Texas Tops Finds From Brazil to Bakken as Best Prospect: Energy - Bloomberg

Energy companies in search of oil riches rivaling the biggest finds from Brazil to Angola are
flocking to Texas shale, where new wells have triggered a 230-fold increase in crude output in three years.

EPA, wind powering electric-rate increases | Wichita Eagle

Though these increases did not come from the partially defunct cap-and-trade dream of Al Gore and others at the Chicago Climate Exchange, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken over energy policy, and the renewable-energy craze is in full swing. Ethanol, solar and wind have each made their marks, but a significant part of the price increases in Kansas is sourced in two factors: EPA and wind.

Mandates in Kansas became law in 2009, supposedly linked to the yet-to-happen start-up at the Holcomb power plant. The requirement of 10 percent renewable wind power to the grid by 2011 has happened. The 15 percent renewable-power mandate has all but already happened, well ahead of the schedule for 2016. Now, we await the 20 percent mandate match for 2020 (some power suppliers are already there, including Sunflower Electric Power Corp.). Thankfully, the mandates are for capacity, not deliverability.

The Republican Brain: News and a Video

[Warmist English major Chris Mooney] First, my friends at Thirst, D.C. have released a video of my book preview talk there. We had a lot of fun with it, as you’ll see; there is even a successful experiment in which I “read” the political views of an audience member based on the person’s personality traits.

Twitter / @PeterGleick: New app for mapping/findin ...

New app for mapping/finding #water fountains. Have an Android smartphone?Download (free) #WeTap. Then go out and map/find water fountains!

Documents: White House was all-hands-on-deck as Solyndra collapse neared - The Hill's E2-Wire

Several key White House offices were involved with the Obama administration’s messaging plans and other preparations as the collapse of the taxpayer-backed solar company Solyndra was imminent, newly released documents show.

The latest White House documents delivered to House Republicans on Friday again highlight the extent to which senior administration officials braced for the fallout as Solyndra – a company President Obama had personally visited – was about to go under.