Technology and Climate Change

Climate change is on the table this week at the world conference in Bali, Indonesia, and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

But as the politicians haggle over much-needed climate policy, scientists and venture capitalists, students and inventors, are looking to give us an extreme energy makeover: pursuing breakthroughs in everything from biofuels to green buildings, solar energy to smart grids.

It's said that technology alone can't get us out of our climate mess. But neither, they say, can politicians. It's going to take both.

This hour, On Point: climate change politics and the race to innovate.Guests:

Juliet Eilperin, environment and national politics reporter for The Washington Post.

Ron Pernick, co-founder of Clean Edge, a research and consulting firm, and co-author of "The Clean Tech Revolution."

Daniel Enderton, a Ph.D. candidate in climate physics and chemistry at M.I.T. and co-president of the M.I.T. Energy Club.

John O'Donnell, executive vice president for Ausra, a clean technology company based in Palo Alto, Calif., that focuses on solar power.

Bill Green, managing director at Vantage Point Venture Partners, a venture capital firm with a portfolio of 16 clean tech companies.