WORLD BANK $5B SUPPORT PACK announced for US-led Power Africa initiative for 6 countries. Africa has 100Gw power shortage. About 2/3 of Africans live without grid power. US has committed $7B. Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria the first ... Massive red tide in Gulf of Mex killing thousands of fish ... China's coastal econ boom on track to "burn out" its marine resources: study ... Spikes in sea level rise create more coastal damage than hurricanes: study ... Researchers forecast dramatic loss for UK forestry if conditions go unchanged ... On the better news side, US fire season quietest in at least a decade. (Tell that to west coast.) ... Judge struck down Ft Collins Colo fracking ban ... Chevron's lax oversight blamed in fatal PA gas well explosion ... Ohio driller got 28 months in prison, $25K fine for dumping fracking waste in Mahoning River tributary 33 times ... Canada blocking NAFTA probe of oil sands leaks ... California agency failed to collect $194M in fines from polluters: report ... Shunfeng buying 30% stake in Powin Energy - US energy storage comp - for $25M. Option to buy 30% more for $37.5M ... Cathay Pacific investing in Fulcrum Energy - US biofuel developer. Converts municipal solid waste into bio avfuel. Also $1B+ supply deal for initial 375M gal over 10 yrs. Groundbreak planned for 1st commercial plant this year ... U of Illinois: regulations needed for new energy crops before unleashing new invasive species ... US ethanol exports up 56% 1H14 to 1.6B liters ... USDA, EPA, DOE study: 2K biogas sites operating now in US. Over 11K more could be deployed ... Ukraine doubling taxes for private natgas producers. Oil sector also hit ... Frederick MD finalizing new tax credit for builders for energy efficiency. Break in property tax. 25% for LEED, 50% for silver or gold LEED, 75% for platinum LEED. But won't cover 5% extra cost for basic LEED building, let alone silver, gold, plat ... Glint Photonics developing solar panel to capture sunlight at different angles. Can concentrate light up to 500x more than current tech, cut cost up to half to 4 cents/Kwh. Got $2.2M DOE grant ... Duke Energy 2Q profit $609M, up 80% on year ... Solar City (SCTY) 47.7M 2Q loss ... TRIG bought 73.7M Pound solar portfolio ... 100Gw solar power gen capacity by '30 in Japan: industry est. 69Gw by '21 ... India scrapped land incentive for solar ... Wyoming approved would-be largest wind farm in N Am ... EPA's proposed GHG rule for power plants doesn't do enough to boost nuke power: nuke industry ... Tanaska to build 694Mw NG peak power plant in TX to op 1/3 of time ... Formaldehyde causes cancer: panel ... And, back to the good side, NOAA downgraded '14 hurricane outlook to "below normal" ... Happy weekend, happy trails, onward and upward, ciao, pards.