STUFF

Large portions of US won't meet states' renewable portfolio standards mandates for lack of adequate transmission: NARUC. A lot of the low-hanging fruit has been plucked. Investments going forward will get costlier. NG prices still low. And the more variable clean E elgen the more backup elgen needed. Consumer backlash may be coming if prices rise. But. Prices of coal and NG will eventually go up and cost of clean E will continue to come down.

Uranium going for $50/lb at latest sale by Uranium Energy Corp. US is world's largest U consumer. Imports >95%.

US power plant emissions of harmful pollutants down near 1/3 '08 to '10. Utilities shifted from coal to NG or other cleaner burning fuels.

FERC Chairperson warned against letting key wind industry tax credit expire at yearend. "Could devastate the industry."

DOE funding for Ohio enrichment plant assured. Piketon.

Illinois rejected coal mine permit after water, wildlife complaints.

NJ utility planning $833M for new solar projects.

Study: oil dispersants may have hurt marine food chain in Gulf of Mex BP spill.

PA doctor who routinely treats workers exposed to fracking chems suing PA over 5-month-old law that requires operators to disclose ID and amount of chems used to docs in case of emergency, but also requires docs to sign confidentiality form that could stop them from sharing info with patients or other docs.

NOAA ramping up Alaska research to prepare for more sea traffic.

Interest in E comps "way up" among college students: survey.

German National Academy of Sciences coming down hard on bioenergy. "Neither today or in future will bioenergy make a quantitatively substantial contribution." No grounds to develop bioenergy beyond current capacity. Energy crops require considerably more land, their product creates significantly more C emissions than other energies like solar or wind. (Yes, but solar and wind has nothing to do with vehicle energy.) They also cited soil depletion, contaminated water supplies, damaging competition with ag production. But bioenergy from compost or dung still OK.

Hawaii homes and businesses can cut el bills with unsubsidized solar. But 1/4 of homes require expensive el upgrades. Local govts struggling with tidal wave of permit requests. Utilities reluctant to give up their market. Rule that limited interconnects of solar went from 15% to 25% of grid. Near 90% of commercial solar projects told by utilities that they face costly and lengthy interconnect study to come online. Institute for Local Self Reliance forecasting 100M folks in US cities will reach solar grid parity in next decade. Remember this: utilities are regulated monopolies that will fight clean energy.

Community Development Finance Institutions have been around since late 1800's. 2 bills in 1990's helped out. ~800 CDFI's in US. 6 primary types. Banks, credit unions, loan funds, VC funds, microenterprise development loan funds and development funds. CDFI's certified by CDFI Fund of Treasury Dept. Required to provide appropriate levels of tech assist to customers. Credit counsel, biz planning, guidance, training. Lending to CDFI's a way for banks to comply with Community Reinvestment Act ('95). '94 act established CDFI fund in Treasury. 4 programs. Check it out.

Massachusetts' requirement ('09) that solar PV installs must be performed by licensed electricians recently overturned. But permits still required for hard wiring.

Scotland's Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Energy Park launched. Tidal, wave energy resource. Could account for up to 27GW of UK power by '50 and $23B industry. Hydrokinetics.

Silicon solar panels likely to fall to 64 cents/w before yearend. 47cents by '15. 96 cents last year.

American Legislative Exchange Council most powerful corporate role in crafting US law.

Big oil and gas writing down billions in US shale gas assets. Encana $1.7B. But they will get less lending going forward when they take writedowns. Encana also focus of Justice Dept investigation of price collusion with Chesapeake to fix prices for shale gas lease agreeements with Michigan landowners.

EPA discontinuing water deliveries to 4 homes in rural PA - started in Jan - over fracking flap.

Deeper drilling depths in PA than neighbor states. (They are in mountains?)

Sellafield - NW coast of England - holds world's largest stock of civilian plutonium. Close to 120 tons. More plutonium from reactors than US and Russia combined. Plutonium dioxide powder. Where are the fast - breeder - reactors? Stored in drums. Typical 1GW reactor produces 27 tons of spent fuel/ year. Brit plutonium enough to run their grid 500 years with fast reactors. "Million-year problem with waste."

$82M for AMRS from Total, not $30M reported yesterday.

Edeniq increasing ethanol profits, production for Plymouth Energy. Cellunator milling equipment.

New biodiesel terminal opened in NM. Truckloads coming out of Clovis. Renewable Energy Group. 1st truck went to Tucson's Colorado Petroleum (Arizona Petroleum).

S Africa Airways targeting 50% biofuels by '20.

Stanford, Penn State researchers say microbes that convert el into methane could become important energy source. Methanogens.

Toyota to make ethanol hybrid Prius for Brazil.

Increasing cassava ethanol demand.

Cargill calling for ethanol mandate to be addressed in light of drought.

Rail may hold its own against pipelines.

China president promised $20B to help develop infrastructure and agri in Africa. (Oil.)

Lloyd's Banking Group to invest 1B Sterling into Brit infrastructure plan. ~333M Sterling for clean E projects.

Saud biz tycoon cancelled oil/gas contracts with ~20 Russian comps to protest Moscow support of Syrian president what's his name. Swaikat. You know, that could be just enough to move Russia against Assad.

Fed said econ weaker but left policy on hold. Further bond buys could be in store. Huh.

Siemens landed major Australian wind turbine deal.

Mitsubishi intro'd 64mpg car.

And Antarctica had palm trees 55M years ago. Huh.