Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
38, November 14,
2011
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
You have
to pick your battles. Ask
two questions: (1) What can
I actually DO, in my time,
to make a difference, and
(2) How can I tell if I'm
just spittin' into the
wind? Allow me to lay one
decision-point before you,
and call it Carbon
Marketing vs Resource
Recovery.
Financial
Magnates now make Carbon
the new Gold Standard,
charging industry and the
citizenry for what they
throw away into the air.
Remember: we all are
sources of carbon
emissions, just some of us
more than others …
Meanwhile BofA sets up a
whole new enterprise to be
among the first in
California's Carbon Market;
I guess that's a good
thing, right? Nobody's
making much fuss about
ground-disposal of our
precious resources, not
compared to the drive for
reduction in air-borne
carbon loading. I'll give
you this: whatever else
Climate Change really is,
by now, it’s all about the
Money.
Now, for
MY money, I'd like to see
us reducing "emission" of
resources, slowing down and
maybe reversing decades of
"Waste Disposal." We've
been doing our level best
to use-once-and-throw-away
everything we can get our
grubby hands on, for
several generations now.
Reduce the manufacture of
goods from virgin
resources, and increase the
manufacture of goods from
recycled materials and
recovered foundation
molecules. Reuse and
recovery could shift the
paradigm, if we approached
the task with as much zeal
as is being expended on
curtailing Carbon. I choose
to focus on a different
Carbon gambit: Stop
Trashing Our Resources, and
put 'em back into the
market cycle instead of in
holes in the ground. You
gotta pick your
battles…
Hey
Rube!
If you are planning to attend
the West Coast Waste
Conversion Congress in
San Jose on December 6-7,
give Teru a shout out: he'll
be there, looking for those
tasty News tid-bits to post
and tweet. If you are going
to be there, plan to say
Howdy, and if you happen to
be sittin' on a world-class
Announcement, let's pre-plan
a sit-down interview. Going
or not, consider us your
Ground Troops, and keep an
eye on our
coverage.
The
Week's News
Update:
Toilet Bike NEO Completes
1400 Kilometer Tour of
Japan
Japanese
toilet maker TOTO designed and
built a motorcycle called NEO
fueled by on-board generated
biogas with a toilet for a
seat, and Teru Talk covered the
kick-off of the cross-Japan
tour the day NEO's pictures
became available.
11/13/2011
INEOS Bio
Rolls Out Global Licensing
for Waste-to-Bioenergy
Technology
Illinois-based INEOS Bio has
announced the selection of the
international engineering firm
AMEC to provide engineering
support for a global licensing
program of its advanced
thermal-to-microbial waste
conversion processing
technology platform.
11/12/2011
BlueFire
Forms SucreSource to Supply
Cellulosic Sugars for
Advanced
Biofuels
California's BlueFire
Renewables Inc. (BFRE) has
announced formation of the
wholly-owned subsidiary
SucreSource, LLC to respond to
increasing market demand for
cellulosic sugars.
11/12/2011
The Waste Conversion Congress -
West Coast, December 6-7,
2011
The Waste
Conversion Congress - West
Coast is the fourth in a global
series of waste-focused events
and will be held in San Jose,
California on December 6 and 7,
2011.
11/11/2011
Rentech Meets Key Milestone for
Colorado Integrated
Biorefinery
California-based
waste conversion firm Rentech
Inc. has announced that its
demonstration-scale Integrated
Biorefinery (IBR) project in
Commerce City, Colorado has
been deemed "mechanically
complete," and the
commissioning phase is now
underway.
11/10/2011
Carbon Matters: US Energy and
Forest Policy Should be Based
on
Science
The US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Forest Service's Pacific
Northwest Research Station has
released a study outlining new
ideas and approaches to forest
management for carbon
sequestration, biomass use for
energy, and climate benefits.
11/10/2011
IEA Releases 2011 Task 37
Reports on Energy from Biogas
and Landfill
Gas
The
International Energy Agency
(IEA) Task 37 working group
focuses on the collection,
sorting, biological treatment,
gas upgrading, and gas
utilization from digestion of
the organic fraction of
municipal solid waste and
wastewater.
11/10/2011
City of Palo Alto Voters
Approve Green Energy
Bioconversion
Plant
In
a move designed to keep organic
waste conversion local and
decrease transport-related
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
proponents announced that
Measure E, the Palo Alto Green
Energy and Compost Initiative,
was approved by ballot vote.
11/10/2011
JEQ
Publishes 16 New Articles on
Environmental Benefits of
Biochar
The American Society of
Agronomy's latest issue of the
Journal of Environmental
Quality (JEQ) has developed a
special New Articles section
this month on the Environmental
Benefits of Biochar, providing
free access to the
pre-publication abstracts and
full text of sixteen new
professional papers covering
the subject.
11/09/2011
ZooShare
Hosts Open House to Seek
Investors for Toronto Zoo
Biogas
Plant
The ZooShare Biogas
Co-operative (ZooShare) is
hosting an Open House on
November 22, 2011 to provide
information on investment
opportunities in its innovative
program supporting zoo waste
conversion to renewable energy
for the Toronto Zoo.
11/09/2011
ARC Starts
Construction to Double
GDiesel® Production
Capacity
Nevada-based Advanced Refining
Concepts (
ARC ) held a
ground breaking ceremony this
week to celebrate
start of
construction
on
Phases 3 and 4 of the
firm's Peru Heights
green-blend fuels
refinery just south of
Reno.
11/09/2011
GE's J316
Engines Turn Syngas from
Italy's Wood Waste to
Renewable
Energy
General Electric (GE) has
announced that two of its
Jenbacher J316 gas engines are
now generating electricity from
synthetic fuel gas (syngas) at
the new biomass cogeneration
plant near Torino, Italy.
1 1/09/2011
DoD Releases
Report on Alternative Fuels
Use and Future Demand to
Congress
The US Department of Defense
(DoD) has announced the release
of "Opportunities for DoD Use
of Alternative and Renewable
Fuels: FY10 NDAA Section 334
Congressional Study".
11/08/2011
Algenol
Builds Integrated
Algae-to-Ethanol Pilot
Biorefinery in
Florida
Florida-based Algenol Biofuels'
36-acre pilot scale integrated
biorefinery in Lee's County,
Florida is under construction
adjacent to its existing
research and development
complex.
11/08/2011
Dynamis
Plans Spring Construction
Start of Ada County Waste to
Energy
Plant
Idaho-based
thermal conversion company
Dynamis Energy was awarded a
$2 million contract last
year by Ada County to plan
and design a waste to energy
gasification plant with a
capacity of not less than
250 tons per
day.
11/08/2011
First
License of LanzaTech's Waste
Gas to Energy Technology
Goes to
CES
With demonstration projects and
joint ventures around the
globe, New Zealand-based
LanzaTech has announced its
first
commercial
license agreement.
11/08/2011
MagneGas
Completes Private Placement
for Over $3
Million
MagneGas announced a $2.7
million private placement last
month and Teru Talk reported on
it.
11/08/2011
Australian
School Bus Runs on Community
Sourced
Biodiesel
In
Australia’s Upper Lachan
region, the Gunning Public
School bus is now running on
biodiesel from conversion of
locally-sourced waste vegetable
oil (WVO), thanks to the
assistance of resident engineer
Ned Stojadinovic and
contributions of about 400
litres of fish & chip WVO
from one of the tiny
community’s restaurants.
11/07/2011
The Week's Action
Items
Due Now to
12/15/2015: Applications to
NYSERDA for AD Biogas to
Power
Projects
The New York State Energy
Research and Development
Authority (NYSERDA) announced
dedication last week of up to
$57 million in additional
support of anaerobic digestion
(AD) technology and project
development.
11/12/2011
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