Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
27, July 8,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
The
Worldwatch Institute just
finished a study of Energy
in Central America and came
to the conclusion that it
is "both technically
feasible and
socio-economically
beneficial" for the entire
region to rapidly
transition to 100%
renewable energy. All that
is needed is knowledge,
policy, and money. Bet they
spent a bundle figuring
THAT one out
…
Two
decades ago, it was the
lack of Technology that
posed the most
difficulty. Now we have
clean energy systems
that can provide needed
heat, power, fuels, and
chemicals without
depending on the
bubbling crude. The
needs and the barriers
may differ between Costa
Rica and Boca Raton,
between the cloud
forests of Guatemala and
the yellow pine forests
of the Western States,
but competent energy
systems work wherever
they are properly
installed.
When
it comes to waste
conversion, we know that
regardless of where we
live, we can improve on
our lot by putting
discards back into use
instead of burying the
stuff, torching it in
barrels or simply
pushing it off the side
of the road. With the
internet (and Teru Talk)
we have a much better
idea of what tools are
out there and where to
find them, so the
knowledge barrier is not
as tough as it used to
be. Bright folks are
figuring out how to
combine these new tools
to meet almost any mixed
waste conversion
challenge. Whole new
kinds of "biorefineries"
are springing up to
accept just about any
kind of waste and run it
through a wide variety
of reprocessing systems
to make all sorts of the
new stuff we
demand.
Global
governmental policies at
all levels are pushing
for waste reduction,
discarded goods reuse,
recycling of the things
that need to be pulled
apart and remade, and
remanufacturing of those
recycled raw materials
back into new goods.
Policies are using the
stick of per-ton carbon
payments and the carrot
of grants and tariffs to
shift our socio-economic
behavior toward that
fabled Circular Economy.
Policies that in
general, are pushing us
toward instead of away
from environmental
sanity.
And
now, in just the last
six months or so, we're
starting to see the
Money. After wallowing
around in economic
self-pity and knee-jerk
financial paranoia,
there's a grudging
acknowledgement in the
investment and banking
community that a lot of
these waste-to-goods
things work after all.
Granted, there are some
scary-inventive ways
some are "structuring"
their economics to
attract funds and there
are bound to be the
grand failures, but
sometimes you have to
bleed to heal. So many
of us have been out
there dog-paddling,
waiting for those waves
of funding to start
coming in ... Head's Up,
now, the swells are
shaping up real
nice.
Hey
Rube!
One of the
nifty ways we see Waste
becoming Goods happens when
waste managers can turn part
of their charge back into
fuel for the fleets of big
trucks running along our
highways. When you tally
greenhouse gas generated
during the movement of goods
from first purchase to
discard to remaking, that
transport part produces a
lot of the total Impact of
the waste management sector.
The California Air Board is
focused on the issue of
Transport Emissions
reduction, and betting
heavily on alternative low
carbon fuels to meet the
state's emissions reduction
goals. Front and center in
terms of the needed
Knowledge, Tools, Policies,
and now starting to attract
the Real Money are those
folks making low carbon
fuels from
waste.
The
Week's News
NOTE:
If you are using
IE10 and our website isn't
loading as smoothly as you
would like or the page jumps
when you click on a link to go
to a certain news item, just
change to "compatibility view"
and all will be
fine.
Clarke to
Supply Biogas Engines for
Tamar's UK Anaerobic
Digestion
Plants
United
Kingdom based Clarke Energy has
announced securing a
four-project supply contract
with Tamar Energy of London.
07/06/2013
Technokomplex Ships
Pirotex Low-Temp Pyrolysis
Plant to
Columbia
Based in
Rostov-on-Don, Russia, the
company Technokomplex has
announced shipment of a Pirotex
low-temperature, closed loop
pyrolysis plant to clients in
Columbia.
07/06/2013
DECC
Proposes Home and Business
Scale Feed-in Tariffs to
Parliament
The United Kingdom (UK)
Department of Energy &
Climate Change (DECC) has
announced that it has
introduced its Feed-in Tariff
(FIT) proposals before
Parliament for amendments to
the country's Energy Bill.
07/05/2013
Algae.Tec to
Convert Emissions to
Biofuels at AU's Largest
Coal-Fired
Plant
Australia (AU) based Algae.Tec
has announced entering into an
agreement with Macquarie
Generation, the country's
largest coal-fired power plant
for algae carbon capture.
07/05/2013
Worldwatch
Releases Renewable Energy
Report on Central
America
Washington, D.C. based
non-profit Worldwatch Institute
has published its latest energy
report, The Way Forward for
Renewable Energy in Central
America, and is available free
of charge for on-line download.
07/05/2013
Green
Biologics, Easy Energy
Collaborate on Iowa
Biochemical Demo
Plant
United Kingdom (UK) based Green
Biologics Ltd. (GBL) has
announced entering into a
collaborative agreement to
modify Easy Energy Systems's
ethanol demonstration plant in
Emmetsburg, Iowa to produce
renewable n-butanol and
acetone.
07/03/2013
DOE Awards
$13MM to Support Four
R&D Biofuels
Projects
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) has announced a total of
$13 million in funding for four
research and development
(R&D) next generation
biofuels projects to optimize
production of gasoline, diesel,
and jet fuels from biomass.
07/03/2013
CARB
Announces Goods Movement
Emission Reduction Workshop
Series
The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) has announced a
series of public workshops to
discuss preliminary
recommendations for use of $150
million in funding awards to
local and state agencies for
projects through the
Proposition 1B: Goods Movement
Emission Reduction Program.
07/03/2013
Milton Keyes
Council Awards Waste
Recovery Contract to
AmeyCespa
The Milton Keyes Council has
announced entering into
contract with United Kingdom
(UK) based AmeyCespa to design,
build, and operate the Milton
Keyes Recovery Park.
07/02/2013
NREL
Launches Utility-Scale
Energy Systems Integration
Facility
The US Department of Energy's
National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) has announced
the opening of the unique
utility-scale Energy Systems
Integration Facility (ESIF) on
its Golden, Colorado research
and development campus.
07/02/2013
Abengoa
Inaugurates First
Waste-to-Biofuels Demo Plant
in Salamanca,
Spain
Headquartered in Seville,
Spain, the multi-national
energy and environmental
services company Abengoa has
announced the formal opening of
its waste-to-biofuels (W2B)
demonstration facility in
Babilafuente, Salamanca, Spain.
07/02/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
07/29/2013: Qualifications
to BAB2E for
Biosolids-to-Energy
Facility
The Bay Area
Biosolids to Energy Coalition
(BAB2E, or the Coalition) has
briefly reopened their Request
for Qualifications (RFQ)
timeline to pre-qualify
additional firms for
development of a
biosolids-to-energy facility to
serve wastewater treatment
plants in the San Francisco Bay
Area. 07/01/2013
Due
09/30/2013: Proposals to
SJVAPCD for Alternative
Fuels
Infrastructure
The San Joaquin Valley Air
Pollution Control District
(SJVAPCD, or District) has
announced the release of its
Request for Proposal (RFP) to
accept proposed projects for
alternative fuel infrastructure
under its Public Benefit Grants
Program (PBGP).
07/03/2013
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