MARRAKECH, Morocco (Islamweb & News Agencies) - From insulation hidden behind walls at home to highly visible power plants outdoors, the first international treaty to fight global warming is poised to change landscapes, and lives, around the world - except in the United States.

In the final moments of a two-week conference in Morocco, negotiators from 165 countries agreed on hard-fought rules for implementing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (news - web sites), which calls on about 40 industrialized nations to limit carbon emissions or cut them to below 1990 levels.

As a result, mountain ridges and coastlines are likely to sprout plantations of steel windmills. With nations under pressure to cut pollution, new cars, household appliances, even the simple light bulb will have to be designed to save energy.

And carbon dioxide - a substance we exhale with every breath - will be a controlled gas and a marketable commodity with a price.

Scientists believe the carbon that humans let loose in the atmosphere, mostly from factories and vehicles, has upset the natural balance, sending temperatures up and changing the climate. Already, glaciers are melting, sea levels rising and severe storms becoming more frequent.

The agreement on the Marrakech rules - scores of pages of complex legal text - cleared the way for the landmark treaty to be ratified, probably some time next year, and become binding law for its signatories.

The United States, however, has rejected the accord, calling it harmful to the U.S. economy and unfair because it excused heavily polluting developing countries like India and China from any obligation.

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said Saturday that President Bush (news - web sites) took note of the rules agreed upon in Morocco.

``He agrees with the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. His Cabinet review is under way, to determine a way that can be done without forcing America into a deep recession,'' Fleischer said.

Bush has said the United States will take independent action to combat global warming. He has set up programs to further study climate change and encourage research on new technology.

The Kyoto Protocol sets tough targets for slashing carbon emissions. Japan, for example, agreed to cut them by 6 percent from the 1990 level - but its emissions have grown by 17 percent since 1990, making that task far more formidable.

To ease the burden, the protocol establishes mechanisms to let countries partly offset their targets. They can earn credits for proper management of forests and farmlands that absorb carbon dioxide - so-called carbon sinks - and for helping developing countries avoid emissions.

The accord also allows for emissions trading, letting countries that cannot meet their targets buy the right to pollute from those that come in under their quota.

However, negotiators agreed that such mechanisms can only supplement real emission cuts - not replace them - and countries will have to adopt energy-saving measures to meet their targets.

That means old houses should have their electrical wiring redone, their windows triple glazed and their walls insulated to conserve energy. Solar panels may appear on more rooftops, and new refrigerators made to will run on one-tenth the energy of old ones.

The rules could lead to more public transportation and changes in city planning to scale back the use of cars. At the same time, hybrid autos using fuel cells already are on the roads, and car companies are researching engines that use less fuel and emit less carbon.

Many countries will set up domestic carbon trading markets where companies can buy and sell carbon credits. A similar U.S. market for sulfur dioxide was credited with helping reduce acid rain in the 1990s.

``Carbon will have a price. Until now, you could put as much carbon in the air as you wanted for free,'' said David Doniger of the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council. ``That's going to affect the way power plants are built and the way cars are being designed.''

Environmentalists say mechanisms like emissions trading are loopholes that have diluted the goal of Kyoto: to clean up polluting industries and reduce actual emissions. But they welcomed the Marrakech agreement.

The accord assigns each country a specific target, but the average is a 5.2 percent emission reduction from 1990 levels by 2012.

``Five percent is not going to be achieved, but that doesn't mean it's not worth having,'' said Bill Hare of Greenpeace, speaking Saturday for a coalition of environmental groups. ``This is a first step.''