STUFF

Per capita CO2 emissions 19 tons/yr in US. 4.9 in China. And a southern region of Sweden that has cut out fossil fuel for heating now at 4.1. Biomass, food processing waste, wood pellets, etc.

Macy's refitting 117k bulbs in 86 stores with 17w Phillips LEDs. Should trim el bill 73%. ROI w/in 1st yr. Starbucks already switching in 8k stores.

US had total net exports of solar products of $723M in '09: SEIA. 74% of total value created from US installs of 435MW came from US - $2.6B of $3.6B.

Abound Solar, using same tech as FSLR, got a $400M loan guarantee from DOE and $110M more in equity financing. Plant now in CO, new one in IN to be largest solar plant in US @ 640MW/y. It was the 2nd loan quarantee to a solar company. 1st was Solyndra. Abound has a simpler manufacturing process than FSLR. Uses 1/3 the space. But still at $1.25-$1.50/w v. FLSR's 80 cents. Promise of the tech is 50 cents/w v. crystaline @ $1. Loan and added equity still not enough for Abound's IN plant. Doh.

DOE report: could take 15 years for US to break dependence on Chinese rare earth minerals. US needs to expand research and alternate sources, develop recycling and replacing. China plans to increase export taxes on some in '11. WTO bans export taxes, but China has had them on rare earths the last 4 years. Why many manufacturers have shifted production to China. Thousands of rare earth researchers in China. Dozens in US. Hardball.

Cool roof install completed on DOE west bldg (white roof). Should save $2k/y. Install on DOE south coming. $6k savings.

Uranium spot volumes at record highs, last high 20 yrs ago. Yr to date 41.6M lbs spot sales. Usually under 20% of supply. U now ~$60/lb.