Matt Stoller has an interesting set of charts showing the recent run up in investment in resource extraction, particularly from the oil and gas industry. Matt explains this mostly through the run-up of shale oil and natural gas extraction, which have both advanced significantly in the US. Renewables are increasing as well, but from an [...]

For all the influence and power in fracking today, if the US were to export natural gas that would magnify a hundred fold. Think about the difference between Saudi Arabia only supplying their domestic industries with oil fuel and supplying the world. There’s no comparison. Natural gas has traditionally been very difficult to export, but [...]

Anyone hoping to see an end to our policies of encouraging the burning of fossil fuels certainly winced at the energy section of last night’s debate, which did not mention climate change but did feature both candidates trying to convince the country that they would deliver more coal and oil-based domestic energy.

Mitt Romney released an energy plan yesterday that some outlets report sets a goal of energy independence by 2020. That’s not quite right. The goal expressed here is “North American energy independence” by 2020, and when you consider that one of our biggest if not our biggest energy trading partner is Canada, and that Mexico [...]

The biggest power failure in the history of the world is happening in India at the moment, affecting a whopping 600 million people, over half of the country. A blackout on Monday was thought to be fixed on Tuesday, but ended up metastasizing and growing throughout the day. While the numbers sound massive, keep in [...]

I have to get myself in the proper frame of mind to handle all of Kevin’s and Pam’s and Jon’s and dday’s news stories of the day, so I wake up to Boston’s NPR morning edition and lie there, semi-catatonic, listening for about an hour or so until I’m totally depressed and can’t stand it [...]

Warren Buffett, the third wealthiest man on the planet (net worth: $44 billion), often referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha,” is the target of a May 5 action called for by Stop Coal B.C. Well, not Buffett directly, but a rail company he owns through his massive holding company, Berkshire Hathaway: Burlington Northern Santa [...]

After years of study, the EPA will finally release their initial greenhouse gas emissions rules for power plants, which are likely to end the construction of any coal-fired plants from this point forward. The proposed rule — years in the making and approved by the White House after months of review — will require any [...]

Sometimes it’s hard to find progress in public policy, especially in the energy sector, where a natural gas boom and new nuclear plant construction have been the big stories of late. But I am nothing if not a striver. So I’ve found the genuinely good news that ten more old, dirty coal-fired power plants will [...]

Now that we know the state of play on the one year-end bill left outstanding, let’s redirect to the one that’s moving through the system currently. The House just passed the omnibus appropriations bill, funding all government agencies through the rest of the fiscal year, until September 30, 2012. It’s on to the Senate, where [...]

Maybe Warren Buffett’s purchase of a California solar farm will finally force a recognition of the potential of solar energy from an economic standpoint. Since the dissolution of Solyndra, oil-besotted conservative lawmakers have dismissed this potential, saying that the industry was simply unprofitable. When Buffett makes an investment, that becomes a harder sell: Buffett’s MidAmerican [...]