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.