STUFF

TOP STUFF

Soot from burning tundra may be speeding up Greenland's ice sheet melt.

China state energy comps won blocks in 2nd shale gas auction.

1st ARPA-E derived electrofuels patent. Gingko BioWorks. Chemoautotrophic production of organic compounds. $6.6M ARPA-E contract began in '10. Engineered microbes for biofuels.

EIA dropped WTI in favor of Brent as oil price reference for 1st time ever.

Kurdistan moved tanks to its undefined southern border with Iraq.

BLM studying massive WY gas field expansion on mostly public land.

Norway promising $1B each to Brazil, Indonesia to protect rainforests.

Facing EPA regulation, cable TV operators and appliance manufacturers announced voluntary program to improve energy efficiency of set-top boxes. They may use as much el as new energy-efficient refrigerator. Drives in devices running at full tilt, or near, even when not watching TV or recording. 160M boxes in US consume ~$3B of el/yr, 2/3 when not in use. New boxes as soon as Jan 1.

OTHER STUFF

2012 stands poised to go down as 3rd worst US fire season on record after 2006, 2007.

After a question on global warming, Ariz governor hit the reporter. Qatar deported climate activists who held up banner at UN climate talks.

Magazine says Ford inflated fuel economy ratings for hybrids.

Scotland to register over $1.6B of clean/renewable energy investment this year.

FERC dismissed JP Morgan's complaint that it was underpaid $3.7M for el last spring by Cal ISO (state grid operator). Still 2 larger fights. CISO says Morgan extracted $73M in excess profits. Another charging JPM with stonewalling power plant renovations that could be crucial to preventing blackouts next summer in S Cal.

ArcelorMittal, world's largest steelmaker, withdrew its French carbon capture project from 1st phase of $1.9B EC funding program. "Technical difficulties." But not abandoning plan to capture C from steel mill emissions. Project was to get C capture off the ground in Europe.

DSM (Neth) completed buy of Cargill's cultures and enzymes biz (for dairy and meat industries). Net sales EUR45M/yr. Overall world market over EUR1B, growing 5%/yr.

BP planning world's largest commercial supercomputer to find oil/gas.