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Feeding the globe's insatiable energy appetite is a highly dangerous business. And, unfortunately, events like the BP oil spill are not once-in-a-generation freak accidents. Here, we take a look at the biggest energy-related accidents in 2011.

Tim Johnson is a self-described energy geek, the kind of guy who has the website of Ontario’s electricity system operator set as his home page.

For a century, coal was king in the town of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. At one time, it had the largest underground coal mining operation in the world, but the last working mine was closed in 2001. In October, when the Newaberdeen Gardens Townhouse complex opens, two former mines will be put to good use -- their water will be used as a source of geothermal energy to power in-floor heating.

The evolution of the American transportation industry took another step forward today when the Obama administration finalized historic fuel economy standards for cars and light-duty trucks.  Starting in 2025, the minimum fuel efficiency for all new models will be 54.5 miles per gallon.

A ruling by the US Court of Appeals in Washington is being called a victory for the coal industry, and a major blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to improve air quality.

Market changes and an investment of $800 million to $1 billion over 15 years could bring more than 100 GW of geothermal energy to the US grid by 2050, according to a study recently released by a multi-disciplinary research group at MIT. That investment, is less than the cost of a single “new generation” coal-powered plant, and the amount of energy is equivalent to 200 coal-fired power plants or 100 new nuclear power plants.

Wind energy could go a long way in determining who wins this year's Presidential election.

If you drive in this city, you’ve probably been in one of these two situations:  One, too cheap to pay for parking, you go to a side street and take advantage of one-hour free parking. But having stayed a little longer than an hour, you find a $30 ticket on your windshield.

I’ve begun thinking that one of the defining questions for clean energy is, “What’s the plan?” Not a company plan, but a country plan -- one that realistically maps us to an economy that gets the vast majority of its energy from wind, solar, geothermal, and that has us drastically minimizing waste.

There was a clever headline in the satirical newspaper The Onion last week that wouldn’t be so humorous if it wasn’t true.  “300 Million Without Electricity In India After Restoration Of Power Grid,” the headline read.