For SmartPlanet this week, I highlighted the example of Lancaster, California to outline how local communities can move ahead on climate solutions and true energy independence now that global climate policy efforts have failed.

Read it here: All energy and climate solutions are local
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For SmartPlanet this week, I reviewed why unconventional oil pushes oil prices higher, and forecasted oil prices through 2014 and beyond. Read it here: The future of oil prices
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Oil pumpjack with solar tower in background

We’re all familiar with solar as a way to generate electricity and hot water, but now it is being tested as a way to produce oil in one of America’s oldest oil fields. I recently took a Chevron-sponsored trip to their  demonstration plant near Coalinga, in California’s Central Valley. The plant is the first in the world to try using steam generated by a solar thermal plant for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). (more…)