Shifting alliances, changing roles, unpredictable weather, and one noteworthy automobile—this year’s energy landscape included familiar players but some unanticipated outcomes.

Below, the highlights…

In 2012, several renewable energy advancements took place, including initial construction of Africa’s largest solar plant in Ghana, the largest wind farm was installed off the Scottish coast, and Saudi Arabia announced plans to be completely powered by renewable energy. 

In our own backyard, the US Navy’s Green Fleet was saved from partisan attacks; US carbon emissions fell to their lowest in almost 20 years; and for the first time in its 64-year history, Motor Trend magazine named an electric car—Tesla’s sedan—its  “Car of the Year.”

The year came to a close with a rush of rain, storm surge, and far-reaching power outages as Hurricane Sandy slammed the East Coast, laying waste to coastal communities in New Jersey and darkening the Manhattan skyline. While some onsite power systems failed to remain operational—most notable at the NYU Langone Medical Center—other installations (including the Brevoort Coop West 8 and Coop City) kept right on humming through the worst Mother Nature had to offer. As I noted back in November, “Co-Op City is power by an onsite CHP power plant that provides 40 MW of power, come rain, shine, or superstorm. Not only did the Co-Op City’s cogeneration plant keep the lights on for its 60,000 residents during the storm, on any given day it produces enough excess electrical power that the plant’s power generation can be exported to Con Ed’s main grid.”

But the development that, in the long run, might prove to be the most significant involved domestic energy policy: specifically, fracking and the natural gas revolution which are poised to substantially change our national energy policy, perhaps freeing us from a charged relationship with fossil fuels and removing our historical dependence on foreign oil. 

As the latest report by Citigroup about domestic oil production indicated, “Natural gas production was the starting point of the game-changing shale revolution, and is beginning to transform multiple industries and sectors.” But this revolution does not come without a price. As I recently wrote in a blog entitled “Energy Independence?”

* The expansion of domestic oil and gas production brings with it a whole host of environmental concerns—not the least of which is hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”) and its potential to pollute drinking water supplies. There is also some concern that keeping natural gas prices low removes the incentive to invest in renewable energy. And don’t forget that fossil fuels and natural gas—whether generated domestically or imported from somewhere else—are still the main culprits behind GHG emissions the resultant climate change implications.

What’s on deck for 2013? Certainly the debate over fracking and natural gas production will persist, but protests will most likely fall on deaf ears, due in large part to the lure of energy independence and monetary gain. Meanwhile, I’m sure investment in clean energy technologies will carry on while (I hope) consumer awareness of energy efficiency alternatives (above and beyond the light bulb) will continue to grow. And if 2012 was a preview of what we can expect in terms of extreme weather events, then 2013 may turn into the year backup power transitions from standby alternative to permanent solution.