STUFF

Suntech main solar subsidiary filed bankruptcy, pushed by China banks.

Brit govt approved new nuke plant. EDF Energy (FR) to build. 1st step toward updating fleet of 9. Not yet agreed on how to guarantee minimum price for power. Comp wants 10% profit. Est. $21B cost, el for 5M folks. (They didn't give Gw fig.)

NRC voted to require improvements to emergency vents at 31 US nuke reactors. Share design similarities with Fukushima. Voted not to require filters to scrub out radioactive particles coming through the vents. That can be done better, cheaper, industry says. (Yea, trust that.)

US now consumes 9% less energy for each $1 of GDP than in '08. Total energy use down ~5% since '08 (recession). CO2 emissions down almost 13% since '07. Down 15% by utilities (switch to NG). Goal 17% CO2 emissions reduction by '20 from '05. DOE forecasts CO2 to tick up 2% this year, .7% in '14 from econ recovery and some power stations switch back to coal as NG prices rise. 3K gigatons of CO2 in world's remaining known reserves of fossil fuels.

Study: oceans may absorb more carbon than expected.

Experts: markets alone can't decide on alternate energy, national security at stake.

Fukushima pumps back online after 24-hour blackout. (You'd think they'd have backup power by now for pumps.) Rat may be to blame. Rats.

WA governor put climate change at top of agenda. (What about Hanford nuke waste leaching down toward aquifer?)

Enviros criticizing proposed removal of climate change from UK school curricula.

Valero plans to haul more crude by rail to struggling refineries in Cal.

Analysts see LNG breaking free of price constraints. (Tell that to Japan.)

Global avg solar module prices down 42% in '12 to 79 cents/w. Already this year down 18% to 65 cents.

Combined global revenues for wind, solar, biofuels up 1% in '12 to $248.7B. Biofuels reached $95B, up from $83B in '11. Production up to 31.4B gal from 27.9B. Wind $73.7B from $71.5B. Added capacity 44.7Gw. (Not even $2/w.) Solar $79.7B from $91.6B (price decline). Installs 30.9Gw up from 29.6Gw. Est. combined total to near double by '22.

IMS Research predicts over 1Gw solar installs in Japan 1Q13. To match combined total from previous 3 Q's. Maybe 5Gw for year. Shortage of land available for large projects beyond current pipeline.

India's Karela targets 350Mw solar by '17. Hoping for 50Mw online this year. State of Tamil Nadu wants another 5Gw of wind. 7Gw now. State el regulator sees total 13.5Gw wind by '20, also to admin "solar purchase obligations" of state's solar policy.

Broward County FL simplified process to apply for rooftop solar permits. $673K fed grant. To save up to thousands of bux/system. 14 cities signed up, 9 more want to. 5 other FL counties looking to use as model.

AZ severely cut solar incentives in Feb. Commercial scale incentives eliminated entirely. Residential cut to a fraction. Clear Sky Advisors expects gradual level off of installs. Total solar capacity to rise to 1.5Gw by '15, 2.1Gw by '17. (Sun in AZ. Duh.)

India's generation-based incentive for wind energy reinstated late Feb. Repealed last April. ~$147M to be allocated in '13-'14 budget. Govt also to offer low interest loans for wind projects through National Clean Energy Fund. Accelerated depreciation tax break for wind sector also was cancelled in '12. May be reinstated. India's current wind capacity 26.9Gw. Plans 30Gw by '17.

Greenko (India) added 6 new run-of-river hydro plants to development pipe. Most funding from Singapore Investment Corp - $150M. Total capacity 425Mw. Build start this year.

KiOR (TX) (KIOR) started shipping cellulosic diesel from Miss plant. Pinewood chips feedstock. Diesel and gasoline. Condi Rice on board.

Colonial Pipeline (GA), country's biggest refined fossil fuel shipper by pipe, to start shipping B5 biodiesel blends by April to central, southern parts of GA. Concerns about getting biodies into jet fuel held it up. Won't use any pipe dedicated for jet fuel.

Novozymes (Denmark) to boost R&D in biofuels, bioag products above 16% of revenues - $260M last year. DuPont spent $2.1B on R&D in '12. Novo has 10% of global bioag market, 60% of biofuel enzymes market. Expects to supply enzymes to up to 25 cellulosic ethanol plants by '15-'17.

Up to 20% of Brazil's ethanol mills to be sold, mothballed this year. Ethanol not making a profit. Eth lost market share to gas past 3 yrs.

Shell to resume ops in May, spend over $1B this year in Iraq oil field development. Working with Baghdad, not Kurds. Expecting 100Kb/d in May. Iraq plans to invest $130B upstream, $25B downstream, $18B in NG. (My guess Shell got security firmed up.)

Sauds set to begin drilling for shale gas this year. Est. over 600TCF reserves. Pretty big. ~30 yrs US demand.

Computer tekkies jailed for spying, virus attack on Saudi Aramco.

MN Dept of Commerce questioned transparency of revenue data Xcel Energy submitted to support 10.7% el rate hike.

Mahindra (India) intro'd 4-seat e2o compact EV.

CN's new plan to meet escalating clean/ren energy target turned to large hydro from Canada, away from wood burning. May miss clean/ren target for 1st time.

City commissioners unanimous vote to decrease rates for Lakeland El (FL) customers by 2%.

Xcel Energy hit upper midwest wind power record. Almost 1/3 of power generated for a time. 1.7Gwh.

World Bank, Intl Financing Corp looking at financing Balkan clean/ren projects.

Enel Green Power, clean/ren unit of Italy's biggest util, started building $155M plant in Tuscany to tap underground heat to make el. (Not clear if geothermal or some other tech.) 40Mw. 2 turbines.

EC drawing up plans for standardized tools to measure carbon emiss of IT sector to give customers comparable enviro impact of products. Tech firms worked with EU over a year testing 10 intl methods, standards to measure C footprints of products.

LA #1 of US cities (need world rankings) for Energy Star buildings. 5th year in row. 528 bldgs. Washington DC 462 bldgs. Chicago 353 (growing 32%/y). NYC 325. Over 20K bldgs in US now. $2.7B/y in savings (2M houses worth of GHG emissions). In '12, over 8.2K bldgs E-Star certified (didn't say if US or world).

Fast ignition for fusion energy closer after supercomputer's record simulations.

Small biodiesel producers still reeling as EPA sorts out fraud.

Supreme Court considering punting raisin farmer's case back to appeals court.

Report: green jobs growing 4x faster than other sectors.

Participant in human soot tests filed $2M claim against EPA.