Friday, May 31, 2013

FRIDAY NOON

(stock #s in %)

Market up 29/5/0. Volume normal. Oil: WTI under $93, Brent $101. OPEC keeping oil target same - 30Mb/d.

AMLM up 33. WWPW up 23. PTOS up 20. WSGP up 14, day 2 of rebound. MKTY up 13. STRI up 11, jump off top (200-day) line. HIIT up 8, still at tops, up 10x since July. XSNX up 6. RVLT up 2. NTCXF up 1.

WTWO, PPRW down 33. CSOL, SATCQ down 30. AONEQ down 20, that 3-day ride over. AMEL down 18. FNVRF down 17. ENSL down 16. OOIL down 14, that 2-week run over, rejected by 200-day lines. Stay tuned. ECTY down 10, back to top (50-day) lines. EWRL down 9. 1 penny. ZAAP down 7. NENE, CERP down 3.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

THURSDAY

Sorry pards. Had an early afternoon excursion back to college of graduation with old best friend - $43K/yr now, about 43 times what our folks paid for our edjacation - then an early dinner with the judge and family and then beers after at Toots with my son after meeting my friends' daughter. Truly awesome day. So, you can understand I'm done for the day. And tomorrow's payday. Toasties. Toastarama.

Um, generally, though, is clean energy doubling and tripling like crazy lately a signal of froth and market top? But the Fed keeps priming the pump until employment goes up. And housing has come back. And GDPs are growing. So. Sure the summer brings on doldrums. Maybe we go down 5-10%. But that would bring up buys.

I guess we shall see what the Irans, N Koreas want to do with the world. And the other lost. Syria's pretty nuts and bringing Lebanon into it. The world is what the world is. Let's help the lost, huh? Somehow.

Happy trails, pards, for another night. Onward and upward. Tally ho. Happier trailers.

THURSDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 72/24/9. Volume normal. Oil: WTI over $92, Brent over $101. NG $4.10. US revised GDP Q1 2.4%.

CABN up 78, day 3 of ride off bottom to bottom (50-day) lines. AONEQ up 35, day 3 also of climb off bottom, double. ASIUF up 29. MMMW up 20. WEST up 19 on huge volume. Might want to get on. WSGP up 14. SENY up 14, back to Aug high, near quadruple since mid-April. ZAAP up 8. LEDS up 5, just over top (200-day) line. XSNX up 3. NENE, RVLT up 1.

EWRL down 23, under a penny. ZNNMF down 21, back into top lines. CERP down 8, back to 50s. BLDP down 5, 3-day ride over. HIIT, PSON down 3. ECTY down 1.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

WEDNESDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market down 106/21/11. Volume a little light. Oil: WTI over $93, Brent over $102. NG $4.17. Volcker cautioned Fed may "fall short". Lat Am growth missed forecast.

BHWX up 66. AONEQ up 41, day 2 of showing some life. CABN up 40. OOIL up 25, day 2 of surge over bottom (50-day) lines. ECOS up 20. RVLT up 17, triple top. CHGI up 16, back over bottom (50-day) lines. CBAK up 13, day 4 of run off bottom to over bottom (50-day) lines. SENY up 12, runup all month, almost triple. PTOS up 12 off top line, looks like it's going up. CBAK up 11, day 4 of surge over bottom (50-day) lines. SWET up 11. MKTY up 11. ALTI up 10, jump to near top (200-day) lines. AMTX up 10, may be triple bottom back to Aug. BLDP up 10, day 3 of major surge to new highs, up ~4x from Jan, big volume, fuel cells. EVSI up 10, over top lines. HIIT up 4, up 10x from July. PSON up 4. LEDS up 3, in between top (200-day) lines. NENE up 3. You might want to buy it here or wait for it to come back.

CBWP down 30. MGLT down 23, 2-day drop back through 50-day lines to bottom. BLQN down 20. IFXY down 16. AMEL down 15. AQNM down 14. WSGP down 13. Pretty much bottomable. Graphite. Not lead pencils anymore. Course, they could be charlatans. Be careful. TMEN down 12. Bottom. NGLPF down 11, bumpin along the bottom. PRHL down 11, ditto. PSPW down 11, spurned by bottom (50-day) lines. NPWZ down 10. RSOL down 9, day 6 of come down after 2-day pump up. ZAAP down 7, touched bottom (200-day) line. ECTY down 5, looks like building base, could be trickery. CERP down 3. EWRL down 3. NTCXF down 2.

STUFF

Lawrence Livermore says they found cheaper, more efficient way to capture CO2 from atmos. (Cheaper, more efficient than what I do not know yet.) May also be able to reduce ocean acidification, produce hydrogen.

Pakistan heat wave causing up to 20-hr blackouts ... Drought-parched Texas approved $2B water conservation plan.

Barclays: capital spending by Master Limited Partnerships for US shale oil/gas projects expected to hit $25B this yr. Would bring total since '07 to $113B.

World Bank reversed 2-decade old policy, to now support large hydropower investment. Pledged ~$1B funding for hydro projects in world's poorest countries.

China Power Investments to invest $17B in Indonesia hydropower projects. Construction start maybe next year, 7-year buildout. Up to 7Gw capacity.

EC slapped import duties on Argentina, Indonesia biodiesel over alleged dumping. 6.8-10.6% for Argentina, 0-9.6% for Indonesia.

Brazil ethanol production 1st half of May up 146% yoy @ 3.25B liters.

Gulf Oil licensed by New Hampshire PUC to sell power as Gulf Electricity. Already has customers in Maine, Conn, Mass, including Fenway Park. Wants to become big player in all 17 deregulated states. Gives customers cash cards good at Gulf gas stations, convenience stores. Next to expand to NY, PA, RI.

GDF Suez Canada, partners started ops at 10Mw solar farm in Ontario. $50M. Group has 300Mw more of wind projects in construction in Ontario, B.C. Currently ops 362Mw of wind power in E Canada.

Kansas City to install solar on 80 city buildings. ~1Mw total. City to save $40K in 1st year, more later.

Quantum (QTWW) selling 10Mw wind farm in Canada for $936K cash, assumption of C$237K of liabilities in 1st phase of deal. C$1.1M for remainder within 2 years, after farm begins ops. (There's at least another $18-22M for total cost to build.)

Jinko Solar (China) delivered 5Mw of modules for India project.

Sharp (Japan) completed final 10.3Mw stage of 84Mw solar farm in Thailand. Thin-film solar.

Study: Germany could save EUR2.4B/yr by opting for onshore wind power over offshore.

EIB lending Renault EUR400M for clean car development.

JAS Solar (JASO) filed for $80M securities offering.

Solar industry fretting over quality of product after panel failures.

Utah refineries lack clean air permits amid state's fight with EPA.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market down 159/34/17. Volume normal. Concerns over Fed easing again, "they" say. Oil: WTI under $95, Brent $104. NG $4.15. IMF cut China growth forecast.

PTOS up 45. CABN up 45. OOIL up 22, day 2 of surge off bottom (50-day) lines. EVSI up 20, back over all lines. SWET up 16. XDSL up 12. MKTY up 11. BLDP up 9, another new high, day 3 of surge, double since early May. HYGS up 7, another new high, day 4 of surge. EWRL up 3. XSNX up 3. NENE up 3.

SATCQ down 38. CBEH down 17. AMPD down 17. WSGP down 16, the dumping goes on. AQNM down 14. QTWW down 8 despite news, back to bottom (50-day) lines. ECTY down 7. TSLA down 6 after reaching new high, the ride may be over for now. CERP down 5. NTCXF, RVLT, LEDS down 2.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

TUESDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market up 106/29/10. Volume a little busy. Oil: WTI over $95, Brent over $104.

Moody's outlook for US banks raised to "stable". Record cash outpouring into US balanced funds as individuals return to stocks. (You know what that means. Historically nearing a top.)

BLQN up 103 on 500 shares. Really. (Froth?) SATCQ up 81. (Who knows.) PPRW up 40. AONEQ up 39. PLUG up 34 on big volume. BLDP up 33, huge new high. (Fuel cells in, I guess.) USEI up 29. MKTY up 27. HSOL up 22. AMEL up 20. CRGE up 20. HYGS up 17. PSPW up 16. GERS up 14. TSLA up 14. ZNNMF up 14. OOIL up 13. CBEH up 12. GSPI up 12. HOKU up 12. NPWZ up 12. SENY up 11. RNWEF up 11. FNVRF up 10. CERP up 8. EWRL up 8. AMSC up 8. ZAAP up 7. NENE up 6. PSON up 2. LEDS up 1.

WWPW down 42. MGLT down 41. SLMU down 31. ECOS down 28. CSKH down 23. NGLPF down 18. CLNT down 17. ENOC down 15. RSOL down 15. AMLM down 11. BFRE down 11. HIIT down 9. RVLT down 2. ECTY down 1.

STUFF

DOE-owned uranium enrichment plant in KY to shut down next month. Only American-owned enrichment plant left, uses gaseous diffusion tech. (European-owned centrifuge tech plant in NM.) Opened in '54. Uses 20x el as centrifuge tech. Steep cost to decontaminate, tear down. 1K employees. USEC operates plant, will import uranium from Russia to supply utilities.

Britain came within 6 hours of running out of NG in March.

Heat wave across northern, western India causing massive power cuts, protests.

Iranian-backed hackers escalating cyber assaults on computer nets running energy comps.

DOD going forward with $16M Phase I of advanced biofuels program. Industry cost-share match. Aims for under $4/gal drop-in fuels. Contracts for Emerald Biofuels, Natures BioReserve, Fulcrum Biofuels. To develop plans for up to 150M gal/yr biorefineries. Phase II  to award up to $180M to accel build of at least 1 biorefinery.

Absolute Energy (Iowa) 115M gal/yr ethanol plant now offering E85 directly to retailer for ~$1.93/gal. 11 cents/gal savings at pump v. unleaded, adjusted for energy density.

Shanghai launching biodiesel from used cooking oil program after scandal last 2 yrs over resale of used cooking oil leading to 32 arrests, national crackdown. (The wild wild East.)

Itochu (Japan), Benefuel (TX), Flint Hills Resources Renewable launched JV to produce biodiesel from inedible feedstocks in Neb. 50M gal/yr target. Benefuel claiming breakthrough tech to convert oil, fat, free fatty acids into biodiesel in single step.

SE Asia's 1st shale gas contract just let in Indonesia. Reserves could be up to 16TCF.

German beer brewers warning fracking may threaten biz. (Even just from perceptions.) (Don't mess with german beer.)

JV including Lutz, China comp made $20M bid for Fisker. Lutz plans to convert Fisker Karma into V8 gas guzzler.

LOI for Energy Fuels to buy Strathmore Minerals for $28M to create 1 of largest uranium mining comps in US.

Renault ending 5-yr partnership with Better Place (Israel). BP plans to shut down. Had batt switch-out tech for EVs.

India plans to auction 4 solar thermal power projects. Total cap 120Mw. Call for bids w/in year. Up to $183M of govt grants.

Deep Earth Energy Production Corp planning Canada's 1st geothermal plant to tap heat beneath Saskatchewan oil/gas fields. May cost $34M for 5Mw.

Obama admin granted final approval of Cal wind power project despite endangered condor safety.

Derailed cars spilled 49K gal of ethanol into Iowa river.

Participants in DOE Better Bldgs Challenge reduced energy intensity 2.5% in 1st year, achieving ~$58M in annual energy savings. DOE says comm bldgs spend $200B/yr on energy, factories another $200B. Together account for ~1/2 US energy use, over 40% CO2 emiss.

EU, China solar talks fell apart. Merkel says Germany opposes punitive EU tariffs. Both sides want to avert trade war.

World Bank released 1st set of global data on energy access, clean/renewable energy capacity, energy efficiency. ~1.2B people have no access to el. 2.8B rely on wood, other biomass for cooking, heating. Clean/ren is 18% of global energy mix. China had largest energy savings, largest expansion of clean/ren.

South Britain to spend 7.8B Pounds on "vital" network upgrades for clean/ren energy.

Fed appeals court gave EPA victory on air standards for lead smelters.

S Korea idled 2 nuke plants after finding faked tests.

TUESDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 182/45/18. Volume a little heavy. Oil: WTI over $95, Brent over $104. NG $4.22. US consumer confidence up, home prices up over 10% in March yoy.

SATCQ up 33. USEI up 32. HSOL up 21, back to mid-May top. PPRW up 20. GERS up 19. ZNNMF up 16. HYGS up 15, another new high, day 3 of jump from top lines. CSIQ up 15 after reporting lower losses. CHGI up 12. NPWZ up 12. RNWEF up 12. SWET up 11. PLUG up 11. AMEL up 10. ZAAP up 7. ADES up 7, new high. TSLA up 6, over $100. NENE up 5. LEDS up 2. CERP up 2 on news. PSON up 1.

BFRE down 77. WWPW down 42. ECOS down 28. ENOC down 16, through top (50-day) lines to near 200-day lines. IFXY down 16. EWRL down 15. RSOL down 12, day 5 of profit taking. WSGP down 11. XSNX down 3. NTCXF down 1.

Monday, May 27, 2013

STUFF

US NatGas storage now under 5-yr avg for time of year.

Martifer Solar building 30Mw PV plant in Mexico. Largest to date in Latin Am. Single-axis trackers. August completion. Mexico now has ~13Mw total solar capacity.

Google bought Makani Power - flying kite wind turbine developer. Turbines fly in large circle @ 800-2K feet altitude. Rotors act as turbine and propeller. Direct-drive generators, power sent down tethers. Delivers 2x the power of conventional turbines per unit. Uses 90% less material. 30Kw models tested so far. Plans to scale to 600Kw.

KPMG: 62% of US energy execs believe US can attain energy independence by '30. Up from 52% last year. 23% think it could happen by '20. 17% think it will never happen, down from 27% last year.

OCI Solar Power finished 3Mw AC PV solar farm in NJ. OCI developing 400Mw project in San Antonio, another 100Mw around US.

1st US income tax inaugurated in 1862. Rate was 3%. (A nice holiday trivia Q, A?)

Blue Earth (BBLU) subsid Xnergy finished 2 more PV solar projects for Calif farms. 115Kw total for $530K.

DPR Construction's Phoenix office 1st net-zero energy commercial bldg in AZ.

Australia scientists found way to print lightweight, flexible solar panels with 3D printer, solar ink. Initial aps for cellphones, laptops.

$55M, 60Mw NorthWestern peaker power plant ready to fire up in SD. Came in $10M under budget. NG plant can burn diesel in emergency. 2 employees.

Philippine DOE approved Energy Dev Corp's 87Mw, $300M wind farm and Alterenergy's 67Mw wind project.

Globeleq inaugurated 44Mw wind farm in Nicaragua. Gamesa 2Mw turbines.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

STUFF

Digi Times: US solar installs may only be 3.5Gw this year.

Scientists expecting 2 times as many hurricanes as normal this year.

Researchers developed dengue fever forecast using temp, rainfall records.

Moniz to pause LNG export licensing process until he can personally review DOE decision making on it. (Hate to say it, but does he want in on the money?)

EIA: coal back as top US power generation fuel.

EIB to fund Repsol Tech Center (Spain) EUR200M for R&D projects in NG transport, energy efficiency, optimizing refining processes, petrol derivatives, CO2 storage, systems development in clean, renewable energy, biofuels and transport solutions.

Chinese military renewing cyber attacks with focus on US grid. (What the hell is that?! Is that just normal? Or response to US cyber attacks? Who the hell knows? Toughens up the grid security, hopefully.)

Sauds offered $15B energy bailout to Pakistan after govt-changing election. Former Paki govt favored relations with Iran. Sauds to provide 100K bls of crude, 15K tons of furnace oil on 3-yr deferred payment basis.

US wastes more energy than any other country. Energy efficiency 42%. The rest wasted. 71% wasted in transportation. 66% wasted in power gen. 20% wasted in commercial and rez bldgs, industry, manufacturing. Low-hanging fruit - transportation and powgen.

PG&E activated 2nd energy storage project using NGK (Japan) batts to balance grid power. $18M, funded in part by $3.3M grant from Cal E Commiss. 4Mw cap. Can store el up to 6 hrs. Their 1st system was 2Mw.

Boston Scientific inaugurated their 1.28Mw rooftop solar sytem at Mass distrib center. Provides 25% of center power demand. 3rd largest rooftop system in Mass. Helio Sage Energy built with Con Ed Solutions collab.

Judge about-faced, rejected bid to force EPA to curb lead ammo. (Check his bank account. O, but how polluting is lead ammo really. It usually ends up in animal or human.)

EPA shuttered by furloughs on Friday along with IRS, others.

States: NRC process for reviewing nuke waste storage legally flawed. (Expect lawsuits.)

DOT giving NY, NJ transit agencies $3.7B for Sandy recovery. (I guess part of $50B package.)

EU approved bee protection rules. (About time. Now US I hope. Especially Calif.)

MN gov OK'd solar energy bill.

Calif bill targeting plastic pollution in ocean. (Stalled in committee? It's 2013. We should have biodegradable plastic in everything. And some way to clean up those ocean gyres. But money spent on cyber attacks, war, name the waste.)

Brazil to auction giant oil prospect in Oct.

Bolivia plans to double spending on energy exploration.

FRIDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market flat and mixed. Volume a little light. Market closed Monday. Oil: WTI over $94, Brent under $103. NG $4.28.

NGLPF up 62 over bottom (50-day) lines. MGLT up 40 over bottom (50s) lines. FCEL up 28 on big volume, new high. ORYN up 28. DSTI up 23, day 6 of run. BLDW up 23, over 50s. GSPI up 23. SOPW up 21. PLUG up 19, looking more like climb out's for real. ECOS up 16. BLDP up 15, back up to March highs. ASPW up 14. EVSI up 13. CSGH up 13. HYGS up 12, new high, double since Sept. TMEN up 11. HIIT up 10, back up near highs. NTCXF up 9, back over 50s. NENE up 5. TSLA up 4, new high. XSNX up 4. ECTY up 3, quadruple since Jan. CERP up 1, over 50s.

XIDE down 42, new low on huge volume. BLQN down 40 on a few hundred shares. EWRL down 27, day 7 of this up and down. MKTY down 22. AMEL down 18. SWET down 15, back below bottom lines. PSPW down 15 on 138 shares. I know, nuts. AMTX down 13, back to bottom. ENSL down 12. GERS down 12. PTOS down 11. ASIUF down 11. CHGI down 11. WSGP down 7. ZAAP down 5. LEDS down 2. RVLT down 2. PSON down 2.

Friday, May 24, 2013

FRIDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market down 43/15/7. Volume a little light. Oil: WTI under $94, Brent under $103. NG $4.27.

US durable goods orders up.

WTWO up 50. MGLT up 20 on 1K shares. PLUG up 12. NTCXF up 10, back above 50-day lines. MKTY up 10. LEXG up 9. NENE up 6. CERP up 3 more. ECTY up 2.

XIDE down 44 on heavy volume, new low. ENSL down 28. EWRL down 21, coming back to 50s. PSPW down 15 on 138 shares. ZAAP down 5. XSNX down 3. LEDS down 3. WSGP down 2. RVLT down 1.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

THURSDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market down 12/3/4. Volume a little heavy.

CPWY up 88. BFRE up 80. AEHI up 66. LEOM up 25. HIIT up 21. ECOS up 20. HSOL up 16. BLDW up 16. ECAU up 15. HYGS up 11. CERP up 7 on turn around. ECTY up 5. NTCXF up 4. RVLT up 2.

NGLPF down 23. ORYN down 22. WWPW down 22 on 100 shares. BLQN down 17. CHGI down 15. CLNT down 14 after hitting new high. CBWP down 13. BSRC down 12. ASPW down 12. EVSI down 11. AMEL down 10. RSOL down 10. XSNX down 7. ZAAP down 5. WSGP down 4. NENE down 2. EWRL down 1.

STUFF

New analysis shows US land, water resources - most in Gulf Coast, S East - could support growth of enough algae to produce up to 25B gal/yr of fuel. ~8% of US demand.

Tesla repaid DOE loan 9 yrs early. Plans supercharger network.

Colo State U Center for New Energy Economy created new online database for anyone interested in clean energy legislation in any state.

Biofuel Weiss (Germany) building 7M gal/yr biodiesel facility in Nova Scotia. Entire production to go to Germany. Used cooking oil feedstock. 1/3rd of production capacity by yearend.

India ethanol price settled at 62 cents/gal.

Oil tanker owners have lost ~$27B since '09. Consolidation inevitable.

Proposed $500M fund to help geothermal developers could leverage up to $9.6B of new investment, 2.4Gw of new capacity. Costs $10-36M just to see if site merits development (2-4 wells). ~6% of world's est. geothermal potential tapped so far.

Itochu (Japan) and partners to produce 50M gal/yr at non-food feedstock biodiesel fuel plant in Neb.

Panasonic to end solar wafer production at Oregon plant at end of June. They want to consolidate production at Malaysia plant. OR factory also makes silicon ingots for solar wafers. Also closed solar wafer factory in Calif last year. (Guess they'll be shipping OR ingots over to Malaysia.)

EU threatening fines, airport bans for 8 Chinese airlines failing to provide info required under Europe's new GHG reduction program. China says plan violates international law, ordered their airlines not to comply.

Element Power aims to build 300Mw wind farm in Finland.

CCC says low carbon investment after '20 could save UK up to 100B Pounds.

UK to intro energy efficiency auctions in '14.

One Wind to bring 1st wind farm in $2B portfolio online by '15.

THURSDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market down 30/10/8. Volume a little heavy. Oil: WTI under $93, Brent under $101.

Japan sell-off. China manufacturing slump. US manufacturing down. Sign European recession ending. Avg. 401k balance over $80K, up 75% since '09.

HIIT up 21, jump off top (50-day) lines. LEOM up 15. HSOL up 12. AMEL up 10. ECAU up 10, up to bottom (50-day) lines. LEDS up 3. RVLT up 3. NTCXF up 2.

CBWP down 71 on 200 shares. MMMW down 25. WWPW down 22 on 100 shares. BLQN down 17 on 100. EWRL down 14. AMTX down 14. NPWZ down 12. PSON down 7. WSGP down 7. ECTY down 4. ZAAP down 3. NENE down 3. CERP down 2.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

STUFF

White House threatening to veto House legislation to fast-track Keystone pipeline.

Study: thawing tundra soils could produce lower CO2 emissions than previously thought. (Methane emissions another question.)

Moniz: energy efficiency to be key to DOE's climate change fight.

3rd auction held in Calif cap-and-trade program.

Study: during drought, some tree species absorb less CO2.

$100M refinery planned for TX's Eagle Ford.

Global LED tube light shipments to reach 220M units this yr: Digi Times.

Talisman (Canada) didn't find enough NG to warrant further shale gas development in Poland. 2nd developer to bail out in last year. Of 39 wells Poland expected this year, only 2 drilled by May. But Poland shooting themselves in foot with high taxes on developers.

Kroger setting up facility at Calif distribution center to process up to 55K tons of food waste/yr into energy instead of sending it to composting facility. Looking at replicating system at other distribution centers.

OH State U study found clean energy provisions in '08 state energy law saved consumers $170M through '12. Power bills 1.4% lower than they would have been without law. Also spurred $660M in public, private investment, 3.2K new jobs.

Santee Cooper - S Carolina-owned utility - locked down 45-yr sales agreement with Central El Power Coop, Santee's largest customer. Should lower Santee's borrowing costs.

2 yrs into Fukushima, workers still struggle to keep reactors cool while trying to contain 400 tons/d of radioactive water.

JFE, partners test drilling for 7Mw geothermal power plant in N Japan.

BYDDF launching pilot program of electric taxis -45 - in Hong Kong. Already launched trial programs in Europe, US.

Abengoa could get EUR210M from EIB for S Africa CSP project.

White House, Pentagon at odds over $510M fed program to invest in biofuel refineries.

NC added 14th power plant to lawsuit over coal ash v. Duke.

IL state senate voted to override gov's smart grid veto.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 64/8/6. Volume a little heavy. Oil: WTI under $96, Brent under $104. NG $4.22.

Fed to maintain stimulus.

CLNT up 139 on news, new high, leap from all lines. VNDB up 100. CSKH up 44. ENSL up 24. BLQN up 19 on 100 shares. PRHL up 13. RNWEF up 11. NFEC up 8, up over bottom (50-day) lines. ZAAP up 5. CREE up 5, new high, upgrade. NTCXF up 4. HIIT up 4, in top (50s) lines. PSON up 2. NENE, RVLT up 1.

BHWX down 40. GSPI down 28. BFRE down 24. WWPW down 22. ECOS down 16. PSPW down 15. CERP down another 15, back under 50s. EWRL down 13. AQNM down 12. RSOL down 12. LEDS down 10, pushed back under top (200-day) line. ECTY down 5. WSGP down 4. XSNX down 3.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

TUESDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market up 52/5/2. Volume normal. Oil: WTI over $96, Brent under $104. NG $4.24.

BOPO up 43. CBEH up 38, 5-day surge off bottom to over all lines. PLUG up 35, climb off bottom (50-day) lines. DSTI up 32, jump over bottom (50s) lines. ASTI up 28, 2-day jump over all lines. ZNNMF up 23, new high, double since mid-April. SPIR up 22, up over top (200s) lines. CHGI up 21, 3-day climb over bottom (50s) lines. ENSL up 21. PEIX up 21, 2-day climb over bottom (50s) lines. HOKU up 20. LEDS up 15, jump over top 200, called it a buy yesterday. SENY up 15, climb over top (200) line. SRWRF up 15. USEI up 15. AQNM up 14. CSOL up 13. GSPI up 12. AMSC up 11, day 2 of surge up to top (200s) lines. BIOF up 10, up to bottom 3 lines. BSRC up 10. HSOL up 10, another new high. MKTY up 10. PSON up 3. NENE, NTCXF, XSNX, ZAAP up 2. RVLT up 1.

AEHI down 98. CRGE down 41. BFRE down 40. IFXY down 36. ECOS down 33. CERP down 27, back to 50s. CABN down 25. MMMW down 25. PRHL down 22. WSGP down 13, rebound over. GERS down 12. SCTY down 12. CSUN down 11. WEST down 11. ENZR down 11. LEOM down 10. HIIT down 4. ECTY down 3.

STUFF

64 comps following Wal Mart's effort to reduce supplier's emissions. Wal Mart found 90% of its emissions came from its supply chain.

Hansen: mining oil sands will make climate change "unsolvable".

Poll: public fails to see link between Keystone pipeline, climate change.

UK govt made major cuts in climate change staff. But launched new clean/renewable energy research initiative.

Poll: 87% of IL voters want more clean/renewable energy.

Lux Research: solar equipment supply glut gone by '15.

IEA: use of NG as motor fuel to grow from 1.4% of market in '10 to 2.5% in '18. Also says demand for African oil to increase quickly next 5 yrs. Also says Beijing to add 245M bls to its strategic reserve this yr.

Financial Times: increases in drilling efficiency lowering cost of extracting ND oil to $35-60/bl.

Petrobras expects to spend $237B next 4 yrs to develop deepwater oil resources. Wants to more than double production to 5.7Mb/d by '20.

Venezuela to borrow $4B more from China to increase heavy oil production from 140Kb/d now to 330K. China already importing 626Kb/d from Venezuela in exchange for $30B of loans currently outstanding.

New research shows 1 of Japan's shut-in nuke reactors was built on a seismic fault. (You would think ...)

Share of US NG production from Gulf of Mexico fell from 24% to 6% in last decade.

Operators say a 3rd NG field offshore Israel may contain 2TCF.

Shell announced another "leak" in Nigeria NG pipeline (translates "sabotage"). Govt doesn't allow oil comps to announce effects of attacks.

Pemex discovered its 3rd ultra-deep oil field in Gulf of Mex.

ND oil production hit 782Kb/d in March. Still adequate rail capacity to move it to coastal refineries.

BP asking UK govt to help get US fines for GOM spill reduced. Spill cost BP $42.4B to date.

Britain has issued over 300 licenses for onshore oil/gas exploration. Lifted fracking ban in Dec.

Half of oil burnable '00-'50 to keep world within 2 degrees C of warming has been used. Analysis calculates annual 6% oil use decline rate after '12 needed. Climate Institute: "we're headed toward 2-4 degrees warming."

Ag Processing permanently closing its only ethanol plant after margins failed to improve. 52M gal/y plant in Neb. Older gen tech.

DOE authorized Freeport to export 1.4BCF/d LNG for 20 yrs. With Cheneire 2.2BCF/d LNG terminal combined capacity 5.2% of US NG production (est. 69BCF/d in '13). FERC permits, enviro review still to come for terminals. 63 LNG export terminals currently planned, under construction worldwide.

N Carolina car dealers sponsoring bill to ban sale of Tesla EVs in state because TSLA sells cars directly to customers.

Cupertino El completed Phase I of 21-site solar project of 6Mw for Cal school district. To save $2.4M/y.

Brazil to provide $234M funds for N East wind farms. 5 projects for 136Mw part of total to use Suzlon turbines. 4 other projects.

Unit of Nippon Steel, Sumitomo Metals JV expect geothermal power gen equipment sales of $49M as early as '15. 17 geo plants operate now in Japan.

Japan plans to provide low interest loans for rooftop solar. Homeowners to get $100-200/yr for renting out their rooftops.

Con Ed unit buying 50% stake in 2 Sempra solar power plants - 150Mw near Vegas and 150Mw near Phoenix.

PV Crystalox in talks to sell shuttered polysilicon plant to ex-workers.

Report: US utilities haven't adopted voluntary measures to block cyber attacks.

NRC again delayed San Onofre (Cal) restart decision.

US, EU preparing settlement over solar equipment dispute with China.

TUESDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market flat and mixed. Volume a little above normal. Oil: WTI under $96, Brent under $104.

DSTI up 44 more, up over bottom (50-day) lines. EWRL up another 42, day 4 of push, at least triple. ASTI up 31, day 2 of super jump, over all lines. ENSL up 30. PLUG up 17, climb out from bottom (50s) lines. SPIR up 17, day 2 of surge, over all lines. LEDS up 13, up over top (200-day) line, called it a buy yesterday. SENY up 14, punch through top (200) lines. EFOI up 11, hit new high, double since late April. BSRC up 11 on a few hundred shares. ASIUF up 10. CCTC up 10. NTCXF up 7. CSUN up 7, day 2 of surge. HSOL up 7, day 2. XSNX up 6. PSON up 2.

BFRE down 45. CRGE down 41. ECOS down 33. MMMW down 23. CERP down 15 after 5-day run. SOPW down 12. SCTY down 10, breaking that run. ECTY down 4. WSGP down 4.

Monday, May 20, 2013

MONDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market down 19/2/1. Volume normal. Oil: WTI over $96, Brent over $104. NG $4.14.

Devastating Okla tornado. Give what you can. It just doesn't get much worse from weather. Fed's Evans says US econ improving "quite a lot". Market getting a little frothy it looks. All of a sudden, solars, even Chinese, going bonkers.

AEHI up 256 on 20K shares. EWRL up 89 more on big volume, day 3. JASO up 75 in huge volume leap. USEI up 60. IFXY up 58. CSUN up 50, new high. RSOL up 50 more, day 2 makes a triple. ASTI up 46, jump from 50-day lines to bottom 200-day line. WSGP up 38 on rebound. HSOL up 37, new high. CGYV up 33. PSPW up 32 to 50s (bottom lines). XSNX up 30 on rebound from morning tumble on big volume. PRHL up 23. SLMU up 22. BBLU up 20. CERP up 19 after reporting. DSTI up 19. SPIR up 19. ASYS up 18, jump over top (200) line. CSIQ up 18. CHGI up 16. SCTY up 13. CBEH up 12. LEDS up 11. ALGXY up 11 on 400 shares. GEVO up 10, up to bottom (50s) lines. JUHL up 10. ZAAP up 7. PSON up 7. ECTY up 2.

AQNM down 30. DYAI down 12. NPWZ down 12. CSKH down 10. NENE down 5. RVLT down 4. NTCXF down 2. HIIT down 2.

STUFF

Southern stretch of High Plains Aquifer - SD to TX - has dried up. Most of creeks, rivers in area dried up. This is where the Dust Bowl happened in '30's, kids.

Petroleum coke from oil sands refining covering a city block 30 ft high on Detroit River. Owned by Koch Carbon. They sell it usually overseas for fuel burn. Almost 56% of Canada's oil production now from oil sands. 80M tons of petcoke already stockpiled around Canada. Marathon's Detroit plant processes 28Kb/d of the bitumen. California exports ~128Kb/d of petcoke from their heavy crude, mainly to China. They burn it for power generation (highly polluting). EPA no longer allows licenses to burn petcoke. India, LatAm use petcoke to fuel cement-making kilns. Oxbow Corp, owned by another Koch brother, sells 11M tons petcoke a year.

MIT energy economist testified to House committee that oil sands from Canada might be cleaner than heavy crude it would replace, from Venezuela, etc.

DOE conditionally authorized a 2nd comp to export NG to countries that don't have free trade agreement with US.

Report: consumer interest in clean energy topics dropping. (Well, it can't always keep going up. I can attest it's doubled so far this year.)

Study: unusual tropical rainfall patterns increasing.

Attempt to capture CO2 from cement factories kicked off in Norway.

PA pushing NGVs. (They do have a lot of new NG.)

Chevron says Argentina has world's 2nd biggest shale oil potential. Working $15B deal with YPF to help develop the 23B BOE (bls oil equivalent).

India inviting bids through May for up to 750Mw of solar capacity. 300Mw required to use domestic equipment. Grants to cover 30% of up front costs up to $348M. (Ontario just lost its appeal to WTO over domestic content.)

Tata Power (India) plans to increase wind, solar cap ~5x through next March.

Asian Development Bank giving $30M to India comp for hydro and wind projects. 100Mw run-of-river, 75Mw wind projects. ADB also considering loaning up to $40M for pair of combined heat and power biomass projects in Azerbaijan. 16Mw total.

Denham Capital  investing $75M to accel development of 1Gw of wind power projects in Australia. 3 comps - "One Wind Australia". 590Mw of it to cost $800M to develop.

Nordex got order for its 50Mw wind farm in Pakistan. 1 of 5 50Mw deals in its local pipe.

Solaria opened office in China. Has several Mw-size projects in construction in China, Mongolia.

2 China comps pooling $489M to develop 300Mw of solar plants in China by '15.

Welspun Energy to develop 60Mw solar plant in Tamil Nadu, India. State wants to install 5Gw of solar by '20.

Yingli to supply 220Mw of solar PV modules this year to China Power Investment Corp for 5 power plants.

LDK Solar to provide ~500Mw of silicon wafers to China's Realforce Power through Dec '14.

Intl Finance (World Bank) to lend up to $50M for 25Mw solar PV plant in Madhya Pradesh, India. May extend to projects in 2 other states.

China Hydroelectric sold 30Mw project last Oct for $44M. $20M profit.

NREL, Regen Power (India) helping Bangladesh map wind resources.

Tonga 1st small wind project - 11Kw - starting up.

Trony Solar (China) "massively" (10% or less) over reported sales, production data in period before '10 IPO.

Saud comp to develop $1.6B polysilicon plant in Malaysia. Online in '16.

Japan group plans to install hybrid wind, ocean current power system off coast later this year.

Goldman Sachs plans to invest up to $487M in clean/renewable energy in Japan next 5 years.

Poland minister: EU should scrap all energy subsidies, set target to cut oil imports to remain leader in global warming fight.

Wind energy prices in Brazil, now lowest in world, may rise at least 15% from govt policies to make grid more reliable.

Global crude industry $3.4T/yr.

IEA: non-OPEC oil production to increase near 1Mb/d per year next 5 yrs - mostly from US, Canada.

Iraq-Turkey oil pipe blown up again on Friday. Also bombs in Basra.

Reports China has reduced pace of new thermal power plant construction from 2/week to 1. Making effort to cap coal consumption to just above 4B tons/yr - 4x US consumption. China probably to continue to increase annual oil demand by 500Kb/d/yr or more.

Ideal temp - 65-70F - for biofuel conversion ID'd by Energy Biosciences Inst. Most flexible amino acids in enzymes most likely to fall out of place when protein thermally stressed.

EU placing tariffs on biodiesel imports from Argentina, Indonesia effective May 29.

Iowa Senate approved ethanol tax break extension. 20 cents/gal for another year.

Canada has doubled PR budget to promote tar sands in US.

Norway scientists working on storing el on ocean bottoms using the pressure.

Musk claiming EV recharging of Tesla sedans throughout US faster than refilling a gas tank. Battery swapping. Batt swap already used by Better Place. But their stations in Israel, Denmark struggling to stay afloat. Avg American drives 29 miles/day.

China approving world's tallest hydro dam - 314 meters. 2.9B Pounds cost. 10-year build. If built, near 4Gw. Current tallest - 300 meters - in Tajikistan.

MONDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 35/9/5. Volume a little heavy. Oil: WTI $96, Brent over $104. NG $4.18.

Thousands of French households taxed 100%.

VNDB up 100. IFXY up 65. EWRL up 50, day 3 of this run off the bottom. JASO up 44, new high, double since April, posted smaller loss, shipments beat forecast on Japan demand. Solars having great day. RSOL up 45, another new high, triple in 2 days. WSGP up 38, I think Friday I said expect a rebound. CGYV up 33. CSUN up 26, jump from top (200-day) line. CERP up another 25, double in 6 days. USEI up 25. HSOL up 25, jump off top (200) line to Feb top. PRHL up 23, up to bottom (50-day) lines. ASTI up 17, jump off 50s, looks ready to roll some. SPIR up 17, over bottom (200) line. SCTY up 16, another new high. ASYS up 13, jump from bottom 3 lines to over top 200. CSIQ up 12, another new high, won court case v. LDK Solar. FSLR up 10, new high. DSTI up 9. SPWR up 9, new high. PSON up 7. ECTY up 6. XSNX up 5 on big volume after morning plunge, probable bottom. RVLT up 4, new high. LEDS up 2, looks like buy to me.

ENSL down 44. PTOS down 42 on 1K shares. BLDW down 37. AQNM down 30. SOPW down 17 after reporting.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

STUFF

REC Solar completed 500Kw community solar park in Boulder, Colo.

Cherokee Nation to team with 4 other native nations - Kaw, Missouria, Pawnee, Ponca - to develop 90-turbine wind farm on native lands. PNE Wind partnering. 153Mw. Power to Swest grid.

Empower Energies completed 4 solar projects for General Motors. 49Kw array, 3 EV charging stations.

ND releases drilling/production stats monthly. PA every 6 months. OH once a year. Last OH report showed Utica Shale produced 636K bls in '12, 1.7Kb/d. Also 12.8BCF NG for the year. 87 Utica wells drilled in '12, 65 producing at commercial level.

Italy built world's 1st geothermal power plant over 100 yrs ago. World now has 11Gw of geothermal power in 24 countries. Indonesia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Japan, Kenya, Chile gearing up for more geo development. US leads world with 3.1Gw installed capacity, 77 plants. Working on enhanced geothermal tech. Uses hot, dry basement rock to heat water pumped miles deep. Philippines 2nd in world capacity with 1.9Gw. Indonesia has 1.1Gw, on track on getting that to 4Gw in '14. Italy has 843Mw, Iceland 575Mw, Kenya 202, Turkey 100, China 24.

Illinois falling short of its clean power generation mandate because customers of state's 2 major el utilities chose other suppliers that purchase power on open market. So state money for clean power program going into fund sitting untapped. $15M to balloon to near $135M by end of '14. Obscure language in law.

Group of Nebraska el utilities - Nebraska El Generation, Transmission Coop - asking state's largest power supplier - Nebraska Public Power District - to elim proposed investments in wind power, emission reduction, energy efficiency programs. They want lower costs passed on to customers. Targeting $2.1B of proposals. They also say boosting output at nuke plant the most cost effective option for more power gen.

143Mw wind farm - Turkey's largest to date - finished by Turk comp, E.ON (Germany). 340M Lira. 23 wind farms being built now in Turkey. Over 60 already operating, total cap 2.3Gw.

Over 434K hybrid vehicles sold in US in '12, over 52K EVs. 1Q13 164K hybrids, over 24K EVs sold.

Friday, May 17, 2013

FRIDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market up 121/33/17. Volume a little heavy. Oil: WTI near $96, Brent under $105. NG $4.10.

RSOL up 129, good day for solar installers I must say, zoom job off top (50-day) lines on super volume. PTOS up 60. WTWO up 50. SCTY up 26, new high. PRHL up 26. LMRMF up 24. EVSI up 23. CERP up 22. CABN up 19. SATCQ up 18. CSOL up 15. ECAU up 14. CHGI up 14. SOPW up 14. EWRL up 13, pretty hefty comeback from day high. BLDW up 12. ASPW up 11. AMLM up 10. CSIQ up 10, new high. NGLPF up 10. XIDE up 10. NENE up 8. RVLT up 4. ECTY up 3.

WSGP down 28 more. CSKH down 23. GERS down 21. ZAAP down 17. WEST down 16, a solar installer that didn't get the message. GSPI down 16. AVRW down 16. CRCL down 15. XSNX down 13. FNVRF down 13. AMPD down 12. HIIT down 10. ASIUF down 10. BHWX down 10. ECOS down 10. NTCXF down 3. PSON down 3.

STUFF

Welcome, John.

Bill Gates the richest man on our planet again. Go Bill.

S&P lowered Berkshire to AA. Really. How about we all lower S&P.

Tesla (TSLA) to sell up to $830M in shares, debt as part of plans to repay DOE loan.

US House commitee approved bill to bypass admin review, issue permit for Keystone XL pipe.

Pentagon completed its 1st microgrid at Ft Bliss.

Greenland's accelerated glacier melt may have helped shift North Pole. (Has Santa been notified?)

IG accepting EPA proposed improvements to oil/gas emissions tracking.

Study: groundwater contamination in Ark not linked to fracking. (Maybe the pipeline rupture a few weeks ago?)

Moniz got unanimous confirmation from Senate to head DOE.

Exxon, Synthetic Genomics reupping on algae fuels R&D. Basic science research focused on developing algae strains with much improved production characteristics. They 1st partnered up in '09 on it. Tillerson: "venture probably further than 25 yrs away from successfully developing fuels." (Why would he want to lessen oil/gas power?)

Neste helping EU as oil price fixing probe widens.

Edeniq 1st demo cellulosic ethanol plant completed successful performance test. Processes over 1 metric ton/day of corn stover, switchgrass, wood chips. $20.5M DOE grant.

IEA: US ethanol market growth to stall through '18 from political opposition to RFS, ethanol blend wall, stalling demand at pumps, rising feedstock costs.

Protests - with 7 public self-immolations - over high energy prices brought down Bulgarian govt in Feb. Elections last week brought back essentially the same govt with 30% of vote. Expect more instability. Monopolies run power distribution. Promised bill cuts don't happen. VAT on el. Avg monthly salaries ~$534.

Oil must be in range of $50/bl to sustain econ growth. Used to be over $80/bl was recessionary. New normals, apparently. New techs to save, displace oil cost far less than oil now. In '12, US spent $291B on imported oil - over 1/2 of trade deficit. Bulk of US national security budget spent on protecting oil supply routes.

Next big oil hopes offshore Ireland. 1.6B bls discovered last year. Drilling getting started by Providential/Exxon. Irish govt est. up to 10B bls in area.

Oil majors weighing risks of beginning ops in Somalia. Lot of bad guys to deal with.

Teacher, principle in Colo high school set to lose jobs over students' anti-fracking presentation.

Regulators ruled S Cal Ed yet to account for what caused troubles at San Onofre nuke plant. Offline over year. Hearings coming to restart 1 reactor.

Equitix (UK) investing $15M to replace inefficient heat systems with wood-powered boilers. UK Green Investment Bank pitching in 5.1M Pounds more from Energy Efficiency Fund. Cuts bills, emissions up to 30%. Roundwood Energy to fund, install, maintain, fuel the systems up to 20 yrs. Woodpecker Energy making wood pellets/chips biomass boilers.

Toshiba began making power transformers at new $59M Brazil plant. S Am market forecast to grow to $250B in '15 from $210B in '12.

Investors flocking to EUR300M low-risk Germany clean energy bond.

Holmen, Eurofidene 2 to jointly develop 51Mw Swede wind farm.

Evolucia exploring acquisitions, NAZ listing to expand LED offerings.

Sun Ed received enviro approval for 100Mw Chile solar farm.

Thuga Renewable Energy increased wind portfolio to 145Mw.

India creating offshore wind agency to drive project development.

Coal-to-liquids prospects dimming.

FERC ordered standards to shield infrastructure from solar flares.

Belgium regulator proposing reopening nuke reactors.

China utility purchasing stake in Australia grid comp.

FRIDAY NOON

(stock #s in %)

Market up 63/14/7. Volume a little heavy. Oil: WTI over $95, Brent under $104.

US leading indicators up .6%. Payrolls up in 30 US states in April.

EWRL up 81, day 2 of jump over bottom (50-day) lines off bottom on huge volume. Seen no news. PTOS up 50, back above all lines. RSOL up 35, back to Feb tops off 50-days, solar installers having a good day. SCTY up 14 more, another new high, up 4x since Dec IPO. SOPW even up 15 on 500 shares. CSOL up 15. CABN up 27. LMRMF up 24, back to bottom (50s) lines. AMLM up 18. CERP up 18 more. BLDW up 12. NGLPF up 10 on 1K shares. NENE up 5, maybe building new base. RVLT up 4, day 4 of ride back to top. LEDS up 1.

CRCL down 17. GSPI down 16. XSNX down 13, buyville. HIIT down 12, right on top line (50). WSGP down another 12, day 4 of dump, expecting some kind of rebound soon. ECOS down 10. HOKU down 10. ZAAP down 11, back to midlines. NTCXF down 3 more. TSLA down 2, selling off some stock to pay back DOE loan. ECTY down 1, day 3 of retreat from top.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

THURSDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market down 42/6/8. Volume a little above normal. Oil: WTI over $95, Brent over $103. NG $3.98.

EWRL up 175 on 15M. CRGE up 70 on 50K. ECOS up 42 on 30M. MKTY up 37 on 6K. PSPW up 30 on 53K. AMPD up 29 on 28K. GERS up 28 on 631K. NPWZ up 20 on 2.5M. ECAU up 16 on 300K. LEOM up 14 on 67K. LEXG up 13 on 425K. AMTX up 13 on 31K. CSCO up 12 on 201M. SCTY up 11 on 3M. HIIT up 9 on 230K. ZAAP up 5 on 57K. PSON up 5 on 228K. GTAT up 3 on 15M. RVLT up 3 on 986K. NTCXF up 2 on 10K. CERP up 1 on 6M.

CPWY down 45 on 3.5K. WTWO down 33 on 2.5M. AMLM down 31 on 1.3K. CGYV down 24 on 6.3K. PRHL down 23 on 234K. LMRMF down 22 on 6.9K. EVSI down 19 on 18K. VLNCQ down 14 on 1.5M. ASPW down 14 on 6.2K. WSGP down 12 more, a little rebound off bottom. LEDS down 9 on 571K. NENE down 8 on 83K. ECTY down 6 on 759. SPWR down 3 on 14M.

I think point made.

STUFF

Tritium found in leak at SC nuke plant. Duke says no problem.

Total, BP won offshore bids in Brazil.

Radioactive fracking waste stirring landfill worries in PA town.

Sunpower (SPWR) to launch solar leases overseas, push distributed generation. Focus on France, Japan, Germany, Australia, Spain, Italy. SPWR still posting Q losses but could earn up to 20 cents/share for FY.

UK postponed smart power meter rollout a year as suppliers struggle with design glitches. Testing delayed. 50M meters for homes, businesses planned. Now late '15 start. 4-5 yr deploy.

SMA (Germany) cutting workforce amid ~50% Q1 sales slide. PV solar inverter giant. (Solar comps imbedding their own inverters.) Swing to loss in Q1 yoy. They see 19% sales decline in '13 v. '12. Up to 1K workers to go.

Former $200M Cascade Grain ethanol plant in OR - in part paid for by $36M in subsidies, tax credits - now storing, shipping ND fracked crude to west coast refineries.

DOE has spent $2.5B on algae research. To date nothing commercialized. Congressional mandate to spend on research only. (What the hell?!)

Spain opened up biodiesel imports to all countries of origin. Also grace period for demonstrating sustainability.

Argentina made official complaint against EU at WTO. Complaining over specific biofuels trade policies in Belgium, Spain, Poland, France, Italy.

Report: US power gen rose, emissions fell in '11.

Greenpeace lambasting UK support for importing oil from Canada oil sands. Studies have found tar sand oil produces 20% more GHGs than conventional crude.

Canadian Solar's (CSIQ) African partner Romano got contract for 360Kw PV solar system at Eskom Johannesburg HQ. Eskom Africa's largest power producer.

Broadway Electrical secured $120M finance for 37Mw of solar projects on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard. Rockland Capital, Deutsche Bank, Key Bank financing. Starts expected this year, completions next year.

Owens Corning chose Constellation to develop 2.6Mw solar project for NY facility. Completion later this year. Will supply over 6% of plant's power needs.

Japan Asian Group plans for 500Mw of solar projects in Japan moving ahead. 110Mw planned for this FY. ~190Mw FY14. 200Mw FY 15.

UK govt task force says carbon capture able to be cost competitive with clean energy techs by '20's. (I bet if they really can do it by then it will be too late.)

Next Era Energy to buy Smart Energy Capital for entry into commercial, industrial distributed solar market.

Lanza Tech NZ - transport fuels, chems from waste gases - plans to raise $60-80M from VC, investors this year to develop tech. Developing projects with China comps to use steel mill emissions to make ethanol. China has 60% of world steel industry. A 30M gal/yr plant to convert gases from steel mills into ethanol costs ~$80M. Virgin Atlantic Airways probably will be 1st user of Lanza Tech biofuel. Lanza raised ~$60M in '12 from Petronas (Malaysia).

US Senate panel voted 10-8 to confirm McCarthy at EPA.

Conoco chief linked global warming to humans.

US ethanol trade groups challenging EU anti-dumping duty heads.

TSLA (Tesla) raised cash to repay fed loans. (Good move.)

10 economic risks of fossil fuels:
1. Fossil fuels have capacity to threaten basic systems. (Global warming, pollution, spills, etc.)
2. Fossil fuel assets have abandonment risk. (Reserves may not be pumped out. Potential $6T loss.)
3. Clean/renewable energy becoming too competitive. (Clean/ren prices continue to fall, fossils on upward trajectory.)
4. Fossil fuel firms beginning to have to pay for externalities. (Pollution, warming, health effects, contaminated water and farmland, etc.)
5. Fossil fuels likely to face carbon taxes.
6. Fossil fuels will soon face diminishing govt subsidies, benefits.
7. Growing global institutional belief that transition to clean/renewable energy solves climate and economic questions. (IMF calculated between directly lowered prices, tax breaks, failure to properly price carbon, the world subsidized fossil fuel use by over $1.9T in '11. US led with $502B.)
8. Fossil fuels completely consumed upon 1st use, so more primary source extraction required.
9. Distributed clean/renewable energy grid more secure than traditional hub/spoke systems, even those powered by domestic fossil fuels.
10. Clean/renewable energy will counter fossil fuels' endless boom/bust econ cycles.

(All dat deja view for me.)

Bloomberg: 70% of new power gen added '12-'30 will be clean/ren.

IFC agrees to invest up to $1.5B in Masdar clean energy projects.

CCEMC to provide $50M in grants for fossil fuel emissions reductions.

Gehrlicher Solar secured EUR85M finance from Bayern.

ReneSola Q1 revs up 34%. Losses stayed steady, however.

Solar City (SCTY) scored over $500M from Goldman Sachs for ~110Mw of rooftop solar leasing. Completion this year.

THURSDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 7/8/0. Volume normal. Oil: WTI over $94, Brent over $103. NG $4.06.

Philly manufacturing index down. US April housing starts 5-month low. US consumer prices down .4%. Japan GDP up 3.5% last Q.

EWRL up 40 on merger news. GERS up 32. BLQNE up 25. ECOS up 14. HIIT up 13, back up off top (50-day) line. SOPW up 13. SCTY up 11, back to highs. TSLA up 8, back to top after 1-day selloff. PSON up 4, 50-days held again. CERP up 1.

WTWO down 33. AMLM down 31. TMEN down 21. WSGP down 16 more, day 3 of dump, almost back to April start. ZAAP down 13, back under top 3 lines. ASPW down 11. LEDS down 6, back to bottom 3 lines, buyville. XSNX down 4, buyville. ECTY down 2, day 2 of profit taking. RVLT down 1, double top? NENE down 1. NTCXF down 1.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

WEDNESDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market up 60/9/8. Volume normal. Oil: WTI over $94, Brent over $103. NG $4.11. (I hate to be a party pooper, but I think the market could use a healthy selloff.)

CBWP up 248 on under 5K shares. CSOL up 100 on 29K. EWRL up 52. ZAAP up 26, back to top (50-day) line, reversal of downline since mid-March. Buy on any comeback. WWPW up 25 on 100 shares. ASPW up 24 on 1K shares. BLDW up 21. GERS up 19. PRHL up 19. SRWRF up 19 on under 800 shares. NENE up 16, reversed 4-day fall. EFOI up 16 matching yesterday's high, almost double since late April. GSPI up 15. GPRC up 13, big jump from double bottom back to August, over 50s. STRI up 11, up to top (200-day) line, upline from mid-April. ALTI up 10 after reporting, jump over 50s from bottom. EVSI up 10. HOKU up 10. XSNX up 2. RVLT up 1.

VNDB down 50. SLMU down 41 on 1K shares. WSGP down 38, day 2 of dump. Tomorrow could be interesting. USEI down 33. CABN down 31. ECOS down 30. MGLT down 24. BSRC down 20. PTOS down 20. HIIT down 18, back near top (50) line. CSKH down 17. AMTX down 15. MKTY down 15 on 500 shares. SOPW down 12. QTMM down 10. ECTY down 9, sell off yesterday's top. PSON down 7. NTCXF down 4.

STUFF

EC investigators made "unannounced inspections" of BP, Shell, Platts in inquiry into potential oil price manipulations.

Natural catastrophes in US generated $35B in privately insured property losses in '12. $11B more than average over last decade. Most insurers agree with scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels is main culprit of global warming. New insurance institute supports a carbon tax to combat it.

Biz group programs lowering local emissions without mentioning climate change or global warming. Cleveland Chamber of Commerce to launch program to help businesses get loans for energy efficiency retrofits. Salt Lake City Chamber promoting "clean air" to reduce gasoline use.

Cal governor proposing to borrow $500M from cap-and-trade revenues to help balance state budget. Brown also calling fracking "fabulous opportunity".

Researchers developing system to auto predict power outages during large storms.

Spring of '12 was warmest, earliest in US history. (Just a good news thought: this US spring much cooler, later, less flooding, less tornadoes - anecdotal observation.)

Power industry pressure blocking TX bill supporting home solar panels.

Solar City (SCTY) suing Treasury Dept. Alleging comp received less than expected from now defunct 1603 program. $8.1M less for just 2 projects. SCTY, subsidiaries filed for $400M.

Bio Amber closed its IPO. $80M raised. BIOA.U on NYSE until June 10. Trading down ~20% already.

Biodiesel added $15B to soy oil revenues '06-'12. Raised soy price 74 cents/bushel. Soy oil for biodiesel  670K lbs in '05 went to 4.1B in '12. US soy oil use in food aps fell 3.6B lbs in same period.

U Cal researchers boosting oil production in tobacco for biofuels. 3-yr, $4.8M ARPA-E project "PETRO". Oils akin to those from algae.

Bio Fuel Net Canada signed deal with Air Canada, Airbus to help find most promising biofuels for av.

ePure asked EC to see if EU customs legislation properly applied in Finland. Evidence indicates ethanol blended with gasoline from US for EU market will be classified as ethanol blend with much lower import duties than denatured ethanol, creating unfair market situations, circumvention of import duties.

dynaCERT (Canada) making gains with HydraGen. Boosts fuel efficiency for heavy truck industry. Advanced electrolysis uses distilled water with potassium hydroxide electrolyte to produce dry H gas for injection into engine.

US gets 40% of its uranium from Russia, Russia "influenced" nations with "Megatons to Megawatts". Ends in Dec. Russia will be free to sell its U on open market. Prices will probably go up. (URRE one possible play.)

IEA: Africa's oil demand to grow faster than rest of world next 5 years. 4%/yr growth v. 1.2% forecast for rest of world. LNG expected to see largest increase in demand. Africa crude refining cap 3.47Mb/d. New refinery planned in Nigeria. Industry now running at 60% of cap.

Washington Gas Energy Systems to finance, own, op 434Kw solar array on capped landfill in Mass. Completion in June. Will help power all town's govt facils, street lighting, schools.

National Nuclear Security Admin awarded Siemens unit contract to build US govt's largest wind farm (Not GE. Huh.) 5 2.3Mw turbines for Pantex plant in TX. To save $2.9M/yr. 20-yr contract. Will gen over 60% of power demand of Pantex complex.

Apex Wind Energy (VA) increasing amount of turbines at $336M project in Ind. Construction start before yearend. Will still be 200Mw farm. Smaller turbs to reduce noise.

Eurus Energy Holdings (Japan) - JV between Toyota unit, TEP - to build 115Mw solar farm in N Japan. July start, online late '15. ~$480M.

Hanergy (China) bought Engersa (UK) to expand into UK residential solar market. Their 3rd acquisition outside China in past year. Bought Mia Sole in US, Q-Cells in Germany. LDK Solar, HSOL also snapping up overseas peers to gain market, tech. Hanergy says they have 2Gw of thin-film solar manufacturing cap. No risk of EU silicon solar tariffs.

Project developer: Chilean solar will be limited by grid issues.

E-CL got permission for Phase 3 of 309Mw Chili wind project.

JCM Capital to invest in 100Mw of Japan solar.

Suntech partial deferment for $541M bond payment.

SMA Solar EUR5.8M loss in Q1.

EBRA considering EUR68M loan for 120Mw Polish wind farm.

US Senate passed bill 83-14 authorizing new lock, dam, levee, enviro restoration spending.

High-level job vacancies at EPA.

US House bill would open up RFS to NG.

GAO: decision makers fail to consider climate change in infrastructure design.

Indian Point reactor to op with expired license.

Study: young Americans driving less. (Probably can't afford to.)

States chafing at TSLA plan to sell directly to customers.

Cocaine, BPA taint Minn lakes. (I know, where the hell is the coke coming from?!)

China ministry OK'd nation's largest hydropower dam.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 21/7/3. Volume normal. Oil: WTI under $93, Brent under $102. NG $4.10.

US household debt down in Q1 to '06 level.

US industrial production fell by most in 8 months. NY area manufacturing down.

US producer prices biggest drop in 3 yrs.

CSOL up 100 on 29K shares, Chinese solar news. Good day for Chinese solars. JASO up 10, back over all lines, back to highs. HSOL (Taiwan) up 8, slight break above top (200-day) line. CSUN up 7, breaking above 3 bottom lines. CSIQ up 4, back to tops.

BLDW up 21. GPRC up 19, up over 50-day lines to 200s. ZAAP up 18, back over 2 mid-lines. NPWZ up 16. CLNT up 13 after reporting, jump from 3 bottom lines to over top 200. SPWR up 12 after guiding up, another new high, up over 4x since Dec. CBEH up 11 off bottom. ALTI up 10 after reporting, poke over bottom (50s) lines. NENE up 6, fall broken at top (50) line. CERP up 5 more. LEDS up 1, still edging toward top (200) line.

WSGP down another 27, day 2 of dump. AMLM down 25. CSKH down 11. MMMW down 11. XSNX down 6, probable buy here. PSON down 5. ECTY down 5, fall from yesterday's 12-month high. NTCXF down 2.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

TUESDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market up 123/23//16. Normal volume. Oil: WTI over $94, Brent under $103. NG $4.06.

NY Fed: stocks have never been cheaper. (They were 4 years ago.)

CBO slashed '13 deficit forecast to $642B. (Good step.)

EIA report: US oil production to "schock" global energy markets (So why are pump prices barely coming down?)

Mayan temple in Belize bulldozed to make gravel for road (Road to where? Where the temple was? Is that a good thing? Destroy history for a dam road?! You've got to be kidding.)

US household debt down in Q1 to '06 levels.

SLMU up 71. AMLM up 51. AQNM up 42. LEOM up 28 on 223 shares. USEI up 20. BFRE up 19. ABAT up 16, jump from 50-day lines to bottom 200-day. Jump on. RVLT up 15, the downslide seriously reversed. SOPW up 15 off bottom, my guess on solar installer mania. All of 10K shares. BLDP up 14 on news, up 50 since mid April. NGLPF up 14, sliding along bottom. EVSI up 12. CDXS up 12, leap from 50s to over bottom 200. CCGI up 11, back over 50s. AWSL up 10 on 693 shares. ZOLT up 9, leap off top 50 to new high, over double from Nov. bottom. CERP up 8 on volume. ECTY up 6, hit new high. NTCXF up 2.

CBWP down 67. ECOS down 25. BSRC down 25. CABN down 23. PSPW down 23. WSGP down 20, day 1 of dump side of pump or just temp selloff. Could have made 20 by buying day low. AMEL down 16. EWRL down 16. PRHL down 16. ZAAP down 14, broke down to bottom (200-day) line. One to watch for rebound. ASPW down 13 on 100 shares. Really. WWPW down 13 on 1K shares. Really. NENE down 12 more, close to hitting top (50) line in day 4 of come back. XSNX down 12. Buyville. AMTX down 12 after 2-day resurge to 50s off double bottom. Another to watch. SCTY down 10 after reality check of Q report. Still up over 3x since Dec IPO. Musk just an investor. TSLA down 5. Enough of super surge. Looks like peak.



STUFF

Loss of tropical rain forests likely to reduce energy output of hydropower projects in countries like Brazil. Conclusion of group of experts. Elim of trees decreases rainfall. Belo Monte hydro project in Brazil to gen 4.4-11Gw depending on water flow.

DOE: CO2 emissions from power gen declined in majority of US states '00-'10.

Study: warm spring temps shrank Rocky Mtn snowpacks over last 30 yrs.

Ted Turner, Southern Co. partnering up to push solar.

UK govt rejected proposed '25 vehicle emissions target.

WY proposing groundwater testing for oil/gas industry.

Oil storage demand surging as Canada pipelines flow stalled.

Researchers at DOE's Joint BioEnergy Inst developed new technique for pre-treating cellulosic biomass with ionic liquids - salts that are liquids rather than crystals at room temp. Requires none of expensive enzymes used now, makes it easier to recover fuel sugars, recycle the ionic liquid.

Ecofuels (Netherlands) to invest $130K to further improve 2nd gen biodiesel production process from waste oils.

Zimbabwe study finds jatropha good for local use but not commercial scale.

Central Am ethanol headed to Europe to fill US supply gap. Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica have duty-free access to Europe market. EU put import duties on US ethanol.

Fukushima held anti-terrorism drill.

Shell Eco-Marathon - started by bet between Shell scientists in '39 - won by car that gets 3,587 MPG. (Won't see that in newspapers huh? Or network broadcasts. Definitely not in showrooms.)

Chile hopes to boost geothermal sector with New Zealand partnership. Chile has 10% of world's volcanoes.

European Bank for Reconstruction, Development may begin to invest more heavily in coal projects. '06-'12 EBRD funded near 200 energy projects. 80 for clean/renewable, sustainability, energy efficiency. 2 for coal (efficiency improvements). "Cannot be ideological."

EIA: US gasoline prices to avg $3.53/gal for summer. Expect avg $3.39/gal in '14.

CSIQ, Duke, Integrys, Community Energy Solar completed 2 1Mw AC solar projects in Mass. Co-owned by CSIQ and JV between Duke, Integrys. CSIQ modules. Same partners already bldg 3Mw AC project in Mass.

Nippon Paper, Mitsubishi to build 21Mw solar plant in Japan. To sell power to local utility. Completion 2H14.

LA Dept of Water, Power to seek bids for 250Mw of solar power to comply with Cal requirement for 25% of clean/ren powgen by '17. Property for most of it already bought, developed by LADWP. Rest to be rootop solar.

Impax - manages ~$3.5B - evaluating investing in 4 of 5 publicly-traded solar industry comps in China, Europe, US. Looking at comp that leases sites for solar parks, an inverter maker, and a couple of Chinese polysilicon, panel makers.

Efficient Energy raised EUR15M in VC round.

Evolution - biofuel producer - targeting $35M for acquisitions, NASDAQ listing.

Scatec Solar won contracts for 115Mw of solar in S Africa.

SCTY - Solar City - lost $31M in 1Q13 v. $2.76M income yoy. Sales up 21% to $30M. They invested $138M to install solar systems, up 65%. Spending now for long-term revs. Installs to climb to 250Mw this year from 156 in '12.

Parched Colorado River delta poised for comeback. (From Rockies snowmelt I presume.)

USGS finished "milestone" project to map Gulf of Mex methane hydrate deposits.

Court rejected enviros' bid for new NRC review of GA reactors.

Scientists revised recent milestone 400 PPM CO2 reading downward.

Report: pipelines spill 3x more crude than trains.

AES to shut down coal power plants in Ind, OH.

Massive new solar flare burst.

TUESDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 82/25/13. Volume normal. Oil: WTI over $95, Brent under $103. NG $4.02.

ECTY up 18 more, day 2 of surge to new high, up over 4x since Jan. CCGI up 12, EV charger comp like ECTY, back over 50-day lines. CERP up another 10, back over 50s up near 50 in day 3 of surge. RVLT up 3, has slide from top ended? LEDS up 3, just under top (200-day) line after yesterdays' jump off bottom 3 lines. TSLA up another 3, day 4 of super surge. Has to come back sometime. ZAAP up 1.

CBWP down 67. BSRC down 36, erasing yesterday's leap. WTWO down 33. WSGP down 31, finally, the break off, day 1, consider playing a rebound. ASIUF down 23 on 166 shares. CRCL down 16. ASPW down 13 on 100 shares. XSNX down 12, nearing buyville. HOKU down 10. NENE down 7 more, continuing fall back to top line, day 4 of fall. NTCXF down 2 more. FSLR down 2 after new high yesterday, up near 5x since June.

Monday, May 13, 2013

MONDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market Dow down 26, Naz up 2.

USEI up 127. CPWY up 36. BSRC up 34. SLMU up 20. ECTY up 19. AMEL up 17. SCTY up 17. WEST up 17. TSLA up 16. (Isn't this run over?) AMTX up 16. MMMW up 16. LEDS up 15. CERP up 14. ASPW up 11. INIS up 11. FCSMF up 10. HSOL up 10. IFXy up 10. WSGP up 7. RVLT up 1.

PTOS down 23. LEOM down 21. EWRL down 19. SWET down 15. AMLM down 13. CSGH down 12. CABN down 11. NTCXF down 10. NENE down 6. XSNX down 4. ZAAP down 2.

STUFF

Report: Europe's coal demand to drop 26% by '20, they say.

Last week's planned auction of drilling leases in Cal postponed. Monterey tight oil (fracking). Deposits est. at 15B bls.

China's top power producer recently started construction on 16 large power projects without Beijing approval.

Saud forecasts world oil demand to rise ~1Mb/d this year to over record 90Mb/d.

India Supreme Court approved commissioning nuke plant built by state-owned Nuclear Power Corp with Russian help. (Um, the Russian comp that built Chernobyl? I hope not prophetical.)

IEA: NG consumption in Europe not likely to increase much in near future. In some countries at 10-year lows from modest population growth, increased efficiency.

Drought may slow fracking ops in S TX.

Indications oil found in Israel-occupied West Bank. Israel may be quietly exploiting with horizontal drilling.

Alberta announced oil sands production up 10% in '12 to 1.9Mb/d. Will double to 3.8M by '22.

Canada National Resource Council, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, Pond Biofuels to build $19M facility in Alberta to convert GHG emissions from oil sands ops into biofuels using algae. Completion in '16.

Maine legislature approved bill to ban ethanol blends in state if 2 neighbor states do same.

Study: investing in capture of methane emissions from palm oil effluent to reduce GHG emissions 80%, improve econ return of mills. (We shall see.)

Scotland OK'd Samsung to build 7MW offshore prototype wind turbine. To test new designs.

Lebanon says prelim surveys show offshore NG reserves 30TCF. 46 firms qualified to bid on 1st round of exploration. Production could start in '18.

DOE plans to spend $20M for research on methane hydrate deposits (deep ocean).

China to attempt to cap coal production at 4B tons/yr by '15. (Why? They'll just import more anyway.)

Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) shareholders approved reverse stock split to get back over $1/share. To replace every 5-15 shares with 1. (Usually selloff.)

Dynamic Fuel - JV between Syntroleum (SYNM), Tyson Foods - to reopen biodiesel plant in Louisiana by July. Idled in '12. New catalyst expected to increase yields up to 88%, increase revs $13M.

Wealthiest man in Africa said he's secured $4.25B in loans to help kick start Nigeria refinery biz. Country now imports most if its petrol products.

Indonesia extending ban on tree clearing.

Falmouth Mass zoning board of appeals declared 2 town-owned wind turbines a nuisance. 4-1 vote.

Innergex partner - Mi'gmaq communities - was allocated 150Mw for wind power project in Quebec. Quebec allocating 800Mw for new wind projects.

Solo Power to shed 33 more jobs, auctioned off equipment in Cal, struggling to survive.

IL Rural El Co-op broke ground on 500Kw PV solar project. Fall finish. $1.8M. $500K from IL Dept of Commerce, Econ Opportunity and grant through Renewable Energy Biz Development Program. Also pursuing USDA grant. Co-op also has wind turbine. Will have clean energy at 14% of peak demand.

S Korea to launch scheme to cap ~70% of its GHG emissions. Could result in Korean carbon price reaching $90/ton of CO2, highest in world. Linked schemes with Europe-Australia and Calif-Quebec to be in existence when their scheme starts in '15. Korea national target 30% below biz as usual emissions by '20. (While N Korea threatens to attack US, allies with nukes. What a world.)

Reliance Power 100Mw solar thermal plant in India should start up month late because state failed to lay water pipeline in time. $383M project.

Airbus, Air Canada, Biofuel Net Canada to study renewable jet fuels together.

Mitsui (Japan) buying 20% stake from GDP Suez in Brazil 3.75Gw hydro project. ESBR to build, op. Full production expected in '15. $8B. 50 turbines. Brazil Development Bank, other banks in on finance. 2 other comps each own 20%.

Massive efficiency gains hidden in cellphone networks: study. Bandwidth, speed, cost was buildout interests. Now energy efficiency. Energy use could be reduced 90% by '20 v. '10 levels. Despite volume increase of 88x in US, Europe, Japan.

Boston latest city to order large commercial, residential bldgs to report annual energy, water use.

Bloom Energy raised $130M equity round.

Armstrong Clean Energy Fund made 1st investment in Thai solar portfolio.

Asian Development Bank mulls $40M Azerbaijan biomass investment.

Energy expert predicts PG&E may not be able to compete with residential solar soon. PG&E residential rates now 31-35 cents/Kwh. Same prices that caused solar revolutions in HI, Australia. "By '22, could reach 54 cents."

MONDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market down 37/2/2. Volume normal. Oil: WTI under $95, Brent under $103. NG $3.96.

USEI up 127. BFRE up 31. EVSI up 24, jump over bottom line (200-day) to 2 top lines on 8K shares. SLMU up 20. SCTY up 18, day 4 of new jump to new highs, over triple since Dec IPO. MMMW up 16. EWRL up 12. XIDE up 12, day 3 near double off bottom. CSIQ up 11, another new high, over double since March-April trough. PLUG up 10, staying over 50-day-lines. TSLA up 9 more, double since late March. Wait for pullback before buying. ECTY up 9, day 3 heading back up to tops. CERP up 6 more. LEDS up 6, back over 3 lines now, looks time to get in. WSGP up 5, another new high. It's going to fall back.

VNDB down 50. CSKH down 33. PTOS down 17, back to top (200) line. AMLM down 13. EFOI down 13, consolidating gains, still over all lines. ORYN down 11, possible double bottom back to Dec lows. HOKU down 10 on 300 shares. NTCXF down 6, back under bottom (50s) lines. NENE down 3, day 3 of pullback from top. XSNX down 2.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

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, highly conductive of heat and el. Stocks: AIXG, CVV, FCSMF, NGPHF, GTI, CHGI, PKX.



Graphene Platform launched world's largest single layer, single crystal graphene sheets. High electron mobility. Excellent optical, mechanical, thermal properties. Offered on silicon carbide.

Researchers from Irish nanoscience institute developed new graphene-based sensor tech that could become new platform for low energy, remote powered sensors for many aps. One is air quality control systems in vehicles. Other aps in bacteria, parasite detection, disease diagnosis. Chemically modulated graphene diodes made from single layer of graphene on silicon. Graphene exposed to liquids or gases and diode made (by different doping) so various absorbates transfer charge.

Garmor to commercialize new low cost graphene production process. U of Central FL spin-off.

Graphene-based quantum dots used to create humidity, pressure or temp sensing devices. Kansas State U researchers. Improved electron tunneling. Able to detect trace amounts of water on Mars. Nanoscale graphite cuttings to make graphene nano ribbons. Chem-cleaving ribbons made into 100 nanometer-sized pieces create quantum dots.

CTI Nanotech achieved milliohm resistivity for graphene paper samples. Partnering with American Graphite Tech who supplies graphite materials.

University College London researching graphene nanomaterials for aps already in pre-clinical experiments.

Achieving quantum spin liquid in 2D materials may be more difficult than estimated. Quantum mech effects hinder development of atomic order while retaining strong electron interactions. No evidence of intermediate spin liquid phase.

U of Manchester Nottingham developed new ultrafast, bistable graphene transistor. May enable new med imaging, security devices. Bistable = can spontaneously switch between 2 electronic states. Made from 2 layers of graphene separated by a boron nitride insulating layer. Small voltage can tune electron clouds in graphene layers. Induces electrons to move at high speed between layers. Quantum tunneling over thin insulating layer. Emits high-freq elmag waves between radar, IR.

Boron nitride nanosheets soak up organic pollutants. "White graphene."

Manchester U, National U of Singapore developed new, efficient, sensitive solar cell from graphene sheets, transistion metal dichalcogenides (TMDC). TMDC sheets very efficient light absorbers. Graphene used as transparent conductive layer.

Incubation Alliance (Japan) developed new way to mass produce graphene. High speed CVD process to mass-synthesize graphene without substrates, catalysts or stripping. "Graphene flower."

Book: "Graphene: Synthesis, Properties, Phenomena".

Xinyang Normal U (China) developed new titanium dioxide-modified graphene electrode that detects electrochem signals of Orange II - commonly used in OLEDS, wood stains, textiles. Highly toxic. Detected nanomolar concentrations in ketchup, chili products.

SiNode Systems won Rice U's biz plan competition. Commercializing novel anode lith-ion batt tech developed at NWestern U. Developed composite material of silicon nanoparticles, graphene in layers. 10x higher batt capacity, decrease in charge time.

Graphene Tech got patent for graphene atom-by-atom synthesis process (chem reduction of CO2). Allows bulk volumes of pristine, few-layer graphene platelets from inexpensive, commonly available feedstock. CO2 to oxidize magnesium. Forms nano-scale magnesium oxide + carbon. Possible to chemically functionalize, dope produced graphene.

Chinese researchers etching beautiful, complex fractals on graphene. Beijing Lab for Molecular Sciences. Graphene film on liquid copper surface. Using argon/H2 gas. (Look like snow flakes.)

Graphene proves to be excellent steel surface lubricant. Argonne Lab. Lubricants now from environmentally unfriendly molybdenum disulfide or boric acid. Graphene entirely of carbon enviro friendly.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

STUFF

CO2 measurement hit 400ppm at HI station. Last time that high probably 2-10M years ago. There were forests on Greenland, sea level 33-66 ft higher then. CO2 measuring started in '58 at 315ppm. Avg increase now ~2ppm/yr. 100x faster than at end of Ice Age. Then it took 7K yrs to gain 80ppm. Now takes ~55 yrs. Levels were ~280ppm before Industrial Revolution. "What we see today 100% due to human activity": NOAA senior scientist. World pumps avg 2.4M lbs CO2 into air every second. 38.2B tons in '11. China leads with 10B tons/yr, emissions growing ~10%/yr. US now 5.9B tons/yr. Generally, levels peak in May.

US crude stockpiles 1Q13 up ~2M bls, biggest rise since '31. Imports up 8% to 8.1M bls.

Moody's: by '20, US will be exporting 9% of its NG production.

Kenya oil production 6-7 yrs away: IEA. Firms that want to qualify for exploration rights now have to spend $28.2M 1st 2 yrs for onshore, $31.2M 1st 3 yrs for offshore.

Karoon Gas Australia made its 2nd oil discovery offshore Brazil. Rumor that Citigroup eyeing takeover.

Oil production of top 8 Western majors down from 14Mb/d in '04 to under 11M now.

Pittsburgh on way to reducing GHG emissions 20% next decade through Pittsburgh Climate Initiative.

Wind power industry seeking another US tax credit extension at yearend.

U of Maine unveiled floating platform for offshore wind turbines. To be 1st grid-connected floating turbine in world. Will use 1/8th scale version of 6Mw turbine. 1st full-scale turbine planned online in '16. DOE gave $4M grant in '12 to help fund 2 6MW turbines by '17. Finalist for up to $47M more in coming years.

PG&E, AIA San Fran opened competition for zero net energy bldg designs.

GE intro'd 1.7Mw "Brilliant" wind turbine. World's most efficient wind turbine in class. GE to supply 59 of them to Next Era Energy Mich wind farm. GE's 2nd "Brilliant" turbine.

Shale field onshore/offshore New Zealand could hold 12-20B bls oil.

Avg lifespan of bull markets (US) 4 yrs, 8 mo. We have about 6 more months. Or not. Or more.

Ground broken on New Bedford terminal. To be 1st US port equipped to support offshore wind industry.

Senator Imhofe (Inhofe?) thinks recent cold snap evidence against global warming. (O please.)

Seattle plan would make city carbon neutral by '50.

First Wind Power Plant (Samruk Green Energy), Eurasian Development Bank to finance 45Mw wind farm in Kazakhstan. ~$90M.

World consumes 2B tons of food/yr. Avg US American eats near 1 ton/yr (~5.5 pounds/d?! Sounds high, considering babies, kids.) ADM bought Graincorp, Australia's largest crop handler, last available publicly-traded grain comp. Australian Agri Comp another look-see. Aussie beef sales seen jumping over 8x this year.

And that's the stuff, pards. Onward and upward. Happy trails. Vaya con Dios.

Friday, May 10, 2013

FRIDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market up 35/27/7. Volume normal. Oil: WTI under $96, Brent under $104. NG $3.90. US Treasury $113B surplus in April.

BLQNE up 62. 4,200 shares. WTWO up 50. CSGH up 26. CSIQ up 21, new high. CSKH up 20. SENY up 20. EFOI up 15. CERP up 13 on news. ORYN up 12. JASO up 11. BSRC up 11. TSLA up 10. SPWR up 10, new high. XSNX up 8. WSGP up 4. NTCXF up 3. ECTY up 3.

USEI down 65. AEHI down 50. EWRL down 22. NGLPF down 22. PANL down 17. AMEL down 16. ASPW down 16. EMKR down 15. PSON down 12. NGPHF down 11. INIS down 10. RVLT down 5. HIIT down 5. NENE down 2. LEDS down 2.

STUFF

Loss of ice from Greenland glaciers doubled in last 10 yrs. New report finds that rate of increase unlikely to continue. Based on computer model.

In past 10-15 yrs little net change in avg surface temps of Earth despite rising CO2 emissions. (I want to know if sun gets hotter and cooler. Of course there are 22-yr sunspot cycles.)

Severe dryness causing food, water crisis in Marshall Islands, shutdowns in Panama.

A Christian conservative sees slow progress in teaching Republicans about climate.

Study shows ice-free Arctic when CO2 levels were similar to today's.

Hydropower once again attractive energy option for World Bank.

Alberta crude output up 10% last year: regulator.

PJM Interconnection could save customers $6.9B/yr if it more than doubled amount of wind energy (~5.8Gw additional) it currently plans to build: study. At end of '12, ~3.4% of PJM's total powgen capacity from wind. Will expand to 11% next 13 yrs. PJM feeds Del, Ind, KY, MD, Mich, NJ, NC, OH, PA, Tenn, VA, W Va.

Recent research suggests if 10% of world's energy needs filled by biofuels from dedicated crops GHG emission levels would rise. Deforestation to make room for crops eliminates CO2-absorbing forests. Increased release of nitrous oxide from fertilization also would increase GHGs.

PV solar module prices down 80% since '08, 20% in '12 alone. Wind turbine prices down 29% since '08. Lithium-ion batt costs down 40% since '10.

BioAmber (MN) (NYSE: BIOAU) IPO raised $80M at $10/share. Lost $39M in '12, $30M in '11. $2.2M revs in '12, 24% margin. Makes biosuccinic acid at demo plant in France, competes with $35/bl oil.

KiOR (KIOR) (TX) Q1 $31M loss v. $16.8M yoy. $71K revs. Shipped 1st gallons cellulosic diesel in March. Est to ship 3-5M gal this year. 11M gal cap at 1 plant. They have 2.

S Maryland reactor shut down, unexplained problem.

US has spent $8T protecting Hormuz, Persian Gulf since '76. $8 trillion. Original rationale was Soviets were running out of oil and would march to Persian Gulf for it. (Just a little Soviet paranoia? Of course, now it's Iran. Military always needs a bogeyman. But look it all over. $8 trilllion. Only $222B/y over the 36. Only $222B/y for paranoia. And US headed for $17T debt when it was paying down the $5T in '00. I bet we're all frustrated with the way things went.)

Massive boost to Bakken output expected by drilling wells closer together.

TSLA delivered 4,900 EVs in Q1. Had anticipated 400.

Global offshore wind sector forecast to be EUR130B/yr market by '20.

Toshiba Mitsubishi JV said orders for solar inverters jumped near 18x last FY(Mar). 1Gw from 61Mw. Production planned to increase to over 2Gw this year.

Wind World (India) installed 454Mw wind capacity in India last FY. Suzlon 415Mw. ReGen Powertech 273Mw. GE up over 6x to 122Mw. Total wind installs down 47% yoy to 1.7Gw.

HSH Nordbank: Germany PV solar projects no longer feasible for large lenders.

China Resources Power acquired 500Mw wind power. (Hard to sift through the stealth, pards.)

ABO Investment bought 2 French wind farms.

ExIm India got EUR150M loan from EIB for clean/renewable projects.

BNDES lending $149M for Brazil 2nd gen ethanol plant.

FRIDAY NOON

(stock #s in %)

Market down 32, up 9, down 1. Volume normal. Oil: WTI under $94, Brent ~$102. Mexico industrial production down more than forecast 4.9% in March. Canada added manufacturing jobs.

WTWO up 50. SENY up 20, just under 200-day lines. JUHL up 18, back over 50-day lines. ZAAP up 15, back above top lines. EFOI up 15, climb continues. CSIQ up 13. new high, triple since Nov. TSLA up another 11, another new high. XSNX up 6. NTCXF up 3. CERP up 2. HIIT up 1. WSGP up 1.

PANL down 17, plunge through all lines. AMEL down 16. EMKR down 14, near June bottom. CRCL down 13, rejected by 50s. PSON down 12, that ride over. EWRL down 12. RVLT down 3, down 25 from late April top. NENE down 2, day 2 of fall from top. LEDS down 2, back on bottom 3 lines, maybe buyville.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

THURSDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market down 22/4/6. Volume normal. Oil: WTI ~$96, Brent over $104. NG $3.96.

ENSL up 53. LEOM up 34. OPTT up 33. USEI up 28. TSLA up 23. XIDE up 23. BLDW up 23. AMEL up 21. CERE up 19. SWET up 18. CRCL up 18. HIIT up 17. CSKH up 15. WSGP up 14. BBLU up 14. QTMM up 14. LTBR up 13. GSFVF up 11. SZYM up 10. PSON up 8. ECTY up 4. NTCXF up 2.

CSGH down 44. CPWY down 40. WTWO down 33. SATCQ down 29. AMPD down 18. SENY down 16. ORYN down 15. VLNCQ down 15. AMLM down 14. GERS down 12. HOKU down 11. SOPW down 11. KIOR down 10. XSNX down 10. EFOI down 10. NENE down 8. ZAAp down 7. CERP down 6.

STUFFNESS

World Watch Institute: GHG emissions from ag (I'm presuming in US) up 13% from '90 to '10.

New advisory committee at DOI to focus on climate change.

TSLA 1st-ever profit in Q1, partly by selling Cal green credits.

Researchers found cleaner, cheaper way to make steel using el.

New research center to create custom forecasts to help utilities use clean power.

Energy efficient building codes make financial sense: experts.

Kinder Morgan withdrew bid to build coal terminal in OR.

Green global trade will lift nations out of poverty: UN report.

UK announced plans to upgrade grid, encourage clean/renewable power.

Brazil preparing for historic oil/gas lease sale.

Women filled near half of new energy jobs in Q1. (Didn't say if US or global.)

Youngstown OH voters rejected fracking ban.

Spill cap tested successfully in Gulf of Mex.

EC reportedly has decided to recommend duties on China solar panels. 37-68%, avg 47.6%. Prelim decision early June. Finalized in Dec.

PV solar wafer production forecast to grow 19% this year, passing 30Gw. Fell 15% in '12. Capacity utilization to stay under 60%. Prices stopped fall, but not going up.

Jury convicted nun, activists over nuke lab break-in.

Northern Iraq export oil pipeline bombed again.

Fracking removes 7B gal of water/year in just 4 states - ND, WY, MT, CO. (How sustainable is that?)

Cal Energy Commission adopted '13-'14 investment plan update to support green V's, alt fuels. $100M for projects. Matching funds requirements.

U of Illinois economists forecast Brazil ethanol exports to US to jump this year to 600M gal from 400M in '12. If true, 400M gal less of US ethanol needed this year, reducing corn demand 145M bushels.

66% of '12-'13 965M liters of biofuels supplied to UK market came from sustainable sources. 18% sourced from domestic feedstocks. Biofuels, on avg, reduced GHG emissions 66%, they say. ~55% ethanol, 39% biodiesel, 6% MTBE.

Shell moving ahead with developing ultra deep field in Gulf of Mex. 1st phase to produce 50Kb/d from 2 subsea wells. To be deepest wells in world. 6 more wells planned. 200 miles Swest of New Orleans. Est. 2B bls oil equiv.

Tritium (Australia) unveiled new EV charger. 80% charge in under 30 minutes. 10-min charge for 50km range. $1.5M grant from govt.

Since '09, DOE invested near $26B in clean/renewable energy. 2,308 permanent green jobs created. $11.25M each.

Emcore (NM) started $10M, 2Mw solar project at former landfill at Sandia. Comp's 1st project outside China. JV with Chinese comp. Half of panels concentrating solar with 30% efficiency. Multi-junction cells, magnifying lenses.

Nordic Investment Bank to lend $26M to Swede comp to build waste wood-to-power plant. Construction start late '14. 26Mw thermal, 7.5Mw powgen capacity. Energy from organic matter ~29% of total powgen in Sweden.

Yingli to supply 220Mw of PV modules to China Power Investment for 5 projects. Delivery this year.

Brazil got aps from 373 comps, orgs seeking $6.1B to research clean/renewable power, energy efficiency through govt program. ~4x program budget.

Turning air into liquid using surplus wind, solar could store power.

Infinia (Utah) raised $8.3M in private financing round for concentrating solar systems. Mirrored dishes focus sun on Stirling engines to produce power. Started 1.5Mw project at Toole Army Depot. Now have 3.5Kw dish systems. 7.5, 9Kw systems coming this year. Orders for 75Mw in Greece, 55Mw in Cyprus.

Unit of Mid American Energy plans to invest $1.9B for wind farms in Iowa. Up to 1Gw. MAE already has 2.28Gw of wind farms.

Prime Capital initiating EUR200-300M clean/renewable financing round.

EBRD backing Montenegro transmission line with EUR60M loan.

THURSDAY NOON

(stock #s in %)

Market flat, mixed. Volume normal. Oil: WTI under $96, Brent under $104. NG $3.98. UK industrial production up more than forecast.

BLDW up 60 on 500 shares. ENSL up 53, back to penny. OPTT up 36, off double bottom through 50-day lines, hit 200-days, came back, strong volume, no news seen. BFRE up 25 off bottom. TSLA up 24, a gap up, new high, Q1 1st profitable quarter, $95 target, huge volume, shorters getting spanked. CSKH up 23. CRCL up 18. WSGP up 14, another new high, up near 7x since April start, beware the dump side of pump and dump. NPWZ up 11. CERE up 10, day 3 up off bottom, near 50s. PSON up 9, up almost 50 since late April. NTCXF up 6, just over 50s. ECTY up 5, reversing slide off tops. CERP up 1.

CSGH down 44. ASIUF down 22. SENY down 20, back to 50s from near 200s. SATCQ down 18. NENE down 14, major drop off top. AMPD down 14, more sliding off early May top. ZAAP down 3, back into top lines.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

WEDNESDAY CLOSE

(stock #s in %)

Market up 48/16/6. Volume slightly under normal. Oil: WTI over $96, Brent over $104. Spread still collapsing. NG $3.97.

VNDB up 100. PLUG up 54, day 1 over 50-day lines on crazy volume. SATCQ up 42. SENY up 38 off 50s to near bottom 200-day line. NGLPF up 36, over 50s. SYNM up 32, jump from 50s to just over 200s. CRCL up 26 off bottom. TSLA up 25 after close? GERS up 19. PSPW up 18 off bottom. GSPI up 12. EFOI up 11, traction. AONEQ up 10. IFXY up 10. CERP up 4. PSON up 3.

BLQNE down 50. BLDW down 37. BHWX down 36. CSKH down 27. CPWY down 22. MMMW down 21. LEOM down 17. USEI down 16. ECOS down 13. LMRMF down 12. BFRE, PRHL down 11. FTEK, ORYN, WWPW down 10. HIIT down 8. RVLT, LEDS down 6. XSNX down 4.

STUF

24K peoples a day dying of starvation around our world. Let's stop that. Mostly kids.

USDA funding efforts to cut GHG emissions from cattle, dairy farms. Cows fart methane. Gas bags.

Utica Shale area got new NG processing plant.

8 new E15 pumps in Wisc.

Canada announced over $82M for ecoEnergy Innovation Initiative for 55 projects. 15 will be demo projects, 40 R&D. Enerkem to get $2.9M to develop, demo system to convert muni solid waste into gas to produce heat, el. (Like we don't have that already.)

Rift growing between Renewable Fuels Ass and Advanced Biofuels Ass. RFA trying to get EPA to limit advanced biofuels quota to reduce Brazil ethanol imports. National Biodiesel Board onboard with ABA.

Renewable Energy Ass of UK accusing enviros of  "peddling pseudoscience". Groups including Friends of The Earth and Greenpeace sent letter to "The Times" expressing concerns that subsidies for el from biomass could cause 6x surge demand for UK forestry product.

Key Dem congressman says Obama caved on BLM fracking rules. (After T Bone Pickens said fracking 100% safe.)

Exxon developing massive Julia project in Gulf of Mex.

API accusing EPA of violating Clean Air Act procedure on gasoline rules.

Groups slamming fed "inaction plan" for bees protection. Urging chem ban.

Offshore wind farms could bolster dwindling North Sea lobster populations. (I'm guessing the wind turbine anchors.)

At least 20 dead in Mexico City NG explosion.

Arkansas oil pipeline spill raising public health concerns. (Exxon ain't getting out of that easy.)

Like US, China has lower than expected EV sales. (Where are all the greenies. Where do they all buy cars. Sung to Eleanor Rigby - Beatles.)

UN: trade in green products to triple by '20.

Goats replacing lawn mowers at O'Hare. (Do they do trim? Weeding? Fertilize?)

Hospitals inching toward greener cleaners. (Green laborers? Where are green peoples from?)

Louisiana state house OK'd phase out plan of solar energy tax credits. (OK, Louisiana, that's the way you want to be, huh?)

Brazil officials turning to fossil fuels for energy stability. (Push back from fossil peoples, you think?)

Tesla talk with Google over autopilot cars. (In the air, autopilots OK. Speaking from experience. On the ground I dont think so. Hire a dam driver, for Gods sake, if you have that much problem with driving.)

Researchers found process to turn NG into energy 70x faster. NC State U. 70x! ID'd new ox carrier that allows chem looping process to occur up to 70x faster while providing means to capture CO2 released. Carrier made from mixed ionic electronic conductor held within nano matrix of iron oxide that releases ox atoms faster, increasing rate of reaction. By products include water vapor, CO2. By condensing water vapor they found they can insolate, concentrate CO2 for capture.

SanFran Bay area having to choose power from Marin Clean Energy or PG&E. (Huh.)

Study suggests Greenland glacier melt may slow.

Edgeley Green Power got approval for 32Mw power plant with waste veg oil, animal fat feedstock. Cost ~ $31M. Online '15.

India plans to defer fines for solar thermal developers that failed to complete $1B of plants in time. 470Mw in 7 projects. Lack of water, equipment, finance.

Brazil's development bank to loan 150M BNDES for Granbio ethanol plant from cane waste. 22M gal/yr. Tech allows mills to produce 45% more fuel from bagasse. 1st plant built in Italy.

EIB approved 1st loan for Fed Dem Repub of Nepal  to build $72M hydropower plant. 140Mw. Loan covers 15% of total cost. Funds also from Asian Dev Bank, Japan Intl Coop Agency and Abu Dhabi Fund for Dev.

Mighty River Power to raise $1.4B from IPO.

US Army issued geothermal contracts in $7B drive.

Energiekontar unveiled plan for 225Mw Northumberland wind farm.

PNE Wind closed corp bond to private investors on Eur60M.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

(stock #s in %)

Market up 0/9/2. Volume normal. Oil: WTI over $96, Brent over $104. NG $3.96.

VLNCQ up 36 more, day 4 of surge, up 8x from bottom. PLUG up 34 on news of $6.5M investment and heavy volume, over 50-day lines. NGLPF up 19, on 50s. CRCL up 12. NENE up 5 more, another new high, near double from early April. PSON up 2. LEDS up 1, I would say get on board.

ENSL down 30. RVLT down 8, more profit taking, back to quadruple since Jan. ZAAP down 7, back under 50s to top 200-day line. WSGP down 4, string of new highs and triple since early April looks done. HIIT down 4, day 3 of profit taking, back to up 10x since July.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

STUFF

Estimated 70K dead in Syria so far from 2 years of war. Not to mention the rape and torture. Just to remind everyone of what's happening. And Syria's not the only place it's happening, unfortunately. And the children will take their revenge on who's creating their and their families' hell. Unless they learn how to be better than that. Good luck with that.

Back to head in the sand. Or just keeping it down low.

McCarthy said EPA not considering national low-carbon fuel standard (would help diesel, biofuels industries).

Freshwater flows, sea ice melt increase acidification in Arctic waters.

Calif recommending $2.25B fine over PG&E NG pipeline explosion.

Brazil's 11.2Gw hydropower project on hold again with indigenous peoples' occupation of 1 of 3 construction sites.

Energy Watch Group - independent scientists - conclude global peak oil (max sustainable rate of global oil production) happened last year. Also say US NG production gone about as far as it can. Predict highest level of global fossil fuel production (oil, NG, coal) by end of decade. Oil production - crude plus condensate (what can be used for transportation fuels) - on plateau since ~'05. (I declared that in '04). Estimated 40% production decline by '30. Total world coal consumption was ~4B tons/yr in '00. Will rise to 8.5B by '20 then fall to 4.5B by '40. New "tight" shale oil production to only grow a few more years, peak by '17. US max production to occur in '15. Brief top of US NG production in '12-'14. Then sharp decline before end of decade. Much of "oil" production in new TX wells actually production of NG liquids, NG condensates. (Report should spark debate, to be sure.)

ADM's ethanol plants all turned back on in 1Q13. All at 100% cap. Corn prices down lately from higher-than-expected stockpiles. (And probably '13 planting plans.)

PBF Energy (NJ) plans to boost RIN purchases this year to $160M from $60M last year. They're ~400M RINs short of E10 requirement. Plan to boost ethanol blend into 75% of their gasoline in 2H13. Now 50%.

Carbontec Energy (ND) to use sugar beet waste, other biomass to power coal nugget production facility. Biomass makes iron production near carbon neutral. 1st phase $60M cost, $50M/yr revs. 100K metric ton cap plant breaks ground 1Q14. Eventual 300K met tons/yr with $150M investment.

Celanese set to launch phase 1 of $2.5B coal-to-ethanol plant in India along with state-owned oil/gas comp.

Indonesia ready to take EU to WTO over biodiesel dumping fight. Negotiations failed. Industry expects EU to impose duties on Indonesia imports.

Costs ~$6/MCF (MBTU?) to liquify NG, ship it, regassify it. US considering exports. (Don't.)

4 US colleges, 10 US cities signed up with "Go Fossil Free" campaign to divest funds of fossil fuel stocks, bonds.

Dispersants make oil spills 52x more toxic.

~700Mw of wind power in development in ND. State now ~80% coal powered. 2/3rds exported.

Abengoa to build el-from-muni waste gasification plant in AZ. $110M. Up to 180K tons waste/yr. Up to 350 tons of gas produced/day to gen 15Mw. 23 tons/Mw by my math.

Scotland to collab with S Korea to expand tidal power effort.

India plans to close loophole before next solar power auction to stop comps from importing thin-film panels from overseas suppliers (FSLR) for projects that otherwise must be built with locally-made equipment. Bids by end of May for 750Mw. 300Mw required to use locally-made cells, panels. Govt also to extend grants up to $348M total to cover up to 30% of upfront costs.

Thai comp to build 210Mw solar plant in Myanmar.

EIB committing Eur140M to 150Mw of Austrian wind farms. (Or Australian. Could have red it rong.)

Enviro group appealing BLM decision to extend Colo oil/gas leases.

"Slightly radioactive water" leaked into Lake Michigan.

Summer power outages possible in Cal without San Onofre nuke plant: grid manager. (Could be another Enron-like ploy to milk Cal system. W's old bud - "Kenny Boy" - thingy? Antennae up.)

Solar City filed suit over size of federal grants. (All I saw on that.)

In appeal, WTO deemed Canadian clean/renew energy incentive scheme illegal. (Ouch. Illegal is harsh.)

Cal to force ships to shut off engines in port, plug in.

1366 Tech (Mass) teaming with Tokuyama (JP) for R&D deal that should boost 1366 sales after they start mass production. 1366 opened 25Mw factory this year. Success of production ramp by mid-'14 key to $150M fed loan guarantee to build 1Gw factory. Novel silicon wafer production tech.

FSLR to lay off 150 workers at AZ plant next few weeks. Restructuring global ops. ~5.2K people employed global, 1.7K in US. Most layoffs from admin. To save $30M/yr.

EC decided to recommend duties on Chinese solar panels tomorrow. Initially seeking at least 30% tariffs. Possible up to 50%. UK, Italy, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Slovakia expressing "deep concerns", opposition to EC action.

Colo set to expand clean/ren energy in rural utilites to 20% by '20. State's el rates lower than much of US at 9.4 cents/Kwh in Feb. Ready for gov's signature.

Following in steps of 16 states, House version of MN bill sets timeline for investor-owned utilities to add solar to elgen mix. .5% of el sales by '16, 2% by '20, 4% by '25, "objective" of 10% by '30. In ADDITION to 25% by '25.

Onward and upward and out of the boxward pards. Out of the parkward. Let's make stuff better. Happy trailers.