Teru Talk Newsletter             

Teru's Trash Talk

Let's start with the idea that "energy" needs to get from where it is made to wherever it is to be used to do work. "Energy" after all is the Force, and for the Force to Be With You, it has to get to you.

If we create the Force in one location and gather it up for use in another location, we need something to carry the Force. Electricity is a carrier of energy, as is Solid Fuel, Liquid Fuel, and Gaseous Fuel. They are all Energy Carriers. When we generate electricity by spinning metal inside a wire bundle (a generator), we do so to create electricity that can carry Energy from A to B. When we make biogas using anaerobic digestion or we clean up the gas released from super-heating molecules, we've made a different kind of Force Carrier, but we do the same thing: transfer Energy from one place to another to Perform Work. "Kinetic Energy", the Force of Movement, is the same; one domino whacks another and transfers that whack all along the line of dominos, effectively performing the work needed to knock the last domino over. When we gather firewood and walk it back to camp, the wood (biomass) plus our walking body combine to carry that energy from source to use.

"Energy" isn't "Electricity" and as far as Energy goes, there is no difference between electricity, solid fuel, liquid fuel, gas, nuclear fuel, or any other carrier mechanism. Electricity is just a cool way Humans have figured out that gets energy across distance. When we make a critical decision to focus on forming clean, renewable, sustainable energy, we are figuring out how best to get a Force to You to get something done, without making things worse than they already are, and without using up any more of our precious finite resources than necessary.

We get so carried away with Naming, we forget what the words mean.

Hey Rube!

Lots of attention is being paid to regulating two kinds of environmentally reasonable energy carrier processes, Biofuel and Combined Heat and Power. California, Texas, New York … the United Kingdom and Europe … everybody's doin' it. Look around at your own Agencies of Purview and see if they've figured out how to boost heat recovery, how to speed up clean biofuel development. If you spot something being done in your area to promote Common Sense Energy that Teru Talk hasn't reported, let us know and we'll help with the tracking. If you DON'T, call 'em up and ask 'em … WHY NOT?

The Week's Extra Reading

Part 1 and Part 2 of Teru's Focus Report on California Bioresources address current industry and agency perspectives on organic residuals (bioresources, biomass).

The Week's News

Flex OC Renewables Selected for OC Landfill Gas to Energy Project

California based FlexEnergy, Inc's subsidiary Flex OC Renewables has been selected by Orange County to install and operate the Santiago Canyon Landfill Gas to Energy project. 09/23/2011

SVSWA Approves Environmental Funding for Plasco Salinas Valley Project The Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority (SVSWA) has announced that its Board has approved funding for preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Plasco Salinas Valley Waste-to-Energy Project. 09/23/2011

Fulcrum Bioenergy Files for IPO to Construct Sierra Biofuels Plant in Nevada Thermal conversion technology specialist Fulcrum Bioenergy, Inc has filed a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), offering a total of $115 million. 09/23/2011

Edinburgh Receives £1.3MM Grant for Food Waste Collection Programme A grant of £1.3million from the Scottish Government's Food Waste Programme has been awarded by Zero Waste Scotland to the City of Edinburgh Council for staged roll-out of food waste collection to city households. 09/23/2011

UK Office of Fair Trading Issues Guidance for Organic Waste Treatment The United Kingdom (UK) Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued recommendations intended to encourage more efficient management and resource recovery from the country's treatment of organic wastes. 09/23/2011

Nexterra Signs CRADA with UBC to Advance Syngas Conditioning

Nexterra Systems Corp. has signed a collaborative research and development agreement (CRADA) with University of British Columbia (UBC) to advance syngas conditioning methodology based on Nexterra's biomass gasification system. 09/23/2011

Elevance Files for $100 Million Initial Public Offering

Illinois based bio-chemical company Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc has filed Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) to raise $100 million. 09/22/2011

Chromatin Signs MOU to Test Sorghum as Feedstock for Power Plants Illinois based biomass feedstock producer Chromatin Inc has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with subsidiaries of Constellation Energy to grow and harvest its proprietary SweetFuel strain of sorghum as feedstock for power plants. 09/22/2011

Penn State Researchers Use Salt Water to Produce Microbial H2 for Energy Pennsylvania State University's Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering Bruce Logan has published new findings on microbial electrolytic production of hydrogen. 09/22/2011

California ARB Schedules 2nd Mandatory Public LCFS Update Meeting The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has announced the schedule for its second and last mandatory public update meeting on the progress of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Advisory Panel for the morning of Thursday, September 29, 2011 in Sacramento. 09/22/2011

Over 458,000 Micro-Biogas Plants Installed in Asia and Africa Since 1992 The humanitarian non-profit international development organization SNV Netherlands has released data on biogas systems installed in underdeveloped countries through programmes that SNV supports. 09/22/2011

Neste's Production Capacity Now at 2 MTPA with Rotterdam Biodiesel Plant Finnish biofuel company Neste Oil has announced start-up of its fourth flexible-feedstock biodiesel and biofuel additive production plant, this time in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 09/21/2011

NTP Issued to Construct Turnkey 75MWe Biomass Plant in New Hampshire Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., Inc., a unit of The Babcock & Wilcox Company ("B&W"), has received Notice to Proceed (NTP) with immediate construction of a 75 megawatt Berlin, New Hampshire biomass power plant; the contract is valued at $186 million. 09/21/2011

Eco Ventures Group Secures Funding, Begins Precious Metals Recovery Tennessee based Eco Ventures Group has secured a firm letter of commitment for $15.3 million from a private funding group through a new strategic partnership. 09/21/2011

California ARB Updates LCFS Carbon Intensity Tables, Alt Fuel Pathways The California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has updated carbon intensities (CIs) in the CI Lookup Table and other information regarding biofuel producers registered in the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Biofuel Producer Registration Program. 09/20/2011

SARTA Will Host Utility Rate Seminar for Clean Tech Companies

The Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA) will host a short seminar, "Navigating Utility Rate Structures: What Clean Tech Companies Need To Know", from 8:30 to 11:30 am, Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at Drexel University, One Capital Mall, Suite 260, Sacramento, California. 09/20/2011

UK JV Wins £35MM Contract for 2 Sewage Sludge to Biogas AD Plants The joint venture (JV) between United Kingdom (UK) construction company Galliford Try and Imtech Process, a UK water and waste engineering firm, has been awarded a £35 million contract to develop two advanced anaerobic digestion (AD) plants for Anglian Water's wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in Basildon and Ipswich. 09/20/2011

Purdue Researchers Dry Corn Ethanol for Biofuel with Tapioca

Researchers at Purdue University College of Engineering in association with Archer Daniels Midland have announced development of a very natural and environmentally friendly way to absorb the water from ethanol when making biofuel: Tapioca Pearls. 09/19/2011

Agrokor Receives €5 MM Loan for Croatian Waste to Biogas CHP Plant Croatian firm Agrokor Group has announced that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a €5 million loan to back development of Croatia's first combined heat and power anaerobic digestion biogas plant. 09/19/2011

The Week's Action Items

Due 09/28/2011: Proposals for Zacatecas Mexico Landfill Gas Feasibility Study The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has issued a Request for Qualifications and Proposals on behalf of the Municipal Government of Zacatecas for a Feasibility Study to determine landfill gas project viability in Zacatecas, Mexico. 09/20/2011

Due 10/13/2011: Pre-Qualification Application to NYSERDA for RPS Attributes The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has released Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 2389, seeking to purchase up to $150 million in Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Attributes associated with electricity generated on or after January 1, 2012 from eligible Bid Facilities that enter Commercial Operation between January 1, 2003 and on or before December 31, 2012. 09/22/2011

Due 12/05/2011: Applications for Midwest Clean Energy Challenge

The Clean Energy Trust (CET) has announced the 2012 Clean Energy Challenge, an annual business plan competition bringing funding and mentoring to promising Early Stage and Seed Stage businesses. 09/23/2011