STUFF

TOP STUFF

VA taking steps to get oil/NG lease sales offshore. Cancelled in '10 after BP GOM spill. Not reinstated in latest 5-year plan. BOEM est. 3.3B bls oil, 31TCF NG. Initial est. for GOM was 5B bls. 20B produced so far, est. 48B more. Oil seeps all long east coast. 7 comps have applied for seismic tests offshore from NJ to FL. Last Atlantic surveys 30 years ago.

House passed bill ordered lease sales off VA, SC. Senate clammed it up. Congress imposed moratorium on offshore Pacific, Atlantic drilling after Cal spill in '81. Bush exec order in '90 backed it up. W lifted that in '08. Congress ended moratorium 3 months after. Navy's Norfolk base wants say. Folks concerned for whales from seismic testing. Done for years all over world. (Though we have seen beached whales.)

LIPA, National Grid hit with class action suit over Sandy response.

Salty compound levels persist in rivers near Marcellus Shale region.

EPA issued 1st permits for 2 wastewater injection wells in PA.

IEA: US shale production will "redraw global energy map" within 25 years. (Not good news for global warming.)

IEA's estimate for increased unconventional oil production in US greater than those from industry experts. Maybe 20% off. Increase to 3Mb/d shale oil production will reduce imported crude to 7Mb/d - 32% - though.

U of Wisc Madison researchers streamlined process to produce chems, biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks. Eliminates costly - up to 30% - pretreatment steps.

UK Dept of Energy and Climate Change unveiled 1st-ever national E effic strategy. Sees 11% less E use by '20. Hear here. Tip top. Cheerio.

OTHER STUFF

Propel Fuels, Solazyme (SZYM) bringing algae biodiesel to San Fran retail pumps. Month-long pilot program. Fuel compatible with existing diesel engines. Sold at same price as petrodiesel. NREL says 20% blend reduces overall emissions 10%.

CARB says E15 won't appear in Cal for several years.

Osram Sylvania now selling bulb-shaped omnidirectional 100-watt equiv LED for $50. Saves $220 over life v. incandescent.

Changing flicker rate of light bulbs could yield huge savings. (What the hay is flicker rate?)

Climate change good news: the more intense rainfall expected in many parts of world may help replenish aquifers.

Global warming could be serious or catastrophic. Answer seems to be in clouds. Scientists haven't yet resolved clouds' response to warming.

$20/ton US carbon tax would raise est. $120B/y. (What would 1 cent rise in gasoline tax raise? US has to cut that deficit.)

API launching ad campaign to protect industry tax breaks.

UCS report: 6% of US coal power plants "ripe for retirement." 59Gw. Hundreds of units. Most in deep south.

Ethiopia forging ahead with mega-dam plans.

China, Taiwan together account for > 70% of global solar cell manufacturing. China's solar industry $20B.

Beijing announced new plan to stimulate EV market. Focus on big customers - city govts, taxi fleets, etc. Taking square aim on pricing. China EV/hybrid sales just over 8K last year of 18.5M overall vehicle sales.

Areva (FR)-led consortium pulled plug on $1.2B, 250Mw concentrated solar thermal project in Australia. Queensland govt pulled A$75M funding after consortium missed finance deadline.

Nigeria signed MOU's  for 2 new hydropower projects. 3Gw and 700Mw. China comp to build. China Ex-Im Bank putting up 85% of $3.2B project. (That's the difference between a US $16T in debt and a China $2T to the good. Besides the politics.)

Global biofuel enzyme demand to reach $1.65B by '18. $1B in '11. N Am largest market. Asia promising. Not very impressive growth. Somethin's wrong somewhere.

Shrinking supplies of used cooking oil in UK. Main feedstock for their biodiesel. 1Q12 UCO was 45% of feedstock. 15% in 3Q. Large scale collectors down to 20 from 31 last year. Somethin goin on there, huh?

New Zealand could lose $147M/yr in taxes with planned ethanol blend. Eth receives 49 cent/liter tax exemption. 1 company expects to save (make) $49M/y by switch to eth blends.

Soy biodiesel to benefit from $15M Australia bailout for 25 comps.

Japan's only currently operating nuke plant - they turned that on quietly - said built on active fault line. Active = tectonic movement in last 130K years. (Wake up the nuke peeps.)

NJ man used his Prius to power his house during week-long blackout. Attached an inverter.

Portland General El 600Mw coal power plant in east OR experimenting with converting to world's largest biomass plant. Built in '70's. Rankine cycle boiler very inefficient for NG. Torrefaction looked at. Roasts biomass sans oxygen. "Green coal." Long-term consistent biomass supply a prob. Needs 4M tons. (They didn't say per day or per year or per nothin. I'm thinking per year. But may just be for test burn.) Test burn slated for '14.

U of Washington testing arundo donax. Perennial grass that grows as fast as switchgrass and yield 10K BTU's/lb. Acre can yield 25-30 tons.

Oklahoma City added 2 EV's to fleet. Woo hoo. You go, OK City. And thank you. Every city should have added 2 EV's today. At least. And our great states.

Iran to privatize 27 more power plants by March. 17 already.

Mainstream Renewable Power (Ireland) to develop 238Mw of wind, solar in S Africa. > 500M Euro. Online '14. 138Mw wind, 100Mw solar.

China built 1.5Mw solar thermal power station outside Beijing.

juwi Wind got finance for 30Mw wind farm under construction in MN, online by yearend.