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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The SunShot initiative aims to cut the cost of solar panels by 75% from 2011 levels by the end of the decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Current efforts include cutting installation costs and supporting new businesses willing to innovate on installation costs.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This year for the first time new solar power in the US outpaced wind.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/24/2830401/sunshot-grants-solar-industry/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/24/2830401/sunshot-grants-solar-industry/</font></a><u><font size="3"><font color="#0000ff"><font face="Calibri"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Soft costs are about half the retail tab for rooftop solar in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Start-ups described their approaches to cutting costs at a recent industry gathering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2303565/startups-compete-to-defeat-the-soft-costs-of-solar-power"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2303565/startups-compete-to-defeat-the-soft-costs-of-solar-power</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>James Tong is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to reduce soft costs, as he describes in this interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/video/view/reducing-soft-costs-in-the-solar-industry?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-October30-2013"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/video/view/reducing-soft-costs-in-the-solar-industry?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-October30-2013</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Pension funds require long term dependability of their investments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The managers of 70 major funds have asked fossil fuel companies for their plans to transition to renewable energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131024/wall-street-demands-answers-fossil-fuel-producers-unburnable-carbon?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Fblog+%28InsideClimate+News%29"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131024/wall-street-demands-answers-fossil-fuel-producers-unburnable-carbon?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Fblog+%28InsideClimate+News%29</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Fossil fuel companies spent $674 billion last year in developing new fuel sources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The companies themselves cannot be the source of necessary change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/25/climate-change-exxon-fossil-fuel"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/25/climate-change-exxon-fossil-fuel</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Nearly 8,000 activists from 720 universities gathered last week in Pittsburgh for Power Shift 2013 to plan how to push for an energy transition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/24/power-shift-720-campuses/3180005/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/24/power-shift-720-campuses/3180005/</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Caribbean region is reintroducing rain water harvesting as a hedge against water shortages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It is an old technology with a wide future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/caribbean-looks-to-the-sky-for-water-security/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/caribbean-looks-to-the-sky-for-water-security/</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>California, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia have signed an agreement to coordinate climate policies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The region would be the world’s fifth largest economy if autonomous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_24406734/california-oregon-washington-and-british-columbia-sign-climate"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_24406734/california-oregon-washington-and-british-columbia-sign-climate</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>An article in PNAS estimates that mitigation efforts are detectable in lowered surface temperatures after about 25-30 years, globally, and that it takes about 10 further years to detect regional impact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/10/02/1300005110.abstract"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/10/02/1300005110.abstract</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Germany has been peaking at about 60% renewable power on a good sunny, windy day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Recently that drove power prices to $.0275/kwh, and the grid maintained stability as fossil power sources were taken offline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Most of the press coverage has concerned the problems posed to the utilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They are challenging but soluble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
Meanwhile—woo hoo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Germany-Hits-59-Renewable-Peak-Grid-Does-Not-Explode?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=Headline&utm_campaign=GTMDaily"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Germany-Hits-59-Renewable-Peak-Grid-Does-Not-Explode?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=Headline&utm_campaign=GTMDaily</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Concentrated solar power can use thermal storage to deliver continuous electricity.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This month 1.3 gigawatts of CSP went into production in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>“Another several gigawatts is in construction.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/10/us-solar-surge-flipping-switches-on-a-hoover-dam-of-utility-scale-concentrated-solar-power?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-October30-2013"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/10/us-solar-surge-flipping-switches-on-a-hoover-dam-of-utility-scale-concentrated-solar-power?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-October30-2013</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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