STUFF

Tucson to turn on solar at 7 sites. $11.6M.

Greenskies got $30M deal to install solar on 27 Walmart stores in Mass.

Philly became largest US city to join EPA program to get more homeowners, businesses, institutions and towns to purchase clean E.

In '02, US ranked 1st in avg wealth per adult. In '10, 7th.

US has 120K gas stations, 2K NG stations. NG vehicles .1% of  US vehicles. NatGas Act would give 50% tax credit - maxed at $100K - to comps installing NG stations. NG vehicles emit 25% less than gasoline. But NAS says switch from gas to NG vehicles would have negative enviro effects for 80 years and switch from diesel harmful for 300 years. Because of methane leaks in NG production/transport. 15-20 NG fueling stations being built every month.

Minority Fed report: Twist costs exceed benefits. Fed has bought $2.3T in long-term securities since crash.

Last year, US spent $454B on debt interest.

Global solar elgen almost doubled last year to >55TWh. Near double every year for last 6-7 years. World will install ~30GW of solar this year. As solar costs fall to $3.50/w, demand will increase 14x.

MN appeals court reaffirmed PUC approval of National Wind's 78MW, $180M project.

Batts at Philly commuter line station capture excess el current from 3rd rail when trains brake, and store the power for train acceleration. Saves ~9MWh/week (more than typical apt dweller uses in a year), ~3.5-4KWh/train. Batt bank gets signals every 4 sec from regional grid operator and either takes or gives power to help balance grid.

DOE agreed to pay for 1st major test of new way to capture CO2, clearing way for construction @ massive coal power plant near Birmingham.

Plans cancelled for C capture/storage plant in Scotland.

Top House Repub says EPA chief misleading people about impact of agency regs.

Appeals court rejected enviro argument against new GOM wells.

Valero halted prod at IN ethanol plant.

Exxon, Gazprom tangled in S China Sea dispute.

New England water wells testing positive for high levels of arsenic.

Germany to cap subsidies for solar power installs at 52GW. Aiming for 2.5-3.5GW per year. Plan still goes to Parliament. Also plans to create legal framework for C capture/storage.

JCS Solar (China) got contract to build $948M solar PV project in Xinjiang Region. 3-yr build. 1st 30MW online by Oct.

Exxon: "losing our shirts" on NG. What price do they need? $4?

SZYM, Bunge (Bra) broke ground on 100K met tons/yr sugars-to-oils plant in Brazil. Online 4Q13.

Marketers say current coconut oil prod can support B5 biodiesel in Philippines.

India ethanol prod likely to rise 29% this year to 2.1B liters. Consumption seen rising to just under that, up 4.5%.

New recycling technique enables spent nuke fuel rods to be used again.

Tepco shareholders agreed to nationalize the comp. $12.6B more from govt, $43.9B since quakenami.

Abu Dhabi comp investing $5.47B in Brazil econ.

XDSL developing launch strategy for its advanced batt tech.