“The potential of air strikes on Yemen by Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer in OPEC, could throw world oil markets into volatility.” While Yemen contributes less than 0.2 percent of global oil output, its location puts it near the center of world energy trade.

The nation shares a border with Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, and sits on one side of a shipping chokepoint used by tankers heading West from the Persian Gulf. Global oil prices jumped more than 5 percent on Thursday after regional powers began bombing rebel targets in the country that produced less than Denmark in 2013.” [Bloomberg Business]

A group of corporate executives concerned with innovation released a report on United States research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) related to clean energy development. “The group is called the American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC). Their primary conclusion about the state of energy RD&D in the U.S. is that America needs to triple its current funding dedicated to the task. According to AEIC, the U.S. will continue to lose ground in terms of innovation among other countries such as China and Germany who are increasingly supplying new and growing energy companies with public funding.

The report states that, “The United States must proactively prepare for a more competitive economic future and scale up innovation investments as other countries increase their own.” [The Hill]

IKEA has unveiled plans to partner with Bloom Energy on a site in Emeryville, California, representing its first venture into fuel cells that use biogas to generate electricity. “It isn’t a huge system, with a capacity of 300 kilowatts, and expected to produce about 2.5 million kilowatt-hours annually.

Still, the investment will help ensure at the majority of the power used at this site comes from clean, renewable sources. Or, at least, more clean and more renewable than what’s available on the local grid.” [Forbes]