Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
11, March 17,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
With
everything ultimately
interconnected like a great
cosmic "Whack-a-Mole" game,
how do we ever know
the real changes we bring
about when we do anything?
How do we go about the
business of keeping
ourselves fed and clothed,
transported and governed,
without messing up
something along the way?
One of the global debates
about interconnectedness
has to do with "indirect"
changes, the overbalancing
that tends to occur when we
try to fix a problem here,
and miss the unintended
consequences over there.
Such is the case when we
attempt to make
alternatives to
refinery-produced
petroleum-sourced transport
fuels. We probably can't
avoid all the collateral
damage, but we can
pay more attention to the
details. One big detail is
the source of the
feedstock: is it newly hewn
/ mined / grown, or is it
something someone else
threw
away?
Many of
those indirect changes
occur to the land itself.
Every good debate has its
own jargon, and "indirect
land use change" (iLUC) is
emerging as a seriously
complex and crucially
important measure of just
how much we can screw
things up even when we try
to do good.
Case in
point: We've learned how to
make bio-diesel from
plants! Oh, Boy! Let's just
grub out those troublesome
vegetable crops and plant
"energy cane." Uh, aren't
we supposed to eat
those veggies? Do we think
we should keep doing that?
Is the practice
sustainable?
Surprise, surprise: almost
everything we can scale up
to produce enough to
convert to alternative
fuels comes with collateral
damage. The tally of
measurable iLUC can be high
enough to take the glow off
the benefits. But not
everything is that
way: if you concentrate on
cleanly converting the
stuff that has classically
just been in the way and
thrown out, using
waste as feedstock
for alternative
fuel, we avoid
most if not all of the iLUC
problems.
This rule
plays out well even around
food crops. If you pay a
farmer for the squished
tomatoes and rotten
lettuce, for the bulk of
the seeds and stems, you
get feedstock, the dump
doesn't spew as much
methane, and the farmer's
accountant breaths a little
easier. You still have to
pay attention and not take
too much straw off the rice
field after harvest, but at
least you aren't competing
for the rice.
However
we measure this
ever-shifting target of
"sustainability", whatever
we count up that lets us
track the damage we do
along with the good we
accomplish, that balance
sheet just seems to be a
whole lot more in the black
than in the red when we use
post-recycled, sorted, and
pre-treated waste instead
of freshly harvested
"energy"
feedstock.
Waste may
or may not really be a
"renewable energy source",
but using garbage to make
new goods appears to be the
ultimate form of
Sustainable
Manufacturing.
Hey
Rube!
The
California Air Resources Board
(CARB) is busy teasing apart
the issues of low carbon / low
iLUC alternative fuels right
now to "re-adopt" the Low
Carbon Fuel Standard. There are
lots of new documents from
public workshops, and a Call
for Comments. See our Action
Item below, read the CARB's
detailed proposals, and send
the Agency your own thoughts.
Watch for our waste conversion
slanted Focus Report on the
LCFS Re-Adoption coming out
early this
week.
This Week's Top Story
Maverick and PPE Partner to
Produce Small-Scale
Methane-to-Methanol
Plants
North
Carolina based Maverick
Synfuels, Inc (formerly
Maverick Biofuels) and
Texas company Plant
Process Equipment, Inc.
(PPE) have announced
their partnership to
manufacture and sell
small-scale
Gas-to-Liquids (GTL)
methanol plants.
03/11/2014
The
Week's News
Göteborg
Energi Inaugurates
Valmet-Supplied Gasification
Plant at
GoBiGas
Valmet
Corporation has announced
that the Valmet-supplied
Repotec gasification
plant at Göteborg
Energi's GoBiGas
(Gothenburg Biomass
Gasification Project) in
Gothenburg, Sweden, was
inaugurated on March 12,
2014.
03/14/2014
UK Defra
Calls for Evidence on Refuse
Derived Fuel Market in
England
The
United Kingdom (UK)
Department for
Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs (Defra) has
released a Call for
Evidence regarding all
aspects of refuse derived
fuel (RDF) used both in
England and for export.
03/14/2014
Vega
Biofuels and JV Partners
Plan New State of the Art
Torrefaction
Facility
Georgia
based Vega Biofuels, Inc
has announced that it has
entered into a joint
venture (JV) agreement
with partners that
include Agri-Tech
Producers, LLC (ATP) to
build and operate a pilot
torrefaction facility in
Allendale, South
Carolina.
03/14/2014
NBE and
Solvay JV for Torrefied Wood
Pellet Production and
Distribution
Mississippi
based New Biomass Energy
LLC (NBE) and
international chemical
firm Solvay SA have
announced formation of
the joint venture (JV)
Solvay Biomass Energy for
the production and
distribution of torrefied
wood pellets, also known
as black pellets.
03/13/2014
US EPA's
Latest MSW Data Demonstrates
America's Evolving Waste
Stream
The
National Waste &
Recycling Association has
presented additional
insight into the US
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) report on
municipal solid waste
(MSW) generation and
recycling rates.
03/13/2014
CalRecycle
Posts Grant and Loan Program
Overview and Criteria
Documents
California
Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle) staff has
posted notice of proposed
grant and loan programs
to be presented to the
Board for consideration
for formal approval
during the March 18, 2014
monthly meeting in
Ontario, California.
03/12/2014
9th Annual
California Bioresources
Alliance Symposium, June
3-4,
2014
The
University of California,
Davis (UC Davis)
Extension and the
Environmental Protection
Agency Region 9 (EPA R9)
will co-host the ninth
annual California
Bioresources Alliance
Symposium on June 3 &
4, 2014 at the Buehler
Alumni and Visitors
Center at UC Davis.
03/12/2014
Zilkha
Biomass Energy Licenses
Black Pellet Technology to
Cate Street
Capital
Texas
based Zilkha Biomass
Energy LLC has agreed to
license its Zilkha Black®
Pellet technology to Cate
Street Capital, Inc, a
company that invests in
green technology
companies.
03/11/2014
GIB and
Equitix Invest in Biomass
Boilers for Matthews' Turkey
Farms
The
United Kingdom (UK) Green
Investment Bank (GIB) and
Equitix have announced a
£24.5m investment to
finance the installation
of renewable energy
boilers at Bernard
Matthews' turkey farms.
03/10/2014
Viridor's
Runcorn EfW Facility Begins
Processing Refuse Derived
Fuel
United
Kingdom (UK) based
Viridor has confirmed
that it has begun using
refuse derived fuel (RDF)
in final commissioning of
the first phase at its
energy from waste (EfW)
facility in Runcorn.
03/10/2014
Methes
Energies Manufactures
Biodiesel Processor for
Aruba
Client
Nevada
based Methes Energies
International Ltd has
announced receiving a
deposit from Antilla
Energy VBA (formally
known as BioFuel Aruba)
to start manufacturing of
a Denami 600 biodiesel
processor.
03/10/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due 03/28/2014: Comments to
CARB on LCFS Re-Adoption and
iLUC
The
California Air Resources
Board (CARB) conducted
two workshops on March
11, 2014, the first
addressing the proposed
re-adoption of the Low
Carbon Fuel Standard
(LCFS), and the second
exploring preliminary
concepts for
incorporating indirect
land use change (iLUC)
impact metrics into the
carbon intensity (CI)
values of the LCFS.
03/12/2014
|
