The question of loan guarantees continued to reverberate around Washington. A last-minute deal over the Continuing Resolution to fund the government has spared research programs and loan guarantees at the Department of Energy. DOE continued to support projects, guaranteeing $170 for a wind farm in northern New Hampshire and $350 million for a geothermal project in Nevada. At the same time, a study at the Department of Energy questioned whether its research projects are looking too far into the future. Ohio continued to salivate over the prospect of developing the Utica Shale, which is now estimated to be bigger than the Marcellus. A shale deposit uncovered in Lancashire, England is also estimated to exceed the Marcellus and the shale gas boom is quickly spreading around the world. Nuclear power inched forward as the Vogtle project in Georgia seems to be lumbering toward final approval at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It would be the first new reactor licensed issued in the US since the 1970s. Also, a mayor in western Japan who had supported a nuclear project in his town won re-election. Finally, NRG, which just abandoned two reactors in Texas, has come up with a new idea – using the batteries in electric vehicles to put electricity back on the grid during peak demand hours or in emergency blackouts. The company has anounced a joint project with the University of Delaware in which an abandoned Chrysler plant will be rehabilitated. The idea seems to make sense – except that the electricity stored in those batteries is also needed to run the vehicles around town. Since eVs only have a range of about 100 miles and take 3 to 4 hours to recharges, does it really make sense to try to double them up as power plants as well? If people want to store electricity in their homes, why not just buy the battery and skip the car?