The Year’s Most Overlooked Energy Stories

2. Efforts to Fight Energy Poverty

Photograph by Jeff Smith

Of the world's 7 billion people, one in five does not have access to electricity. And nearly half of the people on Earth still cook on traditional stoves fueled by wood, peat, waste, or dung. The resulting pneumonia, emphysema, bronchitis, and cardiovascular disease due to smoke and soot inhalation causes an estimated 1.9 million premature deaths a year—more than double the number of deaths due to malaria, by World Health Organization statistics.

"Energy poverty translates into grinding, dehumanizing poverty," said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon this fall in announcing the organization's new goal of achieving energy access for all by 2030. How to finance this effort, and how to ensure that the goal is achieved without worsening the planet's greenhouse gas overload, will be a key focus of a huge U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—an event that marks the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit held in the same city.

"We cannot continue to burn our way to prosperity," said Ban. The seemingly conflicting goals of spurring economic development and curbing emissions from fossil fuels have stymied global negotiations on a climate change solution in the 20 years since the original Rio summit.

And yet advocates for the world's energy poor have pointed to International Energy Agency estimates that financing universal energy access would cost only about 3 percent of the world's current total global investments in energy. And spread of more modern means of cooking and lighting would reduce deforestation and the harmful black carbon emissions that worsen global warming. Ghana-based Toyola Energy is one of many companies worldwide making more efficient cookstoves, pictured here, to help provide cleaner energy for cooking at an affordable price. Carbon-credit financing lowers the cost of the devices and Toyola was on track to sell more than 60,000 of its energy-efficient cookstoves in 2011, up from 51,000 the previous year.

The public-private partnership, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves,  launched with the help of the nonprofit United Nations Foundation, was working to spread such solutions and raise awareness of the solvable problem.

Related Stories:

"Fighting Poverty Can Save Energy, Nicaragua Project Shows"

"The Solvable Problem of Energy Poverty"

—Jeff Smith

Published December 27, 2011

3. Carbon Footprint of Illegal Drugs

Photograph from New Hampshire State Police/AP

Normally crops grow outdoors, using the sun for energy—but illicit drugs often carry an outsized impact on the planet. Indoor marijuana operations are energy guzzlers, in the U.S. sucking down about $5 billion worth of electricity to power lights, fans, and other equipment, giving a a joint's worth of pot a carbon footprint of two pounds of carbon dioxide—the same as driving a typical car 3 miles. In Colombia, deforestation of biodiversity hotspots has been blamed on the coca plantations that produce cocaine.

On the other hand, as energy historian Daniel Yergin has pointed out, marijuana growers were some of the early adopters of solar panels—an attempt to limit their tell-tale high use of electricity from the grid.

—Mason Inman

Published December 27, 2011

4. Green Jet Fuel Goes Commercial

Photograph courtesy United Airlines

It's one thing to pour some leftover french fry fat into your tank and hope it will get you home, but it's another thing to cruise at icy elevations of 40,000 feet in a plane fueled on diesel made from soybeans. Due to the demanding nature of flights and stringent safety rules, alternative fuels have been slow to make their way into aviation, but this year saw the first commercial flights using biofuels. In June, the first transatlantic biofueled flight made it from New Jersey to Paris, and November brought the first such commercial flight in the U.S. The military is also trying out biofuels, showing this year that a jet running on a 50-50 renewable fuel blend could break the sound barrier.

One motivation is to try to save money, since the price of crude oil is at an all-time high and expected to rise further. With increasing flights around the world, aviation's greenhouse gas emissions also are growing quickly, but renewable jet fuel—if made in the right way—could have less of a climate footprint.

Related Stories:

"As Jet Fuel Prices Soar, a Green Option Nears the Runway"

"First Commercial U.S. Biofuel Flight Takes Off"

"Biofuel Test Flight a First for China"

—Mason Inman

Published December 27, 2011

5. Carbon Capture Roadblocks, but Continued Hope

Diagram by Joe Zeff, National Geographic

There were disappointments around the world this year for those who hope for technology that will allow society to continue burning fossil fuels, but in a way that protects the atmosphere from greenhouse gas emissions. Major carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects were cancelled in the United States, Great Britain, and Germany.

Companies blamed both the political climate and financing difficulties for the expensive experimental efforts. The two problems, of course, were deeply intertwined because stronger government policy on climate change or support for the technology would remove the barriers to funding and create greater incentives.

But there were also some notable efforts to move forward on CCS research and development. The first large-scale effort to do CCS in the Canadian oil sands surmounted a hurdle when the government signed agreements to underwrite two-thirds of the $1.35 billion project's cost. The Quest Carbon Capture and Storage project near Edmonton still awaits regulatory hurdles before a consortium led by Shell* makes a final decision whether to proceed.

In the United Nations climate conference this fall at Durban, negotiators agreed for the first time to include CCS projects in the Clean Development Mechanism, the scheme to help finance innovative projects to reduce greenhouse gases in the developing world.

Also, a small number of researchers around the world are forging ahead to demonstrate technology to capture carbon dioxide for further use, rather than storing it underground.

A two-year study by the American Physical Society questioned the economic feasibility of the technology this year. But the researchers say that APS did not consider the benefits of the entire chain of the process they envision, in which the carbon would be combined with hydrogen into ordinary hydrocarbon engine fuels—in effect, recycled.

Related Stories:

"In Durban, Neither Salvation nor Failure"

"The Quest to Clean Up Canada's Oil Sands Carbon"

"Carbon Recycling: Mining the Air for Fuel"

"Out of Thin Air: Capturing Carbon Dioxide"

—Jeff Smith

* Shell is sponsor of National Geographic's Great Energy Challenge initiative. National Geographic retains autonomy over content.

Published December 27, 2011

6. Yellowstone River Spill

Photograph by Jim Urquhart, AP

As the clock approached midnight on Friday, July 1, an oil pipeline operated by ExxonMobil was severed by floodwater near Billings, Montana. While Americans enjoyed fireworks and feasting over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend, the 12-inch (30.5-centimeter) pipe buried below the Yellowstone River unleashed an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude oil that fouled dozens of miles of downstream shorelines and islands.

Five months later, state and federal agencies are still assessing the damage to natural resources, and ExxonMobil estimates cleanup costs and landowner settlements will total some $135 million (U.S.) These environmental and economic costs could be just the first drop in a very large bucket. More than 170,000 miles (274,000 kilometers) of pipelines carry oil and other petroleum products across the U.S. Many older, buried pipelines have been uncovered by erosion and may be at high risk of similar accidents. Opponents of new projects, like TransCanada's controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, have also seized on the incident as an example of safety concerns.

Related Stories:

"Yellowstone Spill and the Trouble with Pipelines"

"Cleanup Expands After Yellowstone Oil Spill"

"Flooding Slows Yellowstone Oil Spill Response"

"Yellowstone Spill Casts Shadow Over Efforts on Keystone XL"

—Brian Handwerk

Published December 27, 2011