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.