Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
14, April 2,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
We've
seen some different
approaches get traction
this past week for
provision of alternative
energy, fuels and
chemicals, broadening our
concept of what is
"renewable", sustainable,
and possible. Perhaps most
impressive, we're seeing
states recognize the
"renewable" value of using
cleanly-produced thermal
energy. Go Washington
State! When we can make use
of the heat thrown off by
an engine, heat that would
normally just dissipate
into the atmosphere, our
total system efficiency
goes up almost double. Warm
up a tin-foil wrapped
burrito on your truck
engine's manifold, and
you'll get the idea; using
waste heat is Good!
Combined cooling, heating
and power (CCHP) generating
systems have been around
for a long time; now, some
nice small-to-mid-scale
modules that can cleanly
turn all sorts of "fuel"
into heat and power are
showing up on the market,
plug-and-play systems to
warm your business and your
Digester tanks or maybe
even run your
truck.
CCHP
isn't the only star,
however. Run your
wastewater into clear
tubes, add these
nano-machines and draw off
pure hydrogen while
detoxifying the dirty
water. Take all that dirty
unrecyclable plastic and
turn it right back into
to-specification fuels and
chemicals. Then there's the
UCLA folks, convincing
microbes to make fuel from
CO2 in the dark by
electrocuting them … or
something amazing like
that, anyway. There's no
lack of Smarts out there;
given the political will
for providing proper
support or at least not
throwing up roadblocks, new
technologies will continue
to pop up to answer old
challenges.
Hey
Rube!
Last week, Teru Talk sent up a
flare about the California
Energy Commission's decision to
dismantle Renewables Portfolio
Standard Eligibility Guidelines
for injection of biomethane
into California'a natural gas
pipeline infrastructure. Keep
an eye on this one; the story
isn’t close to being over yet.
Rumor has it that the state
thinks they caught industry
double-dipping, gaming a system
built with no real way to keep
track of the bits and pieces in
the first place. We've thus
gotten a classic "parenting"
response: when one kid is bad,
everybody gets spanked, and
more than a few people saw this
as serious over-kill. The
California Legislature prompted
the commission's "suspension"
decision; this begs the
question: who exactly is
running the RPS, when we can
have the Rules changed so
abruptly,
mid-game?
The
Week's News
Enviroparks
Selects Costain for Waste to
Energy Park in South
Wales
The United
Kingdom infrastructure
engineering company Costain Ltd
has been awarded a contract by
Enviroparks Ltd to oversee
development of an integrated
gasification waste to energy
facility in Hirwaun, South
Wales. 04/01/2012
Cyclone
Power and Enginuity Team for
Distributed Biomass-Fueled
CHP
Florida's
Cyclone Power Technologies has
announced a teaming agreement
with Pennsylvania based biomass
gasification company Enginuity
Energy LLC for development of
biomass-fueled combined heat
and power modules.
03/31/2012
2G CENERGY
Plans CHP Systems
Manufacturing Plant in
Florida
Headquartered
in Florida, 2G CENERGY Power
Systems Technologies Inc,
announced it is establishing a
US production facility in St.
Augustine, Florida to build
advanced combined heat and
power (CHP) for the North and
South American markets.
03/31/2012
Washington
State Adds Renewable Heat to
Alternative Energy
Options
This week,
Washington state Governor
Christine Gregoire signed
Engrossed Substitute House Bill
2664 (ESHB 2664) that included
recovery and use of heat from
renewable energy generation to
qualify for renewable energy
credits. 03/30/2012
UCLA
Researchers Produce Biofuel
from CO2 Emissions and
Electricity
The University
of California Los Angeles
(UCLA) reports that researchers
at its Henry Samueli School of
Engineering and Applied Science
have demonstrated microbial
conversion of carbon dioxide
into liquid fuel isobutanol
using electricity.
03/30/2012
California
Suspends
Biomethane-to-Pipeline RPS
Eligibility
The California
Energy Commission (CEC)
unanimously voted to suspend
elements of the Renewables
Portfolio Standard (RPS)
Eligibility Guidebook related
to certification and
pre-certification of
biomethane.
03/30/2012
Canadian
Austerity Budget Includes
$105MM for Forest Market
Development
The Forest
Products Association of Canada
(FPAC) and industry/government
partnership FPInnovations both
see continued forest industry
support from the Canadian
government in the austerity
budget just released by the
House of Commons.
03/30/2012
Myriant
Partners with DaniMer for
Biopolymer
Production
Massachusetts
bioconversion company Myriant
and Georgia bioplastics company
DaniMer Scientific have
announced a strategic alliance
to develop cost-effective
bio-based materials for the
marketplace.
03/29/2012
Minnesota
Releases Roadmap for
Advanced Biofuels and
Biochemicals
The
BioBusiness Alliance of
Minnesota has released a
comprehensive report on the
status of advanced biofuels and
bio-sourced chemicals
development in Minnesota with
roadmap recommendations for
their ongoing growth.
03/29/2012
MagneGas
Secures $3.88MM Private
Placement for National
Expansion
Florida's
green metal-cutting gas
producer MagneGas has announced
another private placement
agreement for the sale of
19,412,500 shares of common
stock with warrants to purchase
9,706,250 shares, resulting in
proceeds to the company of for
$3,882,500.
03/29/2012
Tecogen
Chosen for Biogas CHP at New
York Wastewater Treatment
Plant
Massachusetts
based Tecogen Inc. has
announced that its cogeneration
60 kilowatt module will be
installed in the wastewater
treatment plant (WWTP) in
Medina, New York to convert the
plant's biogas to combined heat
and power (CHP).
03/29/2012
HyperSolar
Uses Nanotechnology to
Produce H2 from Paper Mill
Wastewater
Santa Barbara
based HyperSolar has announced
completion of successful tests
converting the acrid wastewater
from a pulp and paper mill into
hydrogen (H2).
03/27/2012
Virdia and
Virent Cellulosic Bio-Jet
Fuel Passes US Air Force
Testing
Redwood City
based Virdia and technology
partner Virent have announced
successful testing of the
team's cellulosic biomass
sourced drop-in jet fuel.
03/27/2012
WM Riverbank
Recovery Purchases GETH's
Permit to Construct for
Plas2Fuel
Plant
Newly formed in December 2011,
WM Riverbank Recovery LLC has
purchased the Permit to
Construct from Green EnviroTech
Holdings (GETH) for its
proposed waste plastic to
synthetic oil facility in
Riverside, California.
03/26/2012
Vega
Biofuels Secures Funding,
Leases Site for Waste Wood
to
Bio-Coal
Vega Biofuels,
Inc. has announced that the
company has closed negotiations
on an interim funding package
consisting of a Promissory Note
secured Line of Credit.
03/26/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due
07/31/2012: Applications for
2013 California Fire Safe
Council
Grants
The California
Fire Safe Council (CFSC) has
announced the schedule for 2013
Fire Safe grants.
03/30/2012
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