oil

Environmental and energy issues became one of the central issues of the 2008 U.S. presidential election. While the economy itself took center stage, energy issues were right behind it, being pushed by the insufferable chant of “Drill baby drill.” In the four years that have followed, the U.S. has seen a boom in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the worst oil spill in our history, skyrocketing (and then plummeting) gas prices, a disastrous oil pipeline plan that threatens the safety of our aquifers, and a Republican-led assault on environmental safety standards.

Human beings use different kinds of energy for different purposes all over the planet every hour of the day and night.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, or USGBC, in December of 2011 the total square feet of existing LEED-certified building space exceeded the square feet of LEED new construction by 15 million square feet.

Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, has released a study that delves into the impact of clean-energy innovation on both the nation’s financial health and its job sector.

Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest of the seven semi-autonomous Middle Eastern sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, seems an unlikely place for a renewable energy push. After all, the tiny emirate is one of O.P.E.C.'s top five oil producers, with as much as 10% of the world's oil reserves by some estimates (most of its crude is exported to energy-hungry Asia).

If researchers at the University of California, Davis (UC – Davis) are correct, the world could run out of oil close to 100 years before alternative fuels are ready to take over.

Here are the Top 10 Renewable Energy News Stories You May Have Missed this Week:

1.  U.S. Leadership Stumbles Again: Obama Says New Energy Policy Unfeasible - A day after his party endured a "shellacking" in midterm elections, U.S. President Barack Obama said passing new comprehensive energy policy was no longer a short-term possibility.

After the Republican Party swept the U.S. midterm elections this week, Republican strategist Karl Rove told a crowd of oil producers that “climate is gone.”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced an agreement with Portugal to bring renewable energy to his fossil fuel dependent country.

For decades the World Bank has been working to help poor and developing nations to meet the needs of their countrymen, which includes increasing access of electricity to the 1.4 billion people across the globe who currently go without.