THURSDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 20/2/1. Volume heavy. Oil down under $92.

ECOS up 66. ASIUF up 44. PTOS up 33. PLUG up 30. Hello. AMLM up 23. CSGH up 16. PANL up 12. MMMW up 11. CCGI up 10. AIXG up 9. XSNX up 5.

VNDB down 33. CPWY, WWPW down 25. CRGE down 21. BHWX down 20. BLDW down 19. CSKH down 17. WTWO, AMPD down 16. CGYV, LEOM down 15. HOKU down 14. CERP, BOPO, SPIR down 12. MMMW down 10. AMTX down 9. NTCXF down 3. WEST down 1. NENE down.\

STUFF

Shell not to return to offshore Arctic this year. Conoco says their '14 plan on track.

Japan to begin restart of nuke power plants that pass new safety stds expected to be adopted as early as July.

AFL-CIO calling for expanding US oil/gas pipeline system. Didn't mention Keystone.

Citigroup: solar industry will boom globally, challenge cheap NG. Shell says solar may be world's top energy source by '70, NG by '30. They got out of solar 4 years ago.

Sequestration threatening output of important data for weather outlooks, wildfire risks, drought forecasts and long-term understanding of climate change.

Military looking to trim budget with energy efficiency, conservation.

EPA zeroed out '12 cellulosic ethanol requirements. (Duh. there was no production. So, maybe no fines for refineries?)

Obama to speak soon on climate ... China moving close to clean energy targets ... Chu, Bloomberg made moral case to address climate change at ARPA-E conference ...

Report: investment in smart grid tech grew steadily last year.

Australia reefs could be severely damaged sooner than expected.

GOM crash sends oil spewing from shuttered well.

Japan shies away from oil-linked LNG prices. Eyeing US exports.

EIA released map indicating spread of commercial scale cellulosic biofuels production. Details growth of sector from 20K gal capacity in '12 to 5M in '13. Expecting 250M by '15. Original '07 target was 1B gal in '13.

India reintroduced wind power subsidy, announced low-cost loans for clean energy in budget. Wind subsidy $147M. Will help add 400Mw in coming FY. Loans for next 5 yrs. India plans to add total 3Gw clean/ren in next FY.

EIA says water resources available for hydropower in Cal could be significantly higher in '13. Pacific NW projected to be at norm to below.

FSLR back on top on CdTe thin-film solar cell efficiency. 18.7%, taking back lead from GE. But translates to 13-14% efficiency at module installed level.

Calif Lithium Battery signed licensing agreement with Argonne for anode material for high-energy lithium batts. Commercial-scale production planned by '14. Energy density ~3x current production. Claim 70% less cost to produce.

Corn futures rising on expectations next crop may be as bad as last. Supports ethanol futures. Tightens discount to gasoline.

EU research: degraded land available for biofuel feedstocks far less than previously thought. May be only 140M-2.6B acres v. 800M-3.5B.

As of  '12, Ghana proven oil reserves ~660M bls, most offshore. Recent Eni find raises that ~20%. Production ~120Kb/d, at least, expected this year.

Georgia completed Black Sea Transmission Network connection with el substation. Work in Turkey nearing completion. Both countries may join into Euro Net (ENTSO-E). Georgia built 292km transmission line. 1st country in region with DC switching unit installed. Siemens install. 500/400-220Kv substation, DC switch unit cost 159M Euros. Euro Investment Bank helped with 80M Euros. Greater stability of Georgian elgen system, reduced el losses, ensures el transit from neighboring countries.

MD regulators say state utilities must improve reliability.

Brazil el prices spiking recent months from lower rain levels affecting hydropower. Spot prices in SE hit 305/Mwh v. 42 last year.

Scot govt, Highlands and Islands Enterprise providing $4.6M to Euro Marine Energy Center in Orkney to install extra test site for wave power generation. Scotland also to provide 1.1M Pounds for project to study capability of offshore support ships for maintaining wave, tidal machinery. Govt says up to 1/4 of Europe's tidal resources, 10% of wave resources in Scot waters.

Toho Titanium, JX Nippon, JNC ended polysilicon venture. Intl glut of solar panels. Set up in '08. Factory closes March '14. Planned to produce 4.5K metric tons this year.

Analysts warning markets biased against clean energy: Bloomberg New Energy Finance. 7 major financial regs appear to be dissuading investors from backing clean energy investments that require high upfront bucks. Financial system " institutionally fossilist".

Windpower developers ditching steel met towers for aluminum for cost savings.

Philly region poised to become 1 of US' leaders to foster energy efficient bldgs.

THURSDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market flat, mixed, Dow down 17, Naz up 5. Volume normal. Oil under $93. 4Q US revised GDP up .1%. US biz activity picked up in Feb to fastest pace in last 12 months.

ASIUF up 48. VLNCQ up 17. LEXG up 16 on update. ECOS, ENSL up 13. PANL up 11, jump off 50-day lines up near 200's. PLUG, AIXG up 10. NENE up 4. CCGI up 3 on acquisition news. NTCXF up 1.

WTWO down 33. WWPW down 25 on 100 shs. CSKH down 17. BHWX down 10. WEST down 6. CERP down 4.

WEDNESDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 175/32.19. Volume normal. Oil under $93. US machinery orders gain. Bernanke: higher interest rates may signal stronger econ. Huh. And higher debt service by govt. Guess what's coming, huh?

PPRW up 61. BLDW up 60. VNDB up 50. WWPW up 40. XDSL up 25. VLNCQ up 24. LEOM up 18. BSRC up 16. CRGE up 14. TMEN up 12. XSNX up 11. PLUG, AWSL up 10. CERP up 4. (Not bad after yesterday.)

BOPO down 42. ASIUF down 33. ECOS, PTOS down 25. CWET down 18. GRPH down 14. FSLR, XWES, CCGI down 13. USEI down 11. BFRE, LEXG, SRWRF down 10. NTCXF down 4.

STUFF

EPA expected to rule soon on last coal-fired steamship operating in US waters (Great Lakes).

Shell buying Repsol's LNG business for $6.7B.

DOA to focus aggressively on climate change following last year's (continuing) drought. To ramp up weather forecasting, encourage more sustainable farming practices.

Denali (Alaska) study sets baseline for climate change.

TSLA to cut repay time for $465M DOE loan.

Canada tackling heavy-duty truck emissions.

Series of infrastructure investments over next year will begin to unlock access to liquids-rich NG deposits in OH's Utica shale play.

Germany agrees on draft reg to allow fracking.

Frost & Sullivan report estimates VC funding for clean/renewable energy to triple by '20. Positive reg policies, public support for lower carbon, tech innovation. New investment in clean/ren fell 11% in '12 to $268B.

EIA: non-hydro clean/ren energy (includes biomass) elgen increased 12.8% in US last year v. '11. Provided 5.4% of elgen. (Makes no sense to me to not include hydro and nuke as clean and not taking biomass out - wood and plants burning make emissions. Just me, I guess.) Solar up 138%, wind up 16%, geothermal up 9%, biomass up 1.6%. Total elgen dropped 1.1%. Petrol coke, liquids down 24%, coal down 12%, nuke down 2.6%. Hydropower down 13.4% (drought). NG up 21%. Adding hydropower and nuke to true clean sources was some 31% of total elgen.

Geothermal Energy Assoc says US geothermal power growth up 5% in '12. Added 147Mw. Total now ~3.4Gw. 13Gw of wind installed, 7Gw solar in '12. 185 geo projects currently in development for over 5Gw. ~2.5Gw likely to get built next 10 yrs.

Brazil's 334Mw hydropower reservoir getting filled. $1.3B project. Power on in April. 1 of smallest reservoir to output ratios in world. 30-mile system of canals, tunnels, dams, reservoirs to help prevent flooding of nearby urban, arable areas.

VDE and Fraunhofer think they have new way to ensure performance, reliability, "tech bankability" of solar PV plants. System-level certification spanning 300 test points for quality, safety, performance of plant as whole and components. (Needs checks and balances so they can't play faves and take money on side.)

EIA: emissions of NOx, SO2 from US power plants lowest in 20 yrs.

Key Repub senators offering funds for energy R&D from subsidies, drilling revs. (Sounds like that can get done.)

Scientists seeding reefs to spark Caribbean coral comeback.

Wind power elgen surpassed nuclear by 2% in China in '12. Since '07, nuke elgen rose 10%/y, wind rose 80%/y. Both near 100TWh. In Oct, authorities lifted nuke moratorium since Fukushima.

Michigan State U engineering plant with oily leaves. Could increase biofuel production, improve animal feed. Used algae gene that stores lipids in leaves, stems.

Brazil launched Bioplanet project to produce 25M liters of biodiesel for '14 World Cup.

US House Science Committee examining E15 ethanol blend increase.

BP making play for Tanzanian NG assets. Total, Statoil there. Recent offshore discoveries of some 33TCF. Tanzania has NG processing plant with 70MCF/d cap. Planning LNG terminal. Signed $1.2B loan agree with China for 532 km pipeline.

Dem Congressman claims over 100 oil/gas producers - including majors - benefiting from bungled leases awarded by feds. Enabled free or near-free drilling. Chevron avoided est. $1.5B of $2.6B royalties they should have paid.

EU plans to rollout smart meters to 80% of 500M population by '20 not going as hoped. Early adopting countries did well. Then Dutch govt threatened prison for non-comply of install. They backed off, but damage done.

EON (Germany) plans to build at least 100Mw of wind power in Romania by '15. Possible up to 300Mw if Romania maintains incentives. Romania wants to attract ~$6.6B of energy investment through '20. They have ~1.6Gw installed wind cap.

UK awarded $30M to tidal power projects backed by Siemens, Morgan Stanley. Online in '16.

Vestas says Japan needs to improve access to grid.

Ukraine's largest solar developer (Austria comp) switching on solar modules @ 29Mw farm.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 74/22/8. Volume light. Oil under $93. US durable goods orders excluding transportation jump up most in year.

VNDB up 50. XDSL up 25. BSRC up 16. XSNX up 11. AWSL up 10. WEST up 9. CERP up 7 more.

BOPO down 42. FSLR down 16 on lower guidance. NTCXF down 2.

STUFF

Bloomberg report: US fuel blenders can use up to 20% of blending requirements this year in form of RINS from previous production rather than buying new production. Blenders must use 13.8B gal of ethanol this yr. Bloomberg est. 13.4B will be produced. Last week RIN prices jumped 38% to 47 cents.

Canada shutting down biofuels susbsidy program.

Power prices, wages, corruption brought down Bulgaria govt. Czech power distributor. Also power from Austria. A VAT on power. Bulgaria poorest of EU nations. Freeze of public wages. Avg mo. salary $534. Socialists doing well in new election campaign.

Iran claims to have discovered some 2B bls of oil since last March. Also announced discovery of huge uranium deposits. Tripled est. reserves to 4.4K tons. Designated 16 sites for nuke power plants. (Bolstering position in new talks with 6 powers.) They also increased oil storage capacity 500K bls. 3rd such facil in past yr.

Suzuki starting production of hydrogen fuel cell car batt. Working with Intelligence Energy (UK). '15 target for HFC vehicle.

Human body produces just under 116 watts of energy per day. Fujifilm may have product to use it. Thermal conversion material.

Lith-ion batt cell can store ~200 watt hrs/kg. We need 800, at least. Petrol has ~13Kwh/kg. Lith-air batts can deliver 12Kw. But hard to build.

NASA suggesting household water boilers could soon be replaced by small nuke reactors. Low-E reactors (LENRs). No ionizing radiation. No waste. Device fires slow-moving neutron into nickel. Neutron splits into electron, proton. Extra system could be added to use the heat to make power. Carbon could be used instead of nickel, would be turned into nitrogen.

Coal bed methane promise could be as great as LNG or shale gas. Stiff enviro opposition, though.

Research: global gen cap of wind power has been overest. Not as much wind power as thought. Every turbine has downwind "shadow". A few terrawatts may be limit.

$100 annual fee on alt fuel vehicles, including hybrids, in road funding bill approved by VA assembly.

NAM: carbon tax would curtail US consumption, investment, wages, limit ability to add revs to govt. Taxing CO2 @ $20/ton would raise over $100B in 1st yr.

Serbia expects to pay $916M by '20 in clean/renewable subsidies. Revised FITs earlier this month. 27% clean/ren elgen by '20. 21% now. 1Gw of new capacity.

Suzlon Energy (India) won order for 49 2.1Mw wind turbines from India's biggest energy explorer.

TUESDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 115/13/9. Going with volume normal. Oil stayed under $93.

ONYX up 100. Really. 1.8K shares at .0002. BOPO stayed up 61 on 140 shares. Really. WTWO up 50. CERP up 35 on 24M shs. CPWY up 35. GSPI up 15. AMPD up 14 on their news. VLNCQ up 14. CABN up 13. NPWZ up 12. NTCXF up 3. NENE up 2.

ECOS, VNDB down 33. MGLT down 29. BLQN down 25. BLDW down 20. AMTX down 16. FSLR down 14 after hours after reporting. Back to $28. AQNM, BSRC, FNVRF down 11. CCGI, EWRL down 10. XSNX down 4. WEST flat.

STUFF

AMP (AMPD) medium duty el truck approved for sale in Cal.

Alberta cancelled major "clean coal"  project. Low NG prices.

Biz roundtable calling for end to to energy policy "labyrinth".

Defense experts say costs of climate change could be staggering.

Vestas adding wind tower jobs in Colo, still cutting blade jobs.

Most Californians support climate change policy, but skepticism growing: poll.

Maine college intro'd climate change throughout curriculum.

India apples less sweet from climate change.

New research taking global look at methane emissions from oil/gas industry. Est. 1-10% of NG produced leaks through wellheads, transmission lines, compressor stations.

LNG exporting comments wrap at DOE. Decisions next.

India says committed to spending up to $13B, including $1.1B in subsidies, to add over 10Gw of solar by '17. Preparing to enter Phase 2 of National Solar Mission. Financing still challenging, trade dispute looming, policy decisions still being hashed out at national, state levels. Just under 1Gw installed solar in '12. 190Mw in '11. 35Mw in '10. Forecast 1.3-1.4Gw in '13. Country has 3-400M people w/out power. 9% power deficit. Draft solar target 3-9Gw. Borrowing costs 13-14%.

Lanco Infratech, India's 2nd-biggest non-state power generator, seeking investors to build 500Mw/y solar for 3 yrs. Up 5x.

India's Power Finance cut lending rates for clean/renewable energy. 25 basis points for all power projects. 50 points for clean/ren. Approved $430M for 611Mw of clean/ren in FY ending in March. (Very good #'s. If true.)

Japan's domestic solar shipments more than doubled to 1Gw in 4Q12. Imports up 3x to 342Mw. Exports down 66% to 111Mw.

Japan financial firms setting up multi-billion Yen investment funds for solar projects.

Suntech Power (China) (STP) has $541M in convertable bonds coming due next month. Talking with Wuxi govt.

Joinko Solar to deliver 600Mw in '13-'15 to China 3 Gorges New Energy for western China projects. 50Mw deal signed in '12.

Near 1Gw solar installed in Australia in '12. But el prices coming down, reductions in govt support.

San Carlos BioPower (Philippines) planning 4 biomass power plants next 4 yrs. Total cap 100Mw. $500M. (Stupid. Could get wind and possibly solar for way less. And biomass has emissions.) Govt official: lack of tech, finance and feedstock probs.

China's Fujian Province planning ~200 onshore wind farms. 8Gw/y through '20.

63Mw expansion - from 7Mw - at only geothermal plant in Ethiopia to start. Est. $35M. (That's 50 cents/w. A great deal!) $10M from Ethiopia, $13M loan from World Bank, $12M grant from Japan (what does Japan want back?) UK comp, USAID, UAC, Af Dev Bank looking at geo opportunities in E Africa.

Uruguay plans 200Mw of world's cheapest solar power. Offering $90/Mwh. Also produces some of world's cheapest wind power. May not attract solar developers. China offers $160/Mwh, Germany $154. Projects may be up to 50 Mw, but they want a 1Mw and 5Mw project. Their solar radiation equiv to south Spain. They now get ~80% of elgen from hydro @ ~$80/Mwh.

IEA: Euro oil/NG imports to reach ~$668B this yr. "Major prob for EU, global econ."

Asia/Pacific region projected to import 44% of primary oil needs in '35. 36% in '10. Their oil production only up slightly since '90. (The sluggards.)

AAR: crude oil record .8% of all US rail shipments in '12, up from .2% in '11.

Cheniere Energy to begin producing LNG at Louisiana terminal in late '15. Only comp with permits to export to countries not in free-trade agreements with US. Over 2 dozen aps from competing projects.

Petrobras discovered oil in deepwater - 125 miles off coast of Rio. Well below salt layer.

China plans tax on CO2  emissions.

API: US Jan oil demand fell to lowest Jan demand in 18 yrs. Down 1.7% from yr ago. 18Mb/d.

Fewer oil tankers booked to ship Mideast oil to Asia: Morgan Stanley. Down 33% from yr ago.

Iraq approved NG pipe from Iran to Syria. $10B project.

Algeria's state-run energy comp made 3 oil/gas discoveries in '12. Some with foreign partners.

Ecuador's crude oil export rev $12.7B in '12. Up 7.6% from '11.

Russia produced 43M tons of oil and gas condensate in Jan, down 1.7% yoy.

Enough NG in Ukraine shale to satisfy domestic demand.

Thailand possible energy crisis in April. Expecting NG supply disruption from Myanmar.

Exxon added 1.8B oil-equiv bls to proven reserves in '12. 1.4B in oil, other liquids. Getting out of NG. Slightly more than it produced.

Sauds boosted avg crude exports last yr to highest since '05. 7.4Mb/d, up 5.2% from '11. Iraq, Kuwait shipped most in at least a decade.

Enbridge to convert ~700 miles of NG pipe to oil. IL to Gulf.

Study: climate change may dry up Lakes Powell and Mead. Partly from oil/gas drilling water needs. Or current govt policy.

Cal gov fast-tracking reviews of world's largest solar project.

BLM "ecoregional assessments" aim to guide energy projects, improve wildlife mgmt.

Bipartisan Senate push promised for ARPA-E reauthorization at full funding. (While ARPA-E conference going on in DC.)

Stabenow to lead Senate Finance subpanel on energy.

Court rejected AEP bid to hike fees on telecoms using power poles.

Coast Guard pressing for legal action versus Shell drillship.

Tire incinerator in IL shutdown in EPA settlement.

EPA greenlighted camelina, energy cane for biofuel feedstocks, but kept lid on arundo (giant reed) and elephant grass.

Research: ND energy beet revs could be double corn or beans. BeetsAllBiofuel plans 16 facilities in state. 20M gal facil online in '15. ~30K acres/facil.

Perennial bioenergy crops in US west corn belt may be threatened: NAS report. Persistent shift in land use.

Rabobank (Netherlands) report: Brazil, Argentina face future growth challenges for their biodiesel industry. Limited by policies on blending mandates, pricing and export incentives and dwindling support for 1st gen biofuels in EU.

TUESDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market mixed. Dow up 51. Naz down 2, at 50-day lines again. Volume normal. Oil back under $93.

BOPO up 61. CERP up 25 on news. WTWO, VLNCQ, USEI up 25. GSPI up 15. NPWZ up 12. LEXG up 11 on news. CABN up 10. ENZR up 7 on news. NTCXF, WEST up 4. NENE up 1.

MGLT down 29. BLQN down 25. AMEL down 25. EWRL down 11.

STUFF

Musk (TSLA) expecting 30-40K Model S demand/yr.

Sinopec buying over $1B of Chesapeake assets.

MD man sentenced to 12 yrs for selling $9M of bogus renewable energy credits.

BP trial on civil charges for GOM spill opened. $16B settlement rumored.

New England el prices up to 4x norm for sustained periods. All of NG pipeline capacity has been bought by local NG distribution comps that sell for home heating, retail. During cold snaps, nothing left over to sell to NG-fired power plants. NG price lately back up near $3.50.

Industry leaders, policymakers not doing enough to prepare for possible NG-dominated future: EPRI research chief.

Global installed capacity of utility-scale solar power plants to reach 12Gw next month. Doubled in last year.

VW to bring 2-seat 261MPG hybrid car, carbon fiber tech into production.

Coalition of energy sector leaders calling on Congress for market incentives to cut CO2. Also wants govt to promote innovation in elgen, pollution reduction techs and to maintain high degree of flexibility for fossil fuels.

Cal's carbon price beat expectations at 2nd auction.

Study: UN's sustainable energy initiative could keep warming below 2 Celsius.

NOAA: waters on Louisiana coast set to rise higher than previously thought.

Alberta offering $35M for tech to make use of CO2 output.

Governors group pushing for shared revenues from offshore drilling, faster permitting.

Supreme Court declined to hear 3 enviro, energy cases.

MD, DC utilities using "black liquor" to meet clean/renewable energy standard.

More tanks found leaking nuke waste at Hanford. Tanks designed in '40's to last 20 yrs. Est. $100B cleanup. (I would call it criminal neglect.)

AEP to close 3 coal-fired plants in deal with regulators.

US crude inventories at highest level in over 30 yrs for time of year.

MONDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market flat and mixed. Volume slightly over normal. Oil up over $93.

ORYN up 15. NPWZ up 13. QTMM up 11. NTCXF, ECTY up 6. XSNX up 1.

SATCQ down 30. BOPO down 21. ASIUF down 19. GRPH down 15. PANL, EVSI down 11. NGLPF down 10. PLUG down 7. NENE, CERP down 3. WEST down 1.

STUFF

4-comp consortium developing 2 solar PV projects in Ecuador. Total 50Mw.

Nicaragua's National Electric Transmission Comp to inaugurate 1.38Mw solar PV plant. Japan donated most of $11.9M cost (very expensive system, if all the money is going to it). Nicaragua has over 40% clean/renewable elgen now. Target 80% by '17, 90% by '26.

Alstom, Renova Energia to build, op 1.2Gw wind farm in Brazil. Cost over 1B Euros. ($1/watt?!)

Mainstream Renewable Power (Ireland) raised $70M for 33Mw wind farm in Chile. $52M loan from China Development Bank. Sept start.

Brazil comp plans to issue up to $125M inflation-linked bonds to finance power projects. Wants to develop 380Mw of wind farms.

Sun Edison and Chile mining comp to build 100Mw solar PV plant in Chile to produce up to 15% of mine's power. Other Chile mining comp to build 8.8Mw solar PV plant for $20M.

700Mw of clean/ren energy planned for Chile's northern grid. 355Mw from 11 solar projects this year. Another 345Mw from 2 wind projects.

Cape Wind to tap Japan bank (for $1.8-2B) as lead bank in serving debt for $2.6B Nantucket Sound project. Bank expected to convert fed production tax credit into cash. Siemens may provide $100M.

Fitch updated rating criteria for solar power projects.

Jordan unveiled plans for country's 1st private sector clean energy. 10Mw solar plant, 117Mw wind farm. Goal 1Gw clean energy next 5 yrs.

Virginia Gov signed legislation repealing financial incentives for utilities that use clean/ren energy sources. Reduced incentives remain for nuke, offshore wind.

North Dakota production over 768Kb/d in Dec. New record. Up 33K from Nov. 123 new wells. Will take 90 new wells/month to maintain production. 8,224 wells now. 244M bls recovered so far of 6.5B est. recoverable reserves. Boom can last est. 25 yrs more. NG production reached another record - 805MCF/d. Flared gas holding at 29%. Higher than national avg, but down from 36% high in '11.

E.ON N Am dedicated 100Mw TX wind farm. Vestas 1.8Mw turbines. Started up in Dec.

ScottMadden released latest semi-annual Energy Industry Update. "Decision Time" (post election).

1st joint wind project completed in China by Siemens, Shanghai El. 50Mw. 2.5Mw turbines.

Cal won ruling over '00-'01 energy crisis. $1B of refunds plus $600M interest. Fed admin law judge prelim decision against several huge energy wholesalers including Bonneville and govt of Brit Columbia. Now goes to FERC. Californians already have received over $3B in refunds for econ damage in crisis. Another pending claim with FERC for $1B of alleged overcharges in '01. Latest decisiion covers 1st 6 months of crisis in '00. 20K improper trades.

GreenWhey Energy to open $28M anaerobic digester plant in Wisc to convert cheese byproducts wastes into el, heat and fertilizer. Combining wastewater treatment plant to bring the waste from 5 cheese factories and soy ingredient plant. 3.2Mw of el. Fed grant to pick up ~1/4 of cost - $28M total. Heat pumped back to factories. $3.4M bridge loan from state until fed grant.

SOLON completed 5Mw solar plant for Tucson El Power. 17K panels on 28 acres.

STUFF

Southern Comp optimistic on DOE loan guarantee by midyear for US' 1st nuke reactors in over 3 decades.

3 major comps joined DOE program to improve energy efficiency in commercial, industrial bldgs.

1.5 Celsius of more warming likely to melt perma frost.

Poll: climate a low priority, but Americans support power plant restrictions.

Pakistan power plant operators propose transition from oil-fired power to coal.

US set to overtake Germany on utility-scale solar installed.

Coast Guard OK'd Shell Alaska drilling rig to cross Pacific.

IG: EPA mission hampered by limited data on oil/gas industry emissions.

CLEAN LA solar program strong start. LA Dept of Water & Power got aps for 107Mw of projects in opening week. 5 20Mw allocations. 4Mw for 30-150Kw projects. 16Mw for up to 3Mw. LADWP pays 17 cents/Kwh for LA, 14 cents for Owens Valley.

Biogas potential 3-4x higher from combining local waste streams. Denmark project.

Total Arctic Sea ice volume 1/5 of '80 level. Near ice-free Arctic in summer within decade. May usher in permanent change toward extreme, prolonged weather events - drought, floods, cold spells, heat waves, severe storms. Will likely accel disintegration of Greenland ice sheet, release of vast amounts of carbon and methane in permafrost. CryoSat-2 confirms sea ice volume has collapsed.

Monitoring of enviro activists in Canada by Royal Police, security agencies "new normal". "Threat to national security."

Diesel Green (Austin) launched cooking oil drop-off program for residents, schools, churches, other small producers of used cooking oil to avoid dumping in landfills, sewers.

Legislation intro'd in Congress to stop EPA cellulosic ethanol mandate.

2.4M new jobs from clean/renewable energy by '20 in India.

Branson pledging half his fortune for enviro causes. Giving Pledge founded by Gates/Buffett.

Vestas Wind Systems laid off 110 more at Colo turbine blade factory.

FRIDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 119/30/13. Volume light (Friday normal light). Oil back up over $93.

AEHI up 100. 600 shares. Nuts. SLMU up 81. 5K shares. Crazy. VLNCQ up 40. Coming off 1 cent. New batt tech. BOPO up 29. PTOS up 25. ENSL up 20. LEXG up 17. HOKU up 16. EWRL up 15. CCGI up 11. LEDS up 10. WEST up 7. NENE up 6.

WWPW down 31 on 827 shares. Crazy. CGYV down 27 on 764 shares. Who's crazier? NGLPF down 25. AQNM down 16. BLDW down 14. AONEQ down 12. RNWEF, USEI, CERP down 11. Buy CERP. ORYN, SOPW down 10. XSNX down 2.

Tally ho.

STUFF

Roen Financial Report closely covers almost 30 clean/renewable energy mutual funds, ETFs. Several had good to great returns last 3 months. GAAEX up 25%, KWT up over 38%.

Alliance to Save Energy's Commission on National Energy Policy included financing as 1 of central recommendations in recent report - "Energy 2030: Doubling US Energy Productivity". Want to unleash hundreds of billions to support trillions of potential energy savings. Recommends
1) creating secondary market for efficiency loans
2) state, local programs to resell loans to investors in secondary markets
3) initiating on-bill repay, on-bill financing programs
4) improving fed regs to support financing efficiency through property taxes, trusts
5) attaching energy efficiency incentives to mortgages
6) setting up tax policies that encourage industrial investment in efficiency
7) increasing real estate buyers' awareness through ratings and info
8) providing customers with their energy use data.

Brit Columbia gave go-ahead to BC Hydro to replace 126Mw hydropower plant.

Study: ethanol driving push to convert grassland to cropland.

Oil, food groups urging Supreme Court to take up E15 challenge.

FERC rejected Duke's pitch to plan regional transmission.

Brazil dropped criminal charges against Chevron.

Sandia partnering with startup on low-cost solar demo.

Boeing to pitch new batt design as Dreamliner probe found wiring flaw.

DC mayor offering plan for "healthiest, greenest" US city.

Estonia installed 1st nationwide EV charger system.

Romania regulator plans to lower clean/ren subsidies.

Good idea: instead of trying to feed world, let's help it feed itself.

Ft Collins banned fracking in city.

Latest monthly EIA data: US bought 2.1Mb/d from Mideast. ~25% of total imports.

World energy consumption more than doubled since '70's energy crisis. Over 80% fossil fuels. Forecast to grow 44% more next 25 yrs (US 7%). Fossil fuels to still be over 80%,

US shale gas production now near 40% of NG production. 80% of shale gas comes from 5 plays, several in production decline. $42B/y to drill over 7K wells. Value of NG produced in '12 was $32.5B.

US tight (shale) oil production now ~20% of total. Over 80% from 2 plays - Bakken and Eagle Ford. 19 other plays. High decline rates. 6K wells - cost $35B/yr - required to maintain production. 1.5K new wells/yr - cost $14B - needed to offset declines. Production expected to peak at 2.3Mb/d in '17. Will come back to today's level by '19. By '25, falls to 700Kb/d.

"Shale and Wall Street" conclusions (Deb Rogers)
1) Wall St promoted shale gas drilling frenzy. Resulted in prices lower than costs of production. But Wall St profited big from M&A, transaction fees
2) US shale gas/oil reserves overestimated by 100-500% by operators
3) shale gas/oil wells steep decline rates, poor recovery efficiency
4) NG price driven down from severe overproduction to meet debt service
5) Due to extreme debt, stated reserves (PUDs) may not have complied with SEC rules because of threat of collateral default for operators
6) Reticence in further shale development, abondonment of pipeline projects, IPOs, JVs.

Biodiesel production started at Greenleaf 10M gal/y plant in CT. Waste cooking oil from NYC to Boston.

Mich State U researchers warning against domesticating wild plants for biofuels. Probs with viruses.

Electrawinds (Belgium) started up animal waste rendering plant in Serbia to make feedstock for biodiesel. 150K metric tons/y.

Up to 20% of Brazil's smaller mills could be idled, sold next few yrs. ~60. Market forces. Up to 10 won't even crush coming FY. Finance probs.

FL bill to repeal ethanol blending passed out of House committee by 1 vote.

Rosneft considering sending more oil to China. 300Kb/d now piped there. LNG prospects.

China econ est. to expand 8.1% this yr. 7.8% last yr.

USGS est. 70% of world's undiscovered oil resources, 30% of undiscovered NG may be beneath Arctic Ocean. UN: up to $100M planned next few yrs for Arctic exploration.

Is global warming from us or sun? Mars warmer? Moon? Venus?

Falkland self-determination referendum next month. 1.4B bls oil. Argentina says will be theirs in 20 yrs. French owned the islands 1st in mid-1700's. Maybe they should claim.

US high gasoline prices: Mexico pays less. Malaysia pays $2.62. Nigeria $2.34. Iran $2.15. UAE $1.77. Ecuador $1.47. Egypt $1.14. Kuwait (whom we liberated - who remembers?) 81 cents. Sauds 45 cents. And the king - Venezuela - at 6 cents.

Pollution laws have shut down oldest, dirtiest coal power plants in Britain. Little excess generating capacity. Few new large projects. Threat of energy crisis. More reliant on foreign NG.

BP goes to court next week v. US. Billions more in balance.

1 of 1st comps - Resident Power - to offer lower el rates in NH suspended by New England grid. Grid and PUC declined comment.

Metso Oyv (Finland) $33M contract to supply Swede power plant with bark, wood chips for cogen. 7Mw power, 26Mw heat. Construction start end of '14.

Hg Capital shifting focus of 2nd clean energy fund - $716M - to wind power in Scandinavia. Targeting markets with low subsidies. Norway, Sweden began common green certificate market a yr ago. Hg goal 300-400Mw wind in Sweden, Norway. 200-300Mw in Ireland. Sweden wants 1/2 clean/ren energy by '20. 47% now. Norway 67%.

Euro solar importers defending Chinese in anti-dumping case.

EU Parliament approving plan to bolster carbon trading.

Halliburton may avoid blame in BP GOM disaster.

FRIDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 50/11/4. Volume normal. Oil down under $93.

AEHI up 100 on 500 shares. HOKU up 16. WEST up 9.

SATCQ, VNDB down 33. CGYV down 27. SENY down 14. GRPH, USEI down 13. ORYN, EVSI down 12. CERP down 9. Buyville. AONEQ down 9. XSNX down 2.

STUFF

BIOF cut 45 jobs at MN eth plant. Sales growing as are financial losses.

TVA, Babcock Wilcox to build 1st 180Mw small modular nuke reactor.

Cal Gov saying spend climate change fees on housing agency hiring. May be illegal.
Cal consortium formed to push batt research.

German minister proposing capping clean/ren energy subsidies.

Report: Canada must centralize carbon cutting efforts.

Murkowski: Congress should probe Shell's "whole initiative" in AK.

Japan's PM to ask Obama to OK LNG exports.

8 lobbies: EU should phase out support for land-based  biofuels that displace food production, boost emissions.

Dongfeng (China) 1 of several bidders for Fisker. (Got DOE loan guarantee I think.) High-end hybrid cars. Dong may pay $350M for 85%. If they get it, expect jobs to move to China. Fisker plans to restart Karma line. Stopped when AONE went bankrupt. Fisker cash crunch midyear.

THURSDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 63/20/7. Volume a little heavy. Naz nearing 50-day lines. Oil down more to $93. Philly region factory output down.

RVLT up 16. AQNM up 12. WEST up 10. EFOI up 9. LIME up 8. XSNX up 5. NTCXF up 1.

ECOS down 18. AONEQ down 15. CSGH down 14. RBCN down 11. ZAAP down 10. TSLA, CERP, CCTC, SOPW down 9. NENE down 3.

STUFF

German Enviro Minister: German transition to clean energy from nuke (clean E) may cost up to $1.34T next 2 decades. (Why be so stupid. Nukes have no GHG emissions. Overreaction to Fukushima. Earthquakes and tsunamis in Germany? Oy.)

Fed judge approved Transocean's $1B in civil penalties for '10's BP GOM "spill".

WV Gov proposing ending creds for plug-in cars. (And the stupidity rolls on. The blow back on common sense.)

UPS completed a 1.2Mw rooftop solar PV project at distribution facility in NJ late last year. Putting up another one now. Spring completion. To increase their total US solar capacity to over 2.7Mw. They do entire process in house. Own it.

DTE Energy selected 70 solar projects in 500Kw 1st round of expanded customer-owned pilot program. 2Mw over next 2 yrs. Near $2M in incentives through next yr. 377Kw residential, 127Kw comm.

NREL says Silicon Energy (WA) solar panels most reliable in high humidity, high temps and temps to 40 below. 40-yr durability rating. No exposed metal to rust or plastic to crack.

Lake Erie Energy Development (non-profit) ready to begin demo of 5-9 wind turbines in Lake Erie near Cleveland. $4M from DOE through early '14. $1M from private invest. Initial 20-30Mw planned. 1Gw '20 target. Could get $46M more from DOE over 4 yrs after demo eval.

JASO (JA Solar) boosted 4Q shipment guidance.

Fed appeals court stayed decision to keep 50K tons of low-level radioactive waste in NJ instead of shipping to UT. (Why would UT want it?)

US spent more on energy efficiency than conventional (fossil) energy in '10: study.

Jakarta fighting floods by inducing rain.

Kansas bill would require schools to teach evidence against climate change. (Stupid is as stupid does. But objective education the best.)

Study: oil/gas drilling primary cause of ozone in Utah (Salt Lake).

Brit's 2 biggest publicly traded water comps feeding sewage waste into bacteria tanks (anearobic digestion). The methane emissions gens el. Comps in Europe, China turning more to this tech. Biogas. 2,250 facilities in Europe now using. MSFT uses AD to help power WY data center. US' 2 largest water comps have no plants and no plans for any. (The US should be leading the world on all new tech a good political soundbite, A? Falling way short. "Shit for energy.")

Solar City (SCTY) partnering with Honda to finance $65M of rooftop solar for carbuyers, dealers in 14 states. $400 discount for homeowners. Systems for up to 20 dealers.

Wind, solar, biomass provided all new US elgen capacity in Jan. 1.23Gw. Near 3x yoy. Wind 958Mw, solar 267, bio 6. Clean/ren now 15.66% of total installed US elgen cap (not including nuke).

BMW to install 4 wind turbines at Leipzig plant. To supply almost 1/4 of el use. German manufacturers switching to own power as power costs rise due to $740B shift from nukes to clean energy. (Again, nuke power is clean. No emissions. Why, Germany, why? And Merkel a nuke scientist! Insane. Germany's gone insane again.) 47% hike in clean energy surcharges this year.

Global Partners completed $95M buy of crude/ethanol facility in OR.

Cal Energy Commission gave Eslinger Biodiesel $6M toward $20M plant of 5M gal/y. Algae, seedoils, waste veg oils, animal fats feedstock. All 3 phases of plant to cost $32M for 45M gal/y.

Brown U unlocking genetic, molecular mechanisms behind how genes underlying lignin degradation are regulated. May lead to engineering bacteria to convert lignin into biofuels, hi-val chems.

S Africa university student found new method to ID best varieties of sugarcane for eth production based on fiber content. Found 90% of carbs could be extracted from new cane varieties v. 72% from current varieties.

Zimbabwe announced E5 blend mandate. Country now imports $45M/mo of fuel. Mandate should decrease that drain plus help local econ (making fuel from food. Ug.)

RFA slammed EU over $83/met ton import tariff on US ethanol.

Poland to ease enviro regs, tax regs for shale gas development. Chevron, Conoco there.

Output decline for world's conventional oil fields avg 5%/y. Peak oil.

Gazprom Neft signed new oil production agreement with Kurd Iraq. Will Baghdad react? How?

Bloomberg est. China to never reach shale gas goals of 80B cubic meters by '20. More like 18. Unless China pours mega money into it and eases up on price controls.

Nigeria asking UK help on 2Mb/d oil pipeline theft. Shell lobbying London.

More on "solar sponge". Aussie research. The photosensitive metal organic framework can absorb large amounts of carbon - up to 1 liter of gas in 1 gram of material. Released instantly with exposure to sunlight.

MN mercury rules have reduced merc emissions from coal plants from 1,850 lbs/y in mid-'90's to 870 lbs today. By '16, ~200 lbs. ERCC: EPA merc rules to cost $300B. GAO: "activated carbon injections" could cut merc emiss 90% @ avg of $3.6M/plant. DOE: cost of removing merc $60K/lb in '99, $10K today.

Flumill (Norway) raising $10M to install 2Mw tidal power generator unit off Norway coast 1Q14. Anticipates comm orders after. Unit weighs under 200 metric tons v. up to 1,500 tons for some competitors. Marine energy in England, Scotland some of highest subsidies in world. ~$317/Mwh. Energy from tides now cost ~$440/Mwh. Coal $128. Flumill interested in US, FR, JP, China. And S Korea "very interesting".

Acal Energy (UK) - backed by Sumitomo - to raise $23M to expand fuel cell tech. They have chems to curb need for platinum.

CEZ plans 760Mw of wind farms in Poland, 167 by next year. Looking for "stable, investment friendly" govt policy.

Japan installing 2.4Mw of wind turbines offshore in project with TEP. 2Mw planned off Kyushu next month with El Power Development (J-Power).

UK has 51% of global installed offshore wind capacity. Denmark 21%. The lead.

MSFT charges its divisions for emissions. Uses those funds on green projects.

Admin keeps delaying stronger appliance, el equip energy efficiency standards. Adding them would shave another 7% off el use by '35. (Maybe it's not low-hanging fruit?) 8 standards now held up. 40M metric tons carbon emissions. Every month delay adds $300M, 4.4M metric tons of carbon emiss (19K rail cars of coal). Standards delayed: microwave ovens, external power supplies, ER, BR, small diameter reflector lamps, walk-in coolers, freezers, metal halide lamps, el distribution transformers, el motors and comm refrig equip.

Dominion CEO: nuke expansion key to Obama emission goals.

WH unveiled $50B infrastructure improvement plan. (Anything from him, of course, is dead on arrival in Congress. Why doesn't he just give everything to Senate Dems? '14 election politics?)

Hundreds of arrests on intl crackdown on illegal logging.

Quinoa's popularity depleting land.

Mad cow disease found in moose.

Cal ratepayers owed $1.6B with FERC ruling on Enron-era manipulation. (Good ruck collecting.)

WV court struck down EPA-based guidance for strip mining permits. (Duh.)

Bulgaria PM resigned amid protests over high el costs.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market flat and mixed. Volume normal. Oil down near $96. US wholesale prices up .2% in Jan.

AONEQ up 33. WTWO up 16. AMLM up 11. CDTI up 9 on news. NTCXF, RSOL up 2.

SLMU down 45. ENSL down 16. USEI, GSFVF down 14. AQNM down 9. ABAT down 8. CERP, NENE, PLUG down 1.

TUESDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 53/21/11. Volume normal. Oil up over $96.

AEHI up 100. VNDB up 50. ECOS up 44. CBWP up 37. HOKU, LEXG up 28. CSGH up 20. PWER up 19. SPWR up 17. XSNX, APWR up 16. RSOL up 15. AMLM, AMPD up 12. AONEQ up 11. EFOI up 10. CWET up 8. PLUG up 5. WEST, NTCXF up 1.

CRGE down 30. NGLPF down 28. WTWO down 25. AQNM down 24. USEI down 22. LMRMF down 21. SATCQ, TMEN down 19. CABN down 16. AMEL, RVLT down 15. BIOF down 12. CPWY, INIS down 11. GSFVF down 10. CERP down 8. Buyville. NENE down 2.

STUFF

Fed judge ruled BLM must reveal names of comps/individuals nominating public land for oil/gas drilling. Overturns 18 yrs of policy.

GAO raising prospect of 17-53 month gap in satellite data that could impede weather forecasting.

Indiana farmer goes up against Monsanto today in Supreme Court over GM seed patents.

NG leak at Total (France) well in N Sea from corrosion that produced stress cracks.

22 House Dems to talk about climate change on the House floor every day to counteract Repub denial.

EU Parliament approved plan to overhaul carbon trading, but delay made prices plunge. Want to get back to prices that encourage energy efficiency.

Lowered expectations ahead of Cal's 2nd carbon credit auction.

EIA: US crude production could hit record increase of 815Kb/d in '13. Improvements in horizontal drilling, fracking and increased activity in Gulf.

Shale oil keeping New England refineries afloat.

EnergySage offering 1-stop online shopping for solar. Launch this week. $500K DOE Sunshot grant in June '12. Covers Mass, NY, Conn, NJ. Next is RI, PA. 10-15 states by yearend.

Cal Indy Service Operator and Pacificorp (utility serving 6 western states) MOU to create "Energy Imbalance Market" by Oct '14. Gets clean energy a step closer to mainstream power grid. Utilities must match el demand and production in real time for grid stability. Most utilities in west do it manually. CAISO uses advanced, automated 5-minute market system. Geographically dispersed clean energy resources significantly reduce variability (clouds, wind change, etc.). The more area covered, the more stability. Savings from west-wide market est. at $150-300M/yr.

Permanent Court of Arbitration upheld India's right to divert water from Neelum River tributary in Kashmir for 330Mw hydropower project.

Solar PV demand in Asia-Pacific region to increase 50% to 13.5Gw in '13. 90% from China, Japan, India, Australia.

SE Asia's biggest wind farm inaugurated. 207Mw, $495M farm in Thailand. Thai goal 9.2Gw clean/renewable, 1.2Gw wind by '21.

Japan intends to triple wind power capacity to 7.5Gw by developing grids. Country's goal 11Gw by '20, 50Gw by '50.

Alstom supplying anti-seismic turbines for 16.7Mw wind farm in Japan.

China to try "stealth paint" on offshore wind turbines to absorb radar signals to keep air defense, other radar intact. Would cost much more, alter turbines' center of gravity.

Pakistan regulator deciding on upfront solar tariffs. 23 cents/Kwh proposed.

Avg size of all PV solar systems installed in US up 64% in '11. In Jan, FERC issued proposed rule with important changes to Small Generator Interconnect Procedures. "To ensure time, cost to process requests will be just, reasonable, not unduly discriminating." Will lower costs for installers, manufacturers.

Chromatin (IL) and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) multi-year agree to produce, use sorghum to make eth. Up to 30K acres.

MIT found new way for 260% boost in isobutanol production. Engineering yeast so isobutanol synthesis takes place entirely within mitochondria.

Philippines group to invest in molasses-based ethanol plant and $60M in 40Mw bagasse (sugarcane waste) co-gen plant.

Seaway oil pipeline (OK to TX) flow increased to 400Kb/d last month. Total cap 850K by 1Q14. Gulf coast portion of Keystone pipe completion by yearend, cap 700K. 6 more pipe projects planned or in construction to bypass Cushing and carry 355K from W TX to Gulf. 478K cap to be added in '14. Other projects to pipe E TX oil to Gulf. Lotto pipe jobs in TX right now.

Intelligence reports showing latest (3rd) nuke test in N Korea was of Iran tech. Funded by Iran.

Lockheed predicting working nuke fusion reactor in 10 yrs. (It's been "10 yrs away" since the '70's when I first herd about it from city manager.)

1st of 2 Turk elgen ships docked at Beirut to help Lebanon's endemic power shortages.

TX developer cancelled new coal power plant.

EPA, NM haze deal requires coal power plant shift to NG.

EPA: "very large amount of evidence" links ozone to disease. (Stay off and away from the interstates. Good ruck with that, A? Suck it up.)

Nebraska utility: power lines for Keystone pipeline won't be done by '14 deadline.

Reliance on NG causing New England el bills spike.

Wisc gov calling for selling state power plants to pay for transportation (projects?).

Atlantis Resources (UK) got $5M from Canada to build, install 1Mw ocean turbine in Bay of Fundy. Working with Lockheed, Irving Shipbuilding. Bay has tidal surge up to 49 feet, world's highest.

Fukushima H explosions were from zirconium in overheated cores. EPRI looking at replacing zirc with a ceramic. Zirc near transparent to neutrons.

Storage tank at Hanford leaking.

TUESDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 42/8/5. Volume a little heavy. Oil down under $96.

CBWP up 37. BHWX up 18. SPWR up 17, new high. CSKH up 17. XSNX, APWR, BLDW up 16. AMLM up 12. RSOL up 10. PWER, GRPH up 9. FSLR up 7, up over $36. NTCXF up 3. PLUG up 2.

AEHI down 50. CRGE down 30. SENY down 18. AQNM down 17. CHGI down 12. INIS, HOKU down 11. WEST, CERP down 6. NENE down 3.

STUFF

Argentina set to expand solar capacity up to 35x. Govt planning 1st incentives for individual projects. Along with Venezuela, least clean/renewable energy in Latin Am. Argentina has ~2x solar radiation as Germany. So far, 11 projects of ~20Mw each applied for. 4 approved, have funds, waiting for tariffs. Argentine target 8% of power from clean/ren by '16. 2% now.

Total solar systems in Cal up 54% in '12 to near 40K. Over $1.2B sold in '12, up 41%. 3rd-party owned ~$938M of that, up 86%, 74% of state's home solar market.

State-run Indian Oil to increase gasoline, diesel prices.

Total (France) sees shale gas prospects in UK ripe for development. Reserve potential could be as large as 5.3TCF.

Global shale oil production could reach 14Mb/d by '35.

French consultant says may be 440-675M bls oil off Lebanon coast.

China oil refiners processed 467M tons (3.4B bls) (9.3Mb/d) of crude in '12, up 3.7% yoy.

Japan econ contracted 3rd Q in row, down .1% in 4Q. Eurozone econ down .6% in 4Q.

Iran proposing Russia develop Iran's oil/gas fields.

EIA said US' '12 oil demand down 1.8% yoy to 18.6Mb/d.

Rates for oil tankers that move crude between US ports up 87% in '12 to ~$86K/day. (Another reason gas prices high.)

Tokyo El Power bought 15% more fuel oil for power plants in Jan than year ago.

U of Kansas algae biomass process yields higher proportions of biochar. Hydrothermal liquefaction integrated wastewater algae-to-biocrude process. 5-30% greater biocrude yields.

Helius Energy (UK) plans to raise $9.6M to fund pipeline of wood-to-power facilities including a 300M Pound, 100Mw power plant in England.

Showa Shell (Japan) to increase production efficiency, cost competiveness to "top levels in world". Intends to lead development of PV solar modules. Also seeks to reduce cost of thin-film CIGS solar panels by ~1/2 by '17. Japan forecasted to become world's 3rd largest solar market this year.

GRAPHENE REPORT

Graphene a 1-atom thick sheet of carbon in hexagonic crystal lattice. 200x stronger than steel, tougher than diamond. World's thinnest material. Flexible, transparent, conducts el and heat very well. Stocks: AIXG, CVV, FCSMF, NGPHF, GTI, CHGI, PKX.



Swedish Energy Agency granted 60K Euros to Graphensic. Aims to produce single layer graphene on hexagonal silicon carbide for electronic equip market.

Japan's AIST, NIMS institutes developing new low-power graphene transistor. Charge movement can be controlled. Polarity can be reversed by el control.

Korea Inst of Science and Tech found way to easily produce graphene nanoplatelets from graphite. Grinding graphite with dry ball mill.

Xolve's tech can produce very pure, so very active graphene, other nanomaterials at low cost. They determine optimum solvents to tune solvent set for wide range of nanomaterials free of dispersants, oxygen or other molecules.

U of Manchester sandwiches graphene between boron nitride layers to produce highly accurate capacitors. Use quantum capacitance spectroscopy. Such capacitors could be cheaper, easier to make than current transistors.

Graphene Labs signed 2-yr strategic alliance with Lomiko Metals (Canada). To develop vertically-integrated supply chain. Lomiko samples will be used to test natural graphite to graphene conversion.

10-yr Europe graphene research program awarded 1B Euros. 74 partners. Graphenea (Spain) to be main graphene producer for project. Plan to expand their production 2,600x current capacity.

Bluestone Global Tech offering 24" x 300" roll of graphene film on copper.

Oxford U found new way of growing defect-free graphene using CVD. Random graphene flakes formed during CVD can be lined up by manipulating alignment of carbon atoms on relatively cheap copper foil. Copper surface acts as "guide".

Theoretical study from U of Puerto Rico says a bandgap can be opened in graphene using CH-Pi interactions. Can be further increased by sandwiching graphene between 2 C4H layers.

FUNgraphen joint research project has combined graphene with polymers. Suitable for plastic aps on kilogram scale.

Stanford researchers found single layer graphene ~100x more chem reactive than double or triple sheets.

U of Cambridge to establish new center for graphene research with over 12M Pounds from UK govt grant.

Graphene-CA research program to get 1B Euros over 10 yrs from EC. Led by Swedish physicist, over 130 research groups, 80 partners in 21 countries. To focus on developing graphene aps in computing, batteries, sensors.

Duke U developing ways to control crumpling, unfolding of large area graphene. Can lead to aps in health care, robotics, energy. Attach graphene to pre-stretched rubber film. Can be changed from transparent to opaque or reverse.

HEAD shipping graphene tennis rackets. $170-286.

STUFF

Austin Energy paying operating costs for 100Mw wood waste power plant just 7 months old. The plant hasn't been producing el for AE because it's el is too expensive (compared to NG).

Shell thinks use of LNG will double to 400M tons by '20. 500M possible by '25. Will require industry investment of $700B worldwide. Shell and Exxon produce more NG than oil. Pike Research expects LNG truck sales to grow 17%/y next 6 yrs. CNG truck sales 14%. 930K NG trucks total '12-'19.

Cape Wind back in line for DOE loan guarantee. $2B request shelved in '11 because of lack of progress. DOE reconsidering, though reportedly for smaller amount. Est. $2.6B Nantucket Sound project targeting construction start by yearend. PPA's for over 70% of projected output.

Late last year, ND produced 750Kb/d of oil. Producing more than Ecuador (OPEC member). Bakken formation spans 200K sq mi in ND, MT, Canada. (TX 262K sm.) Dow in '74 said Bakken capable of producing 10B bls. In '82, UND grad student said HC potential ~92B. Data crunch on that by '83 brought it up to 132B. In '99, USGS geochemist put it at 271-503B. 1st horizontal well drilled in '87 by Meridian Oil.

Jamaica's solar industry getting major boost from US Solar Institute. Island going to net metering. 2-yr pilot project to bring solar, wind to 2% of country's total energy output. Peak demand 683Mw as of '10.

FRIDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market mixed. Dow up 8. Naz down 6. Volume not all options Fridayed. Very weak options Friday. Oil down under $96. NY area manufacturing expanding, recovery taking hold. One report.

WWPW up 60. AQNM up 55, over 1M volume. NGLPF up 40. CGYV up 25, 1K shares. GERS up 24. BIOF, SENY up 20. AWSL up 17. PLUG, EWRL up 15. SPIR up 12. NPWZ up 11. XSNX up 9. ECAU up 4.

VNDB down 33. WEST down 22. CSOL down 19. CWET down 18. BHWX down 16. CSGH down 14. RVLT down 12. BOPO down 10. XDSL down 8. NENE down 7. RSOL down 6. NTCXF down 5. CERP down 3.

STUFF

Joint venture between U of Dayton Research Inst and PA-based nonprofit won 5-yr, $99M contract for new energy, enviro techs for USAF, other DOD agencies.

Solazyme (SZYM), Mitsui $20M signed multi-yr agreement to jointly develop triglyceride oils for oleochem industry. Also further development of SZYM's high myristic algae oil, other oils.

National Aluminum Comp (India) to start project to capture CO2 using algae.

Climate change 1 of 2 new additions to GAO's biennial "high risk" list.

World Bank Prez instructing staff to develop new approach to climate change. Likely to expand bank's work in carbon markets, end fossil fuel and other subsidies, make cities more resilient to climate change.

FERC rejected utility challenge to Cal cap-and-trade rules.

Anonymous funding of climate change denial groups on rise.

Leading locomotive maker sees LNG as future fuel.

ND Senate blocked measure to curb NG flaring. (Why is there always stupidity? Do people in North Dakota WANT global warming? Warmer winters. Huh. Not a bad idea for North Dakota. But what about the waste?)

Polysilicon suppliers to solar PV industry significantly lowered plant utilization in last 6 months. Avg fell below 70%.

German compromise to slow power price increases caused by clean/ren energy subsidies. Consumer surcharge to fall to 7 cents/Kwh next year, then annual increase up to 2.5% after. Would save est. 1.86B euros in '14.

World oil production up 2.3% since '10. World econ has grown 7.1% same period. Only reason oil prices haven't gone back to record prices is that countries have been undertaking new conservation measures. (In US, car buyers have selected more fuel-efficient vehicles.)

Senators announced legislation to reduce GHG's 80% by '50. An actual solution to climate crisis.

Europe's experience (since '05) shows emissions trading doesn't reduce GHG's, subsidizes worst polluters, locks in fossil fuel econ.

National Snow and Ice Data Center (U Colo Boulder): Greenland's surface melt in '12 was far in excess of any earlier year in satellite record since '79.

Cal Energy Commission approved $17.2M for green transport projects. Program slated to invest ~$90M this FY. $6M to build biodiesel production facility, 1st phase of $32M, 5M gal/y refinery. Waste veg oils, animal fats feedstock. Pipeline transport of fuel, waterless process for near-zero emissions. $2.5M for anaerobic digestion facility to convert 9K tons/y of food, plant waste into biomethane to make CNG for fleet of refuse/recycling collection vehicles. $1.8M to complete demo project of Argonne process to optimize production of biometh, reduce CO2 from anaerobic digestion.

65% of Americans say climate change is "serious problem": NRDC.

DOE announced $1M to analyze, eval potential cost-competitive pathways for production, transport of hydrogen fuel. Goal to achieve $2-4/gal gasoline equiv of H fuel by '20.

Transocean pled guilty to criminal charges in BP GOM '10 "spill". $400M fine. And it's not over. There are states' suits.

Exxon/Rosneft signed another Arctic exploration agreement. 234K sq. mi. in Russia Arctic. Rosneft gets 25% stake in NG play in Alaska North Slope.

Statoil taking market share from Gazprom with new NG pricing strategy. Linking to spot market rather than oil mart.

Oxford Photovoltaics (UK) got 2M Pounds from MTI Partners to advance development of solar PV colored glass. For buildings with color.

Centinela Solar Energy moving ahead with phase 2 of 170Mw farm in S Cal.

Senators intro'd bill to streamline clean/ren energy permits on public lands.

Admin may significantly reduce size, energy output of large-scale wind farm project proposed for S Cal to avoid impacts to golden eagles, endangered condors.

Mandatory cuts at DOE would hubble R&D, delay nuke cleanups.

MN aims to cut exposure to BPA in receipt paper.

FRIDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 9/2/0. Volume very heavy (options Friday). Market closed Monday. Oil down under $96. US industrial production down in Jan, week manufacturing and mining.

AQNM up 55. WWPW up 40. GERS up 25. BIOF up 23. 2-day jump over 200-day lines. URRE up 20. ECOS up 16. EWRL up 15. ZAAP up 14. PLUG up 12. XSNX up 8. ECAU up 5. DSTI up 5, bought their 1st solar park. CERP up 3.

WEST down 21 after hitting triple in 3 days. CSKH down 14. NENE down 8. RSOL down 4.

THURSDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market mixed and flat. Volume normal. Oil over $97.

WEST up 106. I told you. I told you. And I told you. CSKH up 65. IFXY up 50. WTWO up 33. PPRW up 30. SLMU up 25. BLQN up 24. BHWX up 20. BIOF up 19. XDSL up 17. ENOC up 16. SPIR up 14. LEOM, AQNM up 13. ORYN, CSGH up 12. CSUN up 11. BWEN, EVSI up 10. NTCXF up 7. CERP up 6. NENE up 2. XSNX up 1.

PLUG down 52. CSOL down 48. BOPO down 31. WWPW down 28. VLNCQ down 22. USEI down 15. APWR, GERS down 14. MMMW down 11. ENZR, NPWZ down 10. ECAU down 6. RSOL, PRHL down 5.

STUFF

Worldwide 2B people unemployed or given up searching. What a happy note to start with, A? (PBS program on Beatles' influence on Russia and ending the Cold War on TV as I write. And my band played Beatles in '64. And then we split up for some dam reason.)

US residential solar financing to reach $5.7B by '16 (someone is saying).

Subsid of Korean comp mismanaged $151M grant to be used for batt cell production: DOE IG.

Senators to unveil plan to tax carbon @ $20/ton. Potential $1.2T over 10 yrs for rebates, investments in clean energy, efficiency. (Not to pay down deficit. Hell, let's see how much we CAN borrow from the world's future. Not.)

NJ mayor proposes new sea level rise adaptation model. Delaware held 1st meeting on sea level rise. Scientists briefed Congress on probable sea level rise scenarios from climate change. Kiss New Orleans goodby. Atlantic City. And Boston gets back to 17th century. And then there's Florida.

OH proposed law would force drillers to test waste for radiation.

Statoil gave up on delayed Kazakh Caspian oil project.

Shell has gived up on '13 Arctic drilling, towing rigs to Korea for repairs. (Korea?)

US FAA, Spanish FAA agreed to coordinate on development/use of sustainable alternate av fuels in US and Spain. (US and SPAIN?!)

FERC accusing Barclays of manipulating US energy markets '06-'08. Cost other investors near $140M.

Shell to invest $1B in floating LNG plant in India.

Australian scientists say photosensitive metal organic framework - class of materials known for exceptional capacity to store gases - could be powerful, inexpensive new tool to capture and store, or potentially recycle CO2 for coal power plants. They use azobenzene molecules.

Serbia to seek offers for 315 hydropower plant locations. Up to 30Mw each.

Bloomberg - the mayah of NYC - wants to ban Styrofoam and reserve parking for 10K EV's. Right on, Mike.

Oil industry asking EPA to zero out '12 cellulosic target.

Outdoor air pollution in form of fine particles contributed to 3.2M deaths globally in '10, up from 800K in '00. Most worst from China, India. Pollution kills. (We all die from something.)

All EV Honda FIT coming to US east coast market this month.

THURSDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 6/6/0. Volume normal. Oil up over $97. Europe slumping most since '09. US foreclosure filings down 28% yoy, 150K in Jan. Options Friday tomorrow.

WTWO up 33. WEST up another 31, hit 2-day double. PPRW up 30. AWSL up 18. SPIR up 14. CERP up 13. ECOS up 12. SPWR up 10, new high. ENOC up 10. NENE up 2.

CPWY down 66. PLUG down 48. Priced new issue. ECAU down 11 more. RSOL, LEOM down 10. NTCXF down 2.

WEDNESDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market mixed. Dow down 35. Naz up 10. Volume normal. Oil down around $97.

CBWP up 81. RSOL up 66. WEST up 45. How many days ago did I say WEST looked ready to move up? CRGE up 40. ECTY up 28. SRWRF up 19. AMPD up 17. APWR, LEXG, PRHL up 16. BLDW up 14. NFEC, CRCL up 13. AQNM up 12. JUHL up 10.

AEHI down 41. PLUG down 26. PPRW down 25. HOKU, MKTY down 16. AWSL down 15. WTWO down 14. ECAU down 12. ZNNMF down 10. CERP down 5. NENE down 1.

STUFF

NY town sued over ban on discussing fracking.

NY Gov to miss Feb deadline for decision on fracking. Giving heath screeners more time.

NASA: Mideast has lost fresh water equiv to volume of Dead Sea.

Norway $700B oil fund setting sights on US property.

PV solar output in China's Jiangsu Province fell 28% 1st 10 months of'12.

MIT team found way to passivate silicon at room temp. Could be significant boon to solar cell production costs. Passivate = tying up loose atomic bonds to prevent oxidation that would ruin el properties. Now silicon surfaces passivated with coating of silicon nitride. One of most costly, more finicky steps in processing silicon. Requires 400 C temps. MIT process decomposes organic vapors over wires heated to 300 C (power use of light bulb), but silicon stays room temp. Also provides anti-reflective coating that improves cell efficiency. Research supported by Eni (Italy).

French green fund led $2.96M round for Finland enzymes start-up.

Brookhaven Lab figured out why enzyme reaction producing alkanes stopped after 3-5 cycles. Now devising scheme to keep reaction going. Could produce biofuels that need no further processing.

S Africa to miss E2 blend target for '13 despite sufficient local production. (Maybe they prefer food over fuel.)

E10 pump prices up 12.5% in Philippines. Import prices rose $100/cubic meter.

US Bank to invest over $1B in clean/renewable energy projects over next 4-5 yrs. Already announced $100M for SPWR program to install rooftop solar on 3K homes.

US gave go-ahead for CNOOC's $15B buy of Nexen. Offshore production assets in N Sea, W Africa, Mideast, GOM, Canada.

UK's 3 senior scientific advisors say invest in experimental nuke techs. GE/Hitachi Prism fast reactors to burn plutonium nuke waste, thorium reactors, fusion.

Ecotricity 50Mw onshore wind farm got go-ahead from govt in UK.

IKEA, Whole Foods ditching plastic bags.

Minneapolis the latest city to push for energy data from commercial buildings to encourage energy efficiency improvements.

Private investment will have to account for as much as 85% of transition to low-carbon economy.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

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Market mixed. Dow down 25. Naz up 16. Volume slightly light. Oil down, still over $97.

RSOL up 44 more on contract news. So, a little insider trading yesterday? PRHL up 16. XSNX, NFEC up 10. NTCXF up 3.

VNDB down 33. PLUG down 20, new low. BLQN down 20. LMRMF down 17. HOKU down 16. MMMW down 11. SPIR down 10. ECAU down 8. NENE down 4. CERP down 2.

TUESDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market mixed. Dow up 47, S&P up 2, Naz down 5. Volume normal. Oil up over $97. US Jan budget $3B surplus (WHAT?!).

SATCQ up 39. RSOL up 36. LMRMF up 28. XDSL up 20. MKTY up 19. ZNNMF up 17. LEOM up 15. VLNCQ, SPIR, CRGE, BLDW up 12. SCTY up 8. QTMM, CERP up 7. ECAU, NENE up 6.

ONYX down 99. ECOS down 38. PPRW, PRHL down 22. CGYV down 20. USEI down 18. CSGH down 14. PLUG down 12. CRCL down 11. RVLT, SENY down 10. XSNX, NTCXF down 6.

STUFF

NRC opened major investigation into Cal nuke operator that may not have admitted everything it knew at time about radiation leak when generators quickly became unstable.

Oxford U (yep, the one in Britain) began 4-yr study into risks climate change, related regs will pose to assets, investment plans of comps that remain wedded to high carbon biz models.

Melting tundra releases CO2 faster than previous estimates. (Also releases methane?)

BLM adding staff, amending policy to boost power transmission development.

Finland's new nuke plant won't open until '16.

East Africa Rift Valley poised to be 1 of fastest growing and sustained geothermal resources in world in coming decades.

GE snatched global wind install crown from Vestas in '12. Final figs not in yet.

EPA approved blender pump config submitted by RFA for general use by retail stations that wish to dispense E15 and E10 from common hose, nozzle.

FOGFUELS partnered up with Atlanta for B100 for city buses, school buses, etc. Fats, oils, grease (FOG).

Imperial College of London scientists developing method doing away with need to re-engineer a cell every time they want to make a new part. "A step closer to new industrial revolution." Could lead to library of off-the-shelf synth bio components to build more sophisticated biological factories.

Remember when you pay now (in US) $3.79/gal at pump that Venezuelans are paying 18 cents. And US is shipping gasoline to Venezuela. (It's not easy to pin down the oil/gas industry, but it sure behooves us to.)

Another drought in '13 (predicted) could really hurt US ethanol industry. 20 of 211 eth plants were forced to shut down in '12. Unlikely to restart until after '13 harvest.

The Hague demands Ecuador to cease enforcement of $19B Chevron case.

Neptune Renewable Energy bowing out of tidal energy sector. Entering liquidation. Their generators failed at full scale.

Australian pension provider - AMP - invested $100M in N Am wind developer Capistrano Wind Partners. They run 5 wind farms in NB, TX, WY with 413Mw gen cap.

TUESDAY OPEN

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Market up 28/0/1. Volume a little light. Oil up over $97.

SATCQ up 88. RSOL up 47. Over triple since Dec. LEOM up 15. WTWO up 14. GERS up 13. CERP, ZNNMF up 11. ECAU up 7. SPWR up another 4. FSLR back over $33. NENE up 2.

CGYV down 20. AMRS down 10. AMSC down 6. NTCXF down 2. DSTI flat. Supposedly selling CIGS production line and patents to Pacific West Equitites (PWEI) for up to $50M.

MONDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 21/1/0. Volume very light. Oil up to $97.

BOPO up 47. HOKU up 25. MMMW up 21. SPWR up 18. Big boys. BSRC up 18. ZNNMF, CSGH, ASIUF up 16. AMRS up 15. LEXG up 12. RVLT up 11. SCTY up 10. AMSC up 9. $30M follow-on order, reported FQ3. XSNX up 7.

NGLPF down 33. ECOS down 27. ECAU down 25. WTWO down 22. SATCQ down 19. GERS down 17. RNWEF down 16. AMEL down 15. APWR down 14. BLDW down 12. EWRL down 10. CERP down 9. NTCXF down 1.

STUFF

Grids in west N Am protected against solar flare blackouts, they say. East of Rockies, good ruck.

US admin released 1st-ever climate adaptation plans. (All I've seen reported on it so far.)

EU asks grid experts to plan for more EV's.

Climate change-related spending makes up 20% of new EU budget.

EU installed record wind power capacity last year.

EU study shows Europe car manufacturers cheating on emissions tests. (Just catching up to US makers on transparency? Japan, Korea next or weren't they already exposed? Where's the trust? Anybody got any trust?)

NOAA predicts minimal El Nino impact this spring.

Geologists/engineers saying "no way to tell" how much NG the US can produce. (So, what the heck, frack, baby, frack and let's see.)

Analysts say don't count on rebound in US NG prices. (Great! Let's get it into trucks, trains, barges, ships, cars.)

Brazil's NG reserves may be larger than thought.

ND bill would crack down on NG flaring. (Don't hurry, legislators. It's only been going on for 4 years. No, really, hurry it up, slugs.)

US sanctions in Iran tightened last week. Importers of Iran oil can no longer pay in dollars or euros. Only local currency.

Ag Dept est. 42% of this year's corn crop will go to making ethanol. (We still allow this to happen. Fuel rather than food for the hungry around the world. Sorry, kids, it's not right. We don't grow THAT much corn.)

Eni (Italy) announced oil discovery in west Egypt.

Canada regulator approved ap for LNG Canada to ship LNG from proposed Brit Columbia terminal. 25-yr export license.

Bank of America says Gulf coast imports of light crude - now ~500Kb/d - will probably drop to zero by '14 with N Am's "unprecedented oil boom".

New pipeline opening this month will allow pumping refined products from Gulf coast to E PA, N NY.

Alaskan Brewing installed $1.8M furnace to burn waste grain for steam to power most of brewery.

GM OK'd '14 Chev Cruze for B20 diesel. (Again, fuel from food. It's wrong, folks. As long as people around world don't have enough food. Where's our ethics? What does our president say? Do we really have enough excess food to make fuel from it?)

China comp to build 500K decaliters/y ethanol plant in Uzbekistan. $12.8M investment includes bottle cap factory. (It's not just us.)

Apple granted patent for new solar powered iPhone.

New EU research consortium researching producing biofuel from microalgae grown in seawater. Cultivation in bioreactors on unused land contiguous to ocean.

Global solar capacity up to at least 101Gw by end of last year. ~30-32Gw added in '12. Almost 30Mw in '11. Wind capacity reached 282Gw in '12, 44.7Gw added.

US drought forced 20 ethanol plants to close.

Alaska plans to lease volcano for geothermal power development.

Solar comps grappling with hazardous waste disposal.

Bhutan 1st nation to go all organic.

Netherlands paving way for widespread EV use.

Walmart, BMW leading on on-site clean energy gen. (And IKEA.) Walmart now 1% clean on-site. BMW gets 38% of its power from biogas.

Mass nuke lost off-site power again just hours after it was restored after cutoff from storm.

MONDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 26/4/1. Volume light (snowstorm digout). Oil down below $26.

ZNNMF up 12. AMSC up 11, shot over 50-day lines. AMRS, SPWR up 9. AMRS coming up off 50's. SPWR back to highs.

NGLPF down 33. SATCQ down 25. ECAU down 23. ECOS down 22. XDSL down 19. CERP down 17. Buyville. APWR down 14. NENE down 3.

STUFF

General Motors joined SEIA.

Congested roads cost US drivers ~$100B/y in wasted fuel, time.

US to auction off 38.6M acres of oil/gas leases 3-230 miles offshore LA, Miss, Ala March 20. Could be up to 1B bls oil, 4TCF NG. 4 more auctions to follow. 20M acres western Gulf auctioned in Nov '12, $134M bid for 650K acres. 39M central Gulf acres auctioned June '12, $1.7B for over 2.4M acres.

Turkey hopes to spend $10B/y on new power gen next 20+ yrs. Gen capacity now 55Gw. GE already has 32.5Mw of wind farms online. Siemens also filling turbine orders from Turk comps.

US extracted over 29TCF NG in '12. US demand somewhere ~22TCF/y.

OSU researchers creating process to get energy from coal by heating it, not burning it. "Coal-direct chemical looping." DOE has ~$5M invested. Ready to go from lab to test facility in Ala. Hope for retrofitting coal plants with the tech. Iron oxide pellets used for ox source. Process contained in chamber, no pollutants escape. Water, coal ash only waste. OH State has sustained process far longer than any other lab worldwide. DOE looking for 20-50Mw from it by '20. (I think we should push this a lot more and be able to export the tech as soon as possible.)

US govt has $150M of tax credits left over for clean energy manufacturers from Advanced Energy Manufacturers Tax Credit program started in '09. 30% investment tax cred. Program provided $2.3B to 183 projects.

Researchers at U of Toledo looking into turning abundant toxic algae in Lake Erie into biofuel. DOE, NSF supporting with $4M grant.

Cornell researchers found more innovation needed to make algae biofuels viable at commercial scale.

Origin Oil (OOIL) says its "Solids Out Of Solution" tech could be used by aquaculture industry to lower toxin levels.

U of Cal Davis chemists have engineered blue-green algae to grow chem precursors for fuels, plastics.

DOE granted $10M for algae fuel research. Will support projects aiming to boost productivity of algae cultivation, develop and demo effective, energy-efficient, low-cost algae harvest/processing techs.

Enviro, solar interests in Hawaii urging state to gradually reduce solar credits and undo temp rules many believe undercut solar in the state. Now 35% renewable energy credit.

Cost for large-scale solar dropped from 31 cents/Kwh in '09 to 14 cents in '12. Large-scale wind dropped from 9 cents to 8 in same time.

FRIDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 48/28/8. Volume normal. Oil under $96.

CPWY up 172. BHWX up 92. CSOL up 78. NGLPF, VNDB up 50. AWSL up 28. MGLT up 20. AQNM up 18. APWR, TMEN up 16. ECOS, SATCQ up 14. BIOF up 13. XSNX, BFRE up 12. PEIX, ENSL, ZNNMF up 10.

AEHI down 99. HOKU down 20. GSPI down 18. ASIUF, RNWEF down 14. BLDW, CHGI, WTWO down 10. CERP, NENE down 7.

STUFF

Exelon disputing allegations they deliberately misled NRC over how much money on hand to take reactors out of service and clean up sites. The CEO also said "excessive amount of wind power" being rolled out across US could lead to "unintended consequence" of shutting down nuke plants.

Repub senators intro'd legislation to force EPA to base cellulosic biofuel targets on previous year's production. (Sounds logical to me. Can't prod too much.)

Scientists asking Obama to hold climate summit.

More drought forecast for US in '13.

DOI draft fracking rule would allow drillers on fed lands to report chems used to industry-backed database - fracfocus.org.

MD legislators intro'd fracking moratorium.

National Grid announced Rhode Island's feed-in-tariff program - "Distributed Generation Standard Contracts" - enrollment sched, pricing. Target 40Mw clean energy and anaerobic digestion procurement by '14. 10Mw slated for '13. Max prices for solar 25-30 cents/Kwh.

US ethanol production reached est. 13.3B gal in '12. 2nd highest. Over 87K jobs, 296K more indirect jobs.

Poll says 64% of Americans support Renewable Fuel Standard. Renewable Fuels Assoc commissioned poll.

Global bioplastics market forecast to reach $7.7B by '16. Over 24% CAGR.

7 EU-based industry CEO's launched initiative to speed deploy of advanced sustainable biofuels in Europe.

Construction started on world's largest plasma gasification waste-to-energy plant in England. 300M Pounds Sterling. Air Products building. Westinghouse tech. 50Mw combined heat and power plant. Plans for 2nd plant next door. Both could use waste from over 1M households. ~2/3 of England's waste now goes to landfills. UK govt subsidizing the tech at wind power level - the highest.

Gulf of Mex rigs ceased drilling after discovery of faulty bolts in GE devices that connect drilling tubes, safety equipment to ocean floor. 3 week delay. ~$600K/day per rig, not including labor costs.

Scientists say nano-scaled rectifying antenna (rectenna) can turn sunlight into el at 70% efficiency. Only large-scale hydropower can beat that efficiency. U of Conn engineers looking at selective area atomic deposition (ALD) to create working rectenna.

Violent storm in Kazakhstan last month damaged power transmission lines to uranium mines. Ops halted for 1-5 months. Could be up to 21M pound shortfall.

Bank group to finance $1.9B German offshore wind farm. Siemens won 700M Euro 288Mw turbine order. 3.6Mw turbines. Construction start early '14. Online in '15.

Clean Air Act says new power plants can't emit over 1K pounds CO2 per Mwh. Most new NG plants meet that. New coal plants emit up to 1,800 lbs.

Super Bowl power outage was from faulty relay installed to prevent el cables leading to stadium from failing.

FRIDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 74/28/8. Volume normal. Oil up over $96. US trade deficit down on record energy exports.

CPWY up 172 on 100 shares. VNDB up 50. NGLPF up 40. ECOS up 31. AWSL up 28 on 200 shares. BSRC, SATCQ up 14. XSNX up 12. GERS, ENSL up 10.

PTOS down 21. RNWEF down 19. WTWO down 10. ECAU down 8. CERP down 2. NENE down 1.

THURSDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 42/3/2. Volume normal. Oil down under $96.

ONYX up 300. Go figure. USEI up 32. AEHI up 30. CGYV up 26. HOKU up 25. ALGXY, CRCL up 12. RVLT, ENSL, GSPI up 11. GPRE up 9.

CPWY down 63. CSOL down 52. BHWX down 48. MGLT, VNDB down 33. BLQN down 30. ECOS, AWSL down 22. ECAU down 20. CERP down 18. Good profit taking. AQNM down 17. AONEQ down 15. GWBU down 14. RBCN, CSKH down 12. BSLR, GRPH, XIDE down 11. BFRE, LIME down 10. SPWR down 4. Expects no rev growth in '13, Q4 increased loss, but beat expectations. NENE down 3. NTCXF down 2.

STUFF

NG vehicles on roads projected to reach 19.9M by '16. I'm thinking that's a global fig. US?

RGGI - 9 US eastern state cap-and-trade program - proposing much tighter limit for CO2 emissions from power plants. '14 cap decline from 165M to 91M (tons of CO2?). Then decline 2.5%/y '15-'20. May implement today.

Researchers have new tech to detect mercury contamination in water. Snap photo with cellphone.

New analysis says unsubsidized wind elgen now cheaper than new coal or NG power plants in Australia.

The Big Idea a nonprofit to bundle regular consumer services to cut costs and send savings to clean energy, enviro orgs.

Proposed new safety guidelines for Japan's nuke industry strict enough to keep reactors shuttered for years for upgrades. Critics say it will cripple biz. Many of proposals would bring Japan in line with US nuke standards.

New Sec of Interior "expert on climate change".

DOE reimbursed 3 New England comps $160M for nuke waste disposal fees. Comps fought the levy in court for 14 yrs.

Scientists found cheap, low-energy way to purify wastewater from oil/NG wells. (I expect more to come about this.)

Study: US may not meet its pledge to cut CO2 17% without more action.

Study: NY Times' new bldg cutting net energy use 24%.

Earthworms contribute to global warming. (I know. The real blame.)

China to release new standards for refiners.

1M so far in Ecuador signed petition to stop oil exploration in Amazon.

NY studying connect between fracking and earthquakes.

Report: US chem exports to grow with low-cost NG supply.

Japan's biggest banks planning 8x increase for solar investments. Expecting up to $19B over next 3 yrs. $2.6B in Japan solar projects in '12.

US asking WTO to rule on India's National Solar Mission local content requirement. Similar to Ontario case.

Duke CEO says US solar projects to eclipse wind this year for 1st time.

Now over 80 advanced biofuels plants in 27 US states.

U of GA researchers discovered connect between 2 diff types of cell wall sugars (glycans) and specific cell wall protein known as arabinogalactan. Previously not known to exist or even speculated. Could redefine basic plant biology. May lead to major improvements in growth, processing of biofuel crops.

Brazil's CTC to sign $40M deal with German comp for equipment for cellulosic ethanol plant. Will use Novozymes and/or Codexis enzymes. Online mid-'14.

Chevron says importing Brazil ethanol only way to comply with Cal's low carbon fuel standard. Also says to forget cellulosic eth and focus on vehicle fuel efficiency.

Petrobras seen producing 29% more eth '13-'14.

Iran's new $40M NG platform sank into Persian Gulf last week. Built by comp owned by Revolutionary Guard, funded by govt.

Analysis shows Britain  more often than not exports its cheap NG to Europe while importing more expensive NG from Qatar for domestic use.

Duquesne Light to change way it buys and sells power starting this summer. Could lower bills $30/mo. To buy power just 1 yr in advance. Longer term contracts include more costs they pass on to customers. 29 competing power suppliers for customers' choice.

Kazakhstan to subsidize wind farm installs by farmers. 50% subsidy up to 5Kw. 400 farms/y. Country plans to increase clean energy to over 1Gw by '20. 13 wind farms for 793Mw, 14 hydropower dams for 170Mw, 4 solar farms for 77Mw.

Senator Murkowski says we should create fund to support "less polluting" energy sources with revenues from oil/NG production.

Panasonic began shipping solar product from new 300Mw/y Malaysia plant. Their total production capacity now 900Mw/y.

Toshiba bought Consert (TX) for $11M. New level of tech to help utilities manage power loads. (Smart meters.)

Ocean Spray cut its shipping emissions 20%. (How, you might ask. I may get to it manana.)

IKEA, Whole Foods ditched plastic bags.

THURSDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 106/27/10. Volume a little above normal. Oil down near $96.

CGYV up 26. HOKU up 25. SATCQ up 18. ALGXY up 10. XSNX up 8.

BHWX down 48. MGLT down 33. ECAU down 25. That ride up done for now. GSPI down 20. RBCN down 15, new low. EVSI down 10. CERP down 9, 3-day run topped out just after open. NENE down 6.

WEDNESDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market flat and mixed. Volume normal. Oil I forgot to check. Probably back up near $97. GOP offering sequestration alternative. Can ANYONE figure out what we should do about ANYthing?

CPWY up 52. MGLT, VNDB up 50. CERP up another 42. Glad I own it. ( I will speak up more on my preferences if you want. Need some feedback.) ECOS up 33. GWBU up 25. SOPW up 22. CSOL up 18. (Eventually price ratios to book and sales can't be denied. Even if a China comp. If legit.) AMTX up 17. AQNM up 14. XSNX up 13. ZOLT up 12. A leap over 50-day lines. WEST, CABN up 11. FSLR up 7 on upgrade from Citi (I bought at 16.) ECAU up 6. NTCXF up 5.

NGLPF down 21. CGYV down 20. WTWO down 16. APWR down 14. HOKU down 11. GERS down 10. NENE down 3.

STUFF

USGS to reassess Bakken resources at yearend. Output fell in Nov for 1st time in 18 months.

UPS rolling out 100 EV's in Cal.

World Resources Inst: best way for Obama to keep US on track to reduce GHG's is new power plant standards. (Admin's been doing that. We have to get at transportation emissions.)

NM, 3 other states interested in hosting interim or permanent nuke waste storage site.

DOE: Carbon capture/storage coal power plant project in IL moving to 2nd phase - prelim designs, engineering. (How much spent so far?)

Global Crop Diversity Trust, CGIAR Consortium to invest $109M next 5 yrs in world's seed banks maintaining over 700K samples of seeds, veg material.

EPA's addition of oil, NG, coal methane emissions to online GHG tracker revealed 82M metric ton increase in CO2 equivalent over last year when meth figs weren't available.

WY may mandate groundwater testing for oil/NG industry by yearend.

Halliburton suit says former worker sold drilling tech to China.

Portugal turned on next phase of pumped storage hydro plant. Doubled capacity to 520Mw. Cost $138M. Stores power from wind farms.

W2 Energy (WTWO) buying 51% of Malaysia biodiesel plant for $5.5M. 30K metric tons/y from palm oil. Currently plans 20K this year. Malaysia upping biodies blend next year.

Viet comp producing biodiesel from catfish waste.

UAE researchers screening mangrove root sediments for cellulosic enzymes.

Oil majors including Exxon, Total supporting CO2 tax in Canada. Simpler, more predictable, preferable to cap-and-trade debacle in Europe.

US brewers taking up case against fracking. Worried potential contamination of groundwater would ruin their business.

Duke to shut down troubled Crystal River nuke plant in FL. 40-60 yrs to completely decommission. Will save ~$3B over 8 yrs. Now 30 yrs for new nuke plant breakeven.

As late as '07, EIA didn't list any shale gas in its forecast.

Serbia plans over 1Gw new clean/renewable energy capacity to improve energy mix by '20. 11.6% increase of total elgen cap. ~500Mw expected from wind, 200Mw from large hydropower, 200Mw from small hydro, 100Mw from biomass, rest from solar, geothermal. Up to $2.7B cost. New feed-in-tariffs took effect this week.

Oceanlinx (Australia) plans to raise $20M to expand in Europe, US before possible share sale. They make wave power generators. Currently costs ~4x coal power plants. Testing 1Mw generator in Aus. Plans projects in Scotland, Portugal, Cal, China, Japan. Cost competitive with onshore wind in 3 yrs, fossil fuels in 5 yrs.

Demand for India Renewable Energy Credits down 16% in Jan from Dec. Regulators failed to enforce clean energy targets. Credits sold for $28 each, floor price. Credit = 1Mw of clean energy fed into grid.

Atlas Box (Mass) working on reducing energy use 55% in 2 comm bldgs. Installing LEDs, other energy efficiencies. Upfront cost from finance program set up by National Grid.

Emcore (EMKR) reported fiscal Q1. Revs up 31% yoy, 4% over last Q. Stock up 12% today.

Paper: taxing petrol consumption can boost econ while reducing national debt. (How does it boost econ?)

Biodiesel industry goal: 10% of on-road market.

Study links low birth weight to particulate matter in atmos. (Beijing births to look at now.)

2 Great Lakes waterways hit record low levels.

$10M of herring died in Iceland fjord.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 33/8/2. Volume normal. Oil down under $96. German factory orders up.

VNDB up 50. ECOS up 33. CERP up another 25. Quintuple off bottom in last few weeks. CSOL up 20. ECAU up another 16. Triple since issued last month. AQNM, LMRMF up 14. XSNX, LEXG up 13. EMKR up 12. WEST up 10, looking ready to move up. NTCXF up 2.

TMEN down 22. NGLPF down 21. CGYV down 14. WTWO down 8. NENE down 1.

TUESDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market up 99/40/15. Volume a little above normal. Oil up near $97. Shell across street went up 30 cents today to $3.69+. Report that insider selling soaring. Careful.

SLMU up 50. CERP, SPIR up 49. ENSL up 28. MGLT up 21. WTWO, BHWX up 20. APWR up 16. POWI, CWET up 14. HOKU, BLDW up 12. ECAU up 11. CCTC up 10.

BOPO down 34. VNDB down 33. SATCQ down 32. AQNM down 28. CGYV down 26. MMMW down 22. AMPD down 20. LEOM, VLNCQ down 19. CABN down 15. BSRC down 12. CSGH, ENZR, WEST down 10. XSNX down 9.

STUFF

Mitsubishi recalling 14,700 EV's. Air pumps for brake boosters.

Ability of sea urchins to absorb CO2 could be model for system to capture power plant emissions.

World's 3rd largest pulp, paper comp agreed to stop all deforestation in Indonesia after agreement with Greenpeace. Started Feb 1.

Chevron exec admitted industry lacks "good grasp" on methane leakage.

Pemex blast last week from methane buildup reported today.

India scaling back clean energy subsidies because of budget shortfall. Finance Ministry delaying payments to National Clean Energy Fund. Bulk consumers of diesel will see subsidies reduced too.

Taiwan selected 3 comps to get subsidies to build model offshore wind farms. 300Mw. Will bring Taiwan's offshore capacity (installed and under construction) to 3Gw.

India's biggest real estate firm sold 150Mw wind power project for ~$53M.

Sedona Solar Tech (AZ) partnering with India comp to develop large-scale solar PV projects. Initial project 5Mw this spring.

Tata Power (India) seeking investors to help clean energy unit to grow over 2x in 5 yrs, buy projects at home, abroad. Plans to spend ~$328M/y to build 2Gw of wind, solar, hydro, geothermal. Total cap of 852Mw last year.

Westinghouse collaboration with Burns & McDonnell on small nuke reactors.

Malaysia B10 biodiesel blend policy approved for mid-'14 implementation.

Norwegian scientists have developed new super-thin solar cell that reduces wastage 95%. 20x thinner than current cells. Now ~1/2 of silicon thrown away in solar cell manufacturing. They're peppering backsheets with periodic structures, keeping sunlight longer in cells. Also using Uglested microbeads.

GE to supply 7 wind turbines - ~$30M worth - to Romanian wind developer. 17.5Mw.

Mizuho Financial Group to lead group of Japan comps to build up to 200Mw solar plant in India. Up to $325M cost. India target 9Gw grid-connected solar by '17, 8x current. May be Kyocera panels.

EnerNoc (ENOC) expanding demand response presence in N Cal over 50% thru '15.

GAO assessment slammed Hanford nuke reservation in Wash state. "Hasn't been well-planned, well-managed or well-executed major capital construction project." US's largest maker of weapons-grade plutonium through '87 from '43. Now 56M gal of highly radioactive waste in aged, corroded underground storage tanks. Borders Columbia River. Bechtel hired by DOE for cleanup. $4.3B cost now swollen to over $13B. Delayed to '19.

TUESDAY OPEN

(stock #'s in %)

Market bounce back up 115/28/13. Volume above normal. Oil back up close to $97.

CERP up another 29 on another update. ECAU up 12 on news. FNVRF up 11. POWI up 9. NTCXF up 3. XSNX up 2. NENE up 1.

CSKH down 37. AQNM down 28. CGYV down 26. MMMW down 22. LEOM down 12. RNWEF down 10.

MONDAY CLOSE

(stock #'s in %)

Market down 129/47/17. "Eurozone jitters". Volume a little above normal. Oil down near $96.

CSKH up 71. AQNM up 40. MMMW up 29. EVSI up 26. CERP up 23. BSRC up 12. ECAU up 11. NTCXF up 8. NENE up 1.

VNDB, ECOS down 25. CHGI down 16. CWET down 15. ZNNMF down 10. WTWO down 9. XSNX down 2.

STUFF

In fall, Greece raised taxes on heating oil 450%. Greeks have turned to burning wood, other highly polluting materials. Govt losing ~$130M on the deal so far. Particulate matter in atmos 3x normal in cities.

Fed court ordered US to pay Sacramento Muni Utility District $34.7M for failing to meet agreement on nuke waste storage.

Study: spring to bring earlier leaf budding times for trees in continental US.

Nissan plans to triple number of EV quick chargers.

Hottest Jan ever in Australia.

Warm Jan in Fla causing early flowering.

Because of low NG prices, a methanol manufacturer moving Chile plant to US.

China accounted for 35% of global onshore wind installs in '12.

US exports of gasoline to Venezuela at record high of 85Kb/d in Nov. Previous record 68K in Sept.

US crude oil imports down 6.8% in Nov from year ago. 8.13Mb/d.

Alaska North Slope production down 7.9% in Jan from year ago. 576.9Kb/d. Less oil every yr since '02.

UK oil production down 28% in 3 months ending Nov.

China's oil demand expected to rise 4.8% this year to 514M metric tons.

China lifted ban on hydropower development on Salween River.

Hess shutting down 70Kb/d NJ refinery late this month.

3 new cellulosic biofuels techs available from Berkeley Lab. Enzymes and lignin development.

Amyris (AMRS) commenced commercial shipments from new Brazil plant. Biofene (renewable famesene) for special chem, fuel aps. Sugarcane feedstock.

Palm oil expansion said not sustainable in Malaysia, Indonesia. Conversion of peat swamps to palm oil cultivation will release potentially unsustainable levels of carbon. Indonesia plans to double cultivation by '30. Malay developer plans to expand 800% by '20, expand ops to Cambodia, Indonesia.

Brazil ethanol production expected to surge this year at expense of sugar production. Govt boosting blend to 25% from 20%.

Pentagon may have spent significant amount of money on Iran oil for Afghan military ops. Violation of US sanctions.

Kinder Morgan Energy bought Copano Energy for $3.9B. Will boost position in N Am shale gas, add 6.9K miles of pipelines to current 46K, add 9 processing plants in TX, OK, WY.

Alliant Energy (LNT) closed on sale of RMT, renewable energy services subsid, to Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives.

Renerco Renewable Energy Concepts got $125M loan from Germany's biggest lender to help fund 3 UK wind farms. Total ~88M Pounds Sterling. (So, a little extra money loaned?) Total cap 45Mw.

NRG Energy (NJ) turned on 66Mw solar farm in LA County. PG&E buying the power. First Solar (FSLR) built, will maintain.

Sharp's operating loss from solar cell manufacturing narrowed in Q3. Japan sales up. $21M loss. "In fight against Chinese makers, we're not cost competitive."