STUFF

Salt Lake City smogged in for most of Jan. Temp inversion cloud. People warned to stay inside, appeals for lower speed limits, industrial cutbacks.

China says they're on track to get 3Gw from city waste-to-energy plants by '15. Malaysia planning their 2nd such plant. India having equipment failures, turf wars, demands for bribes at their 6 facilities that turn waste into fuel.

LED sales grew faster than other lighting last year. Now ~3% of residential mart. 33M units shipped in '12. '16 N Am shipments expected to be ~370M. Problem for manufacturers - bulbs last 9-10 yrs, so long-term sales growth to be challenge.

Researchers linked infant brain infections to central Africa rainfall.

Study: Greenland may contribute less than Antarctica to sea level rise.

Study: warmer, wetter climate could benefit most subarctic mammals (humans be one of them?).

Idaho Power pondering coal plant closures.

Report: wholesale power in NY a lot cheaper in '12. (So, how are profits at utilities?)

WY senator wants industry to test groundwater in state before oil/NG drilling. (Common sense).

DOE: 24% of all energy used in US (including trans) used in heating/cooling, water heating in buildings. EPA says geothermal heat pumps among most efficient tech for it. Over 45% more efficient than standard options. 25-50% less el use. Of 30 states with renewable energy portfolio standards, only 2 include GHPs as "renewable" (clean). Kaiser Foundation financially supports GHP installs in Habitat for Humanity homes. Avg. energy costs for those homes under $1/day.

Ormat Tech taking $230M charge because S Cal geothermal plant production ~1/2 of expected power. 20-33Mw instead of 50. Ormat's Israeli parent also expects $30-40M charge for NV plant operating at 7Mw instead of 12.

Oil pipe from Cushing to Gulf restricted to 175Kb/d due to "unforseen constraints". Can carry 400K.

EIA predicts by '20 world crude & condensates production will hit 99.7Mb/d. '12 was 89.2M. Liquid HC production to be almost 7Mb/d in '20.

Medvedev says Gazprom may have monopoly status rescinded as long as that doesn't reduce prices in Europe or damage Russian econ.

Green Growth Action Alliance and World Econ Forum report ~$700B/yr must be invested in low (or no) carbon projects around world to prevent climate change (catastrophe) and secure development of "green" econ. Aiming to limit temp increase to 2C above pre-industrial levels.

Los Angeles moving ahead with $100M program to pay property owners for solar power.

Solar power coming to 49'ers stadium.

Clean Green Energy (Mich) secured $25M for projects for their vertical axis wind turbines. No capital costs upfront for customers.

Praj got $20M contract to build Columbia ethanol plant.

Dems formed congressional task force on climate change. "Climate change impacts turning out worse than expected and our window to act is closing." Urging admin to develop comprehensive plan as soon as possible.

RBS may lend $631M this year to clean/renewable projects. Focus on biomass. Wood chips, organic waste. 50-150Mw projects. Bulk of RBS clean/ren lending last year on wind, solar.

Exxon, Dow Chem going head-to-head over LNG exports.

Investments in smart grid tech up 7% globally in '12 to $13.9B. Driven by China - 14% more spending to $3.2B. Forecast China to spend more than US in '13. US down 16% in '12 to $4.3B. Total investments may reach $25.2B by '18. Asia, Europe to spend most. Asia was $5.6B in '12. Europe was $1.4B. UK expects to install 53M smart meters by '19.

Mitsubishi plans to get 10% share of global offshore wind power market by '17. As yet unproven tech to boost efficiency, lower costs. Siemens, Vestas have ~80% of mart now. Mitsu zero. Mitsu tech hydraulic drive train instead of mech gears. Smaller nacelles, more elgen in lower wind. Testing 1.5Mw. Developing 7Mw for UK install this year. Hyd train drive based on UK tech Mit bought in '10.

Japan refiner set up wood biomass power gen venture. 5Mw project online in '15.

Enviro Defense Fund Climate Corps program uncovered over $1B in energy savings since '08 at comps like Google, Facebook, Verizon. Each year EDF trains 100 grad students on energy efficiency, then places them in internships around US.

US biodiesel comps set record production record in '12.

GAO recommends improved data collection to avoid pipeline incidents.

Steam from PA nuke plant created snowstorm.

Utah drilling rig fire continues to burn.

Toyota, BMW teaming up on lithium-air batts.

MD gov pushing offshore wind - again. AK gov proposing more lenient rules for cruiseship waste.

ND firm bought Neb ethanol plant at auction for $22M. Only bid.

U Cal Santa Barb study says solar more efficient for cars than biofuels.

Mitsui Chems signed licensing agreement with $2B Fin comp for acrylamide tech. Raw material for wastewater treatment, shale gas recovery process. Bio-catalysts rather than copper.