Peter Fairley

Steel Pearl: Shell’s Pearl gas-to-liquids synthetic fuels plant will more than replace the revenue lost to Japan’s cultured pearl trade, whichs upended Qatar’s 2000-year pearl hunting and export industry

Bad Blood: PG&E is public enemy #1 in the eyes of San Francisco progressives and alternative energy activists alike

West Texas: Where there’s no rain, the sun comes up an enemy

Scuds to Kilovolts: This 300kv substation outside Tripoli, once the site of a Scud missile factory, will help link the North African and European power grids

SOLON Energy GmbH, Berlin

Erdos, Inner Mongolia, China

Faith Alone? Moroccans deserve a free press

Doha BG (Before the Gas): Remember the sleepy backwater that was once Qatar

Architectural Recorder: Capturing the restlessness of architect Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, completed in 2004 in Berlin

Hidden History: PG&E’s Steve Austin keeps direct-current power flowing to San Francisco’s legacy DC elevators via lines such as these under San Francisco’s SOMA district

SOLON Energy GmgH, Berlin

Looking Down: An aerial view of the open-pit tar/oil sands mines and upgrading plants outside Fort McMurray, Alberta

Sailing Towards Doha

Small Car Big City: Electric microcar in London

Freiburg Green: Light rail glides through the medieval heart of Germany’s most eco-friendly city

Landlocked: In 2008 massive German wind turbines designed for offshore use such as this 5-megawatt beast in Brunsbuttel were still being tested onshore, while other North Sea powers such as the UK and Denmark were already operating offshore wind farms

Sour Gas: While asphixiation by CO2 is a theoretical risk of carbon sequestion, sulfurous emissions pose a known hazard to neighbors of many oil and gas wells

Double Duty: The cowl within the Bundestag’s glass dome provides both natural ventilation and lighting to the assembly hall below

Looming Less Large: The Cordillera Réal secures Bolivia’s water supply, but its glaciers are melting fast

Cost of Progress: Solar-powered LED lighting gives rural children can do more hours of homework!

Coal Chemist: Du Minghua (right) promoted technical improvements to reduce water consumption from coal-based chemicals and fuel production

SOLON Energy GmbH, Berlin

Power Hubs: Mercedes’ 200,000-euro, 740-horsepower electric sportscar is a completely impractical car, but the motors in its wheel hubs might yet revolutionize automotive design

Foul Funnel: A view skyward within the pollution-pumping flu stack of a coal-fired power plant in Wisconsin

CO2 to the Rescue: West Texas oilwells still produce crude 60-70 years after spudding thanks to enhanced oil recovery, whereby compressed CO2 injected into the reservoirs flush out their thickest cuts

Looming Less Large: The Cordillera Réal secures Bolivia’s water supply, but its glaciers are melting fast

Recycling Nut: Nils Noack led the renovation of Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters, refurbishing the twin 155-meter towers instead of tearing them down and earning the first LEED Platinum rating for a reno’d skyscraper

Bone Dry: An unrequited rain monitor south of Lubbock, Texas, as the worst drought in a century tightened its grip

Genghis is Gone: Sites in Inner Mongolia such as this mausoleum celebrate the region’s nomadic warrior roots, but Chinese officials have forced Khan’s descendents to settle down

Forbidden City: Beijing cyclist enjoys a moment away from the perpetual traffic and bottlenecks on the streets outside

Hawking Mobility: Private minivans are La Paz’s primary form of public transit