Some of America's most striking missteps lie in its energy policy or, more accurately, the lack of one. Ignore for the moment the urgent environmental issues that energy conservation addresses; what amazes me is our collective ability to completely ignore the security issues raised by our heavy dependence on nonrenewable fuels.

Our blindness is apparent in the herds of gas-guzzling, four-wheel-drive SUVs that will never haul anything heavier than the local soccer league, and never move farther off-road than a driveway. Consumer apathy, combined with our government's lack of vision, means that we'll keep paying the same folks who helped finance the 9/11 attacks for their oil as if they were our long-lost brothers. If we devoted as much effort to encouraging hybrid-electric vehicles, alternative fuels and other innovative technologies as we do to propping up our petroleum interests, we'd enjoy both increased security and a healthier future.

We've also quickly forgotten the electricity shortages that came close to bringing California to its knees last year. While there has been some regulatory reform to prevent the worst of the abuses by energy traders, little if anything has been done to shift our national energy policy toward institutionalizing conservation technologies and renewable sources. Without them, the rolling brownouts will serve as merely a preview of worse to come.

Despite the seeming lethargy of government and much of industry, at least a few encouraging signs are evident. Vestas, a leading producer of megawatt-class wind turbines, is relocating to Portland, Ore., and bringing nearly 1,000 jobs with it. And the Wind Power Co. (Bellevue, Wash.) has just rolled out a highly durable wind generator that is up to 30 percent more efficient than others on the market. With the ongoing deployment of wind farms in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Minnesota and throughout the Northwest, the United States will benefit from heightened energy security and an improved balance of trade, as American-made turbines are sold throughout the world.

Similar initiatives in the housing, transportation and construction sectors would position us on the way toward a sustainable economy and help wean us from a deadly addiction to imported energy. If the private sector demonstrates the initiative and vision our current government seems to lack, we will have truly learned from Sept. 11.

Lee Goldberg reports on technology and the environment at www.green-electronics.com.