Pictures: Five Most Hopeful Energy Stories of 2012

Solutions in the Developing World

Photograph courtesy Robert A. Freling, Solar Electric Light Fund

A man tends solar panels in Benin, Africa, site of a project that aims to bring energy, water, and hope to villages. The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has shown how solar panels can power drip-irrigation systems that grow crops sustainably in arid regions where food shortages and malnutrition have been endemic. (See "Solar Energy Brings Food, Water, and Light to West Africa.")

It is just one of the efforts that aim to deliver clean energy to the 1.6 billion people in the world who don't have access to reliable electric power. The United Nations sought to bring attention to the problem by declaring 2012 the Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

Small-scale solutions can bring enormous dividends, such as simple solar lamps that can sell for as little as $10 to $20. (See "Low-Cost Solar Brightens Lives in the Developing World.")

SELF's Benin irrigation project is aided by a grant from the Great Energy Challenge, which funds other innovative energy solutions around the world, from Costa Rica to India and Washington, D.C. (See the Great Energy Challenge Grantees.)

Published December 14, 2012

Innovation in Cities

Photograph by Kike Calvo, National Geographic

The new aerial tramway in Medellin, Colombia, looks more like a ski lift than an urban transportation system—but the project is just one of the many creative energy innovations being advanced by cities around the globe. The tram cars, which traverse hilly, low-income neighborhoods, won a Sustainable Transport Award from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). (See "Green Moves: Medellin Cable Cars, San Francisco Parking").

In other cities, drivers are helping to ease gridlock—and the financial burdens of auto ownership—with car-sharing systems. (See "Car Sharing Widens the Lanes of Access for City Drivers.") And communities such as Singapore, the capital of the nation with the same name, and Stanford, California, home to Stanford University, are enticing drivers to skip rush hour entirely by giving them a chance to win cash prizes. (See "Cities Bet They Can Curb Graffic With Games of Chance.")

While many projects aim to ease traffic on city streets, others are  looking below them in hopes of tapping an unusual energy source—the hot water that showers, dishwashers, laundries, and other users send down the drain each year. Some estimates suggest that the energy in America's wastewater could power 30 million U.S. homes per year—and fledgling projects in Vancouver and Chicago aim to capture that resource through heat-recovery systems. (See "Waste Wattage: Cities Aim to Flush Heat Energy Out of Sewers.")

Published December 14, 2012

A Price for Carbon

Photograph by Rich Pedroncelli, AP Images

Refineries like this one in Rodeo, California, face the prospect of paying to pollute. With an online auction in November, California launched its own cap-and-trade system with an aim of curbing carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent over the next eight years. (See "California Tackles Climate Change, But Will Others Follow?") Proponents hope it will serve as a model for wider action in the United States and globally.

Earlier this year, Australia launched its own modified "carbon tax." Coal-dependent Australia has one of the world's most carbon-intensive economies, but concern over climate change is high, as the nation has faced drought and wildfire and the degradation of its tourist gem, the Great Barrier Reef. (See "Coal-Fired Australia, Buffeted by Climate Change, Enacts Carbon Tax.")

The challenge is great for jurisdictions that act on their own. Some in British Columbia are now questioning its pioneering carbon tax enacted in 2008, despite popular support for the plan. (See "British Columbia Rethinks Its Pioneering Carbon Tax.") Proponents hope efforts here and elsewhere will serve as a model for the kind of wider global action that is needed.

Published December 14, 2012

An Isle of Ambitious Energy Goals

Photograph by Richard Hughes, Kos Picture Source/Getty Images

Using the natural energy found in wind, a sailor slices through the sea just off the Isle of Wight. Onshore, supporters of the Ecoisland effort hope to turn the small slice of Great Britain into a utopia of renewable energy in the English Channel.

The project boasts more than 70 corporate sponsors joining forces to make the Isle of Wight self-sufficient with green energy by 2020. "It will be a living laboratory," said David Green, Ecoisland founder and chief executive officer. Green was inspired by seafarers who live on board ship and have developed ways to remain self-sufficient for weeks or months at a time.

If all goes according to plan, the island's electricity will be produced by solar, tidal, waste, geothermal, and wind energy projects. Sustainable food and water initiatives also will nourish inhabitants.

Similar projects are planned or under way on numerous islands worldwide. The Danish island of Samsø, in the North Sea, has already achieved enough energy self-sufficiency to send power back to the mainland. (See "Britain's Isle of Wight Aims to Lead Island Green Energy Movement.")

Published December 14, 2012

Next: Eight Biggest Energy Stories of 2012

Photograph by Karly Domb Sadof, AP

Published December 14, 2012