Copenhagen's a bust, so what next?

I'm disappointed that the U.S. congress and other nations can't get their act together for a binding agreement on climate change and am looking toward a relatively simple solution and effective solution.  I believe that the U.S. needs to take the lead on this politically sensitive issue because I don't think that we're going to reach an agreement with such a wide disparity in thinking between developing and developed nations.  Furthermore, we need to come up with legislation that can get through congress, here at home.  Here's a thought:

I like the idea of a consumer fuel tax and tax redistribution at the end of the year (so everyone receives a check at the year's end equal to the total tax divided by the number of citizens).  Thus, it makes it a financial game...if you use less fuel than the average american, you make money on the year.  Personally, I wouldn't mind making money by conserving and I think others would find themselves finding ways to be more efficient in their personal use of fuel in the face of higher actual prices.  It might also make it politically more feasible because it's really a redistribution, not a tax, whereby those consuming less actually profit at the expense of heavy consumers.  The trouble is that if we were to include commercial fuel in the equation, American products would be at a competitive disadvantage until a global carbon accounting system exists (this is far away, I think).  One option is to tax imports from other countries who don't have such a tax-redistribution system (thereby encouraging them to adopt something similar--bullying in a good way).  Without including the commercial market in the tax-redistribution system, a price differential between commercial fuel and consumer fuel would likely create a black market, so I would stay away from this option.  I'm not a policy person, so this is just a thought.  I'd be interested to hear reactions/suggestions.