Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) has long been touted as a potentially critical means for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from carbon-intense industrial sources. High costs, complex regulatory schemes, and decreasing governmental incentives, however, have hindered the widespread development of CCS projects. But a growing trend of deriving multiple revenue streams from the carbon dioxide (CO2) associated with CCS projects—particularly using captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery—is helping to spur CCS development.

Over the past three years, the additive manufacturing market is estimated to have grown by almost 20% to about $1.2 billion. It is already being used to make prosthetic
devices, architectural components, parts for automobiles or airplanes, jewelry, textiles, sports equipment, and even specialty foods. Over time, additive manufacturing will
become cheaper and more precise and will enable construction down to a nano-scale, atom by atom. But these changes are only the beginning.

In the western United States, the management of surface water quality and quantity is highly compartmentalized. This compartmentalization among and within state and federal authorities is not inherently objectionable. To the contrary, it likely is necessary. Yet, the degree of compartmentalization appears to have so divided management of this resource that damage has been done to both sides. Opportunities exist for cooperation, coordination, and a more holistic perspective on water management with little or even no change in law.

Hundreds of briefs, decisions, and journal articles debating “how much loss is enough” should be sufficient proof that the Keystone Bituminous “taking fraction” provides poor guidance to decisionmaking in partial regulatory takings. The Penn Central court intended to measure the severity of economic impact by interference with distinct investment-backed expectations. Where lost income from use of the property is at stake, standard economics requires the denominator in the “taking fraction” to be the owner’s investment in the property.

How effective are courts as policymaking institutions? Generally speaking, courts play a far larger role in American biodiversity law than they do in comparable Australian and Canadian statutory programs. As a result, studying endangered species protection offers a useful way to identify and isolate the policy impacts of judicial intervention. In the two cases I examine, the American system functioned at least as well as, and sometimes better than, the biodiversity programs in Australia and Canada.

This Comment examines what is known about the costs associated with environmental degradation resulting from the production of commodity crops—i.e., row crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat—that are grown on large swaths of land. Much has been written about the environmental impacts of contemporary agriculture, and the critical need for conservation practices, but far less is known about the cost of these impacts. Even less research has examined how those costs can be attributed to the various types of agricultural operations.

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.

With the world facing energy shortages, unstable prices, geopolitical struggles over energy supply, and dramatic climate changes that demand less fossil fuel consumption and reduced carbon emissions, Europeans have embarked on changes in their energy regime that over the course of the next half century will have as profound an effect on society as coal and steam power did in the 19th century.

For good or ill, the United States seems more like a western European country every day, but the contrast could not be starker when it comes to renewable energy policy. Many countries in Europe get over one third—and some, over one-half—of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Europeans across the political spectrum support government policies to promote renewal energy, but government support for renewable energy is deeply controversial in the United States.

Cities have great advantages. They provide good jobs and are the most efficient form for delivery of services such as waste disposal, power, education, fire protection, and transportation, when compared with rural areas. City dwellers also use less energy than their counterparts in the countryside. Many experts envision that cities of the future will utilize more sustainable water, waste, energy, and transportation infrastructures. But what will drive the innovation needed to create these cities? And what role will government, industry, and NGOs play in bringing about this change?