STUFF

US has spent almost $8T on national security/counterterrorism since 9/11. Ow. Think we could have done it with less?

PBN (Toronto): check them out.

What does investing in precious metals gain anybody except the investors?

US accumulated trade deficit over $8T. The fall started in '75. Exponentially accelerated in late '90's. ~40% from imported oil. Over 25% from imported vehicles.

Hertz to provide EV's in 3 Chinese cities. EV's not catching on in China. Breathing Beijing air for one day is like smoking 52 cigarettes.

8.7M species alive on Earth. A scientific estimate.

Samsung #1 maker of DRAM (temporary data memory/storage). Internet generates 31 exabytes of data/month. DRAM demand expected to grow 6x '10-'15. 32M servers in world. Samsung has new energy-efficient DRAM. If all converted to it, world could save 145Tw of power/yr. ~$11B. More power than consumed by Argentina or Sweden or Thailand. And save 100M tons of CO2 emissions each year. Huh.

DOE gave Abengoa Bioenergy $134M loan guarantee for commercial-scale Kansas cellulosic ethanol plant with 23M gal/y capacity.

DOI has scheduled 1st sale of offshore leases in GOM since BP spill. New rules to ensure parcels are drilled, not hoarded.

Marcellus shale gas production up 60% in 1H11 v. 2H10. 432bcf.

FERC doing enviro review of plans to export LNG from Freeport TX terminal. Um, doesn't EPA do enviro assessments?

A 2nd pipeline was ruptured last week in Missouri River from the flooding.

OPEC crude shipments up 2% in June. Sauds up 7.9%.

Brazil's Odebrecht investing $900M in Veracruz Mexico sugarcane ethanol plant.

6 EU members increased their biofuels blending quotas.

Happy motoring, pards.