Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue 36,
October 31,
2011
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's
Trash Talk
You
didn’t hear it from
Teru … but California’s
Governor Brown called a
Hey Rube! of his own
this past Friday to get
the goods on Conversion
Technologies. It seems
Jerry gathered a good
cross-section of
social, technical and
political science
whiz-kids together for
a work session. Our
questionably reliable
sources say the round
table was staged in the
Gov’s own offices, and
was blatantly lacking
in all those Vested
Interests and Position
Advocates that are
always happy to step up
the any podium
available. And no, we
were not invited (big
surprise) but a goodly
number of the folks we
deeply respect from all
sides of the
discussion, were called
to the
table.
Some
time ago, I think we
all figured out that
(a) Conversion
Technologies are
available right now to
cleanly recovery
resources and remake
our discards into
electricity, fuels and
other commodities (even
if examples are in
short supply in the
Golden State), (b) the
feedstock certainly is
in over-abundance
(40,000 tons a day of
municipal solid waste
collected for disposal
in Los Angeles County
alone), and (c) the
Funding Folks in
corporations, financial
houses and military are
making the moves. Why
aren’t we seeing this
common sense solution
to Jobs, Economic Boost
and Waste Management
popping up everywhere?
Conversion Technology
implementation in
California is as it is
everywhere, a Political
decision.
We’ll
be nosing about for
detail-scraps falling
off Governor Brown’s CT
working group and will
get them posted post
haste as discovered. We
collectively elect
these folks to lead,
and sometimes they do.
We’ve got our fingers
crossed that this time
common sense, sound
economics, and a decent
grasp of Science will
prevail.
Hey
Rube!
Following the
Gov’s lead, California
state agencies are showing
clear signs of cleaning
house. CalRecycle, the Air
Board, the Energy Commish
and even the Department of
Food and Ag are not just
talking with each other,
they are pushing ahead with
a fresh look at who can
best oversee what. Be
prepared to provide our
Industry’s perspective; a
whole new wave of
Stakeholder Engagement
looms for resource
recovery, clean alternative
energy, better residual
materials management
practices and far less
disposal. Keep an eye on
our coverage, especially
when we send up a flare and
point to where you need to
show up at a workshop or
file your own
comments.
The Week's
Extra Reading
Teru
was one of the
featured speakers for
the "Renewable
Biofuels" session at
the Clean Tech
Showcase in
Sacramento last week,
and he has completed
his Focus
Report on the
event.
The Week's
News
MagneGas
Secures $2.7MM Private
Placement for Commercial
Development
Florida’s plasma waste to
energy technology developer
MagneGas Corporation has
announced a $2.7 million
private placement common
stock transaction.
10/29/2011
Gevo’s
Isobutanol Outperforms
Ethanol in Small Engine
Blended Fuel
Tests
Colorado’s advanced
renewable chemicals and
fuels company Gevo Inc. has
announced success in third
party testing of its
bio-sourced isobutanol as a
gasoline blending additive.
10/29/2011
EBMUD
Approves Lease for
Viridis Fuels 20 MGD
Biodiesel
Plant
The Board of Directors of
the East Bay Municipal
Utility District (EBMUD)
passed a resolution at last
week’s regular meeting
approving a lease agreement
with Viridis Fuels of two
3-acre parcels for the
construction of the firm’s
biodiesel processing
facility.
10/29/2011
Plasco
Receives Approval for
Ottawa Canada Waste
Conversion
Facility
Plasco Energy Group Inc.
has received Certificates
of Approval from the
Ontario Ministry of the
Environment for operation
of its Trail Road plasma
waste conversion facility
in Ottawa, Canada.
10/28/2011
Greenfreak
Secures Styrofoam
Thermal Treatment
Contract with
Recology
Yuba City, California
start-up company Greenfreak
Recycling, LLC has signed a
contract with Recology, Inc
to process Styrofoam or
expanded polystyrene (EPS)
in Yuba, Sutter, and Butte
counties using Greenfreak’s
Chinese-sourced mobile
thermal densification
equipment.
10/28/2011
ZeaChem
Raises Additional $19MM
to Advance Cellulosic
Biorefinery
Platform
Cellulosic biorefinery firm
ZeaChem has announced
raising an additional $19
million in Series C
investments to advance its
commercial production of
parallel fermentation and
thermochemical processing
to advanced biofuels and
biochemicals.
10/28/2011
CR&R
Waste to Energy Project
Nears CEQA
Certification
The Los Angeles County
Department of Public Works
has provided the county’s
Board of Supervisors with
an update on Phase III and
IV of its Southern
California Conversion
Technology Demonstration
Project, singling out
CR&R Waste and
Recycling Services for its
progress as one of the
three teams signatory to
April 20, 2010 Memoranda of
Understanding.
10/28/2011
California
Investor Seeks
Opportunities in Water,
Energy, or Ag
Technologies
The Water, Energy and
Technology (WET) Center of
the Central Valley Business
Incubator (CVBI) is
assisting a local investor
to assess potential equity
investments of up to $3
million each.
10/27/2011
Joint EU
Biorefinery Vision for
2030 Predicts Increased
Use of Cellulosic
Biomass
The Strategic Research
Targets for 2020 –
Collaboration Initiative on
Biorefineries
(Star-COLIBRI) project has
released the report, Joint
European Union Biorefinery
Vision for 2030.
10/27/2011
Georgia
County Breaks Ground on
Landfill Gas to
Renewable Fuels
Facility
DeKalb County, Georgia held
a groundbreaking ceremony
for its new Renewable Fuels
Facility that will convert
landfill gas to fuel.
10/27/2011
Successful
Plasma Conversion of
Waste to Energy + Fuel
Cells in
Korea
Canadian fuel cell
development company Ballard
Power Systems has announced
successful operation and
export of power to South
Korea’s electricity grid.
10/27/2011
California Fire
Safe Council Announces
2012 WUI
Grants
This
year, the California Fire
Safe Council (CFSC)
received 196 proposals
totaling more than $16.5
million in requested
support for the USDA Forest
Service State Fire
Assistance (SFA) grant
funding to be distributed
in 2012.
10/26/2011
UMaine
Researchers Develop
Contaminant-Tolerant
Biomass to Liquid
Fuel
The
University of Maine
Chemical and Biological
Engineering Department
has announced successful
development of a
two-step biomass to
liquid fuel conversion
mixed carboxylate
platform that is
resilient to
contaminants and
flexible in feedstock.
10/26/2011
UK’s
Huhne: Renewable
Technologies Will
Deliver Third Industrial
Revolution
The
Secretary of State of
United Kingdom’s
Department of Energy and
Climate Change (DECC)
gave a key speech today,
addressing attendees at
an annual Renewables
conference with strong
support for renewable
energy technology and
waste conversion.
10/26/2011
ConocoPhillips
2011 Energy Prize Awards
Include BioChar,
Biofuels
Congratulations
are certainly due to the
Aerostat inventors who
won this year’s
ConocoPhillips / Penn
State Energy Prize
awards just announced,
but we’re partial to the
first and second place
runners-up.
10/25/2011
TGEG
Gets One Billion Euro
Credit Line for MSW
Gasification to
Energy
True
Green Energy Group
(TGEG) has confirmed an
agreement with the CJ
consortium for a 1
billion Euro line of
credit (about US $1.35
billion) to expand their
business development
globally and fund Bio
Green power plants.
10/25/2011
Flotech
Shifts Focus toward
GreenLane Biogas
Expansion
The
Flotech Group,
internationally known for
gas compression, cooling,
and heat exchange systems,
has announced a shift in
the firm’s growth strategy
more focused on its
subsidiary
GreenLaneTM
Biogas.
10/25/2011
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