Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
12, March 19,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
We humans
can talk ourselves into the
tightest corners. Right
now, California's powers
that be are struggling with
regulatory confusion
stemming from crazy-talk,
where the labels we've
selected get in the way of
what we're really trying to
do. Once again, we're
splitting hairs on what is
and what is not "renewable
energy" to determine who
gets the credit for making
and using it. The problem:
electricity and fuel gas or
liquids tend to be
distributed through wires
and pipes, and those
conduits don't care whether
the electrons or the fuel
molecules were made from
renewable sources or not.
Once they're in that wire
or pipe, it gets nigh on
impossible to tell 'em
apart. Since the "powering"
function is the same at the
destination, the electrons
and molecules are
essentially identical and
clean to specification,
we're stuck with applying
arbitrary metrics.
The
"greening" of our
petroleum-sourced natural
gas supply by pipeline
injection of biomass-source
methane is a good example.
Do we say that the
resulting gas is 33%
Renewable, when it contains
a third biomethane and
two-thirds oilfield gas? Or
must we hold to a standard
that demands all or
nothing, and try somehow to
keep those molecules
separate? How do we assign
renewable energy credits
(RECs) to provide in-state
market incentives for
renewable fueling, when
we're busily buying,
selling and "wheeling" the
blended commodities
throughout the entire
multi-state infrastructure
of wires and pipes?
Back to
Basics: the point here is
to replace as much of the
petro-sourced imported
stuff with the
non-petro-sourced
home-grown stuff on a
national basis as we
can accomplish,
socio-enviro-economically.
We've got the tools and the
know-how to make and
upgrade biomethane to
pipeline quality; we've
certainly got plenty of
landfills, manure, food
waste and sewage to convert
into the fuel gas. But try
that project magic in
California, and you can't
get it certified as
Renewable. Yet Texas has
already decided it's OK to
put upgraded landfill
biomethane into pipes
running to California and
California counts THAT as
Renewable, causing an
imbalance and considerable
angst. Greening the gas in
the pipeline from Texas is
just good sense, good
Commerce, good for them as
smart regulators and
businesses, and good for us
as Users. Besides, it's not
like we can cut off the
pipelines and wires at the
state border, right?
The real
question for the California
legislature and agencies
should be "Why CAN"T we
inject our own
to-specification biomethane
into in-state natural gas
pipelines, right here,
right now, and count it as
Renewable?"
Hey
Rube!
This sticky
wicket is up for discussion at
the California Energy
Commission meeting later this
month, and comments are due on
the 23rd, see our Action Item
below. Weigh in,
please.
The
Week's News
LanzaTech
and New Zealand Steel Move
from Pilot to
Commercialization
New Zealand's
waste gas to alternative fuels
and chemicals company LanzaTech
has announced expansion of its
partnership with New Zealand
Steel, a subsidiary of
Australian company Bluescope
Steel. 03/18/2012
VERBIO
Starts Up Industrial Waste
Straw-to-Biomethane Plant in
Germany
German company
VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG
(VERBIO) has announced opening
its industrial-scale waste
straw to biomethane anaerobic
digestion facility in Zörbig,
in the Saxony-Anhalt region of
Germany. 03/17/2012
Quantum and
Surigao City, Philippines
Plan Regional Waste Plasma
Facility
Houston, Texas
based multi-sector holding and
development company Quantum
International and the City of
Surigao, Philippines, have
announced plans for a regional
plasma gasification plant.
03/17/2012
California
REC Market Update Webinar
Scheduled for March 30,
2012
The US
Department of Energy's (DOE)
Energy Efficiency &
Renewable Energy Green Power
Network has announced a webinar
to provide an update
California's Renewable Energy
Certificate market, scheduled
for March 30, 2012 at 11:00 am
to 12:30 pm Pacific Time.
03/17/2012
Primus
Raises $12 MM to Complete
Biomass Gasification Demo
Plant
New Jersey's
thermal conversion company
Primus Green Energy, Inc has
announced completion of
financing needed to complete
construction of the
demonstration facility for
single-loop biomass
gasification to liquid fuels at
its Hillsborough, NJ
headquarters.
03/16/2012
First US
Dairy Sustainability Awards
Recognize Dairy Waste to
Energy
The Innovation
Center for US Dairy has
announced its first year's
Sustainability Award winners
for outstanding dairy farm
sustainability, dairy
processing and manufacturing
sustainability, and including
two awards sponsored by the
Center for Advanced Energy
Studies, Idaho National
Laboratory (INL) for
outstanding achievement in
energy. 03/16/2012
Rivertop
Renewables Begins Contract
Green Chemical
Manufacturing
Missoula,
Montana's green chemistry
company Rivertop Renewables has
announced successful scale up
from laboratory to pilot, and
the beginning of manufacturing
of its carbohydrate oxidation
technology platform by DTI
under contract.
03/16/2012
WELTEC
Begins Construction on Huge
Biogas Refinery in Arneburg,
Germany
Germany based
WELtec BioPower GFmbH has
started construction on what
will be Germany's largest
anaerobic digestion (AD) plant
for the conversion of manure
and agricultural-sourced
biomass to biomethane.
03/15/2012
UD
Researchers Study Microalgae
that Eats Emissions and
Makes
Biofuel
The University
of Delaware (UD) has announced
promising research by assistant
professor Kathryn Coyne into
the microscopic algae species
Heterosigma akashiwo,
cosmopolitan algae that Coyne
and her team discovered
produces an enzyme capable of
detoxifying nitric oxide, one
the key pollutants in
industrial smoke stack
emissions.
03/15/2012
Northwest
Advanced Renewables Alliance
Offers Nine-Month
Internships
The Northwest
Advanced Renewables Alliance
(NARA) has opportunities for
Native American graduate
students in the fields of
environmental science,
forestry, biology, and
engineering to work with the
Columbia River Basin tribes on
project teams for nine
months beginning in Fall 2012.
03/14/2012
BiogenGreenfinch
Selected to Build Food Waste
to Energy Plant in
Wales
The United
Kingdom (UK) based food waste
digestion specialist
BiogenGreenfinch has announced
that it has been selected by
the Gwynedd Council of Wales as
the preferred bidder for the
design, construction and
operation of a food waste
anaerobic digestion (AD)
facility. 03/14/2012
Ince Park
Will Provide Energy from
Waste, £1.5 Billion Boost to
NW UK Economy
Ince Park
has announced completion and
release of a positive
economic assessment with
predictions of a £1.5
billion boost to North West
United Kingdom (UK) economy.
03/14/2012
Ameresco's
SRS Biomass Cogeneration
Facility Celebrates
Successful
Startup
Massachusetts
based Ameresco has announced
today's well-attended
ribbon-cutting ceremony to
celebrate successful
operational start-up of the new
bioenergy cogeneration plant at
the Savannah River Site (SRS)
in Aiken, South Carolina.
03/13/2012
UK Green
Investment Bank Will Open
Main Offices in Edinburgh
and
London
The United
Kingdom's (UK) Department of
Business, Innovation and Skills
(BIS) has announced that the
country's newly established
Green Investment Bank (GIB)
will be headquartered in
Edinburgh, Scotland, while the
GIB's main transaction team
will be located in London,
"playing to the strengths" of
both areas.
03/13/2012
POET-DSM
Groundbreaking Celebrates
Start of Construction for
Project
LIBERTY
In
Emmetsburg, Iowa, the newly
formed joint venture of
POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels
LLC celebrates the start of
construction on Project
LIBERTY, the
commercial-scale cellulosic
biofuels plant adjacent to
POET's operating corn
ethanol plant.
03/13/2012
SWJM
Collaborative Schedules
Meetings on Forest
Restoration Purpose and
Need
The
Southwest Jemez Mountains
(SWJM) Collaborative will
hold open public meetings on
March 29, 2012 at the Santa
Fe National Forest Office
and on March 31, 2012 at the
Valles Caldera Science and
Education Center, Jemez
Springs, New Mexico.
03/12/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due
03/23/2012: Comments to CEC
on Biomethane to Pipeline
RPS
Eligibility
The California
Energy Commission (CEC),
prompted by requests from the
state Legislature, has released
notice of consideration of the
suspension of Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS)
Eligibility Guidelines
governing electricity
generating facility
(powerplant) contractual use of
and RPS accreditation for
biomethane injected into the
natural gas pipeline
infrastructure.
03/17/2012
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