GLOBAL WARMING CAUSING RECORD LEVELS of Antarctic sea ice. Over 815K sq. mi. above normal. Warmer than normal waters in high southern latitudes carried toward equator, replaced by colder waters welling up from below, inhibiting ice loss ... Greece cutting tax rates for oil/gas comps to 25% from 40%. Wants to get offshore development going. Spent $21.2B importing fossil fuels in '13. USGS est. Ionian Sea holds 22B bls, N Aegean Sea 4B bls ... Bay Wa (Germany) bought Martifer Solar US unit for $7.6M. Also sold stake in 19.8Mw wind project to Macquarie ... India to invest over $33B by '20 in project to make most of wind, solar potential in desert areas ... Brazil National Bank BNDES approved $251.7M finance for 7 wind projects totaling 195.6Mw ... Global biofuels production to reach 61B gal/yr by '23, replacing near 6% of fossil transportation fuels ... Hurricane Arthur earliest on record for N Carolina ... Rising ocean temps worse for complex species than basic life forms ... Handful of oil/gas waste disposal wells linked by seismologists to increasingly strong earthquake swarm around Okla CIty ... Cyberattack hit midwest grid operator ... Japan comps registered to sell power more than doubled to 274 since Sept. Restaurants to home builders ... Thin-film solar panel prices at 11-month high on trade dispute over PV modules. Now 61.2 cents/Kwh. Up from record low 58.2 cents June 4 ... KiOR (KIOR) got 4-month extension on $69.4M debt to Mississippi rather than be forced into bankruptcy. Owes total $287M ... EPA added biogas/LNG-based fuels to RFS, delayed action on advanced biobutanol ... US power providers tripled spending on energy efficiency projects since '06. Spending reached $250B worldwide in '13. Could hit $500B by '35: IEA ... Princeton U chem prof co-founded comp to efficiently use sunlight to turn CO2 into formic acid, then into alt fuel. Uses commercial el chem solar panels. Energy efficiency near 2% ... Guangzhou to inaugurate world's 1st tram powered solely by supercapacitors. Cars to charge in 10-30 sec. Up to 2.5 miles between charges. Siemens propulsion, braking systems ... Michigan could boost solar power gen at no cost to utility customers: PSC report ... Calpine completed sale of 6 southeast US power plants to LS Power affiliate for $1.57B + adjustments. ~3.5Gw combined-cycle NG power gen ... EDF US unit closed finance on 161Mw TX wind farm, sold 1/2 stake to UBS fund ... Lightway Green (China) got $11.3M loan from China Development Bank for 1st-phase 9.6Mw solar project in China. Eventual 20Mw ... LDK Solar to supply Thai comp with 64Mw of panels. Deliveries through Sept ... ET Solar (China) to supply 24.5Mw for 6 projects in N Carolina. Online by Q4 ... India could reduce food waste by refrigerating vehicles with liquid air at 1/5-1/3 cost of diesel power. Country's spare liquid nitrogen output capacity more than market's current unmet needs ... Intelligent Energy (UK fuel cell maker working with Suzuki) raised $94M in share sale in London ... Mitsubishi-Vestas JV got order for 4 8Mw wind turbines for offshore Denmark ... Greenpeace blocking Chevron NG site in Romania ... US clean/renewable M&A activity hit $9.1B in '13. Wind deals 55% ... Conergy (Germany) closed $60M finance to help expand solar business ... Lumenpulse (Canada LED maker) completed buy of Projection Lighting (UK) ... Brazil wind power gen capacity up 52% on year to near 3.32Gw.