STUFF

12-24 tons/yr of plastic swallowed by fish at intermediate depths in N. Pacific alone. And an intl study found Blue Marlin and Tuna at grave risk from over fishing.

NWS: record south-central US drought could continue into '12.

US non-residential PV solar pipeline now >17GW. 601 projects from 50KW to 500MW, install dates from now to '15. 62% in CA. Top suppliers FSLR, SPWRA, Suntech.

Duke E Renewables to build 131MW windfarm 200 miles west of Wichita, start in fall. DER owns ~1GW gencap @ 9 US windfarms. 4 in WY, 3 in TX, 1 in CO, 1 in PA. Announced plans to build 168MW windfarm in KS in May. Since '07, >$1.5B invested in wind, solar elgen.

Currently, NG equivalent of gal of gasoline costs 75 cents. Um. NG would cost 75 cents/gal at the pump?!

Vestas got order for 16 1.8MW wind turbines for southern Mex windfarm. Also order for 60MW for windfarms in Brazil, using 2MW turbines. And 180MW order from Sweden.

European Investment Bank has agreed to fund 15% of Germany's move to other clean E to replace nukes. Total est. cost ~E90B. 20GW nuke cap.

Siemens got order for 50MW CSP plant in Spain. Parabolic trough.

A mailer claims Israel has just discovered what could be 2nd largest oil field in history. Up to 250B bls. And a tiny Canadian comp supposedly has exclusive rights to a significant chunk of it. If true, it's a big game changer.

Analysts saying that undersea rare earth metal find is too difficult to mine. There's a rime.

Shell to get C$876M over 15 yrs from Canada and Alberta for C capture/storage project at oil sands plant. Alberta has committed C$2B to develop the tech. Oil sands production in '10 up 11% to 854kb/d.

Australia plans to tax C emissions @ $25/ton. July '12 start. Then rises of 2.5%/y to '15. Then move to market. To apply to 500 top emitters. Also to establish A$10B Clean E Finance Corp, a Renewable E Agency to manage A$3.2B in govt funding for R,D and D, and a A$200M Clean Tech Innovation Program to help business invest in new tech.

Iran aims to deliver NG to Oman through Persian Gulf pipe by March.

CocaCola, GE, Ryder, Enterprise, Staples and Osram Sylvania joined Green Fleet Program. Coke already operates nation's largest hybrid fleet.

China's inflation running about 6.4%.

Pakistan has ~2.7M NGV's and 3,200 NG stations, most in world. But now an LNG shortage, besides el. Failure of past govts to anticipate demand plus a drought that has reduced hydro power output. And in some areas, 30-40% of el is stolen.

Oil spill from NE China offshore rig last month has spread to over 320 sq. miles.

Shell will produce more NG than oil starting next year.

Japan will need an est. 55kb/d more oil from July to Sept since nukes probably won't restart this summer. Cesium 137 blw safe limit found in Tokyo tapwater.

France raised the possibility of pulling out of nuke power!

An est. 11B bls oil found off Namibia coast. Prod. planned w/in 4 yrs.

India's imports of coal from S. Africa fell 21% 1H11 from year earlier. China purchases rose 18%.

Shell approved by US to drill deepwater well in GOM 43% deeper than BP's Macondo.

NY enviro authorities determined fracking can be safe. Permits likely won't be issued this year.

Americans selected dilithium crystals to power our next generation. Um, hopefully we will have them.

Andersons mixing soft red winter wheat into eth ops in OH in wake of rising corn costs.

USDA said biofuels are not driving food costs up. O come on.

Brazil's BSBios to build multi-feedstock biodiesel plant in S. FL.

And Jeter's 3 thousandth hit ball was worth an est. $180k. And the guy gave it to Jeter. Duh. Jeter already makes what? I guess the guy just didn't need any of that $180k. Amazing. Amazing what people do.