Every year, I sit down with Vaclav Smil from the University of Manitoba to discuss “the year in energy.” Vaclav is one of the world’s foremost experts on energy issues, and has written over 30 books and 300 papers on the subject. In this Comment, we walk through what Vaclav identified as the five notable energy developments of 2012: energy independence initiatives in the United States, Europe, and Japan; geopolitical implications of rising Chinese oil demand; and another rough year for the electric car.