A daily roundup of the most important energy, environment, and climate news from around the world.

TAR SANDS

Need for Keystone XL shrinking as industry looks to export US crude oil (via InsideClimate News)

Canada’s new pipeline woes (via New York Times)

Utah oil sands project can proceed without pollution permit, water monitoring (via InsideClimate News)

GREEN BUSINESS

In US building industry, is it too easy to be green? (via USA Today)

Consumers demand sustainability results, survey says (via Environmental Leader)

ENERGY POLICY

US fossil fuel production to hit record in 2012 (via Houston Chronicle)

RENEWABLES

New data shows 3.5GW US grid-connected photovoltaic solar capacity (via US EIA)

Wind-power consumption rises as overall US energy use drops (via The Hill)

NRC report: large-scale algal biofuel production poses sustainability concerns (via Green Car Congress)

Venture capital backing for wind creeps up in third quarter (via Recharge)

US solar jobs face bright future, wind posts flutter (via Bloomberg)

Wars may be ending, but Army’s energy focus isn’t (via Greenwire)

Could solar islands be the new offshore wind farms? (via BusinessGreen)

BrightSource raises $80M more for concentrating solar power (via Greentech Media)

US Navy receives new biorefinery for practically nothing (via TriplePundit)

As Chicago ramps up for municipal aggregation vote, impact on renewables remains unclear (via Midwest Energy News)

COAL

Cost of coal mining continues to climb (via Washington Post)

Study says coal export terminal would “significantly” add to tax rolls (via Bellingham Herald)

GRID

JD Power: smart meter awareness “less than optimal” (via Intelligent Utility)

Energy storage experts explain what happened at battery firm A123 (via Greentech Media)

Smart grid education not going well (via Greentech Media)

Gov. Cuomo unveils blueprint for “energy highway” in New York State (via Renew Grid)

Massive freezers test integration of renewable energy using smart grid (via Sustainable Business)

OIL

The US isn’t quite ready to catch up with Saudi Arabia on oil… (via Washington Post)

Oxfam seeks to join SEC oil payments disclosure lawsuit (via The Hill)

Criminal probe eyes remarks after Gulf oil spill, lawyers say (via Houston Chronicle)

US downplayed effect of Deepwater oil spill on whales, emails reveal (via The Guardian)

Electricity demand expected to triple in North Dakota Oil Patch (via Dickinson Press)

TRANSPORTATION

China’s electric car sales fail to hit the fast lane (via BusinessGreen)

EMISSIONS

EU “will over deliver” on Kyoto emissions targets, agency says (via National Geographic)

Cap-and-trade failure aided US to cut carbon emissions (via Bloomberg)

NATURAL GAS

The new big push to export America’s gas bounty (via New York Times)

Shale-gas glut becomes $2 diesel using gas-to-liquids plants (via Bloomberg)

Safety concerns arose months before TransCanada Wyoming pipeline blast (via CBC News)

CLIMATE/GEOENGINEERING

Hurricane Sandy: the next climate wake-up call? (via Politico)

Ocean geoengineering experiment may not have broken laws after all (via Treehugger)

POLITICS

Obama & Romney ignore climate change, but so do voters (via Christian Science Monitor)

US politicians duck climate change because of cost (via The Guardian)

Want a more substantive Obama-Romney debate on energy and climate? (via Washington Post)

Mitt Romney’s secret “rock star” on energy (via National Journal)

OTHER NEWS

An additional listing of clean energy and climate news is posted at Climate Progress