A little while ago I told you how federal prosecutors were pushing for a twenty-year sentence for Abramoff associate Kevin Ring. I don’t think anyone thinks I’m an apologist for the folks in the Abramoff scandal. But that’s two decades for giving sporting events tickets to members of Congress and staffers. Most of the folks in the scandal got about a year, if they were even indicted. And even Abramoff himself got only a little over three years. The prosecutors made little attempt to hide the fact that they were pushing for this crazy sentence as pay back for Ring not pleading out. Today a federal judge said, No, you can’t do that.

New data from the federal government show worldwide energy consumption rising more than 50 percent by 2035.

There is one tiny silver lining in the new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration: While energy consumption is projected to increase by 53 percent, carbon emissions are expected to rise by 43 percent. That’s due to increased use of non-carbon-based energy and to improved efficiency.

Still, the increased energy production to meet this growing demand will still come overwhelmingly from fossil fuels, as these charts show.