STUFF

N Dakota growing 4x faster than any other state.

Fed: half of US banks that lend to EU banks have tightened cred standards.

Wastewater treatment plants use more power than any other city service, some up to 30-40%. Oregon plant outside Portland turning to restaurant wastewater - full of fats, oils, grease - to make heat and el using anaerobic digesters already used for solid waste. They release mix of methane, CO2.

Interior Dept, Defense to make 16M acres available for clean/renew E development. 10GW potential just for solar.

Repub '08 platform spotlighted climate change. Huh.

Solar World to invest $27M in Oregon facility. All I got so far on that.

Study: more acidic ocean to most impact cooler climate shellfish.

Southern leg of Keystone cleared for build, judge denied temp injunction.

US' $280M for Paki hydropower to support improvements at a 1GW dam and infra, due diligence at 83MW dam for 900MW total grid addition by '13. Also supporting work @ 5 more hydro projects totaling >4.1GW. So. Will they do more to corral the terrorists in the wild regions?

Study: power storage capacity of 2.1 EV's can enable 10GW more wind power in US Nwest. Clean/ren E still such small fraction of total US elgen that storage still not necessary. There's time to get the tech right. Aluminum the highest E density. Then silicon. Then anthracite. Much lower: zinc, magnesium, polystyrene, lithium borohydride. And it goes down from there to diesel and gasoline. Bottom is lith-ion, NG and H. Zinc-air next step up with compressed NG, H and LNG.

70% of Arctic's NG reserves thought to be on Russian territory. Rosneft/Exxon development deal still alive. Billions to be invested.

In his '10 book - "Twilight In The Desert" - Mitt wrote about peak oil. "Whether peak is past or close, world oil supply will decline at some point." He said using less oil and finding alternatives is as important as solutions (for new oil production).

Renewable Energy Group's biodiesel now available by truckload from new terminal outside Lebanon, OH.

Propel Fuels (Calif) 1st comp to enable consumers to offset their emissions at the pump. Customers can fund Carbonfund.org Foundation. Since May launch, customers have chosen $1/fill to offset their emissions >1Kx. Recent funds going to Truck Stops Electricification Project. Truckers can get el to their trux in lieu of running their engines. Reducing emissions 90%, let alone improving local air quality.

Brookhaven created new enzyme to help cellulosic process. "Masks" synthetic precursors of lignin (what makes plant biomass hard to break down). July 31 issue of  "The Plant Cell".

Half Thailand's eth exports going to PI where prices running up to $672/cm. June exports 26.7M liters. 6M gallons? The other half to Japan, S Korea, Taiwan.

Brazil biodiesel industry pushing for intermediate 7% blend in '13. Expected 10% by '14. Current B5 policy has ~60% of installed capacity idle. Industry says $14B needed for B20 by '20.

Dubai (UAE) launched 6-mo trial of biodisel bus expected to cut GHG's 78%.

Russia to help Syria with fuel shipments to alleviate sanctions. Syria to export crude to Russia in trade for refined fuel. Syria produces ~200Kb/d. Now down to <140k .=".">
Spain says oil on or off Canaries could be islands' salvation. 31% unemployment. Repsol drilling offshore. If goes well, production by '19.

Dutch oil ship attacked off Nigerian coast. 2 dead. 4 kidnapped.

Trans Mountain pipeline carries oil sands crude to Kinder-Morgan Vancouver terminal. 1 tanker loaded a week for LA. Usually. KM wants to double pipe cap up to 750Kb/d to see a tanker a day sail out.

Sanctions costing Iran $133M/day. I think we've seen that fig.

July 23rd FNVRF sold 77MW wind project to INGXF for $22M.

N Cal refinery up in smoke. No fatals. Yet.

Romney: coal jobs "kill people", attacking "clean" coal. I guess more from his book.

Whitehouse announced "fast" track for 5GW of clean/ren projects. The DOD, DOI test grounds thingy?

The Naz index has doubled in the last 3+ years.

Emergency funds needed for Colorado watersheds in scorched earth.

Inhofe joined Dems opposing China-Nexen deal. There seemed to be insider trading. There must be some campaign money floating around in here.

GOP demanding Obama apologize for Solyndra. Well, at least there's no special prosecutor. Or is that next?

Record baby gray whales in Alaska, Calif.

More billionaires signed in on Google's asteroid exploration.

EPA sued to prompt rules on oil dispersants.

US to offer S Af $2B in E loans. Where is the US getting all this money for other countries energy projects?

Australia mining boom driving up hotel sales.

Fleischmann, one half of "cold fusion" discovery team, dead at 85. Where's Ponns?