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Teru Talk News

Teru Talk Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 33, August 13, 2012 
Teru Talk by Michael Theroux (pronounced "Terú")  

Teru's Trash Talk

The US Department of Defense (DOD) continues to step up the home-grown energy and fuels game. There's even common sense being exhibited: Why pay to protect oil Over There, when we can develop it over here? Why hog-tie US security to those who'd just as soon hold us hostage? The only way home-grown fuels are more expensive is if we don't count the real cost of OPEC blood-for-oil. After muscling past congressional whimpering about biofuels purchase and testing, we saw two big new federal plays this past week. It's hard to tell which will have the bigger impact in the long run.

Federal lands are a crazy quilt of ownership. Now, Defense and the Interior have agreed to set aside bickering over who controls lands near military bases and coordinate large-scale renewable energy generation and fuels production for Base use and security. It is almost as hard to image the Bureau of Land Management giving up an inch of land control, as it is to think of Camp Whats-it turning bombing ranges into biocrops, but the DOD's $4 Billion per year energy bill cries for something different. In a parallel development the Army Corps of Engineers has ear-marked $7 Billion for purchase over 30 years of renewable and alternative energy generated and financed by private parties.

Now, granted these don't specifically mention "waste", but NOMB (that's "Not on my Base") wasn't part of the title, either. Many bases are already putting in biodiesel rigs to convert the commissary grease to D-10 fuel, and Teru Talk has even reported on gasification kit trials for turning on-base garbage to combined heat and power. The military has always been good for kick-starting new technology. It's an easy bet the remote bases out in the open are perfect for massive solar in places where the sun shines, and maybe growing acres of hemp (for the biofuels, silly). Guess it's time to up the ante, and talk about REALLY large scale on-base waste-sourced energy, fuels and chemicals. Let's lay out the maps, see which ones can draw on major quantities of urban wastes. See which bases are nestled in forested lands that need thinning. Heck, see which bases have both a sizable amount of regional garbage AND surrounding forested lands. This sounds like good old American map-based land use planning. Out of the process, we'll be able to say, "See! It DOES work!"

Hey Rube!

Just north of California's capital is Placer County, which sits half in the valley and half in the woods. For literally YEARS, Placer has been working on possible ways to turn way too much woody biomass into clean energy, stumbling over opposition and regulations while horrendous forest fires continue to take their toll. In a very modest but very important effort, the county now has settled on a 2 megawatt bioenergy development just outside of the Tahoe Basin, a plant big enough to convert the locally generated forest waste. Placer's released a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), and is looking for comments on its adequacy. Let's use this chance to support not only Placer's persistence, but the possibility we could use all these rules and regs to do something right for a change. Read the DEIR; think about the constant forest fires and their costs, and submit your commits in support of the Cabin Creek Biomass Facility. See the Action Item below.

The Week's News 

Republic Starts Up 110 Ton/Hour MRF at Recycling Complex in San Jose

Municipal waste management company Republic Services has announced the dedication and start-up of its massive 110 ton per hour capacity materials recovery facility (MRF) in San Jose, California. 08/11/2012

Trimble's cBin Uses GPS to Remotely Track and Monitor Recycling Bins

Tirmble Environmental Solutions has announced the launch of its GPS enabled cBinTM waste collection and materials management modules. 08/11/2012

Indian River BioEnergy Center Receives EPA Registration for Cellulosic Ethanol

INEOS Bio has announced that its joint venture project INEOS New Planet BioEnergy (INPB) has been granted fuels registration under EPA's Part 79 and 80 for production and sale of advanced bioethanol from non-food vegetable waste feedstock. 08/11/2012

Eco Ventures Group Secures Local Permits for Florida Biofuels Plant

Florida based company Eco Ventures Group Inc (EVG) has announced that both Lake County and the City of Groveland, Florida have now formally approved permits for the company's biofuel systems fabrication and manufacturing, and for the production and sale of biofuel on all of its Groveland headquarters property. 08/09/2012

Technical Options Presented for Biochar Analysis

Micrometrics Analytical Services (MAS) has announced availability of a technical biochar analysis paper presented during the 2012 US Biochar Conference held at Sonoma State University at the end of July. 08/09/2012

Eco Starts Commissioning Tests for West Dorset Food Waste AD Plant

A leading organics recycling firm in the United Kingdom, Eco Sustainable Solutions (Eco) has announced final testing of its £3.3 million anaerobic digester (AD) at Piddlehinton, which is due to be officially launched in September. 08/08/2012

GRES Forming JV for Puerto Rico Landfill Remediation, Recycling, Conversion

Green Energy Renewable Solutions (GRES) of Las Vegas, Nevada has announced signing a Letter of Intent to form a 50/50% joint venture (JV) with Puerto Rico based Landfill Solutions, Inc to manage and remediate the 50-acre Yabucoa municipal landfill. 08/08/2012

EPA Awards Tetra Tech Two $32MM Methane Emission Reduction Contracts

California based engineering consultancy Tetra Tech has received two contract awards totaling around $32 million from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide technical and outreach support for reduction of methane emissions. 08/08/2012

DOD and DOI Partner for Renewable Energy to Serve US Military Bases

The US Departments of Defense (DOD) and of the Interior (DOI) have announced a partnership to facilitate development of renewable energy projects and resources in federal jurisdictions on and adjacent to US military bases. 08/08/2012

Viridor Is Top Bidder to Build/Operate Peterborough Energy from Waste Facility

The Peterborough City Council has announced that the United Kingdom's waste management company Viridor Ltd has been selected as the recommended preferred bidder to build and operate a new energy from waste (EfW)  facility under a 30 year contract. 08/07/2012

Fulcrum Receives $105MM USDA Loan Guarantee for Sierra Biofuels Project

California based Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc. has announced that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has committed to a $105 million conditional loan guarantee, key to securing project financing to fund construction of Fulcrum's Sierra BioFuels Plant. 08/07/2012

ZeroPoint's 2nd Biomass Gasification Plant is Connected to Grid

New York based ZeroPoint Clean Tech, Inc., has announced that its second biomass gasification facility is now grid-connected and selling power to the regional utility in Newry, Northern Ireland. 08/07/2012

BiogenGreenfinch, Now Biogen, Secures £24.4m Investment from Kier

United Kingdom's anaerobic digestion (AD) company BiogenGreenfinch has announced that the construction and property rights firm Kier has invested £24.4 million, adding to the investment already made by BiogenGreenfinch's parent company Bedfordia Group. 08/06/2012

HM3 Energy Receives $86K from Oregon BEST for Coal Replacement

The Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST) has announced an award of $86,000 to Gresham, Oregon based HM3 Energy for testing and systems optimization in making torrefied wood as a clean, energy-dense, low-emissions substitute for coal. 08/06/2012

Industry Associations Form Biofuel Producers Coordinating Council

Eight biofuel industry organizations have announced the formation of the Biofuels Producers Coordinating Council to jointly advocate for national policy for increased energy security through domestic biofuel production. 08/06/2012

SWACO Signs Landfill Gas to Pipeline Deal with Renewco

The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) announced that it has signed a contract with Georgia based Renewco to clean, compress and inject landfill gas (LFG) into the regional natural gas pipeline infrastructure. 08/06/2012

The Week's Action Items

Due 09/10/2012: Comments on Placer County Bioenergy Project Draft EIR

Placer County has released a Notice of Availability initiating a public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) addressing potential impacts of development and operation of a bioenergy facility. 08/11/2012

Due 10/05/2012: Proposals to USACE for Renewable/Alternative Energy IDIQ

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) through its Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, Alabama has issued "Renewable and Alternative Energy Power Production for Department of Defense Installation, Solicitation# W912DY-11-R-0036". 08/10/2012

 

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Recommended Reading:

Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Conversion Processes: Economic, Technical, and Renewable Comparisons by Gary C Young

"Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Conversion Processes: Economic, Technical, and Renewable Comparisons" by Gary C Young

"Waste-to-Energy, Second Edition: Technologies
and Project Implementation" by Marc J Rogoff and Francois Screve

 

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Teru Talk is an online publication of JDMT, Inc with the goal of opening the dialogue and providing current news and commentary on issues and successes associated with waste conversion to renewable energy, biofuels and other bio-based products for resource recovery.

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The Teru Talk Newsletter is published weekly or more or less frequently, primarily depending on what is going on in the world of waste conversion or ours.