It's Friday. Go home. Or reflect on what we learned this week:

• Just because Peabody Energy throws a bunch of money at something doesn't make it a good idea. Especially when they do it three times.
• Never, ever get into a car with Justin Moresco or Sean Wolfe. The car might eat you. And Justin and Sean might bore you to death.
• Our own Scott Clavenna is actually the lead guitarist for this awesome band you've never heard of.
• California still has problems getting its priorities straight.
• Buying a seacoast property is the moral equivalent of wearing fur. And the insurance industry will make you pay dearly for it. How much? I hear first born children are getting a good price in Albania these days.
• Some ideas are better off not getting funded.
• Hey Skyline Solar! It's okay. Now everyone knows your secret.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Committee has finally succumbed to Jason Bak. Bak, CEO of wave power company Finavera, used champagne and the promise of an extensive fish safety survey to convince FERC to grant a preliminary permit for Finavera's proposed 100 MW wave park off of Humboldt County. FERC is widely reviled in the U.S. ocean power community for being tease, despite everyone knowing the regulatory agency gave it up to Verdant Power in the back of its Camaro on Roosevelt Island a few years ago. Finavera's Humboldt project could become the U.S.'s first commercial wave project. This sounds like good news for PG&E, which recently signed a PPA for 2.3 MW from the Finavera installation. But is it really?

• The ever reliable Xinhua News Service is reporting the signing of the Tokyo Declaration, a commitment by "twelve globally famous companies" to cut emissions 50 percent by 2050. The globally famous companies, which include Sony, Nokia, Nike, and HP, are committed to "serving as ambassadors of the industry" while forcing their suppliers to take massive energy cuts. Whatever... I'm psyched for my biopolymer Jordans.


• Bu16, BP's and Dupont's much anticipated biobutanol love child, took its first steps in England today. The biobutanol blend, comprised of 16 percent biobutanol and 84 percent gasoline, was successfully run through an internal combustion engine without destroying the engine or separating into its component parts. Must be the Ritalin.


• John Hofmeister finally got his Cold, Dead Hands moment. Shell's President, channeling Charlton Heston, recently told the Detroit News (it's like Fox News, but for Detroit) that Americans will never give up their SUVs. Ever. Not in a million years. While lacking Ben Hur's dramatic flair, Hofmeister did manage a meager "Don't take my SUV away from me" while simultaneously killing a puppy with a whiffle ball bat.


• Western GeoPower? We don't need no stinking Western GeoPower. After Western GeoPower terminated a 25.5 MW PPA with PG&E for their geyser powered geothermal plant, the California utility has gone knocking on Calpine Corp.'s door, seeking a 175 MW geothermal PPA. The catch? Calpine's geo comes from the same geyser as Western Geo's. When reached for comment Pete Darbee, PG&E CEO said "fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."


• And finally today... we're having a party and you're all invited. BYOC* (*bring your own chair, because we're at max capacity and the fire marshal doesn't care about solar power. The roof is, literally, on fire. ) Free booze!

I've heard arguments for both sides on Skyline Solar, the unstealthiest stealth solar company around these days. Or are they the stealthiest unstealth company around? Anyway, the Santa Clara company that describes itself as "scalable solar" is hiring. Their LinkedIn job ad also gives the first indication of what the company is really up to. Seems they're

"industrializing a concentrating photovoltaic system that will be the first to achieve retail grid parity and provide step-function growth of installed solar. The Skyline product uniquely combines the best of thin film (low area cost) and silicon PV (high reliability and efficiency)."

Any more info? You know how to reach me.

Kevin MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, Western GeoPower CEO and immortal warrior, is not happy. Late last week MacLeod terminated a 25.5 MW PPA between his company and PG&E, citing the California Public Utilities Commission's failure to certify the agreement on time. The PPA was a big deal for everyone's favorite utility, as it represented PG&E's first major renewables agreement, as well as the first one to die before consummation. See what happens when you mix Viagra and nitrous tablets? PG&E had contracted in May with the geothermal company to buy power from their Western GeoPower Unit 1 power plant, which is slated to come online in 2010. In December the CPUC issued a blanket approval for 585.5 MW of renewable power for PG&E as part of their 2006 RPS commitments, but the approval came too late for MacLeod's taste. Clearly this broadsword-wielding c-suite executive is not to be messed with.

• Stealthy hybrid engine startup Adura Systems received an injection of hot capital from wind developer New Frontier Renewable Energy. Adura, which has yet to announce the specifics of its Prius-killing series hybrid engine, has said only that the technology delivers "near zero emissions and extreme fuel efficiency." This lack of specificity hasn't stopped the China Automotive Technology and Research Center from forming a strategic alliance with the engine startup. As far as the actual technology behind the series hybrid engine, this release mentions a "microturbine serial plug-in electric drive bus," which is VC-speak for HotWheels!


• David Kubiak's ocean fertilization company Planktos has finally succumbed to its moldy business model. Deep breath. The company was trying to grow algal blooms in the ocean, which were supposed to absorb carbon dioxide and sink to the sea floor. Kubiak's plan was to sell carbon credits from the absorbed carbon dioxide. Kubiak and Pico, the company's dubious "coccolithophorid" mascot, were the subject of an insipid Treehugger profile about two years back - the kiss of death for any greentech company. Now the company claims they were the victims of a "highly effective disinformation campaign." And if by "disinformation campaign" you mean an extensive international research project with results published in the Journal of Geophysical Research and certified by the International Maritime Organization, then yes. I blame the scientists. More on this later in the day...


• South Africa has run out of power. No, seriously. The country relies on a state-owned utility for nearly all of its electricity generation. None of this is funny. Eskom, the government monopoly, announced today it will cut more than 90 percent of the electricity going to mines and industrial customers between now and 2012 when their new coal plant comes online. Our favorite analyst tells us Eskom warned the government about this back in 1998, but the government called them silly and suggested they get busy seeding the ocean with iron dust or something...


• Solar stocks exploded yesterday. Boom. First Solar was up $52.90 on the day after beating earnings expectations, closing at $228.46 before overnight trading. Yingli followed suit, moving up $3.44 to $24.19, while JA Solar bounced $2.93 to $20.34. Canadian Solar rose $2.60 $22.80, while Evergreen edged up $1.23 to $11.34. Then everyone realized how lame they were compared to First Solar.


• And finally today... Breaking is up hard to do.

Richard Branson, proving once again that he's huffed to much jet fuel, has put out another loser proposal to combat climate change. Seems the Virgin King has offered to establish an "environmental war room" complete with leather massage chairs, unlimited movie rentals, and networked gaming. The war room was announced today at a Tokyo meeting of the world's leading countries called as a follow up to the Bali conference in December. Branson's plan calls for the war room to be an independent, UN-linked office to "lead the world's efforts to find technological fixes for climate change." Or he could ask everyone who spent $200,000 on a Virgin Galactic ticket to build some solar capacity instead. Just saying.... No Island Left Behind