Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
47, November 25,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
It's been a light news
week here in Teru Land -
giving us time to ponder
some of the larger
mysteries of Life.
Thanksgiving, for example,
where friends, family,
cranberry sauce, and a
gazillion cooked turkeys
help us turn the corner
into Winter, bringing on
the food comas and an
abundance of big bird
carcasses. Then there's the
build-up to Black Friday
(which is apparently
starting on Thursday this
year), when Packaging is
King and kids really
start to put on the
pressure to Buy all those
shiny baubles advertised
every twelve minutes on
every TV channel. But
enough holiday frivolity:
let's get
serious.
Let's
consider Buzz Words - those
interesting and catchy
terms that constantly buzz
around each industry, our
Waste Conversion sector not
to be excluded. Buzz words
are the "packaging" we use
to indicate what's inside
of a concept so we don't
have to bother to actually
look inside, and they can
be as alluring and
deceptive as the brightly
colored plastic layered
about the latest (also
plastic) toy.
Here's a
buzz phrase that's been a
pet peeve of mine, of late:
"Emerging Technologies."
Emerging from what, and
into what? Certainly not
from pre-commercial to
commercial status; most of
these methods have long
since entered the
commercial marketplace.
There will always be
Newbies just around the
corner, but for most of the
waste conversion tools
themselves, these old
labels simply no long
apply. Perhaps they are
emerging into
regional utilization, but
if so, whose fault is that?
If systems like
gasification and anaerobic
digestion are "emerging"
into anything, it is
primarily into society's
collective
consciousness.
This is
school yard politics: every
time you show up for
another game of ball with a
different crowd, you get
labeled the "new kid on the
block." If you get a chance
to play, you can show 'em
what you've got - but the
label is intended to "put
you in your place" as much
as anything. Same goes for
systems, methods, and
technologies that
our neighborhood has
not yet let through the
Commercial gate: as long as
the Big Kids hold the
court, that new talent
stays benched. And the
simplest way to do that is
with the labels the
entrenched crew assigns to
in-coming threats to the
Status Quo. And the rest of
us willingly play
along.
Ah, well. Settle back into
the warmly bundled,
family-friendly Holiday
Season. Indeed, enjoy
whatever version of
Thanksgiving suits you.
Take a deep, cleansing
breath - and look toward
the New Year with hope
that, among other things,
our economic doldrums will
be disrupted by emerging
Waste Conversion Sanity.
And remember to look inside
the packaging.
Hey
Rube!
It's not for lack of
Technologies that we continue
to throw resources away. It
isn't even for lack of Money,
although that never makes
things easier. Adopting a new
paradigm means changing the way
we think, and making sure our
Politicians and Agencies hear
the new
anthem.
This Week's Top Story
Cleveland
Browns, FirstEnergy Stadium
to Showcase Food Waste
Recycling
The Cleveland Browns and
FirstEnergy Stadium will
showcase a new system that
recycles stadium food waste
into renewable energy and
fertilizer sources, diverting
35 tons of food waste from
landfills annually.
11/22/2013
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.
EWI's Waste
Tire Facility Completes
Landmark Continuous 4-Day
Run
Canadian company Environmental
Waste International, Inc (EWI)
has announced successful
completion of a continuous
four-day (100 hour) run of its
TR-900 waste tire recycling
facility in Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario, doubling the previous
record announced in
June. 11/22/2013
Stirling
Engine Developer Qnergy
Acquires US-based Infinia
Corporation
Israel based Qnergy Ltd and its
US affiliate have announced
that they acquired the assets
of US-based Infinia Corporation
Inc located in Ogden, Utah.
11/22/2013
EDF
Renewable and Santee Cooper
Dedicate the Pinelands
Biomass
Project
California
based EDF Renewable
Energy and South Carolina
utility Santee Cooper
have ust announced
today's dedication of the
Pinelands Biomass
Project, which consists
of two nominal 17.8
megawatt (MW) generating
facilities located in
Allendale and Dorchester
Counties in South
Carolina.
11/21/2013
UC Riverside
Introduces System that Uses
Steam to Turn Waste into
Fuel
The University of California,
Riverside (UC Riverside) Bourns
College of Engineering held a
ribbon-cutting ceremony
yesterday to announce a
new steam
hydrogasification reactor
system.
11/20/2013
Global
Bioenergies Secures
EUR 5.7MM Grant
for 2nd Pilot Plant in
Germany
France based Global Bioenergies
SA has announced that its
German subsidiary, Global
Bioenergies GmbH, has just been
awarded a EUR 5.7 million grant
from the German Federal
Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF).
11/20/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
12/06/2013: Ideas to CEC for
Natural, Renewable Gas
Research
Initiatives
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) is requesting
ideas for natural gas research
initiatives in the following
areas: energy efficiency,
renewable energy, natural gas
infrastructure, natural gas
related environmental research,
and natural gas related
transportation research.
11/22/2013
Due
01/10/2014: Proposals to PNM
for Renewable Energy
Resources
PNM, a
subsidiary of PNM
Resources and New
Mexico’s largest electric
utility, has issued a
request for proposals
(RFP) today for renewable
energy and/or
accompanying renewable
energy certificates
(RECs) totaling 150,000
megawatt-hours produced
and delivered to
customers in 2016.
11/20/2013
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