Shares of the natural gas processor Western Gas Partners LP hit a fresh 52-week high Wednesday, supported by a positive growth outlook stemming from the Monday acquisition of new processing facilities in Colorado and in anticipation of solid second-quarter earnings.

The Producer Price Index, or wholesale prices, rose at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.4 percent in January, mainly due to a rise in energy costs, pharmaceutical costs and light trucks, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Online gaming through open source software like Shaspa is designed to allow players to monitor their energy use through a virtual world. (shaspa.com)

BY HANNAH KOKJOHN – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Starting this week, the traditionally geeky realm of online gaming and virtual simulations are colliding with the trendy world of energy saving.

Jumping on [...]

Retail companies using energy-efficient practices, such as monitoring building temperatures, can reduce costs. (Bright_Star/FLICKR)

BY HANNAH KOKJOHN – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Just as the U.S. Census Bureau released its unexpectedly dismal March report of a 1.1 percent drop in U.S. food and retail service sales, Prenova Inc., an Atlanta-based energy management company, twisted the [...]

Phil Flynn talks to Advanced Econ Reporting students. Tian Huang/Medill

BY TIAN HUANG - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

During our final trip to CME Group this quarter, we had the opportunity to speak to Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. Phil was on the floor talking about oil inventories on Fox [...]

BY KAREN LEIGH - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Energy-saving initiatives and President Obama’s plan to create green jobs were talking points of the ’08 campaign. But what about the regulation of energy policies already in place?

Seeking Alpha calls attention to the fact that the original energy utility model was designed 75 years ago [...]

BY BENJAMIN MIRASKI, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

From April to June, I was part of a group that tracked LDK Solar’s stock price [[LDK]] and the reasons for its movements. It wasn’t hard to see why LDK was flying during that time.

Oil prices were on a tear from [...]

BY MARJORIE KORN, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency denied a waiver request made by the State of Texas to reduce by half the amount of ethanol blending mandated in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on Thursday. Thus the currently mandated 9 billion gallons [...]

By SARA SARGENT – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Oh. Presidential candidates offering their solutions to our nation’s energy crisis? Loves it!

One big question on everyone’s mind is, come November, will Americans end up throwing their support at Sen. John McCain’s Lexington Project or Sen. Barack Obama’s New Energy [...]

By MARJORIE KORN – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Wall Street groans when Congress gets involved in its day-to-day activities, but Main Street is applauding S. 3268, the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act of 2008, introduced by Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.

The bill seeks to reduce the amount [...]