As recent reports suggest that the United States may be the worlds’ largest producer of oil by 2020, there are reports from Britain that UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is easing up on green energy, and that “green tech” may be neither a significant source of economic growth for the country nor a top political concern.  Some clever reporting by the FT’s Janan Ganesh discusses the road from green enthusiasm to a greater focus on “competitiveness” among British political leadership, and notes also that the the Stephen Harper-led Canadian government withdrew from the Kyoto accord on global warming almost one year ago. 

With another term for Obama there remain some serious questions about whether green energy will remain a priority for the American government.  Without having to worry about reelection, Obama may choose this term to push some political action that might have made him too unpopular last term.  However, his critics will likely continue to remind the public of Obama’s involvement with ill-fated solar company Solyndra, making the road rockier for any Democrat candidate who attempts to fill the President’s shoes in 2016.  Meanwhile, shale oil has managed to remake itself in the imagination of many as a potent source of economic growth, after many years of being demonized as an environmental catastrophe.   A piece by John Bussey back in September mused,

“Thanks to the hustle of innovative U.S. energy companies, the discovery of vast shale gas and oil fields, and stronger national conservation, some forecasts peg energy independence for North America at just a few years off. A Citigroup report calls the region “the new Middle East.” Pimco says the trend is a “game changer.” Bain & Co. declares it a “new paradigm.”

And just a few days ago, the WSJ’s MarketBeat blog declared the Saudi Arabia has been “knocked from its perch”–a statement unlikely to earn many scowls among American readers.   The same piece, by James Herron, proclaims “Oil is up, clean tech is down” and cites research from MarketWatch that subsidies for fossil fuels outstripped those for renewable energy about six-fold.