STUFF ... 11% of Australians have solar power. Over 1M rooftop solar systems installed, up from 8K in '07. Over 630K solar hot water systems ... Global demand for wind turbines expected to drop up to 5% this year. 1st drop since '04. Supply chain in trouble ... Delays in opening French hydropower contracts to competition will cost local govts hundreds of millions of euros in royalties ... Uruguay taking bids on 1st big solar farms using wind development strategy. 1Mw and 5Mw solar sites. State power comp expects 300Mw of wind power installed by yearend. Will be purchasing at least 900Mw wind power by '17 at as low as $62/Mwh ... Terror bombing in Iraq taking 800 lives/month ... Oil World sees global biodiesel production up 6.3% in '13 to 24.7M metric tons. More soybean oil in US, Brazil ... Next big thing in oil industry is offshore shallow water horizontal drilling ... Algae produces more fat for biofuels when starved ... E.On, Swissgas using excess wind power to make hydrogen (electrolysis). H then pumped into NG pipeline grid. 2Mw capacity produces 360 cubic meters/hr ... 43% of energy leaders plan to invest more in efficiency next year. 22% the same. 10% less. (I guess 25% don't invest in it at all.) ... NM Supreme Court ruled power comps can include cost of energy efficiency programs when calculating rate increases ... Carnival to spend $180M to cut sulfur emissions for 32 ships. EPA demanded cut in port pollution. Scrubbers, diesel particulate filters. Low-sulfur fuel might not be available by '15. Installs by mid-'16 ... Solar Universe bought Gen110 to expand sales network for rooftop solar ... Dominion unit highest bidder for offshore VA wind site. $1.6M. 2 comps bid. 5 yrs wait for plan. May be 10 yrs before installs in phases. Offshore wind $221/Mwh cost without subsidies. Solar PV $144. Onshore wind $86. NG combined cycle $66 ... Toshiba plans to sell 150K energy tracking units in Europe next 3 yrs. Started sales in France yesterday. Also tracks household CO2 emissions ... Expect to see large energy efficiency retrofits for fed bldgs ... US Navy building military's 1st centrally managed microgrid in San Diego. Power Analytics software. $2M over 3 yrs. 3 microgrids combined ... Report: 10-yr timeline for rebuilding fisheries stocks should be scrapped ... Marijuana ruled out as cause of Yosemite firestorm. (I never did see marijuana catch on fire by itself myself.) ... US, Nordics struck deal on UN process, finance for coal plants ... Vegas to power Vegas welcome sign with sun ... First energy to sell 11 hydropower plants ... Ground breaking Nissan Leaf rentals program in Orlando ... Trucking comps wary about switch to NG. (So is rail, according to my rail exec brother. Concern about power to get over hills.) ... Venezuela power outage yesterday. 70% of country.