Regulation has greatly improved America's air quality. These improvements translate directly into fewer deaths and more enjoyable lives. The value of a reasonable but firm clean air policy can be seen clearly by comparing air in America with that in much of the developing world, where industrialization exacts a heavy price on the environment and daily life, even as it brings economic advancement.

Yet, compelling evidence exists that air pollution-legal air pollution-still kills and sickens millions of Americans. Motor vehicles and powerplants release the vast majority of that pollution, although factories also play a major role. The common link between these sources is that all three produce energy by burning fossil fuel.

Renewable energy technologies could reduce air pollution in two major ways. First, several renewable technologies commercially available today can produce clean electricity. These include wind turbines, geothermal plants, solar thermal generators, photovoltaic panels and others. Second, that clean electricity can be stored in batteries and used to run clean vehicles. Electric cars are just reaching the market, although, of course, their environmental advantage is greatly diminished if the electricity used to charge their batteries originates at a coal-burning powerplant. In the future, electricity generated from renewable energy may be used to produce hydrogen, a clean energy carrier able to power vehicles and other devices; several analysts posit a renewable-hydrogen economy as the ideal endpoint of our search for an environmentally benign, replenishable energy system.

The reasons for pursuing renewable energy are grounded firmly in the value of human life. While engineering challenges remain, the primary obstacles to a renewable energy future are economic and political. As we strive for cleaner air for our children, the chief tasks before us are to face honestly the true cost of our energy decisions and to minimize those costs. It is difficult to set a value on the life of a human being but a system that sets that value at zero is clearly wrong.

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