The generous social benefits being doled out by Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf nations are contributing to high oil prices, according to a report by the energy advisory firm, PFC Energy.

The report said that populist spending programs, which have recently become even more generous in (more…)

A large U.S. producer of natural gas from underground shale formations says it will suspend the controversial drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at seven well sites until it has investigated the causes behind a drilling accident last week.

Chesapeake Energy has halted its (more…)

On April 23, 2008, when the U.S. was on the verge of a record-high gas price of $4.11 per gallon, the average retail price at the pump was $3.60 per gallon. Three years later, the average retail gasoline price is already $3.86 per gallon, according to AAA, and we are still several weeks, if not months, away from the historical gas price peak, which usually hits around Memorial (more…)

During a slow period at the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference this afternoon, I walked a couple of miles across town to interview spokespeople for the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) – Senior Attorneys Jay Predergrass and Lisa Goldman. We talked largely about the subsidies that (more…)

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will shut down 18 of its dirtiest coal-burning units over the next six years as part of a legal settlement with four U.S. states and three environmental groups that claimed the utility’s air emissions violated the Clean Air Act.

The agreement, announced by the U.S. (more…)

Natural gas extracted from shale deposits by a process known as hydraulic fracturing generates more greenhouse gas emissions over a 20-year period than conventional gas, oil, and coal, according to a Cornell University study.

Researchers said that during the lifespan of the average shale-gas drilling operation — (more…)

With demand for fossil fuels outpacing the growth of renewable energy technologies worldwide, the International Energy Agency suggests that fossil fuel subsidies worth $312 billion be realigned to develop cleaner alternatives.

Although renewable energy has seen growth of 30 to 40 percent in recent years, (more…)

About 5 percent of the world’s natural gas production is squandered each year through gas flaring, a process in which unused gas is burned while drilling for oil, a new analysis by General Electric has found.

In addition to wasting a potentially valuable energy resource — roughly 30 percent of the current consumption in the European (more…)

The World Bank is planning to limit its funding for coal-fired power plants to the world’s poorest nations, bowing to pressure from environmental groups and governments that have criticized the bank’s record on funding fossil fuel projects, according to published reports.

Under proposed new regulations, the World (more…)

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar likes to tout his department’s support for clean energy development on federal lands. But a decision last week to open 7,400 acres in Wyoming to increased coal mining calls into question how strong the Interior Department’s commitment to clean energy really is. If we’re serious about transforming the US economy to run on (more…)