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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Republican John McCain said Tuesday that the federal government should practice the energy efficiency he preaches, pledging as president to switch official vehicles to "green" technologies and do the same for office buildings.

Expanding on his ideas to address the nation's energy crisis, the Arizona senator also called for a redesign of the national power grid so power is better distributed where it's needed, and the country has the capacity to run electric vehicles that he wants automakers to supply.

"Our federal government is never shy about instructing the American people in good environmental practice. But energy efficiency, like charity, should begin at home," McCain said before conducting an energy round-table discussion at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

McCain drives a 2003 Cadillac CTS, a sedan the Environmental Protection Agency says gets 16 to 24 miles per gallon and emits about 9.6 tons of greenhouse gases annually. When campaigning, he's ferried by the Secret Service using a fleet of Chevrolet Suburbans, a full-size sport utility vehicle that the EPA estimates gets 12 to 20 mpg and emits 9 to 13 tons of greenhouse gases.

During the discussion, McCain made a comment likely to provoke discussion in Nevada, where he'll campaign today and is the site of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. McCain has long supported the facility, much to the chagrin of pivotal Nevada voters, although last month he suggested creating a foreign waste repository that might make the mountain site unnecessary.

McCain reiterated his support Tuesday for building up to 45 new nuclear power plants and said the technology exists for safe nuclear-waste reprocessing and storage.

"It's not a technological breakthrough that needs to be taken; it's a NIMBY problem," he said, using the acronym for "not in my backyard." "We've got to have the guts and courage to do what other countries are doing, and they are reducing the pollution to our environment rather dramatically without any huge pain to anybody."

McCain, who backs ending a federal ban on offshore drilling, acknowledged that the drilling would do little to immediately lower record gasoline prices, but he argued that the specter of an additional supply would undercut speculation, which has driven the cost to more than $4 a gallon.

"Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial," the senator said during a meeting in Fresno.

Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, criticized McCain's claim of a psychological benefit as political posturing.

"In case you're wondering, in Washington-speak what that means is it polls well. It's an example of how Washington tries to convince you that they've done something to make your life better when they really didn't," said Obama, campaigning in Las Vegas. "The American people don't need psychological relief or meaningless gimmicks. … They need real relief that will help them fill up their tanks and put food on the table."

Election