Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
1, January 3,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
We made some progress in
the face of prevailing
winds in 2011. Hitting the
high points of where we've
been is encouraging and can
give us a glimpse of where
we are going in 2012.
Maybe.
The Military / Industrial
Complex seems to have rung
the starting bell on
transport biofuels and now
can't get enough … in spite
of the $15/gallon start-up
price. Measured against the
cost in security and blood,
it ain't so bad. With the
quantities being ordered,
prices for jet, truck,
boat, and train fuel will
start coming down pretty
quick, just as with any
other first off-the-shelf
commodity. Most of the
world's major airlines are
joining the Aviation
Biofuels game along with
the Navy: presto! Real
Demand.
Small-scale anaerobic
digestion units, home-sized
up to modest community
scale, are being cheaply
installed all over the
world (except in our own
advanced USA) to turn
critter poop and food waste
into non-stinky cooking gas
and home heating: 45,000
units were installed in
India alone during 2011! It
is a little less common but
an increasing practice to
hook that low-grade biogas
up to run an engine and
make power, but then not
all "civilizations" want or
need as much electricity as
we crave. With California's
broadening of the Net
Metering regs, we should be
able to set up our own
little AD units at home and
spin the meter backwards
with biogas. Let Teru Talk
know if you've got a good
package
design.
Food waste of all kinds has
become the low-hanging
(waste) fruit to feed
larger AD systems, pulped
and mixed into stand-alone
digesters or as Special
Sauce to make happy bugs in
advanced waste water
treatment plants. Either
way, those microbes put out
more biogas. We've figured
out how to use pressure and
hot water to smush tough
biomass down, and enzymes
to dissolve if further,
which lets us feed those
bugs things like corn cobs
(there's a joke in there
somewhere), rice straw,
even wood chips. And biogas
isn't just for buses any
more; it gets compressed
and bottled or injected
into high-pressure natural
petro-natural gas
pipelines. It runs
ultra-clean turbines and
fuel cells. With the right
catalysts, that
methane-rich biogas can be
turned into all sorts of
liquid fuels and
chemicals.
Some of the coolest of the
Hard Working Microbes do
their magic with not much
more than the carbon
monoxide laden emissions
from steel mills and other
industrial facilities. Some
churn out to specification
Green Chemicals and
Biofuels directly: Garbage
in, Fuel out. With some,
you bubble the syngas from
thermal conversion
processes through their
hungry selves and get all
sorts of short-chain
alcohols. Some do their
magic in a thin soup,
others like a thick slurry,
but all have added
amazingly to our options
for Waste Conversion … 2011
was a Bug's
World.
Hey
Rube!
Now, we know
this isn't exactly "Waste
Conversion" but it is at least
a really different Re-Use. UC
research scientists Want Your
Old Socks!
Visit their web site
and then raid your sock
drawer. Really.
The
Week's Extra
Reading
CalRecycle has begun a process
of regulatory reform to
integrate recycling oversight
with the rest of the state's
waste management purview.
Teru's Focus Report on
CalRecycle's Regulatory
Clean-up looks at the first
four issues addressed in
the last
workshop.
Teru has concerns about
California's Draft "Green
Chemistry" regulations
extending the DTSC's purview
and authority into CalRecycle's
waste management arena, and he
has submitted his comments to
the final draft.
The
Week's News
India Adds
3,815 Renewable MWe and
45,000 Anaerobic Digesters
in 2011
The Government of India,
Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy, has released a summary
of renewable energy progress
during 2011, citing a total new
installed capacity of 3,815
megawatts of renewable
electricity (MWe).
12/31/2011
EERC Pilot
Project Gasifies Coffee
Processing Waste for
Energy
The Energy & Environmental
Research Center (EERC) at the
University of North Dakota has
announced a pilot project to
convert Green Mountain Coffee
Roasters (GMCR) process and
facility wastes to energy.
12/31/2011
CEC Releases
Report - Renewable Power in
California: Status and
Issues
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has announced
release of the Lead
Commissioner Report on
"Renewable Power in California:
Status and Issues"
(CEC-150-2011-002-LCF-REV1).
12/31/2011
CARB
Responds to Federal
Injunction on LCFS Regs,
Issues
Advisory
The U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of California
issued several rulngs
yesterday, including an
injunction staying
implementation of California's
Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
regulations.
12/30/2011
California
Will Consider Changes to SRA
Fire Prevention Fund
Regulations
The California Board of
Forestry will revisit the
emergency Title 14 regulations
adopted to implement Chapter 13
- State Responsibility Area
(SRA) Fees, and consider
revisions in a Public hearing
at its January 11, 2012 meeting
at the Resources Building in
Sacramento.
12/30/2011
BP Invests
in Cool Planet Biofuels for
Renewable
Gasoline
Camarillo-based Cool Planet
Biofuels, Inc announced that BP
Technology Ventures has
invested in the company during
its C Round along with
investments by current
investors. The financing led by
Shea Ventures is now ahead of
schedule.
12/30/2011
Federal Ruling Halts
Implementation of California's
Low Carbon Fuel
Standard
Growth Energy announced today
that Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill
of the Federal District Court
in Fresno, California has ruled
that California's Low Carbon
Fuel Standard (LCFS) is
unconstitutional.
12/29/2011
Argentina
Initiative Tackles Waste
Disposal with Biogas
Production
Argentina's Fundación Proteger
(Protect Foundation)
has an
extensive and successful
program underway by providing
training in the design,
installation, and operation of
small modular anaerobic
digestion (AD) systems for
biogas and fertilizer
production.
12/29/2011
UNEP's
Pakistan Project Converts Ag
Waste to Biofuels,
Fertilizer
The United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP)
has just released a summary of
its Pakistan project to convert
agricultural wastes and
residues to fuel and
fertilizer.
12/28/2011
Imperial
County Supports The FOG
Companies' Waste Oil Pilot
Project
The Imperial County Board of
Supervisors approved a Letter
of Support for The FOG
Companies' proposed Imperial
Valley FOG (fats, oil and
grease) Pilot Project during
the December 20, 2011 Board
Meeting in El Centro,
California.
12/28/2011
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