may get some people pretty riled up, and even prompt a few to think about energy consumption when purchasing a car or home. But maybe we shouldn't count on it putting a dent in greenhouse emissions.

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