LOS ANGELES — In his first speech on global warming since winning the election, President-elect Barack Obama promised Tuesday to set stringent limits on greenhouse gases, saying the need is too urgent for delay. Many observers had expected Obama to avoid tackling such a complex, contentious issue early in his administration. But in videotaped comments to the Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, he called for immediate action. ‘Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,’ Obama said. ‘Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high, the consequences too serious.’ He repeated his campaign promise to create a system that limits carbon dioxide emissions and forces companies to pay for the right to emit the gas. Using the money collected from that system, Obama plans to invest $15 billion each year in alternative energy. That investment – in solar, wind and nuclear power, as well as advanced coal technology – will create jobs at a time of economic turmoil, he said. ‘It will … help us transform our industries and steer our country out of this economic crisis by […]