US uses 95 quadrillion BTU's of energy/year. Lawrence Livermore says 58% of that is wasted due to inefficiencies. We generate 38 quad BTU's - 11T kwh - of electricity and waste 7.7T kwh of that. Over 68%. Outdated power grid responsible for most. In '10, EPA says avg retail el went for 9.8 cents/kwh. That's $1.1T, $750B of it wasted. Just getting to 50% efficiency would pump $200B/y into economy. At $50k avg salary, that's 4M jobs. I wish Washington could do something.
CO2 is pushing oceans into acidic "unknown territory". Turning acidic faster at any time in past 300M years.
UK giving airlines free EU carbon allowances.
DOE pledged $180M for offshore wind R&D.
Romney picked oil billionaire to advise on energy. Should we expect anything different?
Court denied NM request to delay emissions controls at coal plant.
New Ford Focus got 105mpg rating from EPA.
DOE unveiled plans to develop small modular nuke reactors.
Army issued draft request for proposals for $7B in renewable energy contracts.
Abound Solar halted their 1st-gen thin-film production. Temp layoff of 180 at Colo plant. $400M DOE loan guarantee in '10. $70M drawn on it. Hopes to get 2nd-gen module in production by yearend. Large IN plant in limbo.
Brent crude hit $128 Thursday.
Calif startup announced major improvement in batt tech that would allow manufacturing of EV's with 300-mile range at much lower cost than now.
65% of US algae producers plan to expand capacity this year.
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