Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
32, August 6,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
So here's how businesses
can turn this new rat's
nest of Climate Control
regulations to their
advantage. The government
wants to reduce emissions,
so everyone look at every
bit of waste shipped off
down some highway, whether
its paper or plastic or
lunch scraps, and figure
out how to convert that
crud into something of
value on-site.
Remember, until you empty
the trash can into the
dumpster at the curb, that
stuff isn't "waste", its,
ah … By-Product, and it
still belongs to
you.
Modest scale industrial
digesters and the
reciprocating engines that
run on their biogas kick
out some pollution. Yes,
even a little 10 kilowatt
APL gasifier makes some
emissions. Compare those
off-gases to black plumes
from heavy truck, train,
and marine engine exhaust
pipes when those discarded
items are transported to
somewhere else. Now count
up the thermal and
electrical energy you can
generate from that stuff,
and compare those same
on-site emissions on a
per-kilowatt basis to the
crud coming out of a coal
plant in Utah that sells
the power to the Big
Utility. Sooner or later,
Cap & Trade's gonna
have everyone counting
every bit of the greenhouse
gas produced by each
business, not just the Big
Guys. Now is the time for
Distributed Generation,
powered by your own
by-products. Think of them
as "opportunity
fuels".
Let's say I make tennis
shoes. There's always some
that get made goofy, and
can't be sold. Then I get
customers to put their dead
tennies back in the box
they came in and ship them
back to me. I take 'em
apart, save what I can for
re-use, and convert the
rest of the synthetics into
fuels and chemicals. Maybe
I run a ten-unit
residential complex.
California's AB 341 says if
my tenants put four cubic
yards or more total
to the curb, I need to
"arrange for recycling
services" (don't get me
started on that one)
- but the law also
encourages me to make use
of that stuff right there,
never letting it become,
legally, "waste". Food
scraps and yard trimmings:
set up those worm beds and
tumbler composting units,
and plow it right back into
the landscape, or maybe
even a small digester. Get
that Scout Troup to gather
up the cans, glass,
cardboard and anything else
they can sell for a few
cents to pay for their
meeting snacks. The rest
goes right into the hopper
(not the dumpster), to turn
it into thermal and
electrical
energy.
Stiff laws govern
over-the-fence "wheeling"
of the electricity I
produce on my own property,
but there are actually
rules that promote
"district heating." That's
where I push steam through
underground pipes to heat
and cool neighboring
businesses. Everyone
seriously needs to
re-think what we are doing
with our resources … not
the remote kind, but the
stuff we already have in
our possession. So, what's
the heating, cooling, and
power demand of the strip
mall where your yoghurt
shop abides? How much of
that could be off-set by
converting the crud that
goes into those 40-cubic
yard dumpsters, into
combined cooling, heating
and power? How much
emissions would be
eliminated, compared to
shipping it of to a
landfill? If you don't
know, don’t kick yourself
too much; few DO know.
Maybe we need to start
figuring it
out.
Hey
Rube!
Every day,
there are new and smaller tools
capable of cleanly turning the
stuff that is
tossed
into stuff that can be
used. Teru Talk tries to
highlight the systems,
the companies that are
commercializing them, and
the places where smart
ideas become money-making
resource recovery
projects. Read the News,
check the companies out,
and call 'em up. Tell
'em, "We Need Your
Help."
The Week's News
Oregon DEQ
Schedules Next Conversion
Technology Rulemaking
Meeting
The Oregon
Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) has scheduled a
public meeting in the ongoing
Conversion Technology
Rulemaking, for August 16, 2012
in the agency's Northwest
Regional Office in Portland.
08/05/2012
RES Polyflow
Formed to Advance Plastic
Waste Conversion
Systems
Ohio based
Polyflow LLC. has announced
formation of a joint venture
Renewable Energy Systems of
Polyflow, or RES Polyflow.
08/05/2012
Solazyme
Receives EPA Fuel
Registration for
Algal-Derived
Soladiesel®RD
California's
heterotrophic algae to biofuels
and bioproducts company
Solazyme Inc has announced
completion of all testing and
receipt of EPA part 79
registration of its
algal-derived biodiesel,
Soadiesel®RD.
08/03/2012
AFS BioOil
Wastewater-to-Algae Oil: $2
per Gallon at 1MM Gallons
per Year
South San
Francisco based AFS BioOil has
announced that initial testing
confirms a price of about $2.00
per gallon for production of
biodiesel when produced at
small commercial plant scale of
only 1 million gallons per
year. 08/03/2012
Genomatica
Completes $41.5MM Funding
Round, Drops IPO
Plans
San Diego's
integrated bioprocessing
company Genomatica has
announced successfully raised
an additional $41.5 million in
a Series D round of preferred
stock financing, while
withdrawing last year's
registration statement from the
US Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) for an initial
public offering (IPO).
08/03/2012
Argus
Launches California LCFS
Credit Commodity Price
Assessments
United Kingdom
(UK) based market price
analysts Argus Media has
announced the launch of the
first published market price
assessment for credits issued
under the California Air
Resource Board's (ARB) Low
Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS),
including weekly spot-market
assessments of traded credits.
08/03/2012
Bion
Receives Final WQ Permit for
Dairy Farm Nutrient Recovery
System
Colorado based
Bion Environmental Technologies
Inc. has announced receipt of a
full and final Water Quality
Management Permit (WQMP) for
Bion’s micro-aerobic livestock
waste treatment facility
located at the Kreider Dairy
Farm in Manheim, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania.
08/03/2012
USDA
Bioenergy Program Awards
$19.4MM to Advanced Biofuel
Producers
The US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has announced payments
totaling $19.4 million to 125
advanced biofuel producers and
business owners across the
country. Awards are in support
of production from non-food
sources, including a wide
variety of waste-sourced
feedstock.
08/02/2012
$9MM Awarded
in Rural Jobs and Innovation
Accelerator
Challenge
The US
Department of Commerce Economic
Development Administration
(DOC/EDA) and the US Department
of Agriculture Rural
Development Office have
announced winners in the
multi-agency Rural Jobs and
Innovation Accelerator
Challenge program, selecting 13
winners from 62 applicants
across 12 states.
08/02/2012
NIB Finances
New EUR 67MM Bioenergy CHP
Plant in Växjö
Sweden
The Nordic
Investment Bank (NIB) has
announced approval of a loan
totaling SEK 600 million (EUR
67 million) to the Swedish
energy company Växjö Energi AB.
08/02/2012
Furuya
Selects Tetronics GasPlasma
to Recover Platinum Metals
from
Waste
United Kingdom
based Tetronics Ltd has
announced selection of its
GasPlasma technology for
reclamation of Platinum Group
Metals (PGM) from waste
catalysts by the Japanese
precious metals production
specialist Furuya Metal Company
Ltd. 08/01/2012
Total
Reaffirms Partnership with
Amyris and Commits $82MM for
Biofene
California
based Amyris, Inc has announced
signing an amendment to its
existing agreement with Total
S.A. that extends their
existing research and
development partnership for
deployment of Amyris' patented
Biofene. 08/01/2012
All Power
Labs Announces Global
Authorized Representative
Program
Berkeley's
open-development All Power Labs
(APL) has announced the launch
of its Authorized
Representative (AR) Program, a
key step in commercialization
of its wood gasification
technology and support system.
07/31/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due
08/30/2012: Comments to ARB
Cap & Trade Proposed
Provisions
The California
Air Resources Board (ARB) has
posted the presentation on two
technical aspects of the Cap
and Trade program that were
addressed in the Emissions
Leakage Workshop held July 30,
2012. 08/01/2012
Due
09/11/2012: Comments to DTSC
on Proposed Green Chemistry
Regs
The California
Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC) has announced
release of proposed regulations
for Safer Consumer Product
Awareness with the start of a
45-day public comment period
from August 27, 2012 to
September 11, 2012.
07/30/2012
Due
09/18/2012: Applications to
Defra for Rare Metals
Recovery from
Waste
The United
Kingdom (UK) Department for the
Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Defra) has announced
funding for an Innovation
Challenge to encourage
development of local community
closed loop efforts that
recover high-value metals and
minerals from waste.
08/01/2012
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