Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
13, March 31,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Tis
Spring, and I've got Gnats
- or at least, my compost
bin does. I'm the proud
parent of 1.3 million tiny
flitting scavengers who
have claimed the warm and
moldering mound in that
black plastic gizmo that
turns my discarded people
food back into plant food.
With this crazy weather,
nothing is happening on
time so just before the
moment when the local
Soldier Flies - my Wee
Beasties - move in to start
their 2014 Grub Colony,
it's the
Gnats.
Things
could be worse. Last spring
it was the Slugs (ugh!) and
later in the summer that
food waste smörgåsbord with
its myriad bugs attracted a
family of skunks (thus the
serious wire cage around
the whole shebang).
Meanwhile, our 32 gallon
standard issue trash can
fills less and less each
week; by the time we pull
out the recyclables and the
organics, there really
isn't much left. This is a
good thing, all this
recycling and resource
recovery - but the Gnats
are here to remind me why
happy clean people
everywhere have depended on
Others to do away with all
their nasty Waste for such
a long time. This business
of being personally
responsible for our own
resources can be
burdensome. And it can
attract Gnats and Slugs and
Skunks (Oh, My!)
Oh, but
the tomatoes and the
peppers! There simply isn't
any store-bought mulch
stuff I can buy that coaxes
plant growth like that
intense black mulch that
comes outta my compost bin.
It's Alive! It's Alive! And
it grows veggies to beat
the band. Yes, my
home-grown compost never
really "finishes off" like
the professionals can
accomplish, and last year's
seeds are likely to send up
an army of volunteer
almost-identifiable sprouts
in about a month. But the
phoebe parents will teach
their babies the art of
aerobatics as they snatch
the gnats mid-flight, the
robins will level off the
populations of sow bugs and
ear-wigs I inadvertently
encourage, and soon the
ground will just vibrate
with red-worm hoards. The
seeds I saved from last
year's harvest got planted
in salvaged plastic food
containers just after
Thanksgiving and are a few
inches tall by now. But
'round here, we have to
expect at least one snap
freeze late in April (or
maybe May), so my baby
plants will remain in their
pots under cover. The snap
peas and onions don't mind
the weather; they have been
in for a month and are
doing just fine, thanks.
Everything else is holding
its almost-a-garden
breath.
Here's a quandary: as our
Waste Conversion sector
perfects its tools, the
systems for conversion of
crud back into goods are
getting smaller and cheaper
- such is the pattern of
Progress for all techy
things, it seems. I've been
wondering about setting up
our own biogas maker -
there's plenty of designs
on-line to copy - and maybe
helping heat our house
water or at least fueling
my bar-b-que. I'd feed it
our food waste and finely
chopped yard clippings,
maybe hit up a local
rancher occasionally for
another truck load of fresh
horse apples. In go the
organics; out comes Biogas
Fuel and, eventually, a
different kind of mulch
stuff for the garden.
Sounds pretty cool, and it
is the new Right Thing to
Do. But I'd probably miss
the gnats.
Hey
Rube!
OK, let's get serious here for
a moment. It's all too easy to
miss the starting shot when the
Race finally gets under way.
The whole wide world seems just
so - tangled - that we can get
too distracted to remember what
we've been waiting for. But a
lot of us have been treading
water, watching those outside
swells, waiting for Waste
Conversion to get its fair due
and for Business to take off.
Our bet? This is the Year. Gird
your grid and get ready, it's
time to get to
work.
This Week's Top Story
Fiberight
Gets Economic Support from
Iowa City to Construct MRF
for
Biofuels
Maryland-based
Fiberight LLC has
announced that the Marion
City Council in Iowa
agreed at its March 20,
2014 meeting to provide
the firm with an
economic-development
incentive worth up to
$850,000 to help it build
its 50,000-square-foot
materials recovery
facility (MRF).
03/29/2014
The
Week's News
BioNitrogen
Commits to $9MM Allocation
From Florida Investment
Program
Florida
company BioNitrogen
Holdings Corp has
announced that it has
signed a term sheet for a
$9 million investment
supported by the Florida
New Markets Capital
Investment Program
(NMTC).
03/29/2014
US EPA
Proposes Additions to List
of Categorical Non-Waste
Fuels
The US
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) proposes to
add three materials to
the list of categorical
non-waste fuels:
03/29/2014
Map Updated
for Operational AD Sites in
UK, AD Quality Protocol
Released
Anaerobic
Digestion (AD) facility
development is advancing
rapidly in the United
Kingdom (UK). The UK
Waste and Resource Action
Programme (WRAP) has just
released a substantially
updated interactive map
with accompanying data to
identify and track all
forms of AD development.
03/28/2014
LanzaTech’s
$60MM Series D Round Led by
Mitsui
Investment
Lanzatech
has announced a $60
million Series D funding
round led by Mitsui &
Co. with a $20M
investment.
03/26/2014
Cool Planet
and OWS Team for Storm Water
Treatment
Technologies
Colorado
based Cool Planet Energy
Systems has announced
signing a Memo of
Understanding (MOU) with
California company
Organic Waste Solutions,
LLC (OWS) to address
California’s storm water
runoff regulations and
improve water quality.
03/26/2014
Dyadic
Secures New US Patent on
Cellulosic Biomass
Hydrolysis
Enzymes
Florida
based Dyadic
International, Inc has
announced that it has
been issued US Patent No.
8,673,618 entitled,
"Construction of highly
efficient cellulase
compositions for
enzymatic hydrolysis of
cellulose" by the United
States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO).
03/25/2014
Global
Bioenergies Secures
Australian Patents for
Biomass to
Isobutene
French
company Global
Bioenergies has announced
that the Australian
Intellectual Property
Office has granted two
patents that protect key
steps of its process for
converting renewable
resources into isobutene.
03/25/2014
ACOA Funds
CelluFuel for Woody Biomass
to Diesel Pilot Plant in
Nova
Scotia
The
Atlantic Canada
Opportunities Agency
(ACOA) has announced
funding for the startup
of CelluFuel’s pilot
plant with an initial
capacity of 1.3 million
litres of diesel per year
to transform otherwise
low-value wood fiber into
renewable fuel for the
refinery market.
03/25/2014
WM, Ventech,
NRG, and Velocys JV for
Smaller-Scale Gas-to-Liquids
Facilities
Waste
Management, Inc (WM),
Ventech Engineers
International LLC, NRG
Energy, Inc, and Velocys
plc have announced the
formation of a joint
venture (JV) to produce
renewable fuels and
chemicals from biogas and
natural gas using
smaller-scale
gas-to-liquids (GTL)
technology.
03/24/2014
MagneGas
Unveils Mobile Liquid
Biomass
Solution
MagneGas
Corporation announced its
new mobile liquid biomass
solution today at the 7th
Annual International
Biomass Conference &
Expo in Orlando, Florida.
03/24/2014
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