All Energy Voices

Forty years ago this month, Arab members of the OPEC oil cartel cut off oil exports to the West. In the decades that followed, the US saw a dramatic boom in energy efficiency. Amory B. Lovins, chief scientist and cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, reflects on how it happened.

It could be years before the oil spill in North Dakota is cleaned up, a process the pipeline's operator estimates will cost about $4 million. While North Dakota's production will likely remain unscathed, how it copes with these new challenges may be a factor in its oil legacy, Graeber writes.

As Chinese oil imports grow, Beijing will increasingly depend on global markets to satisfy its ever-growing oil demand. This necessitates further engagement with the international system to protect its interests, encouraging a fuller integration with the current liberal order, Johnston writes.

Four decades after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the US has more efficient cars, a strategic oil reserve, and a homegrown energy boom that is reducing its reliance on OPEC oil. But oil prices remain high and some see the nation's newfound resource wealth as a boom that will eventually go bust.

A boom in US energy production has mades shale natural gas and tight oil the talk of the energy industry. But coal is still the fastest-growing source of energy in the world and is the primary source of fuel for electricity, according to the International Energy Agency.

The Environmental Protection Agency's mandate on biofuels has stirred strong opinions from farmers, renewable fuelmakers, and traditional oil companies. Is there room for compromise? 

Fall almost always brings relief at the gasoline pump. Pundits frequently notice this phenomenon during election years, and assume that vested interests are trying to manipulate prices to win elections, Rapier writes. But there is a more straightforward explanation to what’s going on.

China has topped the US as the biggest importer of oil in the world, according to government data released this week. It's more evidence of China's economic growth and America's shale drilling boom and increased efficiency, which has reduced its reliance on foreign oil.  

As German utilites reduce the amount they pay for solar-produced electricity, solar companies are looking at installing an additional meter that measure how much of the electricity homeowners consume themselves. If utilities go along, 'self consumption' rates could drive more energy efficiency moves by consumers.

The American Petroleum Institute, an oil industry group, has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the government’s estimate over how much ethanol must be blended into the US fuel supply this year.

On-site inspectors will remain on the job at nation's 100 commercial reactors, despite the Nuclear Regulatory Commission implementing its government shutdown plan. The agency had been able to skirt the government shutdown by using carryover funds, but now those funds have run dry.

Petronas, Malaysia's state-owned energy giant, announced Sunday it will invest $35 billion in the Canadian liquefied natural gas industry. British Columbia's government hopes to use the revenue generated by projects like this to pay down the province’s debt and to establish a prosperity fund to bank energy-related revenue.

A shrinking trade deficit is one benefit of the domestic hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling revolution that has stirred passions on all sides of the debate over America's energy future.

With much of the Middle East and North Africa in a static state of upheaval, Iran could be the unlikely winner of the post-Arab Spring energy prize, Graeber writes.

With the US unable to commit, Canada is looking to China and India to sell it's vast oil and gas resources. 

Tropical storm Karen threatens to disrupt offshore US oil and gas operations during what has otherwise been a calm hurricane season. But any impact from tropical storm Karen will likely be muted by less offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico, low demand, and the government shutdown.

North American oil markets are pulling away from foreign market because of increased domestic production. Still, OPEC producers should still hold a key stake in a changing oil game, according to the International Energy Agency.

The Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission continued to operate normally Thursday, according to officials. But if a shutdown lingers, the departments responsible for ensuring the security and reliability of the nation's electric grid will be forced to cut back. 

The government shutdown has a direct impact on America’s overall capacity to drive global energy innovation, Peixe writes. The short-term lack of a federal government means that many of the nation’s top energy innovation institutions and laboratories must scale down their operations, or be completely shutdown.

A US-Mexico deal to divvy up energy in the Gulf of Mexico offers mutual economic benefits between close allies and neighbors. But Congress can't agree on the language to implement the pact – and time is running out.