Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
6
-
April 4,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash
Talk
Don’t look now and for
goodness sake, don’t say
anything about it …but
maybe we’re seeing
something of a Spring not
only in the weather, but in
our Waste Conversion
industry. Money seems to be
shaking loose of its
catatonic state …and it is
the large corporations that
are aggressive, not the
fancy hedge houses. Big
Waste Management, Big Air
Transport, Big Petroleum …
getting a little pushy out
there, sinking a few
million here, another
bundle there, cornering
small companies with
exciting new technologic
twists. “You can make fuel
from
…what?”
Clean and economical
conversion of mixed and
wildly contaminated
municipal “waste” into
various commodities may, or
may not, be something you
consider “renewable”, but
I’d bet that it is
“sustainable”.
There doesn’t seem to be
anybody really getting
serious about not
throwing stuff away.
Zero Waste still
means, mostly, figuring
out what to do with
stuff after
someone has tossed it in
the Can. Yep, we need to
extend Manufacturer
Responsibility. We need
to rethink Packaging. We
always need somebody
else to take charge,
so we can continue
buying and tossing,
buying and tossing. I’m
Ready to Change …as long
as I’m not
Inconvenienced.
So until I see people
carrying tomatoes to the
check-out counter in their
stretched out apron,
instead of putting ‘em in
one of those handy
film-plastic baggies, I’ll
still be rooting for
plastics conversion. Until
you get your burger and
fries on a banana leaf
instead of in a greasy
paper bag, I’ll be boosting
for sending that biogenic
fraction to make thermal
energy. Until we take
buckets of restaurant food
waste home with us instead
of Doggie Bags with just
the good stuff, I want to
see food waste going into
anaerobic digesters, making
biomethane.
Just one more thing: When
I go, I don’t want a
burial, and I don’t want to
be cremated. I want to be
gasified.
Hey Rube!
There are apparently about
15,000 patents sitting idle
in our National Labs,
developed on our taxpayer
dollars, and held onto by
our federal government.
This ludicrous situation
somehow came to the
attention of the Obama
administration, and
Somebody Up There decided
to Do something
about it: enter program
from stage right,
“ America’s
Next Top Energy
Innovator”.
Sell the rights to those
little patented idea gems
for a pittance ($1,000
instead of the usual
$10,000 to $15,000), and
make it a whole lot easier
to work with the Labs, too.
Take a look at our
DOE news
item. Sometime
next month, a whole
trunk full of those
energy-related patents
are going to be up for
grabs until December.
Better get in
line…
NY’s North
Hempstead Ready for Waste
Grease to Biodiesel
Program
The Town Council of North
Hempstead in New York (NY) has
announced plans to collect
restaurant cooking grease and
make biodiesel.
04/03/2011
Construction Begins on First
THÖNI NATURGAS Plant in
UK
THÖNI and Agrigen Ltd. have
signed an agreement for the
first “Naturgas” biogas plant
in the United Kingdom (UK).
04/03/2011
Two New
Patents Approved on ARC’s
GDiesel
Production
Nevada
based Advanced
Refining Concepts (ARC) has
announced the US Patent and
Trademark Office approval of
two new patents that strengthen
their production of GDiesel.
04/02/2011
Coffee
Grounds to Biodiesel
Precursor Methyl Ester in
One (Easier)
Step
The Royal Chemistry Society
(RCS) has announced a
breakthrough in production of
methyl esters, precursors for
biodiesel, from spent coffee
grounds.
04/02/2011
Scotland’s
Stirling Council Turning
Food Waste to
Biogas
Mansfield, UK based
Monsal
Limited has announced
their
processing train of enzymatic
hydrolysis to anaerobic
digestion (AD) is now turning
26,000 homes' worth of food
waste that had previously been
landfilled to biogas.
04/02/2011
Ethanol
Plant’s Waste Water Gets a
Reprieve
Ethanol facilities generate
waste, too. R3 Fusion has
announced delivery of their
first ethanol recovery system
to a 50 million gallon per year
ethanol plant.
04/01/2011
Synthesis
Energy Receives $83.8MM
Chinese
Funding
Houston-based Synthesis Energy
has announced an investment
agreement with China Energy
Industry Holding Group Co.,
Limited (" China Energy") for
US $83.8 million.
04/01/2011
DOE Eases
Patent and National Lab
Access
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) has announced launch of a
new program designed to
dramatically lower the cost of
acquiring federal patent
rights.
03/31/2011
Weltec
Begins Construction on
Biopower Plant in
Hessia
German company Weltec Biopower
has begun construction on a
large biogas to grid project in
the new nation of Hessia,
established in 2007.
03/30/2011
Pilot Waste
to Energy Project in Romania
Receives Construction
Funding
TransGlobal Assets has
announced provision of $500,000
to its joint venture partner,
India-base Helios Inc. for
construction of a 250 kilowatt
electric (kWe) biomass waste
pilot project for the Romanian
municipality of Acatari.
03/30/2011
SNV World
Completes Preliminary Design
for Remote Peruvian Biogas
Project
The Netherlands humanitarian
organization SNV World has
announced completion of
preliminary design for
community biogas generation
systems as part of a
feasibility study for the
isolated community of Santa
Rosillo in the Peruvian Amazon.
03/30/2011
Neste Oil
Secures R&D Funding for
Renewable Fuel
Development
Scandinavian Neste Oil has
announced an agreement with
Nordic Investment Bank for a
€50 million loan to fund
further research on extending
the range of renewable raw
materials used in producing
biodiesel.
03/28/2011
The Week's
Action
Items
Due
05/03/2011: DOE Funding
Applications for Advanced
Biofuels
Projects
The US
Department of Energy (DOE)
has announced they are
accepting applications for
up to $12 million in funding
available over the next
three to four years to
assist as many as five
laboratory or small
pilot-scale projects that
support the development of
advanced biofuels.
04/03/2011
Due
05/20/2011: Applications for
Study for Renewables on
Contaminated
Sites
The US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has announced
their 2011 Request for
Applications for the agency’s
initiative, RE-Powering
America’s Land: Siting
Renewable Energy on Potentially
Contaminated Land and Mine
Sites.
03/28/2011
Due
05/26/2011: Proposals for
Clean Energy Technologies in
New York
State
The New York State Energy
Research and Development
Authority (NYSERDA) invites
Round 1 proposals for projects
that research, develop,
demonstrate or commercialize
innovative technologies that
provide an energy benefit to a
Clean Energy Technology
manufacturing process in New
York State.
03/28/2011
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