With the 2012 election year upon us, it promises to be an interesting time for energy politics and policy. Here are 12 (really 13 because of some creative headline writing) issues that will keep the sector hopping this year....

The expectation of millions of "green jobs" has disappeared from public debate. Today, the debate is narrowly focused on "jobs" and selecting the best approach to developing permanent jobs, regardless of color. Some look to the government to create jobs through regulation or subsidy, and others trust companies operating under free market principles to create permanent jobs....

As China's economy continues to soar, its energy use and greenhouse gas emissions will keep on soaring as well—or so goes the conventional wisdom. A new analysis by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory now is challenging that notion, one widely held in both the United States and China....

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules are being processed at a furious pace in 2011. Unexpectedly, the new greenhouse gas and ozone rules were stayed by President Obama. However, it’s the Utility MACT Rule and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that leave utilities on unsteady ground. The result has been a number of plant closure announcements that far exceed the magnitude of the coal-fired generation losses predicted by the EPA. The predicted losses vary greatly....

Experts say the cascading blackout  that put millions of Westerners in the dark in early September was no surprise: Major power outages have more than doubled in the last decade...