STUFF ... US could release 500Kb/d oil from strategic reserve, drop oil $12/bl if Sauds also raise production. To punish Putin up to $40B. Obama meets with Sauds tomorrow ... SPWR expects 300Mw sales from China plant this yr. Also sold 70Mw of low concentration PV to China JV. 20Mw, 100Mw projects online in '15 ... Chile had 18Gw clean energy online, in construction, projects approved or under review yearend '13. Up 39% from '12. 2 main grids, 99% of total power gen, use 17.5Gw. (Do that math.) ... PG&E to face fed criminal charge for '10 NG pipe explosion in Bay Area. Util's past practices violated Pipeline Safety Act ... Con Ed tops list of NG pipe leakers: report ... BP upped est. of Lake Mich spill size ... $1.4B refund to Cal ratepayers for San Onofre shutdown ... Exxon refinery sold tainted fuel: official ... CREE set new LED efficiency record ... Bankrupt firm dumped 1M jars of peanut butter into NM dump. (Do I need to say it? Yeah, starving kids in Africa, elsewhere. Maddening. Tho, maybe it was tainted.) ... OH lawmakers, utility push to "pause" energy efficiency mandates ... Indiana gov allowed short-lived energy efficiency program to lapse ... German utility seeks approval to close nuke plant early ... Canada granted 4 new LNG terminal licenses ... $60B transmission improvements on tap for investor-owned utils: report ... Shale oil production still profitable if oil price drops. (Um, connect that to SPR/Saud idea.) ... Boston folks can now find if neighborhood NG pipe leaks. (Online.) ... Heartland Institute claiming rising CO2 levels will help world more than hurt. (Plant growth.) ... NY launched $4.9B trans resiliency plan ... Calif to protect net metering for 20yrs for existing solar owners ... Regulators ordered talk start for proposed $250M Minn solar project v. NG projects ... Flooding, rising temps posing multiple probs for Mekong region: study ... Southern Co to disclose near-term moves to reduce CO2 emiss ... Improved prediction model could boost wave energy prospects ... UK GHG emiss down 2% last yr ... UK clean energy power gen up 28% '13. 14.8% of total from 11.3% '12. '20 target 15% of all energy use, 30% in powgen. Clean gen cap 19.4Gw end '13 from 15.5Gw '12 ... Antarctica ozone hole threatening elephant seals ... Entire US NG system could be subject to new EPA regs for methane. (Oil next.) ... Solargis.info (GeoModel Solar) has world map of direct normal sunlight. Chile, W Australia win. SE China (pollution?), N UK (and that lat and higher) lose (same down south) ... Soitec medium-concentration 44Mw PV S Africa project achieved full commissioning on 50% total cap. In US, Soitec sold 7Mw Cal project to Invenergy ... CPV survivors: Suncore, Soitec, Solavia, SunPower (SPWR), Magpower. 80% of mart. Heliotrop (France), Semprius (US) still in. Near 154Mw CPV installed world. Global Data sees 358Mw total end '14, 1Gw by '20. Industry sees boost to 40% system efficiency next 3 yrs, 35% now, to $1.77/w ... Panasonic hesitant to commit to TSLA super batt factory ... German clean/ren target 40-45% by '25. 55-60% by '35. 25% now. Coal, lignite 45.5% of powgen last yr, up 1.5% from '12. Nuke power dropped to ~15% from over 20% at Fukushima. (Maybe I don't get it, but Germany dropping nuke power seems stupid. Clean 24/7 E. What the heck. Does German coast get 50-year tsunamis? And Angela a physicist!) ... Europe el prices 2x US' ... Purdue researchers launched spinoff with innovative cellulosic processes. Spero Energy ... GEVO 35 cent/sh '13 loss. $24M in bank. Added ethanol production. Forecast $45M revs '14 v. $36M. Zero debt ... FTC proposing changes to over E10 labeling ... Argentina submitted WTO claim v. EU anti-dumping tariffs ... MOL (Hungary) bought 14 offshore N Sea licenses from BASF unit. $37M. Included joint explore, production in Mideast. 28M boe reserve increase. MOL production dropped 10% '13 ... Gazprom wants 15% global LNG mart '30. Sold 1st LNG '05. 148 since to 12 countries.