As a former long-time resident of Baltimore, it's been a real treat to watch Michael Phelps blow out the competition at the Beijing Olympics. Bawl-mere officials are planning a big hometown celebration for Phelps when he returns, as well they should.

This guy's performance has been phenomenal. Reporter Karen Crouse points out in yesterday's New York Times that, as of Sunday morning, "the Person’s Republic of Michael would have ranked fourth in gold medals and been ahead of all but 14 countries in the medal count."

The U.S. is five medals ahead of China at this point (67-52), thanks in no small part to Phelps's history-making aquatic victories. In another department, however, the U.S. is lagging behind China. And it involves an issue that is a heckuva lot more important than the Olympics: the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Rather than getting bogged down in futile efforts to maintain the old fossil-fuel regime, a report published earlier this month by The Climate Group shows, China is seizing the opportunity to create a new energy economy. Already the world's leading renewable energy producer in terms of installed capacity, China is planning to double the proportion of renewable energy to 15 percent by 2020. At present second only to Japan in the production of solar photovoltaic technology, by the end of next year it will be the world's leading manufacturer of wind turbines. According to the report, China is also emerging as a frontrunner in the export of solar water heaters, energy efficient home applicances, and rechargeable batteries.

Of course, China is now the world's leading producer of greenhouse gas, accounting for 24 percent of all global emissions. The good news is that its CO2 per capita is relatively low. The bad news is that should the Chinese ever reach the current per capita level of Americans, as The Climate Group observes, their "total emissions would be roughly equivalent to the entire planet today." Yikes.

All the more reason to cheer on China's move to a low carbon economy. And all the more reason to ask why Congress cannot find the political will to extend the investment tax credits for installing solar energy and the production tax credits for building wind turbines. Both of these are slated to end in December and, as a result of Congressional bickering that has gone on for more than a year, time is running out.

“Leadership is about ‘follow me’ not ‘after you,’” Thomas Friedman has written in another context. It's about time we took a page out of Michael Phelps's book and exercised some leadership, putting in place a strong, comprehensive renewable energy policy. Extending the federal tax credits, which have been a key component in stimulating the development of the U.S. solar and wind power industries, would be a good way to get started.