CANADA'S TAR SANDS, A DIRTY LOOK AT THE DIRTY TRUTH ABOUT DIRTY OIL. There is energy in the ground, but at what price should the oil be extracted?

HOW WE NEED TO FACE SOME FACTS concerning our environmental future. Report out of China paints a pretty "Grim" picture concerning the future results of climate change.

HOW THE CLIMATE TALKS OF COP17 STANDS OUT IN 2011. Of all the big environmental stories of 2011, COP17 takes the first place prize. Here's Why!

HOW CLIMATE CHANGE IS THREATENING FOSSIL FUELS. Dangerous Climate Change is Inevitable if we keep consuming fossil fuels for energy production. The year 2017 is the deadline.

HOW CLEAN IS THE COAL ENERGY DRINK. Renewable Energy Accountability Project (REAP) suggests "coal energy isn't just clean ... it's refreshing" when you drink it.

HOW CHINA IS GOING TO HAVE ALL THE POWER AND EAT OUR LUNCH. China will build as many as 50 nuclear power plants in the next five years – more than the rest of the world combined.

HOW ENERGY SCARCITY WILL HINDER REPAYING DEBT. As we reach the end of the cheap-oil era, it will be difficult — and probably crippling — to try to pay back the debt we have accumulated.

HOW OIL SPILLS CONTINUE TO HAUNT BRITISH PETROLEUM. BP reported yet another pipeline leak at its Alaskan oilfields, frustrating the oil giant's attempts to rebuild its reputation after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

HOW THE GAS WATER HEATER IS BLOWING EFFICIENCY UP THE STOVE PIPE. By the time the discussion was over, it was clear that no-one present could justify using naturally aspirated fossil-fueled water heaters in those conditions.

HOW USING NATURAL GAS AS A FUEL IS NOT AS GREEN AS SOME WOULD LIKE YOU TO THINK. There will be challenges with deploying solar and wind on a large scale -- but there will be (far more environmentally detrimental) challenges to ramping up natural gas extraction.

HOW A WISE PRINCE WANTS TO LOWER THE PRICE ON A BARREL OF CRUDE. Saudi Prince Al-Waleed, "We don't want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price of oil goes, the more they have incentives to go and find alternatives."

HOW COAL PRODUCES ENERGY AND CANCER. Heavy industry, coal-fired power plants, and numerous factories have so saturated the air with pollution that cancer is officially now the number one cause of death in China.

HOW THE GERMAN PEOPLE HAVE PROTESTED AGAINST CONTINUING NUCLEAR POWER. Over 160,000 people joined a coordinated demonstration under the motto "Atomkraft -- Schluss" (End Nuclear Power).

HOW SHOULD ELDER NUCLEAR PLANTS BE RELICENSED TO CONTINUE OPERATING. Critics of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the powerful industry it oversees continue to question its process for issuing license renewals at aging plants.

HOW FUKUSHIMA WILL HANDLE A NUCLEAR MELTDOWN. What exactly is a meltdown, you might ask? There's a lot of confusion as to what constitutes a "full" or "partial" meltdown.

HOW DOES BILL GATES OF MICROSOFT REALLY FEEL ABOUT NUCLEAR POWER? Gates warned that "cute" technologies related to energy efficiency, such as solar panels, LED lights and energy efficient buildings are economic, but do not deal with the bigger issue of climate change.

Also disturbing is the amount of energy we waste. Yes, over half the energy we generate is 'rejected', or lost -- that's the stuff that falls into that gray tube up in the top right. Ain't that a shame?

Using the recent events in Japan and Libya to underscore the need to discuss how the U.S. gets its energy, Obama outlined what he thinks we should be doing. Here are some takeaway nuggets from the address.

There is much more good energy news that has nothing to do with coal, nuclear or oil-based energy. The fastest growing U.S. electricity sources over the past five years are wind and solar power; by early 2011, installed U.S. wind generation capacity had reached 40%.

It wasn’t until oil development slowed down a bit and families became concerned about their energy bills that somebody started to look at energy use and what could be done to use less power. With temperatures below zero for weeks and the wind at a near steady 30 miles an hour...

Those Japanese reactors were state of the art when they were built. The good news is that there are already nuclear power plants on the ground that are significantly less susceptible to damage. The better news that there are plants in the works that are even safer.

HOW DOES THE BENEFIT OF NUCLEAR POWER FIT IN TODAYS ENERGY NEEDS? On paper, this is the perfect and perfectly safe formula to generate electrical energy. No pollutants, no burning of fossil fuels, a very small carbon footprint, all with incalculable amounts of nearly free energy. Dale Y the Green Guy

HOW CHEAPER URANIUM MEANS NEW LIFE FOR NUCLEAR. “We believe that the American Centrifuge Plant is vital to supporting the long-term growth of nuclear power in the United States."

Entrepreneurs believe the future of nuclear power will be captured by versatile, small units that are affordable and scalable. Can these new plants use the nuclear waste already available for power?

The construction of coal fired power plants are being postponed across America. Is the need for carbon reduction putting pressure on coal to step aside for cleaner, renewable sources of producing the growing need for more power? and