STUFF

TOP STUFF

UN climate conference extended Kyoto Protocol through '20. Limits GHG emissions of some rich countries, but only covers ~15% of global emissions. Vague promises of finance to help poor countries cope with climate change. Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia opted out. And US never joined Kyoto.

OTHER STUFF

Wattner (Germany) bought 17.1Mw of solar farms in Germany for EUR 27M.

Chevron Energy Solutions completed 1Mw single-axis solar PV system at Cal wastewater treatment plant. Expected to save $7M of el costs over project life, cutting usage near 50%. $1.6M rebate from Cal Solar Initiative.

20Mw solar farm got permit for go ahead in Yuma, AZ.

Sun Edison got $52.5M more finance for sale-leaseback solar PV projects in Cal.

NAM: compliance costs for 6 new EPA rules could total $111B by EPA estimates, up to $138B by industry estimates.

New England grid operator (6-state region) raising concerns about availability of adequate supplies of NG for power plants later this winter. Most of the NG-fired plants can also run on coal or oil.

EPA sued over emissions from MN coal power plant. Xcel Energy's Sherco emissions obscure scenery over 2 national parks, DOI said in '09. 1 of plaintiffs adds the haze also causes lung and heart disease (O, yea, by the way). 2.2Gw plant. Xcel says it's investing $50M on 2 of 3 (older) units that should cut SO2, NOx emissions by half.

OH Supreme Court 6-1 backed utility regulators that said AEP made enough profit in '09 to trigger $42M penalty based on '08 law. AEP's Columbus Southern Power had by far highest profit of any utility covered by the law, and among highest of any in US. $272M profit.

Marathon Oil earmarking 1/3 of next year's $5B capital budget for Eagle Ford (TX) development.

In '06, Americans were spending 24% of gross monthly income on home mortgages. Now it's 13%. 4Q11 was bottom of median existing home prices.