Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
34, August 25,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru Talk
Is Number One!
It's
official!
Teru Talk is
Number
One! Thank
you all for supporting
us in the Entrepeneur's
Showcase! We very much
appreciate your support
of Teru Talk for the
advancement of waste
conversion.
Our readers are the
best!!
Teru's Trash Talk
All
around the planet, there's
a drive now to "get
organics out of the
landfill". OK, but just how
can Society accomplish this
worthy goal? Ponder how you
would identify, measure,
intercept, and divert this
flood of valuable resources
toward higher uses, to
fuels and fertilizers
instead of
"land-filling".
Households
toss many pounds of food
scraps in the trash every
day. Their curbed cans get
grabbed up by a trash truck
and hauled off to either a
Materials Recovery Facility
(fondly called a "MRF") or
straight to the dump.
Residents need a special
bin just for food waste,
and that means a special
truck to pick up these
containers that now require
special
handling.
Neighborhood
markets cluster where
people can get to them
quick during beer and chip
shortage emergencies.
Supermarket culls result in
a ton or two a day going
out the back door.
Restaurants put a constant
stream of Food Waste into
the dumpster, and then off
it goes to the dump. Both
need to separate waste food
from regular trash, if
those organics are to be
recovered. Their trash
haulers then need ways to
lift and transport those
full, sloppy
bins.
Farmers
may send one in three
tomatoes on to the
restaurant, the market, the
dinner table … and either
send the rest to the
processor, feed it to the
animals, plow it into the
soil, or (you guessed it)
take it to the dump as a
last resort. Food
Processing plants package
their brand of Food, and
throw out an equal amount
of organic gunk. Standing
ready to divert the culls
from the dump seems an
insurmountable
task.
Special
bins, special trucks, and
special hauling routes all
cost more money than what
we all do now. The
infrastructure needs to
change to accommodate
recovered organics. Right
now, most of that change is
taking place one
restaurant, one market, one
processor at a time. If we
plug the flow to the dump,
we will need other ways to
manage the mess - other
incentives to cover the
early stage transition
costs.
If we
establish smaller waste
conversion plants near the
source of organics, we cut
transport costs and
emissions: Greenhouse Gas
reduction credits,
Check.
We can
improve the sustainability
and energy self-sufficiency
of our restaurants by using
biogas from their own food
waste digestion: LEEDs
credits, and lower power
bills, Check.
We can
find one business that can
use another business's
residuals, either as raw
materials or for combined
heat and power supply:
reduced waste disposal fees
and power bills,
Check.
We Can Do This: Check,
Check and Check.
Hey
Rube!
Wherever you
start your Intercept, you have
to take notes and keep track
because you can't manage what
you don't measure. We've posted
News on GM's HQ food to
fertilizer program, two eastern
Casinos planning food waste to
energy, the oldest fair in BC
Canada powered by cow poo and
food scraps - and check out the
Swiss company receiving
sustainability kudos for
feedstock supply chain
management. It seems there are
some who know how to get this
job done.
This Week's Top Story
Construction
to Begin on MBT and Waste
Gasification Power Plant in
Derby
Shanks
Group plc (Shanks) has
announced that Resource
Recovery Solutions
(Derbyshire) Ltd (RRS), a
joint venture with
Interserve Group plc, has
agreed to funding terms
for construction of a new
waste gasification power
plant in south Derby,
United Kingdom (UK).
08/22/2014
The
Week's News
MBP Group
Earns RSB Sustainability
Certification
Swiss
based multinational
company MBP Group has
earned the Roundtable on
Sustainable Biomaterials
(RSB) sustainability
certification for waste
material collection,
trading, and distribution
activities.
08/22/2014
Biomass
Innovation Centre Hosts
Seminar and Biomass to
Bioenergy
Training
In
conjunction with Ontario,
Canada's Bioeconomy Week
in Thunder Bay, the
Nipissing University's
Biomass Innovation Centre
(BIC) will be delivering
a community seminar
focused on developments
in northern Ontario's
bioeconomy, as well as a
training session titled
"Biomass to Bioenergy."
08/22/2014
PNNL Shows
Water Leads to Chemical that
Gunks Up Biofuels
Production
Researchers
at the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory
(PNNL) have discovered
that water in the
conversion process of
plants to biofuels helps
form an impurity that
slows down key chemical
reactions.
08/22/2014
JBEI
Researchers Produce Bionic
Liquids from Waste
Lignin
Lawrence
Berkeley National
Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
has announced that
researchers at the US
Department of Energy’s
(DOE) Joint BioEnergy
Institute (JBEI) have
developed “bionic
liquids” from lignin and
hemicellulose, two
by-products of biofuel
production from
biorefineries.
0820/2014
GM
Renaissance Center Composts
Food Scraps for Detroit
Urban
Farms
General
Motors (GM) has announced
that it now composts food
preparation scraps from
its various Renaissance
Center restaurant
kitchens for use in urban
farming initiatives
throughout the city of
Detroit, Michigan.
08/20/2014
Cowpower
Will Power 'The Fair at The
PNE' on Vancity Member
Day
Vancity
will be furnishing
Cowpower’s renewable
electricity at The Fair
at The PNE on Vancity
Member Day again this
year to power every
exhibit, ride,
concession, building and
attraction that uses
electricity.
08/20/2014
Saxlund Will
Provide Clean Burn
Technology for UK Biomass
CHP
Plant
Southampton
based Saxlund
International has
announced securing a
significant contract to
supply proven biomass
combustion and fuel
handling solutions to
Twinwoods Heat &
Power in Bedfordshire,
United Kingdom (UK).
08/20/2014
Microbial
Fuel Cell Bacteria Form
Nanowires to Break Down
Waste
Research
led by University of
Southern California (USC)
assistant professor Moh
El-Naggar has reversed
the commonly held theory
regarding how so-called
"electric bacteria" used
in microbial fuel cells
(MFCs) shoot out tendrils
that conduct electricity.
08/19/2014
Construction
Financing Arranged for £74m
Speyside Biomass CHP
Facility
John
Laing and the United
Kingdom (UK) Green
Investment Bank (GIB)
have announced plans to
invest in a new £74m
green energy facility in
Speyside, Scotland being
developed by Edinburgh
and London based Estover
Energy Ltd (Estover).
08/18/2014
Mohegan Sun
Massachusetts Will Be
Greenest Resort Casino in
the
Nation
Mohegan
Sun Massachusetts (MSM)
has announced that it is
expected to be the
greenest resort casino in
the nation with one of
the highest scores of any
such facility from the US
Green Building Council's
Leadership in Energy
& Environmental
Design (LEED)
certification program.
08/18/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
10/03/2014: Applications to
Minnesota for Biomass
Thermal Energy
Grants
The
Minnesota Department of
Agriculture has released
a Request for Proposals
(RFP) for the FY 2015
Biomass Thermal Energy
Grant Round.
08/21/2014
Due
10/10/2014: Young
Researchers Papers to 2015
WSED
Conference
The OÖ
Energiesparverband,
organizers of the 2015
World Sustainable Energy
Days (WSED) fourth annual
international conference,
have released a Call for
Papers for two Young
Researchers' Conference
programs on Energy
Efficiency and Biomass.
08/20/2014
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