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Sam Hodgson / Reuters
The South Bay Power Plant implodes in Chula Vista, California on February 2.
You can see a video of this demolition at NBC Los Angeles.
Power plant implodes in controlled demolition
Frustration mounts at long gas lines in New York area
Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters
People wait for gas at a Hess fuelling station in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Nov. 2.
Seth Wenig / AP
A police officer moves a car that is out of gas, trying to position it so it can fill up, at a gas station in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Nov. 2.
Adrees Latif / Reuters
A policeman stands guard between a line of New York City yellow taxi cabs waiting to get fuel from a gas station in Midtown Manhattan on Nov. 2.
From NBC News Staff: Damage from the Superstorm Sandy has forced many gas stations to close and has disrupted fuel deliveries, causing long lines at the stations that remained open. Power outages kept many pumps out of service. Gas-seekers traded tips via social media and roamed the region for hours in search of functioning pumps. Police officers helped maintain order at the few stations in operation.
Gas-seekers traded tips via social media and roamed the region for hours in search of functioning pumps. Police officers helped maintain order at the few stations in operation. Full Story
Adrees Latif / Reuters
A woman covers her face in frustration while waiting for hours in line to get fuel outside at a gas station in Queens, N.Y., on Nov. 1, 2012.
Adrees Latif / Reuters
A man fights for his place in line while waiting to get fuel at a gas station in Queens, N.Y., on Nov. 1, 2012.
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Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.
More Sandy-related stories on PhotoBlog:
- Island of tears: Hurricane Sandy devastates Staten Island families
- Aerial views reveal Sandy's destructive power
- Evacuations continue and residents take stock in destroyed Breezy Point neighborhood
- Hurricane Sandy leaves surreal scenes in its wake
- Devastating fire follows flooding in Breezy Point, Queens
NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from a helicopter high above Union, N.J., where drivers are lined up for miles waiting for a chance to fill up.
Solar power alters life in remote Indian villages
A man cleans panels installed at a solar plant at Meerwada village of Guna district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on June 18, 2012.
Adnan Abidi / Reuters reports -- Life in the remote Indian village of Meerwada once ground to a standstill as darkness descended. Workers downed tools, kids strained to see their school books under the faint glow of aged kerosene lamps and adults struggled to carry out the most basic of household chores. The arrival of solar power last year has changed all that. On a humid evening splashed with rain, fans whirr, children sit cross-legged to swat up on their Hindi and delighted people can actually see what they are eating and drinking.
EDITOR'S NOTE: These images were received on Aug. 1, 2012
A woman uses a battery operated torch to prepare a meal inside the kitchen of her house at Rampuriya village on June 19.
Children watch television powered by solar energy at Meerwada village on June 18.
A boy charges his mobile phone from an electric board powered by solar energy inside his house at Meerwada village on June 19.
Related stories:
Students learn to climb utility poles in California
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) instructor Ray Atkinson observes as students in the PG&E's PowerPathway Pole Climbing Capstone course hang off of utility poles at the PG&E pole climbing training facility on Friday in Oakland, California. Students who are aspiring utility workers from Oakland's Cypress Mandela Training Center and Workforce Institute, a Division of San Jose/Evergreen Community College District, are participating in PG&E's PowerPathway program Pole Climbing Capstone course, a three week course that teaches skills to better prepare individuals to compete for jobs such as pre-apprentice lineworker within the utility industry. The free course is held at the new pole climbing training facility at PG&E's Oakport Service Center.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A student participating in Pacific Gas and Electric's (PG&E) PowerPathway Pole Climbing Capstone course attaches climbing Gaffs to his boots.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Students climb utility poles at the PG&E pole climbing training facility in Oakland.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A student participating in Pacific Gas and Electric's (PG&E) PowerPathway Pole Climbing Capstone course hangs from a utility pole.
Kenyan children do their homework by firelight
Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images
Children studying at night using a flame on a stick in their manyatta (mud-thatch home) at Kisima in Samburu county, Kenya. Photos taken on May 24, 2012 and made available to msnbc.com today.
Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images
Agence France Presse released these pictures as part of a report on energy use in Kenya. At present, only about 18% of the country's households have access to power, according to figures from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), while peak demand for electricity is forecast to increase from 1,200 MW to 15,000 MW by 2030.
But ambitious plans to bolster hydro-power with wind, geothermal and solar projects could enable Kenya to become a zero-emission economy in the field of electricity generation in the coming years, according to some estimates cited by the UNEP.
Long lines for fuel in Gaza as energy crisis continues
Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images
Palestinians wait in a queue to fill containers with fuel at a petrol station in Gaza City on April 2, 2012. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) began transferring emergency supplies of fuel to the Gaza Strip where an electricity crisis has hit medical services hard.
Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images
Palestinians wait in a queue to fill containers with fuel at a petrol station in Gaza City on April 2, 2012.
Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images
A Palestinian boy waits along with other residents wait in a queue to fill containers with fuel at a petrol station in Gaza City on April 2, 2012.
AP reports: At the root of the two-month-old crisis is a standoff between Hamas and neighboring Egypt over the delivery and payment for fuel.
Fuel smuggled from Egypt through tunnels under the border used to be the main source of energy for Gaza, including the territory's only power station that provides 60 percent of the electricity.
Hamas now wants Egypt to deliver fuel to Gaza through a passage above ground, trying to establish a precedent Hamas hopes could evolve into a full-fledged trade route with Egypt.
Pennsylvania water tainted by hydraulic fracturing
Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
Left: Sherry Vargson, who leased the mineral rights under a portion of her farm to the gas company Chesapeake Energy, illustrates her assertion that methane has leached into her well water by lighting the water on fire as it pours from her kitchen sink in Granville Summit, Pennsylvania, March 8.
Right: Ray Kimble shows the discoloration in a gallon of water he says came from his well in Dimock, Pennsylvania, March 8.EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the extent of the water problems.
European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) reports:The gas rush in Pennsylvania, created by the controversial drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—which requires injecting huge amounts of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure thousands of feet beneath the Earth's surface to extract reserves of natural gas, has brought an economic boom to the state, generating 23,000 jobs, and billions of dollars in state and local tax revenues. It has caused complaints in Northeastern Pennsylvania that the drilling is polluting the water table with dangerous quantities of methane. Some residents now rely on outside water distribution, and are making their protests heard. Yet with the gas industry expected to keep drilling here—as many as 2,500 new wells are expected in Pennsylvania every year—residents opposed to fracking are bracing for a drawn-out fight.
Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
Ray Kimble fills up a 500 gallon water tank, called a buffalo, with fresh water which he will then distribute daily to neighbors whose water is non-potable near Dimock, Pennsylvania, March 8.
Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
Support trucks for hydraulic fracturing are seen in the reflection of a car's side mirror outside Dimock, Pennsylvania, March 9. Heavy gas drilling trucks have caused so much damage to local roads that communities are requiring gas companies to bond the roads, and thus reimburse the towns for asphalt repairs.
Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
Anti-fracking protestors concerned about natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale gather outside the Marcellus Midstream Conference and Exhibition, which promotes the development of infrastructure needed to transport and process natural gas, at the David Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh, Pa., March 20.
Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
A hydraulic fracturing drill rig at dusk near Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, March 9. The drilling practice requires injecting huge amounts of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface to extract reserves of natural gas.
The Marcellus Shale formation that lies under parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia is believed to hold 84 trillion cubic feet (2.38 trillion cubic meters) of recoverable natural gas -- enough to supply the nation's gas-burning electrical plants for 11 years. But health concerns have risen over the drilling practice which many believe have caused air and groundwater pollution in other states where thousands of shale gas wells have been drilled — including Texas, Wyoming, Colorado and Pennsylvania.
- Here, in New York, a coalition has formed to fight fracking.
- In Wyoming, environmentalists are suing over the fluids during the process.
- More on the drilling practice in Pennsylvania on NPR.
- New York Times Magazine story on fracturing in Pennsylvania from Nov. 2011.
- More about hydraulic fracturing process and studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- FAQ from the Environmental Protection Agency on natural gas drlling in the Marcellus Shale (PDF)
Pakistanis protest continuing energy shortfall
K.M. Chaudary / AP
Angry protesters burn the furniture of a gas station to condemn fierce power cuts in Lahore, Pakistan on March 26, 2012. Pakistan is suffering from an energy crisis leading to the closure of industrial units and causing long hours of load shedding.
The Pakistan Times reported as far back as May 2008:
Khuram Parvez / Reuters
Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.
Pakistan is suffering a serious crisis in the electricity generation sector. According to a recent estimate around 67% of the nation’s population lives in darkness.
The power shortage is a chronic problem that has slowed Pakistan’s social and economic growth. The problem is not a new one and dates back to the early nineties when the power supply was exceeded by the demand for electricity by thousands of MW.
The Wikipedia entry on Pakistan’s electricity sector says:
For many years the matter of balancing Pakistan's supply against the demand for electricity has remained a largely unresolved matter. Pakistan faces a significant challenge in revamping its network responsible for the supply of electricity.
While the government claims credit for overseeing a turnaround in the economy through a comprehensive recovery, it has just failed to oversee a similar improvement in the quality of the network for electricity supply.
Solar panels and subsidies in US and Germany
Michaela Rehle / Reuters
A worker mounts 320 square metres of solar panels on the roof of a farmstead barn in Binsham near Landshut on Wednesday. The German government plans cuts to solar funding.
Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images
US President Barack Obama speaks about his energy policies following a tour of the Copper Mountain Solar Project, the largest photovoltaic plant operating in the country in Boulder City, Nevada on Wednesday.
Germany, home to the largest share of the world's solar cells, is planning cuts to its solar subsidies of up to 30%, Reuters reports:
The government wants to cut the expansion of solar power after Germany added a record 7,500 megawatts capacity in 2011 to bring its total to 25,000 MW, nearly as much as the rest of the world combined.
The government wants to add 2,500-3,500 MW capacity annually, which is why it is cutting the incentives so aggressively after a 15 percent drop on January 1 and after capacity was expanded by over 7,000 MW in both 2010 and 2011.
In the United States, President Obama toured a 58 MW solar power plant in Nevada that was built with the help of federal tax credits of about $42 million. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department is imposing new import fees on solar panels made in China:
"Today's announcement affirms what U.S. manufacturers have long known: Chinese manufacturers have received unfair ... subsidies," Steve Ostrenga, CEO of Helios Solar Works in Milwaukee, said in a statement. The company is a member of a group called the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing.
On the other side, some U.S. companies argue that low-priced Chinese imports have helped consumers and promote rapid growth of the industry.
Tilting at windmills - 21st century style
Stephane Mahe / Reuters
Technicians install a wind turbine blade at Alstom's offshore wind site in Le Carnet, on the Loire Estuary, near Saint Nazaire on March 16. French power and transport engineering company Alstom will start its new direct drive Haliade 150 - 6MW offshore wind turbine in April.
Stephane Mahe / Reuters
Technicians install a wind turbine blade at Alstom's offshore wind site in Le Carnet, on the Loire Estuary, near Saint Nazaire on March 16.
Stephane Mahe / Reuters
Technicians prepare the installation of a wind turbine blade at Alstom's offshore wind site in Le Carnet, on the Loire Estuary, near Saint Nazaire, March 16.
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Solar panels atop a canal in India aim to make power while preventing evaporation
Ajit Solanki / AP
An Indian worker works amid installed solar panels atop the Narmada canal at Chandrasan village, about 25 miles from Ahmadabad, India on Thursday. The western Indian state of Gujarat is all set to become the first state in the country to generate solar power through panels mounted on a water body. Generated solar power will be supplied to villages alongside the canal, which will lead to lower transmission losses and also helping to reduce the evaporation of water.
Ajit Solanki / AP
An Indian worker washes his hands as installed solar panels seen atop the Narmada canal.
See more solar energy images from around the world in PhotoBlog.
Sunday Alamba / AP
An angry youth protests in front of a burning barrier following the removal of a fuel subsidy by the government in Lagos, Nigeria, on Jan. 10, 201.
Nigerians take protest over fuel prices to gates of the 1%
"One day the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich" read a sign held by one young man in Abuja on Monday.
The Associated Press reports from LAGOS, Nigeria:
Angry youths erected a burning roadblock outside luxury enclaves in Nigeria's commercial capital Tuesday as a paralyzing national strike over fuel prices and government corruption entered its second day.
The flaming tires and debris sent thick, dark smoke over part of Ikoyi Island, home to diplomats and many of the oil-rich nation's wealthy elite. It also signaled the danger of spiraling violence as protests continue in the country of more than 160 million people. Police shot at least three protesters to death on Monday. Read the full story.
Previously on PhotoBlog: Extremes of wealth and poverty revealed in photographs of Nigerian oil industry