Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
38, September 22,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Two
important interrelated
Federal announcements came
out on September 19th, one
that caught everyone's
attention and one that
hardly anyone outside of
the Southwestern US heard
about. The first was the
morning press briefing by
the USDA, the Navy, and the
Department of Energy that
under the newly
reauthorized Defense
Production Act, contracts
have been awarded to three
drop-in biofuels production
companies. The second was a
big Thank You from a
national forest supervisor
to the surrounding
communities, for
steadfastly supporting the
Forest Service in
implementing the New Forest
Plan for integrated forest
restoration. Biofuels are
great, but neither
announcement focused on
waste conversion, so what's
the fuss for us?
The three
biofuels plants all
depend upon waste and
residuals for feedstock.
Each technical process has
been fine-tuned to convert
resources otherwise
destined for disposal, into
what Secretary of
Agriculture Tom Vilsack
called "something that is
extraordinarily valuable".
Secretary of the Navy Ray
Mabus noted that there have
always been nay-sayers,
every time we have changed
from one major fuel source
to another - wind to coal,
coal to oil, oil to nuclear
- and every time the
nay-sayers have been wrong.
Out-going Deputy Secretary
of the Department of Energy
Dan Poneman quoted
Churchill as demanding that
we diversity our fuel
types. He noted that in the
US today, 11% of the
country's energy is
renewable, and of that, 1/2
is biomass-sourced. Poneman
said we have added a
new source,
as exemplified by the three
contracts: Fulcrum
Bioenergy's conversion of
municipal solid waste,
Emerald Biofuels advanced
conversion of waste fats,
oils and grease, and Red
Rock Biofuels conversion of
Oregon's forest sourced
woody biomass - all into
military-specification
fuels.
So what
about this conversion of
"forest-sourced woody
biomass" that nay-sayers
have decrying for decades?
Beginning in 2010, the
Forest Service has been
host to over 20
Collaborative Forest
Landscape Restoration
programs (CFLR), a grand US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) initiative to link
communities, industries,
local and state agencies,
and the federal land
managers in a process that
could improve the
environment, the forest
health and the regional
economies.
Teru Talk
has followed the Four
Forests Restoration
Initiative (4FRI) as a new
Forest Plan was authorized,
as wildland fire and
thinning practices changed,
and as contracts were let
for conversion of the
biomass extracted under the
new Plan was extracted.
From the start, the 4FRI
sought to link increased
use of wildfire as a
management tool with
economical conversion of
extracted woody biomass.
But massive land management
reform needs on-going
public support. It is
largely to this high level
of community backing,
patience, and direct
support for the 4FRI
program at all levels that
Kaibab National Forest
Supervisor is now giving
credit where credit is
due.
Hey
Rube!
DOE's Dan
Poneman commends the
interagency collaboration and
agrees that it is all about
partnership. He puts a
sharper point on the need
however, in saying that
this can be "… not just about
talk, not just about writing
words on a page - that this
must be moving America forward
in a direction that will make
us safer, more prosperous and
more secure." Listen to all the
arguments, check out the
collaborative efforts in your
region and take part - but keep
in mind that the Nay-Sayers are
wrong, again, and that
underneath the Wonder of
Biofuels, it is the careful
acquisition and conversion of
waste as feedstock that makes
this whole New Source
economical.
This Week's Top Story
DoD
Authorizes Defense Act
Awards for Production of 100
MGY of
Biofuels
The US
Department of Defense
(DoD) has completed the
award process for three
new contracts under the
Defense Production Act
Title III for the
production of over 100
million gallons per year
(MGY) of drop-in,
military compatible
biofuels.
09/21/2014
The
Week's News
Community
Support Aids 2014
Restoration Efforts in
Kaibab National
Forest
The
Kaibab National Forest
has had a successful
summer managing wildland
fires, thanks to the
commitment of its
employees to the
important work of forest
restoration and to the
ongoing support from the
communities of northern
Arizona.
09/21/2014
ReEnergy
Celebrates Restart of
Ashland Maine 39 MWe
Bioenergy
Plant
ReEnergy
Holdings LLC will be
celebrating the restart
of its Ashland, Maine, 39
megawatt biomass to
electricity plant on for
October 2, 2014 between
10 am and 2 pm, which has
stood idle since
March of 2011.
09/19/2014
FCC
Environment Will Convert
Wigan Council's Residual
Waste to
RDF
United
Kingdom based FCC
Environment has signed a
25 year residual waste
contract with Wigan
Council to divert an
estimated 90% of the
borough’s non-recyclable
waste from landfill.
09/18/2014
Canada’s
Clean50 Names This Year's
Sustainability
Champions
For the
fourth year, Canada’s
Clean50 organization has
selected 50 outstanding
leaders across 16
categories of
Sustainability, 10
"Emerging Leaders" from
across Canada ranging in
age from 15 to their
early 30s, and 15
innovative projects.
09/18/2014
New
Generation Power Announces
34.5 Megawatt Biomass
Project in
Japan
Chicago-based
New Generation Power
International (NGPI) and
Japanese company Nippon
Energy Solution, Inc
(NES) will develop three
11.5 Megawatt (MW) wood
biomass plants in Japan.
09/17/2014
DONG Energy
and Horsens Bioenergie
Inaugurate New Danish Biogas
Plant
The
mayor of Horsens, Denmark
cut the ribbon at the
inauguration ceremony for
a new biogas plant on
September 10, 2014,
following four years of
work and dialog with
local and national
authorities and the
community.
09/17/2014
ElectraTherm
Green Machines Generate
Power from Wood Waste in
Oregon
Nevada
based ElectraTherm, Inc
has commissioned its
second Green Machine 4400
at an integrated wood
products mill in Wallowa,
Oregon.
09/17/2014
US DOE
Expands Initiative to
Increase Clean Energy
Manufacturing
The US
Department of Energy
(DOE) has announced
expansions of its Clean
Energy Manufacturing
Initiative in support of
the American
manufacturing sector and
a new initiative to
support the
administration’s goal of
doubling energy
productivity by 2030.
09/17/2014
Pacific
Ethanol Contracts to Sell
CO2 From Its Columbia Plant
in
Boardman
California
based Pacific Ethanol Inc
has announced its
agreement with Kodiak
Carbonic, LLC to sell CO2
from the Pacific Ethanol
Columbia plant located in
Boardman, Oregon.
09/16/2014
2G CENERGY
Supplies Biogas CHP System
to Yuengling
Brewery
Florida
based 2G CENERGY Power
Systems Technologies Inc
has installed a Biogas
Combined Heat and Power
(CHP) Energy Conversion
System at Yuengling®, the
Nation's oldest brewery.
09/16/2014
ESA
Launching First Biowaste
Strategy - Circular
Organics
The
United Kingdom (UK) based
Environmental Services
Association (ESA), the
voice of the UK’s waste
and resource management
industry, is launching
its first biowaste
strategy, ‘Circular
Organics: Biowaste in a
Circular Economy’, at
this year’s RWM Show.
09/15/2014
Mtech Awards
$2.3MM to 18 Research
Partnerships to
Commercialize
Tech
The
Maryland Industrial
Partnerships (MIPS)
program, an initiative of
the Maryland Technology
Enterprise Institute
(Mtech) at the University
of Maryland (UM), has
awarded $2.3 million to
18 project teams
comprised of University
and private company
researchers, primarily
start-up companies.
09/15/2014
Celtic
Renewables Wins Motor
Industry Award for Whisky
Draff to
BioButanol
Scottish
company Celtic Renewables
Ltd has been recognized
by the motor industry,
winning a top honor at
the Low Carbon Vehicle
Partnership's (LowCVP)
annual Low Carbon
Champions awards.
09/15/2014
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