Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
37, November
7,
2011
Teru Talk by
Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash
Talk
The 2008 Farm
Bill funded
USDA Rural
Development to
create and
support a
Bioenergy
Program for
Advanced
Biofuels. Last
week, Uncle Ag
handed out
almost $45
million in
payments to 156
Advanced
Biofuel
Producers for
2011. To get
the dole you
must enroll,
and if you want
the dime you
can’t be makin’
“corn likker”.
In fact, by our
count, more
than half the
payments went
to folks making
advanced
biofuels from
some form of
waste material.
Biofuels can be
made from the
conversion of
the organic
part of
municipal,
industrial, and
agricultural
WASTE: food
waste, yard
waste, wood
waste, crop
waste, sewage
waste, animal
waste,
manufacturing
waste, and even
simply
carbon-laden
gaseous
emissions.
What a concept:
making
something we
need from
waste. Gee, if
we do THAT, we
won't have to
throw as much
garbage and
trash in holes
in the ground.
In fact, if we
"cleanly" do
almost ANYTHING
else with the
stuff besides
landfill it,
we're better
off. Lots of
complaints are
heard about how
we'll never
reach our
renewable fuels
goals, how we
just can't grow
enough or
collect enough
or somehow MAKE
enough
feedstock to
get us to those
mandated
national
alternative
fuel volume
levels. Has
anybody
actually
compared the
humongous
tonnage of
waste still
being packed
into landfills
to the amount
of electricity,
syngas, biogas,
liquid and
solid fuel we
need? That
waste can be
converted to
renewable
energy using
what we know
right
now.
So if we've got
copious waste
material as
feedstock,
clean
conversion
tools, combined
public/private
smarts and
screaming
global market
demand, WHY in
the world do we
keep
"disposing"?
Hey
Rube!
Every
Enviro-Centric
group on the planet
has had their
communal hand out
for as long as any
of us remember.
Just Ask People and
they’ll send in the
bucks. Just Ask
People and your
good intentions get
a budget. Seals and
Whales, Bugs and
Butterflies
certainly can’t
raise money on
their own, ya know.
Well, these days
neither can
Industry, it seems
… and yet there’s a
lot of Eco-Industry
out there with
ideas that just
might save the
game. Maybe all we
need to do is just
Ask People nicely.
See our news last
week about the new
website
PeopleFund.it in
the
UK
The
Week's News
Start-Up
Ceremony Held
for FarmGen’s AD
Waste to Energy
Plant in
UK
Farmgen’s anaerobic
digestion (AD) of
grass silage and
other crops and
crop wastes from
the region’s
agriculture at
Dryholme Farm near
Silloth, Cumbria,
is now sending 1.2
megawatts of
renewable electric
power to the
regional grid.
11/06/2011
Eastman
Renewable
Materials
Acquires
TetraVitae’s
Bio-Catalysis
Technology
Eastman Renewable
Materials, LLC, a
wholly-owned
subsidiary of
Eastman Chemical
Company, has
announced
acquisition of the
assets of
Chicago-based
biocatalysis
specialist firm
TetraVitae
Bioscience, Inc.
(formerly Advanced
BioFuel, Inc).
11/04/2011
California
Bioresources
Presentations
Are Now
Online
The US
Environmental
Protection Agency
(EPA) Southwest
Region 9 hosted the
6th Annual
California
Bioresources
Alliance symposium
on September 13 and
14 in Sacramento,
California, and
Teru was there. The
EPA has now posted
the Symposium
Agenda and the
available slide
presentations from
both days
11/03/2011
Amtrak
Reports Success
in Heartland
Flyer 20%
Biodiesel Blend
Test
Amtrak
has
announced
a
successful
year-long trial
using a 20%
biodiesel blended
with 80% standard
petroleum-sourced
diesel (B20) in the
company’s Oklahoma
City to Fort Worth
“Heartland Flier”.
11/03/2011
Ensilaged
Fresh Rice
Biomass to
Ethanol
Processing Will
Work on the
Farm
Japanese
researchers have
proven efficient
ethanol production
and vapor
extraction from
ensilaged rice
biomass that has
been treated with
enzymes.
11/03/2011
PeopleFund.It
Solicits Funding
for Oxford
Biochar
Start-Up
A new form of
start-up financing
for green projects
has just launched
by United Kingdom
(UK)
based PeopleFund.it.
11/03/2011
ADBA
Publishes
Anaerobic
Digestion Due
Diligence and
Financing
Guides
The United
Kingdom’s (UK)
non-profit
Anaerobic Digestion
and Biogas
Association (ADBA)
has developed two
key documents in
association with
the UK’s Waste
& Resources
Action Programme
(WRAP), as part of
the Anaerobic
Digestion Strategy
and Action Plan.
11/02/2011
USDA
Announces $44.6
MM Funding for
Advanced
Biofuels
Producers
The US Department
of Agriculture’s
(USDA) Secretary
Tom Vilsack
announced the 2011
round of Farm Bill
payments total
$44.6 million
dispersed among 156
advanced biofuels
producers under the
USDA’s Bioenergy
Program for
Advanced Biofuels.
11/02/2011
Canadian
Utility to
Install 1st GE
ORegen Waste
Heat Recovery
System
The Canadian
utility NRGreen
Power plans to
partner with GE for
installation of its
first ORegen™ waste
heat recovery
system at Alliance
Pipeline’s Windfall
Compressor Station
near the remote
Alberta, Canada
community of
Whitecourt.
11/02/2011
New
SABIC Venture
Capital Arm
Focuses on Clean
Tech
Investments
The Saudi Basic
Industries
Corporation (SABIC)
has launched a new
global venture
capital arm, SABIC
Ventures, funding a
portfolio from seed
to late stage
investments in
advanced materials
and composites,
alternative
feedstocks for
chemicals and
materials and
alternative energy
and clean
technology.
11/01/2011
Amyris
Receives R$22MM
Funding for
First Biofene®
Production
Facility in
Brazil
California’s
renewable chemicals
and fuels company
Amyris has received
final approval from
Brazilian
Development Bank
(BNDES) for R$22
million in project
financing for the
company’s first
industrial-scale
production facility
located in
Piracicaba, São
Paulo.
11/01/2011
HECO
Selects
Renewable Energy
Group (again)
for 3-7 MGY
Biodiesel
Supply
The Hawaiian
Electric Company
(HECO) has once
again awarded the
contract to
Renewable Energy
Group (REG
) to
supply sustainable
biodiesel for
HECO’s 110 megawatt
combustion turbine
generator at the
Campbell Industrial
Park Generating
Station.
11/01/2011
SSE to
Construct 108MW
Multi-Fuel
Biomass /
Waste-to-Energy
Facility in
UK
The United
Kingdom’s 2nd
largest generation
business, SSE
Generation, has
received a letter
of approval on the
authority of the
Secretary of State
of the Department
of Energy and
Climate Change
(DECC) to construct
and operate a £250
million, 108
megawatt (MW)
multi-fuel (biomass
and refuse derived
fuel) generating
station adjacent to
the existing
Ferrybridge coal
plant in West
Yorkshire, with all
planning permission
granted.
10/31/2011
BlueFire
Signs MOU for
Chinese
Investment in
Integrated
Biorefinery in
Mississippi
California-based
BlueFire
Renewables, Inc.,
has signed a
Memorandum of
Understanding with
China Huadian
Engineering Co.,
Ltd, for investment
in its Fulton,
Mississippi
multi-feedstock
integrated
biorefinery.
Huadian will
initially invest in
company equity and
holds the option to
later provide
Fulton project debt
financing.
10/31/2011
The Week's
Action Items
Due
12/30/2011:
Comments to
California’s
Draft Green
Chemistry
Regs
The California
Department of Toxic
Substances (DTSC)
has released
informal “Draft
Regulations for
Safer Consumer
Products” for
public review and
comment, and
scheduled a
workshop on
December 5, 2011 to
continue the
agency’s on-going
discussion of the
green chemistry
regulations.
11/04/2011
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