STUFF

ECOtality ~2/3 toward goaled installs of 13K EV charge stations in US. Logged it's 1 millionth plug-in.

Weather-related losses in N Am up near 5x last 3 decades. 4x in Asia, 2.5 in Africa, 2 in Europe, 1.5 in S Am. Katrina was $40B (worst), most life loss.

'09 thru end of '11, US added > 43K miles of oil/NG pipeline. Most for NG distrib lines to homes, offices, factories. National total ~2.6M miles of pipe.

Rosneft said to have deal for BP's Russian venture.

Angola sovereign fund set to invest $5B oil revs - to start with - in hotel industry, infrastructure.

Concrete production ~ 5% of global GHG emissions. Industry group intends to slash emissions by 1/2 by '20.

Poll: Americans remain confused, misinformed on energy, climate. That's why I do this. (To reduce confusion, misinformation; not the opposite, as you could have construed).

EU approved 3B Sterling for UK Green Investment Bank.

40th anniversary of US Clean Water Act. Yay. Approved on heels of National Enviro Act of '69, Clean Air Act of '70.

Alberta Can setting up enviro monitoring agency (oil sands).

Army Corps sued over mountaintop removal mine permits.

This summer's hurricane that hit Gulf Coast churned up 565K lbs of BP spill.

FracFocus.Org the fracking chem disclosure registry (industry funded). Upgrade on Nov 1 to enable search by date, chem name and chem ID #.

$3B Exxon buy of Canada's Celtic Exploration.

Poll: voters prefer Obama's energy policies to Romney's. Huh. Despite all the DOE loan guarantee defaults, high pump prices, Keystone pipe, et al.

Deal struck to develop Amazon NG reserves.

Solar Junction set new CPV solar efficiency record. 44% efficiency @ 947 suns from 43.5% @ 418 suns. Basically, magnifiying glass on solar cells. (I don't understand the "suns" rating, but it was > 2x.)

Indonesia geothermal sector attracting BP, Chevron, other majors. Separate geotherm FIT of 10-18.5 cents/Kwh. Projects < 10Mw require state-owned utility to buy the power.

Australia researchers found links between biodiesel (from soy, tallow, canola) and respiratory disease. (Any worse than from petrodiesel?)

Spain import restrictions on Argentine biofuels won't be implemented. Huh.

Giant Kazakhstan oil field in Caspian to begin production in spring. 35B bls reserves, 8-12B recoverable. Only 8 years behind overly optimistic schedule. Kazaks sit on 3% of global recoverable oil reserves. Costs for the field's development ballooned from $57B to (lately reported) $187B. Initial flow projected 370Kb/d, potential 1.5M (which would double current Kaz output).

Pirates commandeered another oil tanker near Niger Delta.

Columbia holding peace talks with FARC, holding auctions on oil/NG blocks for 1st time in 2 years.

Canada aiming for 600K EV's on road by '20.

Bill Gates backing world's largest algae farm. Sapphire Energy in south NM. Goal 100b/d - 1.5M gal/yr next year.