STUFF

TOP STUFF

Annual UN climate talks this week in Qatar.

China says they will resist an emissions cap.

US says it has given 25% of climate aid to poor countries. Well, US almost 25% of world econ.

Britain proposing energy regulation to encourage development of clean E, including nuke, while ensuring el demand met. Charges to consumers and biz to quadruple to near $16B in '20-'21 to help support low-carbon elgen. Est. to add 7% to avg household el bill. Govt hopes to attract 110B Pounds in E investment thru '20. The new regs to be in next year's energy bill. Est. clean E would increase to 30% of elgen by '20. 11% now.

UN est. $215B of investments through clean development mechanism by end of '12. CDM created by Kyoto to reduce GHG emissions. Germany, US, Denmark, Japan, China the top 5 to date.

China started probe to determine if suppliers from US, S Korea, EU dumping polysilicon and if retro duties should be imposed. Tit for tat. To also investigate if US, EU subsidizing polysi makers.

New tax break to encourage shale oil boom in Russia. USGS est. 80-140B bls in W Siberia. Current conventional reserves ~67B bls. Exxon JV with Rosneft to start testing for shale oil.

OTHER STUFF

Nordic countries taking 1st step toward 1T Euro European supergrid.

As drought expands, US winter wheat growers losing hope.

China installed 3x the wind turbines as did US in '11. Was 59% of global market. Est. China grid-connected wind power capacity to exceed 60Gw by end of this year.

Wind installs "falling off cliff" in India from policy vacuum. May install as little as 1.5Gw by yearend March 31. ~1/2 of last year.

World's 1st skyscraper with wind turbines built into core design going up in London. 3 turbines will gen up to 8% of bldg's power needs.

MIT engineers proposing funneling solar E. Takes advantage of materials under elastic strain. Electrons and holes - split off from atoms by photonic E - driven to center of structure by electronic forces. Potential for capturing wider spectrum of solar E.

OPEC currently pumping at close to near-term and historic highs of 31.2Mb/d.

Conoco Phillips sellling Caspian Sea claim for $5B.

Syria crude oil production down to 200Kb/d, half of prewar level. Damascus has asked Russia for a loan to offset rev losses. Govt may be forced to print money to pay security forces.

China appears to have stopped filling its strategic petrol reserve. Their imports of Iran oil down ~1/5 this year.

Japan's oil imports fell sharply in Oct year on year.

2 US comps plan to build 400-mile pipeline in TX to move 300Kb/d to Gulf Coast.

700Mw $650M NG power plant to be built in S TX. Edinburg Power. 3-year build.

Turkey taking majority stake with Brit partner in Kurdish Iraq block with est. 10TCF of NG.

China's NG imports up > 26% year on year to 4.44BCF/d in Oct.

Thailand expects to buy 20Gw more power from Laos, Myanmar combined to diversify their NG power production of 70%.

LNG tanker attempting 1st Arctic crossing.

IL carbon capture plant sequestering CO2 from ADM ethanol facility. Injecting 1K metric tons/day into reservoir. 317K tons so far. Project to demo site won't experience adverse effects.

Chicago Biofuels looking into sunflower oil as feedstock. Now uses used cooking oil. Wants to plant sunflowers on city vacant lots which would also remove lead from soil.

Primus Green Energy (New Zealand) looking to improve syngas-to-gasoline process. Wants to make syngas from wood, then convert to methanol, then gasoline. Demo plant completion by 2Q13.

N Carolina AT&T State U launched 5-year syngas research project. Focus on syngas from gasification, nanocatalysts for syngas-to-ethanol. $5M grant from NSF.

Vivergo wheat ethanol plant on track to open in UK by yearend. In market already to buy wheat for delivery next week. Demand putting pressure on UK grain supplies already running thin.

Qatar U scaling their av biofuels  up to 25K-liter tanks. Want to build pilot plant with 1.5M-liter tanks. They've isolated cyanobacteria and microalgae unique to Qatar waters.

China has scaled back ethanol production, ended incentives for corn processing to stretch dwindling corn supply.

Algal Scientific won $500K 1st prize in Mich innovation competition. They remove nutrient pollutants - including nitrogen, phosphorous - from muni, industrial wastewater while producing algal biomass.

Upcoming Ferrari flywheel hybrid car may be 20% lighter than Enzo, 40% less emissions.

PSEG has returned transmission facilities knocked out by Sandy to service. Restarted ~25% of NJ power plants knocked offline. 13 switching stations, 49 high-volt lines and 3.8Gw of elgen damaged. But temp fixes got almost everyone's power back on.