This spring's run-up in oil prices is hard to explain on the basis of market fundamentals. It seems to be the result of speculation in the commodity markets.
"If there weren't already enough barriers to building a gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, the Lower 48 recently entered its biggest-ever natural gas boom."
Environmental groups say the Interior Department's effort to site solar-power projects on public lands should not harm wildlife and should be accompanies by similar efforts for other kinds of alternative energy.
"The Treasury and the Energy Department today unveiled long-awaited new rules under which the government will pay up to 30 percent of the cost of renewable energy projects."
Consumers are attracted to the "cash-for-clunkers" program that gives them several thousand dollars to trade in old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient cars.
"Oil prices briefly fell under $60 a barrel on Thursday after nearly two weeks of uninterrupted declines, as traders and investors acknowledged that a global economic recovery would take longer than hoped."
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has bumped back the deadline until Sept. 28 for the six committees working on a comprehensive climate change and energy bill."
The two-degree pledge on climate change made by the G8 is nonbinding, hard to translate to a specific level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere ... and perhaps wishful thinking.