GEORGE SCHULTZ URGING REPUBLICANS to be proactive on climate change, calling it "obvious risk" to economy, national security. Rising temps could be addressed through inexpensive "insurance policy" similar to restrictions on ozone-depleting gases decades ago. George favors a carbon tax ... High-resolution climate model finding man's impact on drop in Australia rainfall ... Big-name comps urging utilities to make more clean energy ... Flooding in US coastal cities soared since '01: Reuters ... China wants 1/3 of new govt vehicles to be EVs, hybrids, FCVs by '16 ... Possible link between kidney stones, global warming: study ... US set duties on S Korean steel used for oil drilling ... Exelon bought TX LNG project for exporting ... In US, energy storage to grow 6x to over 720Mw in '20. Lithion-ion batt storage now $1,750/Kwh. By '20, TSLA gigafactory will be able to bring that down to $400/Kwh, selling for $500 ... Vanadium-flow batt storage will fall below $300/Kwh within a year. $150 by '20. Comparisons to lith-ion only gets better with other parameters. (Why all the investment in lith-ion?!) ... US NG inventories now over 1.92 TCF, 29% below 5-yr avg. for time of year ... DOE labs recognized for 31 of top tech products of '13: R&D Mag ... US could double hydropower production. But economics, policy make it unlikely: EIA ... Intl Christian group announced fossil fuel divestment ... Adelie penguins thriving with climate change ... Iowa court ruling providing boost for 3rd-party solar finance ... Gulf of Mex oil production heading for sharp spike: analysts ... India plans to spend $250M on projects to boost solar power, reform power supply to farmers to end blackouts ... Syngenta, Cellulosic Ethanol Tech producing 1M gal cellulosic eth this year, 2M gal in '15 ... Kurd forces seized control of main oil fields around Kirkuk. Turkey embracing Kurds ... BP: world's oil will last 53.3 years more at current production rate. 1.688T bls left. Last 10 yrs, proven reserves up 27% by over 350B bls. OPEC has 71.9% of reserves. US oil reserves 44.2B bls (EIA says 33.4B). BP adds: "nobody knows or can know how much oil exists under Earth surface, or how much production is possible in future." (You might want to write this down somewhere. Or remember. Or put it in special computer place.) ... In May, 16 EU states (using 3/4 of continent's power) approved unified system for trading power, setting wholesale prices. To make countries increase use of most efficient power, keep prices low ... Hannah Solar building 1.2Mw solar farm in GA. Online Oct. To feed GA Power ... AFC Energy (UK) to install its fuel cell units at S Korea chem comp. To use hydrogen produced at plant. To feed S Korea grid. S Korea target 11% clean/ren power by '30. (Pretty weak goal.) ... Sumitomo to build 75Mw biomass power plant in Japan. Online Mar '17. $197M ... Home Depot, BJ's Wholesale Club responding to .5M folks urging ban of wildflowers pretreated with pesticides killing bees, other pollinators ... GM, HP, Walmart, others demanding simpler buying of clean/ren power ... EPA targeting carcinogen in dry cleaning ... EPA's "pollution diet" for Chesapeake Bay hasn't improved water quality: report ... Soviet Union collapse led to cleaner Arctic air: study ... GSR Ventures (China), Oak Investment (N Am) targeting $500M for clean tech fund ... Drax Power (Britain) secured 300M Euros under EU program to develop CCS tech for new coal-fired plant ... 50Hertz Transmission (Germany) to invest 400-500M Euros in powerlines for wind power from remote areas to industrial hubs ... India solar firms to turn to Japan, S Korea comps for PV cells to avoid levies on equipment from US, China, Malaysia, Taiwan ... Greek clean/ren power developer raised 35M Euros in IPO ... NTR (Ireland) to invest in 150Mw of wind projects in Europe. Initially in Ireland, UK ... Aecorn Tech buying outstanding shares of URS Corp for $4B ... Neo Solar Power (Taiwan PV cell maker) raised $120M in bond issue. Proceeds for raw materials, wafers ... Entropy Investment bought majority stake in Argand Energy Solutions (US solar developer) ... Latin Am solar PV pipeline near 20Gw. 1Gw of installs this year: GTM Research ... Sharp canceled Enel Green Power thin-film solar contract after drop in module prices ... China Ruifeng (Hong Kong wind power operator) to issue HK$150M of bonds.