STUFF

Dollar down 6.5% so far this year.

EV charging infra/svs market  to grow from $776M this year to $4.5B by '16. ECTY's 220V stations likely to be in Best Buy stores soon (in their parking lots).

Canada NG production peaked in '01 @ >17BCF/d. '10 production 14.4, rigs about the same. With oil sands, CAN may need US NG.

A Russian utility planning to invest $700M in Tanzania hydro project. Initial capacity 222MW, ultimate 460MW.

That NG line to Israel blown up again in Egypt.

Intel to help Mia Sole (thin film solar producer) scale up to ship 80MW this year. 22MW shipped in '10. 10.5% efficiency "now higher". Aiming for 14%. Expects 150MW capacity by year end.

Total world investment in clean E in '10 was $243B.

437 operating nuke reactors in world. 7 less than '02. '08 none added, a first since nuke era began. 7 added in '09 and '10 but 11 shut down.

Frackers getting to gen of el from waste heat from compressors used to extract the NG. KRGA Energy signed LOI for Marcellus project. Can also extract MWs from cement factories and refineries. US consumes 100 quadrillion BTUs a year. 55-60 is waste heat: UC Berkeley. And it's 24-7 power. Plus fans, AC can be turned off or down. Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) tech. Heat to liquid to vapor to turbine, heat as low as 500 degrees F. 150 large-scale ORC plants operating in Europe, 75 launched in US. Cap cost, tho, is ~$3.50/W. Phononic Devices, Alphabet E developing semiconductors to convert heat directly to el, no turbines. Could get cost to $1/W with silicon nanowire. No subsidies yet for development. China Recycling Energy Corp working on it also.

TEPCO has lined up Toshiba, Areva, Hitachi-GE and Kurion to treat an est. 87k tons of contaminated seawater at Fuku. Kurion incubated recently at Lux Capital. Modular vitrification fixes nuke waste into glass rods (don't leak). But, for the seawater, Kurion has ion-specific media for pre-treatment. And a little history: Davison Chem reprocessed nuke waste from weapons in late 60's. Shut down in '76. GE proposed reprocessing commercial waste in the 60's but gave up in '72. Exxon looked at it in '76 until Prez Ford said it's a no go with the proliferation risks. Then Carter, a nuke engineer, followed up with a ban.

Prez of Shell US expects biofuels to be the "most practical" solution for GHG redux in transport for next 20 years. Called on governments for more subsidies to speed up production. "Certainties compel action". "We must go beyond corn" and "should eliminate import tariffs". Um, Prez of US Shell, please explain to us how biofuels reduce GHG's.