A couple of news items from across the Atlantic caught my eye this week. They're interesting because both relate to policy changes that are coming to the U.S. The challenges posed by these policies serve as cautionary tales to U.S. policymakers as they write new laws to adapt to climate change.

The first seems relatively minor, but I suspect it's going to be very controversial. Most people don't realize that the Bush administration's energy bill that gave us longer daylight savings time also contained a ban on incandescent light bulbs. Starting in 2012, 100 watt light bulbs will become illegal, with a phase down in coming years to affect lower wattage bulbs. I predict a major public outcry when this happens, as I don't see the country ready to make the switch. This week the European Union phased in a similar ban, and the reaction has not been kind. Consumers are unhappy with being deprived of choice and many argue that the replacement CFL bulbs are too harsh. There are also concerns about mercury contained in the CFL bulbs. The ban is in place, though, so the next time you travel to the EU, leave your light bulbs at home!

The second story is about Spain's solar power industry. Spain gets a lot of sunlight, so Spain decided a few years ago to encourage solar power investment by passing laws to subsidize that investment. The program created a system of feed-in tariffs, which guarantee the price of electricity generated by solar plants and sold to the grid. Similar feed-in tariffs exist in the U.S., and in other European countries as well. Spain's program, however, set the tariff at a high rate, making it extremely attractive for solar producers to generate electricity and sell it to the grid. The program also did not provide for a phase-down for the rate, as many similar programs do. The result was a bubble. Extremely high investment in the solar industry, with container loads of solar cells sent to Spain, resulted in massive solar production capacity. The government, however, quickly realized the program was too generous and abruptly cut the subsidy. The result is a global collapse in the solar industry, with ripple effects extending beyond Spain.

The caution here is that government regulations on climate change need to be drafted with thought and care, with an eye towards science and economics rather than politics. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the lesson won't be lost in the U.S.