Kevin Bullis, MIT Technology Review’s senior editor for energy, has a piece noting that the most significant advances in the energy field the past year resulted from surging natural gas and oil production from shale via hydraulic fracturing – an impact Bullis says is unlikely to be unsurpassed by other energy sectors in the near future:

"Although renewable energy made impressive advances this year, its impact has been dwarfed by the changes caused by the surplus of cheap, abundant natural gas made possible by hydrofracturing—fracking—of shale deposits. … As utilities shift electricity production from coal plants to natural gas ones, carbon dioxide emissions have dropped to levels not seen for 20 years. In China, the government has set ambitious goals to scale up fracking and shale g... more »

President Obama's Twitter town hall yesterday was pretty neat - the Tweeter-in-Chief fielding questions from the public on a range of issues, including some on energy. The president trumpeted renewable energies while saying America needs to reduce dependence on oil. More on that below. First, some interesting context on renewables, from a live chat held last week by the Energy Department. Dr. Arun Majumdar, director of the department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, responded to the public's emails and Tweets for about 45 minutes. You can check out the video here. Key takeaways on renewables:

• Futuristic technologies, including biofuels, electrofuels and powerful car batteries, remain just that: in the future. "The technologies that are required to make us secure ... all of them... more »

Kudos to the White House for today's presidential Twitter town hall - which will feature the president in the East Room this afternoon for a live webcast in which he answers selected questions submitted via Twitter. Others have their questions for the chief, below are mine. (Feel free to get in on the event by asking your own energy-related questions or retweeting these - using the hashtag #AskObama.) Five Questions for the Administration

1. The Keystone XL pipeline would create American jobs and increase our energy security. Why is approval taking so long? #AskObama

2. EIA says in 2035 oil + #natgas will supply 60% of our energy. Shouldn't we try to produce as much of it as possible here at home? #AskObama

3. By 2030 92% of our liquid fuels could be filled by secure US/Canadian production... more »

Our industry's longstanding commitment to safe operations was questioned by some after last year's tragic spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Today, we have more than 20 industry groups working concurrently on improving spill prevention and response. Oil companies are committing resources in the form of dollars, time and expertise to ensure that these improvements are implemented.

In March, we announced the creation of the Center for Offshore Safety. It will bring our best minds and expertise together to help operators strive for and maintain the highest levels of safety performance across the entire industry.

We have worked hard to meet the requirements for resuming operations in the Gulf. That's important because we need those energy resources, both today and in the future. Oil and natural gas... more »

Greater access to secure energy and more than a half-trillion dollars in economic benefits right here at home: That's the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. Unfortunately, the biggest question about the project - which would bring oil from Canada's oil sands region to U.S. refineries in Texas - is why it remains stuck on the drawing board.

The House of Representatives is working on legislation that would require the administration to grant a permit for the pipeline by Nov. 1. Given the benefits, you wouldn't think it would take an act of Congress to get things started. But deliberations over mostly old arguments are delaying a project worth an estimated $521 billion to the U.S. economy over a 25-year period, according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

What's the holdup? The State Depa... more »