Peter Fairley

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

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

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

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

Small Car Big City: Electric microcar in London

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

Erdos, Inner Mongolia, China

Arising: Women scientists and engineers were eager to make their mark at the Qatar Foundation’s annual research forum in 2011

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

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

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

Libyan Leapfrog: Beefed-up transmission is part of the preparations to compete globally as Libya emerges from decades of isolation

Moving Coal: Delivering heating fuel in Erdos, Inner Mongolia

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

La Paz

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

Color Clash: An inspirational message cuts jarringly across Doha’s greying skyline

Electrifying? At the 2012 Paris auto show Renault was selling its new Zoe electric hatchback which, at 20,700 euros, was going cheap for a battery-powered car

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

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

SOLON Energy GmgH, Berlin

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

Sailing Towards Doha

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

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

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

Faith Alone? Moroccans deserve a free press

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

Smothered: A rising sun struggles to pierce the sooty air that hangs over Jinhua, a city of 1 million residents southwest of Shanghai

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