(Associated Press) -"His ambitious social programs are built on Venezuela's petroleum wealth, but President Hugo Chávez is increasingly talking up environmental causes and urging the world to cut back on oil use to fight global warming.

He wants to use some oil revenues in a venture to manufacture solar panels and has begun doling out millions of energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs to homes nationwide(...)

Chávez says Venezuela can be an example, and he has begun exhorting his followers to drive less and take public transport. His government plans a windmill farm to generate electricity on the Caribbean coast and is exploring more uses for cleaner-burning natural gas.

'Venezuela is one of the countries that least contaminates the environment, but nevertheless we want to give an example and be at the vanguard,' Chávez said at a news conference(...)".