04.24.26- Scientists produce cleaner fuel by 'catching lightning in a bottle'
Etiido Uko

People often muse over catching lightning in a bottle, and what an amazing feat it would be. But have you ever wondered what comes next if we do it? Well, researchers at Northwestern University have bottled lightning and are using it for something just as remarkable: clean fuel. Their technology uses plasma in glass tubes to produce methanol from methane gas, a process that typically requires enormous amounts of energy. Read More

04.22.26- Hydropower Is Making a Global Comeback
Felicity Bradstock

As governments look to diversify their energy mix by expanding renewable energy capacity, many are turning to solar and wind power. Meanwhile, hydropower is often overlooked by countries that do not have a tradition of hydropower production. With the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran, the price of fossil fuels is being pushed ever higher due to severe shortages of oil and gas. This is encouraging governments worldwide to assess their energy security and consider developing various energy sources to support greater diversification and decrease the vulnerabilities of a reliance on any one energy source. Read More

04.20.26- The Strait of Hormuz, the Dollar, and the Coming Energy Crisis
Doud Casey

International Man: Iran is already turning the Strait of Hormuz into a geopolitical toll booth—restricting traffic, charging transit fees, and shutting out the US and its allies. If this continues, what happens to oil, trade, and the global economy, and is there anything the US military can do about it? Read More

04.17.26- 'Spin-flip' system pushes
solar cell energy conversion efficiency past 100%
Etiido Uko

Photovoltaic panels could soon be capable of generating significantly more electricity, thanks to a new system that radically boosts the energy conversion efficiency of solar cells

Energy can never be created or destroyed. That's basic Physics 101. You simply cannot create energy out of thin air. Yet researchers at Kyushu University in Japan say they have developed a technology that pushes the energy conversion efficiency of solar cells to 130%!Read More

04.15.26- Three Energy Stories That Actually
Matter Right Now
By Leonard Hyman and William Tilles

If you are looking for respite from news of bombings, threats to ancient civilizations, becalmed oil tankers, rising prices, disputes about who can go to which toilets, and sex scandals among the rich and famous, consider these stories that matter for energy folk who would have otherwise noticed but might have been distracted by all the other stuff. Read More

04.13.26- Energy storage breakthrough traps sunlight in a molecule
Chelsea Haney

Beyond the rather low efficiency of today’s solar panels in converting the power of the sun into electricity, the transformational potential of solar energy is presently held back by battery storage technology.

A new, molecular-scale breakthrough could unlock a new path to long-term solar energy storage for heating homes and providing hot water – without a conventional battery in the equation. Read More

04.10.26- And Now, for Something Entirely Different: We Must Attack the Relatively Few Root Causes of Our Problems, Because Attacking their Countless Outcomes Is Futile
Andrew Wallace

This article was written to inform the general public and remind others of the need to eliminate the Root Causes of our problems.

The Parasitic Super-Rich Ruling Class (Rulers) and their bribed officials in Government have effectively destroyed our Constitutional Republic. The Rulers have enriched themselves by impoverishing us and killing our children. They do this with a relatively few basic actions that produce countless negative outcomes for citizens. Read More

04.08.26- Why Losing the Iran War May Be the Best Outcome for the Global Economy
Gail Tverberg

As I will explain, the outcome that looks like losing may actually be the best path forward for the world’s remaining economies.

The fighting today is with respect to which parts of the world will get which energy resources, and at what prices. Even before the current conflict, there was a shortage of jet fuel and diesel. The only reasonable outcome I can think of is that the US will only be able to tap its own energy resources, plus those of its nearby neighbors (Figure 1). Consequently, the economy will gradually reorganize in ways that use fuels more sparingly. Read More

04.06.26- One-Fifth of Global Oil Trade Is Blocked, But Solar Is Softening the Blow
Haley Zaremba

The effective blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has thrown the world’s continued dependence on fossil fuels into sharp relief. The interruption to the waterway, which accommodates one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas, has thrown global energy markets into turmoil. The blockage represents the single-largest interruption to global oil trade in history. But it’s not causing nearly as much pain as past oil crises thanks to a much more diverse global energy mix. Read More

04.03.26- AI Energy Demand Is Fueling a High-Stakes Bet on Nuclear Fusion
Haley Zaremba

Meeting the runaway energy demand of the artificial intelligence boom will require energy buildout and innovation at an unprecedented scale. After decades of plateaued energy growth in the United States, the breakneck expansion of energy-hungry data centers across the nation is pushing the public and private sectors to invest in new energy production and extending the life of existing power plants – and it still won’t be enough. Read More

04.01.26- Why Spain Is Weathering Europe’s Energy Crunch Better Than Most
Haley Zaremba

Europe has “sleepwalked into yet another energy crisis” watching energy prices spike across the continent for the second time in four years due to instability in global politics and energy trade. Four years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent global energy markets reeling, Europe has made significant progress weaning itself off of Russian oil and gas imports and building up its own energy supply chains. But the European Union still relies on imports for more than half of its energy needs, leaving it achingly vulnerable to the current energy crisis stemming from the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and the war that the United States and Israel are waging in Iran. Read More

03.30.26- One Strait, 20% of Global Oil —
What Happens If It Stays Closed?
Daily Briefing

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03.27.26- CRAK Kills (During an Oil War)
Matt Badiali

How much has the Iran war impacted U.S. oil prices?

Here is the Energy Information Administration (EIA) oil price forecast from February 2026:

We estimate that oil-directed rig activity in the Permian will be relatively low as West Texas Intermediate prices fall from $65/b in 2025 to average $53/b in 2026 and then average $49/b in 2027.  Read More

03.25.26- AI Energy Demand Is Fueling a High-Stakes Bet on Nuclear Fusion
Haley Zaremba

Meeting the runaway energy demand of the artificial intelligence boom will require energy buildout and innovation at an unprecedented scale. After decades of plateaued energy growth in the United States, the breakneck expansion of energy-hungry data centers across the nation is pushing the public and private sectors to invest in new energy production and extending the life of existing power plants – and it still won’t be enough. Read More

03.23.26- Renewables Aren’t the Problem—
Market Design Is
Leonard Hyman and William Tilles

Donald Trump and crew view renewable energy as an expensive fraud. British industrialists claim that the UK’s green goals make the country too expensive. New York politicians see green energy fueling an affordability crisis. We have argued, on the other hand, that proponents of renewables should push them not because they are greener but rather because they are more economical and less risky than the alternatives. Not everywhere every time, but enough of the time. So, who is right? When customers do not see the benefits, is that failure due to renewable costs or to poor market design and muddled government policy? Don’t buy the bullet points handed out by lazy politicians who are looking for a quick fix. Read More

03.20.26- Here We Go Again; 2022s Inflation Returns
Matt Badiali

We’ve seen this story before. The last time gasoline prices rose like this was 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Now the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran and we’re back to escalating fuel prices clobbering the global economy.

Here’s what I mean…On February 23, 2026, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. was $2.97. On March 17, 2026, the average price of gallon of gasoline jumped to $3.79. Read More

03.18.26- China and America Battle for the Future of Limitless Energy
Haley Zaremba

The race for nuclear fusion is heating up around the world as scientific breakthroughs continue to pick up speed. For years, the joke was that the ability to unlock commercial nuclear fusion would always be 30 years away. But now it truly might be – or, with the way the timeline is picking up pace, maybe even sooner. Read More

03.16.26- Researchers crack the physics of dangerous battery dendrites
Bronwyn Thompson

Researchers have uncovered the mechanical properties of the nanoscale "thorns" that develop inside lithium-ion batteries, which can cause them to short circuit and die – or worse, such as spontaneously catch on fire. These thorns, known as dendrites, have been difficult to study and understand – until now.

While scientists have studied dendrites within cells for some time, researchers in Singapore and several US universities, including the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), have uncovered some key mechanical properties that contribute to their formation and expansion, which opens the door to finding ways to inhibit their growth. Read More

03.13.26- The Perfect Oil Chaos Stock
Adam Sharp

Everybody is scrambling to navigate this market successfully.

And it’s not going to get any easier going forward.

All of us are hoping for a quick resolution to the Iran war, but there’s a good chance it drags on for a while. Read More

03.11.26- US approves first next-gen nuclear reactor in a decade
David Szondy

The United States has taken a step toward a 21st-century renaissance in civilian nuclear power as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given the go-ahead for TerraPower's Natrium Gen IV reactor to begin construction – the first such approval for a US reactor in a decade. Read More

03.09.26- How to Play the Energy Spike
Matt Badiali

The Strait of Hormuz is the single most important passage for oil in the world. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), about 20% of daily global oil supply transits this narrow passage between Iran and Oman.

When Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on February 28th, we knew there would be a response. Iran wasn’t going to sit idly by again. Military strategists knew what soft targets were vulnerable. And the Strait was an obvious target. Read More

03.06.26- Micro wind turbine for home rooftops receives milestone certification
Michael Franco

German manufacturer SkyWind has just become the first company to receive full certification for its compact wind turbine, the NG. The small but mighty wind spinners are easy to install atop home rooftops to supplement grid power with clean energy.

When it comes to harvesting energy from air currents, the big wind turbines usually get all the attention. For example, in 2023, the world's largest wind turbine, with a 260-meter (853-ft) diameter began operating in China, only to be outdone the following year by another monster windmill with a blade diameter of 310 m (1,107 ft). While these gargantuan commercial-grade wind turbines can supply an impressive amount of power to a large collection of homes, German company SkyWind has taken a different, and user-friendly, approach to harnessing wind energy. Read More

03.04.26- A Huge “Problem”
in the Copper Industry
Matt Badaili

High copper prices can cover a multitude of sins.

But there is a scary trend among the giant copper mines of the world…age and decline.

Mines are like loaves of bread in a sandwich shop. When the bread runs out, you start a new batch. And right now, we have a lot of mines coming to the end of their lives. Read More

03.02.26- The Oil Glut That Never Showed Up
Cyril Widdershoven

Every cycle produces its own comforting myth, for 2026, that is the “inevitable oil glut.” The reasoning behind that is mainly that crude oil producers are pumping more, Iran is still exporting despite sanctions pressure, and the market expects OPEC+ to edge toward output hikes. The current story in the market still is that surplus is building and prices must eventually fall. When, however, looking at the physical market, the latter is bluntly refusing the script. There are no real signs, at least for a longer period, that the tanks are overflowing, while floating storage is not exploding. We also see that OPEC+ is not inclined at all to open the taps recklessly, while tanker freight is behaving as if supply security, not oversupply as most have been expecting, is the dominant theme. It seems that the only place where a glut appears in 2026 is in spreadsheets.Read More

02.27.26- Leaving water in batteries nearly doubles energy storage
Michael Franco

Sodium-ion batteries offer multiple advantages over their lithium-ion cousins. Energy storage, however, isn't one of them. That might be set to change thanks to a new method of creating the batteries involving water-rich cathodes.

Currently, there's really no beating lithium-ion batteries in terms of energy density and light-weight form factors. That's why they've found their way into everything from electric cars to cell phones. But there are certainly issues with the technology, including the fact that lithium itself is difficult, expensive, and environmentally damaging to mine. Lithium batteries are also prone to overheating, can occasionally burst into flames, and don't perform well in very low temperatures. Read More

02.25.26- Oil Traders May Be Pricing Iran Risk Too Lightly
Irina Slav

Crude oil prices on Thursday settled at the highest in six months, with Brent crude topping $71 per barrel and WTI over $66. However, this may be just the start of a much stronger rally—it all depends on developments between the United States and Iran.

The latest round of negotiations between the two on Iran’s nuclear program started well enough, with both sides signaling they wanted to make a deal. Iran’s Foreign Minister signaled there was progress being made, saying the negotiating teams had agreed on “guiding principles.” However, there were still sticking points, and while these were not detailed by anyone in an official capacity, the U.S. president apparently lost patience and issued a grave warning to Iran: make a deal or “Otherwise bad things happen.” Read More

02.23.26- Space-Based Solar Power Will Be Economically Viable by 2040
Haley Zaremba

The renewable energy revolution is running out of land. Building out utility-scale solar and wind farms requires massive tracts of land that are often in competition with other needs – like agricultural operations – and which frequently face major legal and political pushback from communities in the areas targeted for development. All of this is majorly slowing down clean energy buildout at a critical moment for energy security and climate action. Read More

02.20.26- Novel wave energy/desalination system gets trialled in Barbados
Etiido Uko

What do nine-time Grammy-winning billionaire Rihanna, stunning beaches, and a potential 50-megawatt wave-energy project have in common? Barbados! The island nation is deploying a unique type of wave energy technology to convert its renowned ocean waves into sustainable electricity and freshwater.

The government of Barbados, through its agency Export Barbados, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Danish firm Wavepiston to launch a 50-MW commercial wave-energy pilot.Read More

02.18.26- Why Molten Salt Nuclear Energy Will Change Society Forever
Copenhagen Atomics

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02.16.26- Big blimp uses blades to pull
wind power out of the sky
Etiido Uko

Look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... a 20,000 cubic-meter power-generating airship, floating 6,560 ft (2,000 meters) above the ground. Introducing the S2000 stratospheric airborne wind energy system (SAWES), the world’s first megawatt-level airborne wind power system, according to its developer, Beijing-based Linyi Yunchuan Energy Technology. The system has recently completed a test flight, successfully generating electricity from high-altitude winds without the need for towers or substantial ground infrastructure. Read More

02.13.26- China’s Clean Energy Boom Still Rests on Coal, Oil, and Gas
Alex Kimani

Over the past decade, China’s renewable energy and related clean technologies have emerged as the fastest-growing sectors of the economy, significantly outpacing the overall economy. Last year, China’s clean energy investments hit a record 7.2 trillion yuan ($1 trillion), with the sector accounting for over 11% of GDP and growing three times faster than the overall economy. Indeed, China’s "new three" namely solar, batteries, and electric vehicles contributed over 90% of the rise in the country’s overall investments. Read More

02.11.26- Economic Models Are Overlooking a Looming Diesel Crisis
Gail Tverberg

We are starting to see the beginnings of deglobalization: Countries are increasingly at odds with each other. There is wider disparity among political parties. Trump is making what look to many people like unreasonable demands, both within the US and around the world. Read More

02.09.26- The Rapid Rise of Humanoid Robots
Felicity Bradstock

Several automakers are investing heavily in robots in a bid to further automate operations in the future. It does not seem to matter that the current generation of humanoid robots works at a slower pace than humans, as automakers still view these machines as more cost-efficient for their factories. While Elon Musk invests heavily in Tesla’s Optimus Robots, Hyundai has big plans for incorporating robots in its United States operations in the coming years. Read More

02.06.26- U.S. Power Boom Triggers Global Gas Turbine Shortage
Tsvetana Paraskova

The hyperscaler-driven surge in U.S. power demand is creating ripple effects in the global supply chain, with gas turbines becoming the most critical bottleneck to rolling out flexible baseload capacity to support accelerated load growth.   

Gas turbine makers report soaring backlogs and delivery times years after order placement, while analysts say the bottlenecks in power plant equipment effectively delay the gas-fired power capacity that is needed now.  Read More

02.04.26- Texas Just Approved the Largest Gas Power Project in U.S. History
Dylan Baddour

Texas’ environmental regulator this week issued the largest air pollution permit in the country to an enormous planned complex of gas power plants and data centers near the oilfields of the Permian Basin, according to an announcement from the project’s developers. 

Pacifico Energy, a global, investor-owned infrastructure company, called its 7.65 gigawatt GW Ranch in Pecos County “the largest power project in the United States” in a press release this week. Read More

02.02.26- World’s largest battery-electric ship enters harbor trials
Monica J. White

Earlier this month on Hobart’s River Derwent, a 130-meter (426-ft) vessel began moving with an unfamiliar level of calm. No engine rumble, no exhaust plume; just the quiet churn of waterjets as Hull 096 eased away under its own power for the first time. Developed and built by Incat Tasmania, the ship has now entered its harbor trials: the first time it’s operated solely on battery-electric propulsion. Read More

01.30.26- China’s Edge in the AI Race
May Come Down to Power
Haley Zaremba

China’s secret weapon in the global race to lead AI innovation is its enormous electricity resources. While China quietly plugs away at ramping up its development and integration of large language models, Western countries are facing increasing energy security tradeoffs to keep data centers running. Read More

01.28.26- Global Energy Transition Threatened By Critical Transformer Shortages
Haley Zaremba

The global clean energy transition has passed a tipping point as renewable energies have simply become too cheap to fail. Worldwide, nations both rich and poor are rushing to install more and more wind and solar capacity to keep up with rising energy demand rates driven by global economic development and the age of AI. But while countries have been investing heavily into increased production capacity, investments in critical grid infrastructure have not kept pace, leading to a major energy transition bottleneck and a potential threat to energy security for an increasing number of countries. Read More

01.26.26- Battery BREAKTHROUGHS will Finally Make Electric Vehicles NOT SUCK
Mike Adams

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01.23.26- U.S. Natural Gas Prices Surge 45% in Two Days Due to Arctic Cold
Michael Kern

U.S. natural gas futures jumped by more than 45% in just two days as Arctic cold is descending on the eastern United States with freezing temperatures and warnings of dangerous life-threatening wind chills. 

On Tuesday, the benchmark U.S. natural gas futures at Henry Hub soared by 23% amid the cold snap and short covering. Natural gas futures jumped by another 22% early on Wednesday, and were headed for their biggest weekly gain in 35 years. Read More

01.21.26- Why Greenland Matters Even If Its Resources Don’t Pay
Tsvetana Paraskova

The renewed U.S. interest in taking control over Greenland – one way or another – has placed the Arctic island back in the spotlight a year after U.S. President Donald Trump first suggested the United States should buy Denmark’s autonomous territory.  

The Trump Administration’s reasons and intensified pressure on NATO allies aside, is Greenland really worth it? Read More

01.19.26- Energy and Wealth:
The Correlation That Built Nations
Chris Macintosh

The relationship between energy consumption and national wealth is one of history’s most consistent patterns.

From coal-fired Britain to oil-powered America to today’s renewable energy leaders, access to abundant, affordable energy has been the foundation of economic prosperity. This correlation isn’t coincidental — it’s mechanical. Energy powers industry, transportation, communication, and virtually every productive activity that generates wealth. Read More

01.16.26- Drilling the deepest hole in history: Unlocking geothermal energy
Loz Blain

MIT spin-off Quaise is trying to use hijacked fusion technology to drill some of the deepest holes in history, unlocking clean, virtually limitless, supercritical geothermal energy that can re-power fossil-fueled power plants all over the world. But how does it work? And are they even close to realizing their vision?

The heat beneath our feet

Everyone knows the Earth's core is hot, but maybe the scale of it still has the power to surprise. Temperatures in the iron center of the core are estimated to be around 5,200 °C (9,392 °F), generated by heat from radioactive elements decaying combining with heat that still remains from the very formation of the planet. Read More

01.14.26- Markets Price Chaos as Oil Finds Its Footing
Tom Kool

Oil prices have rebounded sharply on geopolitical risk despite no meaningful supply losses.

- Iran protests and the increasing probability that US President Trump would exploit that unrest for another series of strikes on Tehran have been dragging oil prices higher, boosting oil options trading in recent days. Read More

01.12.26- New Year Starts With Fewer U.S. Oil and Gas Rigs
Julianne Geiger

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell by 4 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published earlier this week, bringing the total rig count in the US  to 544 this week, down 40 from this same time last year.

The number of active oil rigs fell by 3 in the reporting period, according to the data. Oil rigs are now at 409, which is 71 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 1 to 124, which is 24 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count rose by 2. Read More

01.09.26- Aircraft carrier nuclear reactors could help solve AI's power problem
David Szondy

If you have a redundant nuclear aircraft carrier lying around, you can give HGP Intelligent Energy a call. The Texas-based developer wants to repurpose the nuclear reactors used to power carriers to generate electricity for onshore data centers.

AI promises to be the biggest thing in information technology since the internet told people they had mail. The problem is that the data centers needed to support AI systems are so hungry for electricity that they will account for up to 40% of power-demand growth in the US alone by 2035. Read More

01.07.26- Vistra Jumps After Buying 10 Nat Gas-Fired Power Plants For $4 Billion
Tyler Durden

It didn't take long for markets to get a reminder of the screaming shortage of energy assets needed to energize the AI revolution. 

Late on Monday, electricity supplier Vistra agreed to pay $4 billion for 10 natural gas-fired power plants in the US Northeast and Texas to expand the electricity supplier’s generation capacity in fast-growing energy markets.  Read More

01.05.26- The Renewable Energy That Trump Has Not Targeted
Felicity Bradstock

Geothermal is one of the few renewable energy sectors that President Donald Trump has not tried to quash in favour of fossil fuels in the United States. There is significant promise for the future of geothermal power in the United States, even though most projects are still in the nascent stage of development. Both public and private funding are expected to bolster the sector in the coming years. Read More

01.02.26- Trump's Gunboat Diplomacy Triggers Sharp Drop In Venezuelan Oil Output
Tyler Durden

President Trump’s gunboat diplomacy in the Caribbean, designed to disrupt and dismantle Venezuelan oil flows to Asia in order to choke off the Maduro regime’s primary revenue stream and induce regime instability in Caracas, is now moving full steam ahead, as confirmed by the latest crude oil export data.

Bloomberg cites new internal data from Petróleos de Venezuela showing that oil production in the Orinoco Belt (which accounts for nearly two-thirds of Venezuela’s oil output) plunged by about 498,000 barrels per day on Monday, down roughly 25% over the past two weeks. Read More