Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
13
-
May 23,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"TerĂº")
A colleague kindly told me
he was enjoying our
website, and really liked
our "pithiness".
Humm.
Now, don't get me wrong, I
like pithiness as much as
the next guy, but I try
hard not to be too
pithy. I suppose it is
unavoidable, though, that
sooner or later I'll pith
on
someone.
It is too easy in these
tense times to look for the
Bad Guy and then aim all
our angst against the
Enemy. Yep, we're fractious
bunch all right, but there
just is too little time and
not enough planet to
constantly be looking for
the fall-guy. Big Oil?
We've lived off the black
gold all our lives; much of
this country's Brain Trust
resides in that sector, an
industry now happily
absorbing Conversion
Technology (CT) left and
right (ask KiOR). Big Waste
Management? Have you been
watching WM's Organic
Growth lately? Is it the
Politicians? We do
keep electing 'em, after
all. And I've already
posted my Rant about the
Environmental
Community.
Teru
sees every CT, every
project we report as
someone's attempt to
implement a Solution, and
we offer these gems in the
hope they'll help somebody
else find their own
Solution.
Enjoy the Newsletter; Use
the
News.
Hey
Rube!
In the
category of "What should we be
looking at Today?" we suggest
spending time with the US
Forest Service Four Forest
Restoration Initiative (4FRI).
We've posted Early News of
their impending RFP, with a
link to their Project Website.
300,000 acres of Biomass
Management designated a "small
business set-aside". Longer
term contract templates.
Project parameters developed to
encourage Conversion, and not
just to Timber. Be kind to Mr.
Biomass, my friend Jerry Payne;
he's been trying to get this
opened, staged and up for small
business biomass utilization
for close to a
decade.
The Week's
News
The Hamilton Project Proposes
Federal Energy Technology
Corporation
The Hamilton Project has
released a paper proposing an
Energy Technology Corporation,
a program of federal
third-party technology
assessment and demonstration.
05/20/2011
Camco Starts Construction on
Dairy Biogas to Renewable
Energy
Project
Global energy and carbon
company Camco International has
closed financing and begun
construction on a large dairy
manure to biogas installation
in Idaho.
05/20/2011
UK Runcorn Combined Heat and
Power Plant Receives
Environmental
Permit
Viridor and partners INEOS
ChlorVinyls, Viridor Liang
Greater Manchester (VLGM), and
the Greater Manchester Waste
Disposal Authority (GMWDA) have
announced that they have
received approval of the
environmental permit for
operation of the Runcorn
Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
plant in Cheshire, United
Kingdom (UK).
05/20/2011
Ag Waste to Biofuel Can Supply
over 50% of India's Transport
Fuel by
2020
Converting
agricultural waste into biofuel
could create up to one million
jobs in India over the next
decade, and radically improve
India’s energy efficiency by
meeting up to 59% of the demand
for transport gasoline through
greener fuels by 2020.
05/20/2011
BP and Davy Select EPC
Contractors to Advance Fischer
Tropsch
Process
BP and Davy Processing
Technology LTD are ready to
deploy their jointly developed
fixed bed variant of the
Fischer Tropsch (FT) process.
05/19/2011
CEC PIER Program Schedules
Venture Capital Forum for Clean
Tech
Energy
The California Energy
Commission's (CEC) Public
Interest Energy Research
program (PIER) has scheduled a
Venture Capital Forum, intended
to bring together venture
capitalists and researchers
from the clean technology
energy sector.
05/19/2011
ORNL Introduces Tiny Waste Heat
Energy Harvester
Structures
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL) researchers have
unveiled one millimeter square
cantilevered pyroelectric
energy harvester structures
that turns waste heat into
electricity.
05/19/2011
ZeaChem Signs Long-Term Binding
Feedstock
Agreement
Colorado-based ZeaChem, Inc has
secured a long-term feedstock
supply from Greenwood Tree Farm
Fund (GTFF), who will provide
wood from three nearby Poplar
plantations for ZeaChem's first
commercial biorefinery in
Boardman, Oregon.
05/18/2011
US Dept of
Commerce Offers Clean Tech
Assistance for the German
Market
Munich, Germany will host one
of the world's largest
environmental trade fairs a
year from now, May 7-11, 2012.
The IFAT ENTSORGA last year
drew over 110,000 visitors from
185 countries to exhibit
technologies for water, sewage,
waste, and raw materials
management.
05/18/2011
Rentech Wins Ontario, Canada's
Largest Eer Feedstock Supply
Contract
Los Angeles
based biomass to liquid fuels
company Rentech, Inc has won a
1.3 million ton per year forest
wood waste contract in
competitive bidding to Canada's
Ontario Ministry of Northern
Development, Mines and
Forestry, the largest feedstock
supply single contract yet
written by the agency.
05/17/2011
India's Kashmir Valley Gains
Biogas
Technology
The Kashmir
Valley of the Jammu and Kashmir
State (J&K State) in India
is receiving anaerobic
digestion system design,
construction and operational
training to provide clean, low
cost, renewable energy for the
region.
05/17/2011
KiOR Secures Biofuel Off-Take
Agreement with
FedEx
Texas-based
biofuels company KiOR has
signed a ground fuel supply
agreement with FedEx Corporate
Services, Inc.
05/17/2011
Waste Management Invests in
Agnion
Energy
Waste Management, Inc (WM) has
added another Conversion
Technology to their
ever-growing list of strategic
investments, with the addition
of Agnion Energy's gasification
technology.
05/16/2011
AE Biofuels Restarts Keyes
Ethanol
Plant
Cupertino, California based AE
Biofuels' subsidiary AE
Advanced Fuels Keyes, Inc. (AE
Keyes) has completed
retrofitting and restarted
operations at the 55 million
gallon per year ethanol
production facility in Keyes,
California.
05/16/2011
JBEI Genetic
Engineering Improves
Microbial Biofuels Toxicity
Resistance
Researchers at the US
Department of Energy's (DOE)
Joint Bioenergy Engineering
Institute (JBEI) have
bio-engineered a way to
significantly increase
microbial biofuels production.
05/16/2011
The Week's
Action
Items
Due 06/27/2011: Proposals to
SCE for Renewable Energy and
RECs
Southern California Edison
(SCE) has released a Request
for Proposals and detailed
proposal instructions for
renewable energy products from
eligible energy generation
facilities per California's
Renewable Portfolio Standard
Guidebooks, which include
policies for conversion of
waste and biomass to energy.
05/16/2011
Due 08/01/2011: Proposals to
USFS for Arizona Forest
Restoration
The USDA Forest Service has
issued a Pre-Solicitation
Notice for Phase 1 of the
long-awaited Four Forests
Restoration Initiative (4FRI)
Stewardship Project, a large
landscape scale, multiyear
forest restoration effort in
central Arizona.
05/19/2011
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