STUFF

U of Delaware professor developed system with 2-way chargers, circuitry add ons to make money when plug-in vehicles are plugged in. Balances grid supply/demand moment to moment. A car can make up to $5/day when plugged in. ~$400 extra cost of car. Stabilizes grid, frequency regulation.

New 5-story $6.58M apt complex in Hamburg Germany fully operational this week. Grows algae in outside walls to be harvested for biofuel production. Shades the bldg, abates street noise. Algae fed liquid nutrients, CO2 to spur growth. Pressurized air pumped in for growth, keep micro-organisms from settling on bottom, causing rot. Auto scrubbers keep glass clean. Panels double as solar thermal collectors for hot water or bldg's geothermal system.

DOA to help dairy industry curb GHG emissions 25% by '20.

9 US cities weigh divestment from fossil fuel comps.

Fracking tax breaks signed into law in Miss.

Enviros suing TVA over coal plant upgrades.

Report: diesel, hybrid registrations way up.

LDK Solar (China) to sell 2nd 15% stake to Fulai Investments (Chinese-owned) for $25.8M. LDK to issue 25M more shares.

Amonix new record conversion efficiency - 34.9% - for CPV (concentrated PV solar) module. Closer to competing with other solar techs. Peak reached 36.2%. 35% module efficiency ('17 target) would get cost down to $2.29/w.

Abu Dhabi plans to raise oil output from 2.8Mb/d now to 3.5 by '17.

Brazil to give R$970M credit for ethanol as offset to R$.12/liter ethanol tax. Plus up to R$4B for crop renewal loans for '13. Plus R$2B line of credit to stockpile ethanol.

10% of all gasoline sold in US contains ethanol. 13B gal/yr ethanol made, $25-30B revs. Energy content of ethanol 33% less than gasoline by volume. Using E10 reduces mileage 3.3%. Americans drive 3T miles/yr. If all used E10, cost to drivers $350B in lost mileage. So, losing ~$35B/y now. (That's bean countin', pards.)

Australia to prevent  fracking near Great Barrier Reef.

China Eastern Airlines will begin operating commercial flights on 100% biofuel blend of palm oil, recycled cooking oil by Sinopec.

NY PSC approved 1Gw transmission line from Quebec to NYC. $2.2B cost. Clean power from hydropower plants. To increase NYC el supply 10%, allow less dependence on fossil fuel plants. 333 mile subterranean cable 4 years to build. Should reduce annual energy costs ~$650M. Still needs Presidential Permit and permit from Army Corps Engineers. Both expected by yearend.

Lithuania PM says current nuke plant project "too expensive". Need regional partners (Estonia, Latvia) to continue. Current est. cost EUR5B for 1.3Gw. Hitachi tech.

First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund, largest global private equity firm exclusively focused on energy, and Renovalia Energy added 2 wind farms in Mexico. 90Mw farm operating since June '12. 137.5Mw farm under construction, online early '14.

Mexico to need 45Gw new elgen capacity next 15 yrs. Mandating 35% clean/renewable by '24.

Enviro groups challenging MN Power's coal burning plan. Comp plans to spend $350M to add pollution control equipment to 1 of 4 coal burning units. Groups want it shut down, money spent on clean energy projects.

Turquoise Intl, UK investor/advisor to clean energy industry, seeks buyer for Oceanflow, UK developer of tidal power tech. Asking 1-2M Pounds. Costs 30-50M Pounds to build device, develop it to commercial utility-scale product.

Germany's 1st offshore wind farm generated more power than expected because of steady winds last year. Alpha Ventus. 12 turbines fed 267.8Gwh into grid @ 15.3% yield. 5Mw turbines from Arena and Suzlon unit REpower. 4,463 full load hours. Availability this year to decrease from last year's 96.5% for maintenance.

Real Goods Solar (RSOL) installed 1.1Mw solar array at Church Farm School in PA. $3.2M. $1.19M grant from PA. Smart Energy Capital PPA. 5 acres. 75% of school's el needs. Equiv of planting .5M trees or taking 52M miles of auto traffic off road over system's life.

UK smart grid rollout to deliver 6.7B Pounds in net benefits.

REpower to cut 750 jobs. Seeks EUR100M cost savings.

Clean Line Energy Partners bought 1.5Gw NM clean energy transmission project.