Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
40, November 28,
2011
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Let's pretend trash is worth
something. For the moment,
forget that it costs a lot to
keep doing what we are all
doing, doing the Great Houdini
with our scraps and discards
from our homes, our cities, our
agriculture, our factories,
even our seas and forests.
Forget how much constant flow
of cash it takes to keep this
"disposal" regime up; forget
what the real costs are to the
society and the planet.
Instead, let's get greedy. If
you couldn't buy stuff, what
would you use? Let's play this
out a bit. Let's say gas prices
top $5 a gallon, and you decide
hey, YOU can make biodiesel, it
can't be that hard. 20 gallons
a week of deep-fryer grease
will make 10 gallons of fuel
and all the soap (from the left
over glycerine) you can use and
sell, so you start talking to
local restaurants. Too late:
the local winery trades most of
'em out of their waste cooking
oil, and it's a small
town.
Well, alright … you'll have to
buy your gas, but maybe you can
still save by growing most of
your own food! Fish in a tank,
chickens in a pen, lettuce and
tomatoes in raised bed boxes,
and cycle your food scraps
through worm-beds. But you need
more organics than come from
your table-scraps, so you start
checking out the waste veggies
behind the local market. Too
late: the food waste now goes
into the anaerobic digestion
(AD) tanks at the sewer plant,
mixed with the poop to make
enough biogas to make enough
electricity to keep City's
operation in the
black.
OK, so a little home-brewed
biogas can heat the shower
water, keep the fish tanks warm
and maybe even cook the family
dinner. It takes about a ton a
day of food waste and manure
(human or otherwise) to keep a
small AD unit percolating; at
500 pounds a cubic yard, that's
two pick-up truck loads a day
of horse-sourced road-apples
and ugly tomatoes. Well, wood
is biomass; we'll burn THAT!
Humm … how many trees are you
willing to knock down to keep
the homestead warm this winter?
Suddenly that broken kitchen
chair and all the packaging
paper and cardboard boxes don't
look so much like Waste any
more. You're gonna be busy; you
might want to plan ahead … but
just how long do you think we
have, until this becomes our
daily
routine?
Hey
Rube!
There are
efficiencies of scale involved
in fuel, chemical and
electricity production, but the
good news: Bigger isn't always
Better. You start losing
economic and environmental
ground when you start shipping
feedstock too far. You may find
Backyard Biodiesel just doesn't
cut it, but watch our Teru Talk
News; a great many small and
medium sized communities are
learning to improve their own
lot by gathering up waste
veggie oil to keep their school
bus running, and food scraps to
keep their sewer plant
operating. What about your own
community? What is produced in
excess that might be converted
to something useful? What is
being gathered up for that
conversion, and by whom? If the
answer is Lots of Extra Stuff
but Nobody Converting, you may
have just identified your next
career. So take that Burger
Flipper job, but trade the
owner for all the grease. It's
probably worth more than the
hourly wage.
The
Week's News
EU Plans
Development of Composting
and Biochar Standards by
2013
At the beginning of October
2011, the European Union (EU)
Commission launched REFERTIL, a
funded 7th Framework Programme
(FP7) for the collaborative
development of EU27 composting
and biochar standards by 2013.
11/27/2011
LanzaTech
and Global Bioenergies
Explore CO to Isobutene
Feasibility
France's Global Bioenergies
S.A. has
announced collaboration with
New Zealand-based LanzaTech Ltd
to determine the feasibility of
integrating Global's isobutene
biorefinery pathway with
LanzaTech's well-tested
technology platform for
conversion of carbon monoxide
to biofuel.
11/25/2011
Novozymes
Opens Enzyme R&D Lab
Facility in
Brazil
Danish enzyme development
company Novozymes is
celebrating the opening this
week of its new research and
development (R&D) facility
in Araucária, a city near
Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
11/23/2011
Rentricity
Recognized by GCCA for
Turning Waste Water Pressure
to
Energy
New York
based kinetic energy
specialist Rentricity has
been recognizedas "Best in
Water" as a Later Stage
Global Top 10 company for
2011 by the Global Cleantech
Cluster Association
(GCCA).
11/23/2011
Sundrop
Fuels Selects Louisiana Site
for First Commercial Drop-in
Biofuel
Plant
Colorado's Sundrop Fuels has
announced an agreement to
purchase 1,200 acres near
Alexandria, Louisiana for
development of its first
commercial scale advanced
biofuel production facility.
11/23/2011
Louisville
Waste Cooking Oil Collection
Site Opens in Time for
Thanksgiving
The Louisville Biodiesel
Cooperative in Kentucky has
announced a partnership with
the Louisville/Jefferson County
Metropolitan Sewer District
(MSD) and the Green Triangle in
the 9th District for collection
and recycling of waste
vegetable oil (WVO) to
biodiesel, opening the
collaboration's first recycling
station in time for
Thanksgiving.
11/23/2011
Arizona
Chemical Establishes China
Trading Company Legal
Entity
Waste-sourced biofuel and
biochemical company Arizona
Chemical reports formation of
Arizona Chemical Limited, a
China Trading Company, for its
operations in Shanghai,
strengthening its Asian service
and distribution.
11/22/2011
UC San Diego
Extension Offers Biofuels
Education
Grants
Thanks to a $4 million grant
from California's Department of
Labor, the University of
California San Diego Extension
will offer a second round of
$7000 educational support
grants to over 50 students
enrolled in regional biofuels
development curricula, starting
March 2012.
11/22/2011
London Mayor
Calls for Businesses to Stop
Landfilling Food
Waste
Handing out
the first free plate of curry
made from rejected, misshapen
supermarket vegetables, the
Mayor of London Boris Johnson
made a plea for the City's
residential and business
community to stop landfilling
food waste.
11/21/2011
Neste Oil's
NExBTL Renewable Diesel Set
for Marine
Trials
Finland's Neste Oil has
announced the launch of marine
engine trials for its NExBTL
biofuels, partnering with the
Port of Rotterdam and the
Rotterdam Climate Initiative to
test performance and emissions
in one of the Authority's
patrol boats during 1000 hours
of operation.
11/21/2011
ConocoPhillips,
Enviva Form Eco Biomass to
Market Torrified Wood
Fuels
International
biomass processing company
has announced a partnership
with ConocoPhillips to
create a new company, ECo
Biomass Technologies (Eco
Biomass) focused on bringing
torrefied biomass fuels to
market.
11/21/2011
The Week's Action
Items
Due
11/28/2011: Comments on
Proposed Green Lane Energy
Permit
The Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ)
held a public hearing on
November 22, 2011 to consider
draft solid waste facility
permit language for
construction and operation of
an anaerobic digestion (AD)
facility between Eugene and
Junction City adjacent to the
J.C. Compost Yard facility.
11/23/2011
Due
12/12/2011: Comments on
Vermont Biomass Energy Draft
Final
Report
The Vermont Legislative Council
formally established the
Biomass Energy (BioE)
Development Working Group in
2009 with a charge to enhance
the growth and development of
Vermont’s biomass industry,
while also maintaining forest
health.
11/22/2011
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