Pictures: Five Most Overlooked Energy Stories of 2012

Continuing Fallout from Gulf Oil Spill

Photograph by NASA-GSFC, Science Faction/Corbis

A teal fringe along the Louisiana coastline is the enormous low-oxygen "dead zone" that forms in the Gulf of Mexico each September. Research is inconclusive on whether the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, has worsened the hypoxic area formed by Mississippi River agricultural runoff. But studies have tracked the oil's impact on zooplankton, some marshes, and other aspects of the ecosystem. (See "Gulf Spill Pictures: Ten New Studies Show Impact on Coast.")

While studies continue on long-term impacts, in some cases visible reminders remain all too clear. Even now, scientists say, sticky tar balls of oil from the Macondo well wash up on Gulf beaches after storms. (See "BP Oil Spill's Sticky Remnants Wash Up Sporadically.")

The spill's impact on the business of drilling is also murky. After BP agreed to pay the highest criminal penalty in U.S. history, $4 billion, to settle charges stemming from the spill, the U.S. Government temporarily barred the company from government contracts, including new leasing in the Gulf of Mexico. However, BP still holds 700 existing Gulf leases, which will not be impacted, and plans to invest $4 billion a year there over the next decade. (See "BP Excluded From Sale of New U.S. Leases for Gulf Oil and Gas.")

Published December 14, 2012

Fuel Subsidies Spur Energy Waste

Photograph by Beth Wald, Aurora Photos/Alamy

Residents of the United Arab Emirates enjoy two perks—cheap gas to power SUVs and sandy deserts for putting them through their paces. While drivers in much of the world feel increasing pain at the pump, the UAE is home to some of the world's cheapest gasoline thanks to high government subsidies-almost $2,500 per person in 2010.

IEA estimates suggest that worldwide government spending to  lower the cost of producing or purchasing fossil fuels were $523 billion in 2011—and they could soar to $630 billion this year. (See "Pictures: Eleven Nations With Large Fossil-Fuel Subsidies.")

Such subsidies mean less cash in government coffers, and they also encourage more consumption of finite, greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. But efforts to cut the era of cheap fuel aren't met with enthusiastic responses. In some places, such as Nigeria, subsidy rollbacks have hit low-income people hard, leading to protests and even violence. (See "Nigeria's Rocky Effort to Wean Itself From Subsidized Fuel.")

Published December 14, 2012

The Food-Water-Energy Nexus

Francisco Negroni

Sabino Catrilaf, a Mapuche farmer, irrigates his Chilean lettuce field-pouring both water and energy resources into food production. Increasingly, human demands for water and food are straining energy supplies—and vice versa, a water-energy-food nexus of interdependence. (See "In Rotterdam, Shining a Light on the Linked Stresses For Water, Food, and Energy.")

Farmers use huge amounts of electricity to tap underground water sources and pump fluids to their fields. Subsidized by governments, many are using too much power, producing too many emissions, and depleting finite ground water at an unsustainable rate. (See "Growing Food Demand Strains Energy, Water Supplies.")

When crops like corn are used as energy sources, the tight ties within this nexus grow stronger still—and threats to one aspect can quickly cascade to impact the others. (See "Drought Withers U.S. Corn Crop, Heats Debate on Ethanol.")

But other synergies between water and energy may lead to creative, sustainable solutions. Scientists are working to tap the energy that's currently poured down our drains in the form of hot laundry, shower, and dishwasher waste. Some experts estimate that enough energy to power 30 million American homes—about 350 billion kilowatt-hours—is sent down the sewers each year. (See "Waste Wattage: Cities Aim to Flush Heat Energy Out of Sewers.")

Test your knowledge of the nexus by taking this quiz: "What You Don't Know About Food, Water, and Energy"

Published December 14, 2012

Use of Wood for Heating Rises

Photograph by Michael Springer, Bloomberg/Getty Images

A Milton, Massachusetts, man taps into an ancient energy source that is enjoying a newfound surge of popularity: wood.

In some parts of the United States, particularly New England, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest, consumers are combating high fuel costs by supplementing their heat with wood-burning or pellet stoves. Pellet stoves use waste products like compressed mill sawdust in a system that burns cleaner than a traditional fireplace. (See "High Fuel Costs Spark Increased Use of Wood for Home Heating.")

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that U.S. wood use has grown over the past decade to become the nation's fourth-largest home-heating fuel. Other countries also are increasing their use of in-home combustion for heating. (See "Pictures: In Hungary, Burning Money for Fuel—Literally") And 3 billion people around the world, mainly in Africa and Asia, still use inefficient traditional stoves for cooking, at great cost to their health. (See: "Cookstove Smoke Is 'Largest Environmental Threat,' Global Health Study Finds")

Test your knowledge about the use of wood for energy: "Quiz: What You Don't Know About Wood Energy"

Published December 14, 2012

Next: Most Hopeful Energy Stories of 2012

Photograph by Joel Sartore

Published December 14, 2012