PORTLAND — Gov. Ted Kulongoski unwrapped an ambitious 2009 legislative climate change package Monday with proposals for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for homes and buildings by 2030, with benchmarks to be sure the goal is reached.

He also wants to replace the $1,500 tax credit on hybrid vehicles with a $5,000 credit on all-electric cars and to fund energy efficiency for 800 low-income homes a year.

Oregon already is the highest per-capita user of hybrid cars in the nation, he said, and the tax credit could be better used on promoting all-electric vehicles.

He said Oregon can be an important point of entry for such cars and that he will make that point on a trip to China and Japan next month.

He said his plan to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions by utilities and industries in Oregon would go into effect in 2012 to allow time to make sure it is fair and workable.

While Kulongoski almost certainly will have a Democratic House and Senate likely to lean toward his goals, one leading Republican on Monday urged caution.

Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, commended some aspects of the climate change agenda.

“There are a number of positive incentives the Governor is proposing that protect our air, water and forests,” said Ferrioli. “However, we must safeguard families and small businesses that cannot shoulder anymore rate hikes or expensive regulations. Calm and caution are important as we examine all of the possible consequences in these proposals.”

The cap-and-trade proposal is a part of an agreement among seven Western states and four Canadian provinces that allows industries and utilities that emit greenhouse gases to buy and sell credits. Businesses that cannot make sufficient cuts can buy the right to pollute from cleaner companies, a proposal Kulongoski says may take major lobbying because some say it could increase energy prices.

“Climate change is the most important environmental and economic issue of our time. We no longer have the luxury of looking a few years down the road,” he said, adding that a much longer view is needed.

The proposals he will take to the Legislature, he said, will focus “on how we live, work and move.” He urged the state to show the leadership it did in passing the nation’s first bottle bill and other landmark environmental laws in the 1970s.

His other proposals include:

—Expanding tax credits from 35 to 50 percent of the total cost of energy-saving projects up to $20 million.

—Requiring energy efficiency certificates for residential and commercial property, much the way miles per gallon ratings are listed for cars. “Auto buyers have had the right to a performance certificate for years,” he said. “They know the mileage before they sign on the dotted line.”

—Identification of ways the transportation infrastructure can be made more efficient before replacing it. He suggested, among other things, “performance-based pricing” in which tolls would vary by time of day, location and congestion “so that those who use toll roads or bridges at the most congested times would pay more to do so.”

Kulongoski expressed concern that cheaper gasoline prices will give rise to “voices of delay” that will say the drive for renewable energy and alternatives to fossil fuels now can wait.

“The fact is we can’t wait,” he said.