Roundup: Sahara Solar Project, Tesla CEO's $10 Gas, Court Orders Exxon Valdez Fine, Toilet Power, and More

Sahara solar project would supply Europe with 15 percent of power needs – Germany’s largest utilities and engineering companies including Siemens, RWE and E.ON are in early-stage talks about developing solar plants in the Sahara desert to supply Europe with 15 percent of its power needs by 2050. The massive project would require high-voltage cables to move power from the Sahara under the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and could cost $555 billion. [Source: Bloomberg]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says gas should cost $10 a gallon — Elon Musk, founder and CEO of electric car company Tesla Motors, criticized the lack of innovation among U.S. automakers, revealed he’d like to run Detroit and said gas should probably cost $10 a gallon during Wired’s Disruptive by Design business conference. Musk said he is anti-tax, but pro-carbon tax and explained that current gas prices do not reflect the true cost of paying for CO2 capacity of oceans and atmospheres. [Source: Wired, CNET]

Exxon to pay $507.5 million for 1989 spill — ExxonMobil was ordered by a U.S. federal appeals court Monday to pay $507.5 million in punitive damages plus interest for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska. The cumulative amount of interest payments — 5.9 percent starting from the date of the original trial judgment in 1996 – could nearly double the fine. [Source: Grist]

Toilet gas to become future fuel for UK — Waste from toilets in Manchester will contribute to the local gas supplies under a green energy project planned by the United Utilities Group and National Grid. The companies will transform a by-product of the waste into gas for the local network and fuel for sludge tankers. [Source: Reuters]

Water footprint of biofuels measured in Rice University study — Scientists at Rice University warn in a new report rapid growth in biofuels production could affect the availability of water supplies and degrade its quality through use of fertilizers, pesticides and sediment. The study calls for a balance approach to biofuels including choosing more drought-tolerant, high-yield plants that can grow with little to no irrigation. [Source: Rice University]

Two-year Hibernia dispute ends with record royalty agreement — ExxonMobil, and its partners Chevron and Petro-Canada will pay record royalty rates to the Newfoundland government to end a dispute over expanding an offshore oil field. Royalty on oil pumped from a new southern extension of the Hibernia field will rise up to 50 percent when crude is $70 a barrel or more. Newfoundland also will buy a 10 percent in the southern expansion for $26.6 billion. [Source: Bloomberg]

Government climate change study documents impact in U.S. – The effect of climate change including droughts in the Southwest, reduced mountain snowpack and eroding coastlines is already happening, according to government study released Tuesday. The study, which was started during the George W. Bush administration, is a joint venture of 13 agencies and the White House. [Source: NYT, U.S. Global Change Research Program]