Rising energy prices are hurting Hoosiers today, but the federal response to that pain could bring new opportunities to the state.

In their presidential campaigns, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama embrace a similar goal: reducing or eliminating U.S. reliance on imported energy. Some of their strategies for reaching that goal have much in common.

Whichever man wins the November election, big changes and promising opportunities are likely coming for the state. Both candidates advocate increasing solar and wind power. Both emphasize conservation, including more efficient new buildings and extensive building rehabs. Both want the federal government to pitch in on bringing hybrid and full-electric automobiles into production. Both pledge their support to expanding the use of biofuels, including ethanol.

It's too soon to count on a revamped energy system in the U.S. Both candidates are vague in many crucial points about their plans. But if the new president persuades Congress to follow through on his energy platform, it would bring an unprecedented federal overhaul of the way Americans fuel their transportation and power their homes and businesses.

Cooking ethanol and diesel fuel from corn and soybeans already is big business in the state. Sens. Obama and McCain both say they support continued production of ethanol and biodiesel. In political terms, that means continued tax breaks to subsidize the cost of these fuels.

But Kent Yeager, director of public policy for Farm Bureau of Indiana, said Obama has a better record of support for corn-based ethanol. In the past, such as his run for the presidency in 2000, McCain has opposed federal subsidies to support the production of ethanol.

“Biofuels is certainly not the strong point for Sen. McCain. Sen. Obama's record is much stronger. … We're a little concerned about Sen. McCain's position,” Yeager said.

The ethanol boom has been a bonanza for farmers here. Both corn and soybean prices hit new records this year - double to triple the prices seen only two years ago. That's given farmers an infusion of revenue that trumps the higher costs of fuel and fertilizer they must pay as part of cultivating and harvesting crops. Last month, Purdue University reported that prices for farmland have shot up across the state by about a third since 2006. Now the average price of top-quality farmland in the state is $5,000 per acre.

Ethanol from corn isn't necessarily the end of the boom. A second wave of ethanol technology is the focus of concentrated research. If universities and businesses figure out how to make ethanol from “cellulosic” ethanol, a wider range of plant material could be digested and converted into motor fuel.

Like so much else about the future of energy, there's no hard schedule for commercially practical cellulosic ethanol to come to market. Dan Lashof, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate Center, says it appears likely that this second generation of ethanol could start appearing within five years.

Neither candidate's energy platform delves deeply into the specifics of how he would encourage the development of solar power. Obama lumps “renewable energy” among a raft of “investments” he would make in research and development, pilot projects, and accelerated commercialization of environmentally sensitive technologies. He also would require that 10 percent of energy come from renewable resources by 2012.

McCain says he would prime the pump for solar power by making a longer-term commitment to a system of tax credits that businesses and individuals could count on in developing alternative energy. He would continue public support for such technology until it becomes economically competitive with other forms of electrical generation.

But whichever approach the country follows, building more solar-power equipment would draw on the talents and production of steelmakers, construction crews, electronics engineers and other specialists. Every property owner who purchases or commissions a solar-power system is a potential customer for installation teams that require special expertise.

In this part of the country, wind power is easier than solar power to scale up to the electrical output that makes it worthwhile for electrical utilities. Wind power already has a significant presence in the state. Earlier this year, construction started on a 750-megawatt wind farm in Benton County, on the western edge of Indiana. That's enough to power 200,000 average American homes. The Benton County wind farm will require a staff of about 10 people full time to monitor and maintain the turbines. During construction, about 375 people are employed assembling and raising the wind farm.

As is the case with solar power, neither candidate is specific about how his administration would stimulate the development of wind power. Under Obama's plan, it would be part of the $150 billion green-economy program, and he would require that 10 percent of U.S. electricity come from renewable sources by 2012. McCain says he would make a longer-term commitment to a system of tax credits that businesses and individuals could count on in developing alternative energy until it's competitive with the cost of other electrical generation.

Building and installing these machines would help keep steelworkers, excavators, truck drivers, machinists and electricians employed. Wind power comes as a boon for rural landowners and communities, too, because property owners get yearly leasing fees from the companies that operate wind farms.

“They're all pretty good at keeping it a big secret,” Justin Schneider, an attorney with Indiana Farm Bureau, said of the Benton County landowners and their payments. But most reports he's heard about the lease payments put the figures at $5,000 to $8,000 per year per turbine.

Both candidates say higher energy efficiency for buildings will be part of their energy programs.

McCain says the federal government's 3.3 billion square feet of buildings offer a chance to “lead by example.” He would insist on higher efficiency standards for new constructions and retrofits for energy savings in existing buildings.

Obama would go much further than McCain in increasing buildings' energy efficiency. He advocates making all new buildings carbon-neutral, or producing no emissions, by 2030. Toward that goal, Obama favors a national goal of a 50 percent increase in efficiency of new buildings and 25 percent increase in existing buildings in the next decade.

Obama also advocates “weatherizing” a million homes for low-income families every year.

These commercial and residential building rehabs would employ construction workers, electricians, truck drivers, carpenters, roofers, building inspectors, heavy-equipment operators and construction managers.

Both presidential candidates emphasize the importance of developing zero-emissions and high-mileage cars. Indiana companies could play a large part in helping the country retool for smaller, more efficient vehicles, as well as for electric cars, as the rising price of gasoline hobbles American automakers because of their greater dependence on trucks and SUVs.

Lashof of the Natural Resources Defense Council says that Indiana's many precision-manufacturing companies would be well positioned to thrive in the conversion to a greener auto industry, as well as in an expanding wind-turbine business. The state is “a great location for building components,” Lashof said.

Obama supports a $7,000 tax credit for the purchase of an “advanced technology” vehicle, such as the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt, scheduled to begin production in 2010. He backs an unspecified federal investment in research and development of the technologies needed to support super-efficient vehicles. He also would set a rising fuel-efficiency target, one that would increase 4 percent per year.

To keep automotive jobs in the U.S. for this new generation of greener cars, Obama would provide $4 billion in tax credits, plus loan guarantees, for auto companies and parts suppliers.

McCain advocates a $5,000 tax credit for every purchaser of a zero-emissions car. A more unusual approach to stimulating industrial research is his pledge to award a $300 million prize to the first company to develop a battery suitable for an all-electric car or plug-in hybrid. To be eligible, the new battery would have to deliver power at 30 percent of the cost of current batteries.

McCain says he would toughen the federal government's enforcement of Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards.

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both say that modernizing the national grid for transmitting electrical priority is important. McCain would promote improving the grid through reducing regulatory impediments, while Obama includes upgrades for the grid as part of his plan to spend $150 billion over the next 10 years on green-energy development. Obama says the federal government also would pay 25 percent of the cost of grid upgrades.