Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
27, August 29,
2011
Teru
Talk by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's
Trash Talk
Isn't
it amazing? Yesterday
we couldn't give
biofuels away, and now
everybody wants
some.
'Course,
we haven't had a good
old electricity
shortage for quite
awhile, so the Cure for
the Common Power Outage
isn't right up there on
the National Priority
List. Wait for it;
it'll come back around
on the wheel. Five
years ago, we watched
as Sustainable Biofuels
started take front page
over Renewable Energy.
I had a colleague ask
recently, "… do you
think the emerging
trend to skip fuels and
produce bio-sourced
chemicals will hurt our
national biofuels
development?"
Hmmm…
No.
Once we've figured out
how to cleanly and
cost-effectively unbake
the molecular cake, we
can make all
sorts of cool
stuff. Anything that
gets us closer in that
Noble Quest is A-OK in
my book. Making money
on what we make out of
waste and biomass is
the "fuel" that feeds
our expanding
understanding, whatever
widget we find to
produce and
sell.
Here's
the New Picture I see
forming: Regional
materials collection,
sorting, recycling and
conversion complexes
that aggregate and
high-grade our
discards. Multi-tech
processing trains that
use whatever
combination of clean
tech is necessary to
convert whatever goo
and crud we can't
recycle. Parallel
streams coming in of
whatever non-food
feedstock we can grow;
testing, mixing and
blending sub-systems to
parse raw recovered
resources toward next
step refining and
reforming. Blurring of
the lines between what
is a "bio-refinery" and
what is simply an
old-school refinery. A
new framework of
finished biomass and
waste sourced products
storage and
distribution systems
linked into all the
other regional,
national and
international
distribution
systems.
Presto!
Closed-loop foundation
chemicals, fuels and
energy self-sufficiency
with zero disposal.
Like we've said before:
we're getting'
there.
Hey
Rube!
School's back in
session and the begrudging
buying of school supplies
has commenced in
earnest.
As you Parents cast about
the stores for things that
will clothe, carry and
educate without
causing undue childhood
embarrassment, seek ye the
Green. A much greater
selection of sustainably
produced goods are on the
market now, especially if
you Seek and Buy on-line.
To a large degree, the push
to educate our generation
to recycle, made our own
parents aware. Kids now
want to brag that their
T-shirts were woven from
sustainably harvested
hemp…
The Week's
News
CEC
Releases 2011-2012
Investment Plan for
Alternative and
Renewable
Fuels
The
California Energy
Commission (CEC) has
posted the final draft
of their 2011-2012
Investment Plan for the
Alternative and
Renewable Fuel and
Vehicle Technology
Program (AB 118, Núñez,
Chapter 750, Statutes of
2007).
08/26/2011
Impacts
Assessed of Proposed
1-Year Extension of
Self-Gen Incentive
Program
The US
Department of Energy's
Pacific Clean Energy
Application Center
(PCEAC) has released a
review of the potential
fiscal impact to
California institutions
associated with AB
1150's proposed 1-year
extension of the Self
Generation Incentive
Program (SGIP; SB 412 of
2009).
08/26/2011
First
Sustainability Report
Cards Posted at Biofuels
Pumps in Three
States
The
non-profit Sustainable
Biodiesel Alliance (SBA)
participating members in
three states have now
posted Sustainability
Report Cards on their
biofuels pumps.
08/26/2011
Virent
Green Gasoline Passes
Critical "No Harm" in
Real-World
Testing
Wisconsin
based Virent Energy
Systems has announced
that their Biogasoline
has passed rigorous
testing conducted by one
of their collaborators,
Royal Dutch Shell.
08/26/2011
Rosemount
Offers Custom Biofuels
Injection Blending at
New Minnesota
Terminal
Rosemount
Clean Energies is now
equipped to provide
custom injection
blending of biofuels
petroleum products to
advance biofuels
commercialization in the
St. Paul, Minnesota
region.
08/25/2011
GE
Offers Fuel-Flexible
Waukesha Engine for
Smaller Biogas
Projects
GE has
introduced the Waukesha 1
megawatt APG1000 gas
engine, expanding upon its
line of biogas engines.
08/25/2011
Cereplast and
Mastercolor AB Partner
for Scandinavian
Bioplastic Resin
Market
California-based
Cereplast has signed a
distribution agreement
for its proprietary
biobased, compostable
and sustainable plastic
resins for Sweden,
Norway and Denmark with
Scandinavian bioplastics
marketing and
distribution firm
Mastercolor AB.
08/25/2011
Codexis
Reports on Carbon
Capture Technology
Progress to DOE /
NETL
Technical
progress in capture and
sequestration of carbon
dioxide (CO2) by
California-based Codexis
was presented this week
to the US Department of
Energy's National Energy
Technology Laboratory
(DOE / NETL).
08/25/2011
ICM
Biomass Gasifier Now
Uses Eisenmann Emissions
Abatement
Technology
Kansas
based ICM, Inc has
selected emissions
control systems from
Eisenmann Corporation
after successful testing
with its Harvey County,
Kansas
feedstock-flexible
gasification technology
demonstration facility.
08/24/2011
Blackburn WWTW
Converts Sewage to
Biogas to Electricity in
East
Lancashire
The
massive Blackburn
wastewater treatment
works (WWTW) in East
Lancashire, United
Kingdom, will now
produce one seventh of
the plant's electrical
need by first converting
the sewage to biogas,
then to electricity.
08/24/2011
Lawrence
Berkeley National Lab
Opens Advanced Biofuels
Testing
Facility
The
Advanced Biofuels
Process Demonstration
Unit (ABPDU) at Lawrence
Berkeley National
Laboratory (Berkeley
Lab) in Emeryville,
California is officially
open for business
following the
ribbon-cutting ceremony
last week.
08/24/2011
Aquaflow
and Shell's CRI Catalyst
Collaborate for Biofuel
Development
New
Zealand's Aquaflow has
entered a collaborative
agreement with
Texas-based CRI Catalyst
Company to advance algae
to drop-in fuel
development.
08/23/2011
Draft
Regulations Released for
California's New
Wildfire Prevention
Fund
Following
passage this year of the
State Responsibility
Area (SRA) Fire
Prevention Fund (AB
29x1), draft regulations
have been released and
an updated review has
been posted by the
California Fire Safe
Council.
08/23/2011
ACORE
Proposes "Universal"
Definition of
Biomass
At the
end of last year, the
non-profit American
Council on Renewable
Energy (ACORE) tasked
their Biomass
Coordinating Council
(BCC) to review sixteen
definitions for
"biomass" that are
currently found in
federal laws and
regulations and from
this, to develop one
"universal definition"
of the term
biomass.
08/23/2011
Coskata
Raises Over $20MM for
Cellulosic Ethanol
Commercialization
Illinois
based Coskata, Inc has
closed a Series D round
of financing, raising
over $20 million to
advance their integrated
cellulosic ethanol
biorefinery development.
08/22/2011
California LCFS
Advisory Panel Posts New
Draft Documents for
Upcoming
Meeting
The
California Air Resources
Board (ARB) has posted
additional review
documents in advance of
the Low Carbon Fuel
Standard
(LCFS) Advisory
Panel's general meeting
August 25 and 26, 2011.
08/22/2011
Abengoa
Receives Conditional
$133.9 MM Loan Guarantee
for Biomass to
Ethanol
Missouri-based
Abengoa Bioenergy has
received an offer of a
conditional commitment
for a loan guarantee of
$133.9 million from the
US Department of
Energy's Loan Programs
Office to support
Abengoa's construction
of a commercial-scale
cellulosic biomass to
ethanol biorefinery.
08/22/2011
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