STUFF

TOP STUFF

2 reports of oil rig explosion off Louisiana coast. Nothing more to report yet. I hope not.

EPA rejected governors' requests to waive fed corn ethanol mandates.

National Flood Insurance Program ~$18B in debt. Likely to exceed debt limit with Sandy bills.

NAACP, other civil rights groups calling for phaseout of dozens of coal power plants around US.

Germany's green energy surcharge to remain at current level.

8minutenergy Renewables (Cal) got $636M 1st phase finance for planned 800Mw solar farm with partner AES Solar. 266Mw phase breaks ground this month. Online early '14.

Solar Reserve (US), Kensani Capital, Intiken Energy consortium got $586M green light for 2 75Mw S Africa solar projects.

2 solar projects in Peru totaling 40Mw got $200M funding from Conduit Capital and CAF, Development Bank of Latin Am. Conduit's $185M made possible by OPIC, development finance arm of US.

India expects 1/2 of $1.4B solar thermal projects to be delayed or scrapped. US supplies stalled and dust clouds diffusing required solar radiation. 500Mw due online in 1H13. But only 1/3 maybe really on time. Blows to GE, Siemens, Areva. 320Mw delayed. Unable to get heat transfer liquid for solar therm plant from 2 only US suppliers. Areva has already scrapped 250Mw solar therm plant in Australia after govt failed to fund.

Canada predicting to double its oil production by '20. Needs tens of thousands more workers, 115K short by '21, 1 estimate.

OTHER STUFF

Biologists assembling register of sea life say a third of world's marine species still unknown to science.

15 solar-powered cars began 2nd annual Solar Challenge in Chile desert. 800-mile race.

Germany, Ireland, Switzerland supporting Palau, which is leading coalition of vulnerable nations in campaign to make climate change a matter of intl law. Coalition fears US, China, etc cutting off aid.

Study: wind could supply up to 12% of global elgen by '20.

S Korea to test its carbon trading system next year.

Marcellus Shale industry data says ~11% of injected fluids return to surface. No one knows what happens to the rest that stays underground. Geologists' consensus now emerging that it stays sequestered in the formations.

Clean Tech Global Forum:
Winner was HVET (Chicago). Won $250K in funds and services to manufacture patented switched reluctance motors. High performance alternative to induction, permanent magnet motors/generators. Increased reliability, big cost benefits.

Runner-up Rentricity (NY) converts water pressure into el. Reverse-pump generators instead of pressure relief valves. Already 4 demo's working. 23K potential sites, $2.4B market in US. Install ~4 cents/Kwh.

Finalist Malachite Tech has sputtering deposition tech to place 1 micron thick layer of GaAs over Si chip to raise solar efficiency to 33% (from ~20% now). Needs proof of concept data.

Finalist Pike Energy (Maine) has new residential wind turbine tech. Injection molded blades can be mass produced. Mechanical safety brake. Inverter to combine with rooftop solar.

Sun Edge (Del) solar concentrator housed in water-filled enclosed polycarbonate tube. Yields up to 4x more power with adding 25% more PV material. 10Mw demo plant scheduled for completion this year in Dover.

Elemental Energy Tech (Sydney) has tidal energy unit. 1Mw pilot array by end of '13. Arrays with shared cabling cost 10-12 cents/Kwh.

Energy Intelligence (Mass) highway motion elgen system. Weight of tires activates plate. Cost 5.5-7 cents/Kwh.

                 - End of CTGE. Common sense, folks ... imagination, creativity, knowledge -

Kenya El Gen Co - KenGen - country's largest utility - to reduce hydropower share of output to < 1/2 in 2 years as geothermal projects come online. Hydro now 60% of elgen. 280Mw geo plant online by '14. Country had to ration power last year. Worst regional drought in 60 years. 212Mw of geo now installed. 560Mw plant proposed. Total elgen capacity now 1.6Gw. Also plans for 1st solar plants begin next year. Up to 150Mw for $300M. PV and CSP. Wind power also. Comp has $817M of loans.

Poll: Californians overwhelmingly support cap & trade.

Cracks found at SC nuke.

Chrysler prepping its 1st EV.

Majority of DOE computers missing key security patches: IG

Iran crude production fell 200Kb/d in Oct to 2.65Mb/d. IEA reported, though, exports up 300Kb/d.

US ethanol demand fell to 9.25% of gasoline demand last week. Down 3Kb/d. 12.5B gal/yr. US net imported 21K bls of eth in Aug, 1st time deficit since wash in Dec '09. The drought.

New Energy Corp filed Chapter 11. Indiana's oldest biofuel plant.

EU investigations show Argentina, Indonesia may be dumping biodiesel.

Biogenic Reagants (MN) started up 300K tons/yr, $30M plant in Mich. Biomass into carbon products. Initially activated carbon for air/water purification, control of mercury, other power plant emissions. Costs less than coal process with significantly less ash, other contaminants.

Construction start on ITC Great Plains 122-mile, 345Kv transmission line linking grid in OK, NE, Kan. Online end of '14.

Did you know China changes their leadership every 10 years? I did not. Hadn't noticed. More names now to remember.

Johnson Controls opened energy efficiency cloud-based marketplace. Targeting commercial buildings. Owners pay for aps, vendors pay to connect. Customers agree to provide data to JC.