STATE OF THE CLIMATE, 2013 released by NOAA. Compendium of trends, events. At www.climate.gov ... Atmos CO2 concentrations up 2.8 PPM in '13 to global avg. 395.3 PPM. Mauna Loa hit 400 PPM for 1st time ever since readings started in '58. Arctic site recorded 400 PPM in spring '12 ... '13 2nd-6th warmest year on record globally. (Different data sets.) Global avg. sea surface temps among 10 warmest on record. N Pacific warmest ever ... Global mean sea level up on pace with trend of ~3.2mm/yr over past 20 yrs ... Arctic's 7th warmest year ever. Arctic sea ice extent 6th lowest. 7 lowest on record in last 7 yrs. South Pole hit record high temp ... Arctic lakes formed from melting permafrost could stabilize long-term global temps by storing more GHGs than permafrost releases into atmos with melting: study. (That could be good news. For years, we were worried about methane releases from melting permafrost creating a disastrous feedback loop of global warming.) ... Cleantech VC has "manifold investment opportunities, scarce capital" ... VC/PE activity continues slow decline ... DONG Energy sold 1/2 of 252Mw offshore wind farm to consortium of Danish pension funds ... Shanghai El Power offering 42.8M Euro equity in its Japan unit to raise capital for 4 solar projects in Japan ... Thailand to increase investment privileges for clean/renewable energy schemes. 25% clean/ren Thai target by '21 ... US House passed bill that could cancel $150M DOE loan guarantee for Cape Wind project offshore Mass ... Terra Form Power (SUNE's yield comp) increased IPO target to $482M ... Rising Development (Hong Kong) buying Hong Kong solar farm operator for HK $620M ... Microsoft buying all output of 175Mw Illinois wind farm ... DOE creating energy efficiency standards for computers, backup systems ... USGS has map of what rising seas can do to beaches ... FERC proposing measures to beef up security of critical grid facilities ... Southeast US utilities, regulators "pretty ill-equipped" to handle industry's rapid transformation ... Com Ed planning superconducting powerline under Chicago ... Shell focusing on east Gulf of Mexico after 3rd major find ... China 3 yrs behind schedule on plan to make world's biggest market for offshore wind ... Yaskawa (Japan) buying Solectria Renewables (US inverter maker), and The Switch (Finland wind turbine parts maker) ... US oil production up 78Kb/d last week to 8.6Mb/d ... Libya says their oil production up to 554Kb/d from under 300K last month ... Oil/gas investment in US soared to $200B/yr, 20% of total US private fixed investment. Never that high ever in US history. (Didn't say if dollars corrected for inflation.) ... Germany topped world energy efficiency rankings ... John Hancock Insurance leading $70M equity finance for 7 solar projects in Mass, ND. Total 32Mw ... DOI to auction ~344K acres offshore NJ for wind power development. May provide up to 3.4Gw power. Sept 19 deadline for aps ... RES US unit closed $508M finance to build wind farms. $222M for 150Mw project in ND. $286M for 200Mw project in MN. Vestas 2Mw turbines. Xcel Energy to own, operate farms.