paperBears have stormed into the oil market, which is now ignoring supply shocks like Nigeria and exploding pipelines in Turkey, Bloomberg reports, as oil settles under $120. But since oil is a lot higher than a year ago, so is natural gas—in the U.K. especially. So power companies there are warning of big electricity-price increases, the WSJ reports (sub reqd.). One solution: a solar-power boom that lets homeowners resell electricity at a profit, also in the WSJ (sub reqd.). Too much of a green thing? The NYT reports on a “green dictatorship” in Germany, where solar-power holdouts face heavy fines.

Senator Barack Obama’s call for a “complete transformation” of the U.S. economy to wean it off fossil fuels could indeed threaten growth, argues the WSJ edit page: “These Democrats aren’t environmentalists. They’re enviromaniacs.” But Sen. McCain’s sudden and boisterous conversion to the drilling movement isn’t a lot more rational, argues the NYT ed page: “You can’t help wondering if he’s been captured by some kind of drilling cult.” And all those pitches for more nuclear power don’t help much, either, says the L.A. Times edit page. Grist has more on the dueling campaign ads, replete with a battery of videos.

The NYT reports on the latest Bush administration cutback—a prestigious climate-change center looking for ways to help poor countries adapt has been shuttered. Might need the research: U.K. climate scientists tell the government to aim to limit temperature increases to 2 degrees, but expect a catostrophic 4 degree spike, in the Guardian. The EU and the UN will link their carbon-trading schemes later this year in a bid to curb emissions more easily, in the FT. But here and now, Europe has the same crazy energy ideas as the U.S., like windfall profits on Italian oil companies whose profits are falling, in the WSJ edit page.

The U.S. and Brazil pledged to work closely together on energy issues—as long as that doesn’t include the contentious U.S. tariffs on Brazilian ethanol imports, which are set in stone through 2010, AFP reports. Meanwhile, the Guardian looks at “wave power,” detailing the invention of the Anaconda, a 100-ton snake that can generate 1 megawatt of power.

Finally, “peak oil” is hard for many to understand because oil is such an exotic item far removed from daily life. But the story of “peak caviar” hits home for the everyman, especially now that there’s none left, at The Oil Drum.