Science and Technology:
¶ A new study led by researchers at Columbia University and published Friday in the journal Science suggests a strong quake that strikes halfway around the globe can set off small to mid-size quakes near injection wells in the U.S. heartland. [Dalles Chronicle]
¶ A new Silicon Valley developer of thin film solar PV modules has claimed an engineering breakthrough that could cut the manufacturing costs of PV modules by one third, to less than 40¢ per watt. [CleanTechnica]
Economics and Finance:
¶ Research done a London-based non-governmental organisation concludes that when stricter regulations on carbon come into play, the market value of fossil fuel companies could drop dramatically, as extraction becomes uneconomic. [Investment Europe]
World:
¶ After over two years of delays, the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change has published tariff levels for residential installations. The Solar Trade Association called the announcement a “breakthrough”. [solarserver.com]
¶ Wind energy is now cost competitive with new-build coal capacity in India, and solar is likely to follow suit sometime between 2016-18, despite the fact that subsidies for wind are up to 15% lower than those for new coal capacity. [CleanTechnica]
¶ Germany could face a probe into whether it has breached EU competition rules by letting consumers partly foot the bill as it switches to renewable energy, Der Spiegel reported Sunday. [GlobalPost]
¶ Nine years after residents of the small German village of Jühnde got together to build a bioenergy plant fueled with plants and manure, the plant supplies all of their heat and allows them to sell surplus electricity to the national grid. [Wall Street Journal]
¶ Scientists have discovered cesium 137 in sediment under a Swiss lake used for drinking water and situated near a nuclear plant. Lake Biel is about 20 kilometres (12 miles) downstream from the plant, which may have discharged waste in 2000. [Business Standard]
¶ Dozens of Greenpeace activists entered an EDF nuclear power plant in Tricastin, southern France early on Monday morning, demanding the government shut it down, the environmental campaign group said. [FRANCE 24]
US:
¶ Heliae’s first commercial-scale algae production facility has raised $28.4 million of investment capital to support and expand the operations of its first commercial production facility in its hometown of Gilbert, Arizona.[CleanTechnica]
¶ The troubled Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant has missed another target date for restarting, so the Omaha Public Power District might spend another summer buying electricity to help meet peak demand. [Greenwich Time]
¶ The Monticello nuclear plant will restart after getting a 12% uprate and other maintenance, but it is over budget. Expected to cost $320 million, the four-month job wound up costing more than $587 million. How much more is not known. [MENAFN.COM]
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