Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
50, December 15,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
A rose by any other name … it
is in our nature to want to
make something unique, even
when all we do is give it a new
buzz-word, catch-phrase, sales
mark. Intuitively we know that
Perception is King, and if we
find that folks have a
pre-conceived negative notion
about our process, we call that
process something else. This
trait certainly impacts the
public understanding of the
tools that can accomplish clean
waste conversion for resource
recovery. "Oh, no: we
aren't
incinerating
, we're
thermally
recycling
that garbage."
This seems to be a
necessary and somewhat
unavoidable obfuscation,
given that people all too
often make up their
minds, for better or
worse, based on
catch-phrases and
marketing
lines.
Yet similar kinds of things can
also end up with different
names for fact-based reasons.
It seems that the Inuit people
have dozens of names for
different kinds of snow,
probably because differences in
snow are far more important,
the further north of the
equator that you abide. To a
botanist, there are literally
hundreds of kinds of
Helianthus; to most folks, they
are all
sunflowers
. If you are making biogas,
those hungry microbes
are
digesting
; if you are making beer, the
micro-beasties are
fermenting
and if it
is mulch you want them to make,
they're
composting
. The scientific differences
are in amounts of oxygen
microbiological biorefineries
use to do their deeds; most
folks are just happy to keep
the products
separate.
To serve up detail accurately,
Teru Talk spends a lot of time
focused on labels, what
inventors name their
inventions, what developers
call the tools they use. Yet
what is really important? If
you put garbage in a no-name
black box and it can cleanly
and economically convert that
waste liability back to
resource assets you need, not
just once but again and again,
then that's an acceptable
option. Proper naming is
important for marketing but not
for function. The real trick is
to have proof that the tools
are particularly well suited
for the crud-conversion task at
hand.
Teru Talk reports to our dear
readers on projects where the
Right Tools are being used to
cleanly convert garbage to
goods and waste to wealth. We
constantly track those tools,
the tool makers who make them,
the developers that use them
and the whole arena of folks
who in some way support this
crucial part of the Circular
Economy. We want folks to know
that there are many options for
clean and economical waste
conversion, and that the list
grows longer every day. We want
the main decisions informing
this match-making process to be
dependent on the
feedstock
, the
waste you want to convert. And
we want the selection of
options to be based on the
logical, scientific, proven
ability to do the job, not on
some New and Improved brand
name - or on some ill-informed
predisposition as to
appropriateness.
Here then
is our #1 Recommended Policy
for advancing clean, economical
waste conversion: make sure
decisions are Feedstock Driven
and Technology
Neutral.
Hey Rube!
Just as Recycling involves so
much more than bottles, cans,
and newspaper, waste conversion
focuses on far more than food
scraps and sewage.
Anything
that is
being thrown away should be
seen as a resource waiting for
rescue. Don't expect to know
the how of that recovery, but
do know others are facing that
very same problem. Think of
Teru Talk news as guideposts to
what others are making work,
and then see if those recovery
tools will fit your waste
conversion
challenge.
This Week's Top Story
Rivertop
Renewables Begins
Construction of Commercial
Manufacturing
Plant
Montana based Rivertop
Renewables has begun
construction of its first
commercial plant, located at
DanChem Technologies, Inc’s
(DTI) facility in Danville,
Virginia.
10/12/2014
The Week's News
Florida
County Selects Covanta to
Operate Resource Recovery
Facility
New Jersey based Covanta has
announced that it has assumed
operations of the Pinellas
County Resource Recovery
Facility located in St.
Petersburg, Florida. The
company was selected to operate
the facility for a 10-year term
after a competitive procurement
process.
10/12/2014
UK
DECC Publishes Review of
RHI Biomethane Injection
to Grid
Tariff
The United Kingdom's (UK)
Non-domestic Renewable Heat
Incentive (RHI) was introduced
in 2011 to incentivize the
uptake of renewable heat in
industry, businesses and public
sector organizations.
12/10/2014
REG Invests in German Firm
Petrotec Biodiesel for
Expansion into
Europe
Renewable Energy Group, Inc.
(REG) and IC Green Energy Ltd.
(ICG) have announced that REG,
through a wholly-owned
subsidiary, will acquire ICG’s
majority equity ownership
position in German biodiesel
producer Petrotec AG.
12/10/2014
Stora Enso Will Open New
Biomaterials Innovation Centre
in
Sweden
Stora Enso has announced that
it will concentrate its new
biomaterials business
development in an Innovation
Centre to be located in the
Stockholm area in Sweden.
12/09/2014
Total Energy Ventures Invests
in Solidia CO2 Cement
Technology
Total Energy Ventures, the
corporate venture investment
arm of the French energy
company Total S.A., has
announced investment in Solidia
Technologies cement
manufacturing platform.
12/09/2014
Echogen Power Waste Heat
Recovery System Is Available as
Turnkey
Solution
Florida based Echogen Power
Systems has announced the
commercial availability of its
EPS100 heat engine system as a
turnkey solution that satisfies
energy demand, environmental
requirements, and bottom line
cost savings for industrial,
power generation, oil &
gas, and marine customers.
12/09/2014
Valmet to
Supply Flue Gas Scrubber to
Fortum's Biomass CHP Plant
in
Finland
Finnish corporation Valmet will
supply a flue-gas cleaning and
condensation plant valued at
EUR 8 million to Fortum's
combined heat and power plant
in Joensuu, Finland.
12/08/2014
MagneGas
Invited to United Nations
Ebola Crisis Response
Meeting
Florida-based MagneGas
Corporation has announced that
it has been invited to
participate in United Nations
(UN) Ebola Crisis Response
high-level meetings being held
on Thursday, December 11, 2014
at the UN headquarters in New
York City.
12/08/2014
NYSERDA
Supports BioEnergy for
Campus Heating at Paul
Smith's
College
The four-year Paul Smith's
College in Adirondack Park, New
York, has announced an
agreement with the New York
Energy Research and Development
Authority (NYSERDA) to install
a highly sustainable,
state-of-the-art wood-pellet
boiler system to heat its three
academic buildings.
12/08/2014
UPM and WWF
Finland Promote
Sustainability of Wood-Based
Liquid
Biofuels
UPM and WWF Finland are working
together to present a list of
joint measures to be carried
out to promote sustainability
of wood-based liquid biofuels
in Finland.
12/08/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
02/06/2015: Applications to
CEC for Advanced Clean
Energy from
Biogas
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has released
Program Opportunity Notice
PON-14-505, "Advanced Clean
Energy from Biogas, Biomethane
and Natural Gas.
12/12/2014
Due
02/13/2015: EOI for UK
Advanced Biofuels
Demonstration
Competition
The United Kingdom (UK)
Department for Transport,
Ricardo-AEA, and E4tech have
announced launch of a £25
million advanced biofuels
demonstration competition to
support the development of a
domestic advanced biofuel
industry.
12/12/2014
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