2013: The Best Energy Stories of the Year

Clean energy technology made progress in 2013, but low-carbon energy isn’t growing fast enough to meet goals for limiting climate change.  That would require switching energy sources as fast as France did when it converted almost all of its electricity generation from fossil fuels to nuclear power in just 30 years.  While solar panels and wind turbines are being installed quickly, worldwide fossil fuel consumption is rising even faster, causing greenhouse gas emission rates to go up.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is drawing up carbon dioxide rules that will shut down coal plants, but they will do little to reduce emissions more than low natural gas prices already have by prompting a shift away from coal.  Meanwhile, coal consumption is increasing around the world.

The fact that fossil fuels are likely here to stay for many decades heightens the need to capture and store the carbon dioxide they emit.  Progress on demonstrating such technology at a large scale has slowed, but researchers are continuing to develop innovative technologies that could make storing carbon far cheaper, including the prospect of using advanced fuel cells to capture greenhouse gases.

2013: The Best Energy Stories of the Year