Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 16, April
20,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
We all need to pick our
battles. Some would shift the
very paths of the sky; others,
plug holes in dikes (or
volcanoes). Teru elects to
fight against Resource
Stupidity, here defined as
working very hard to get
something, only to throw it
away. Over and over, ad
nauseum.
Who can say whether global use
of new biomass to make energy
and other commodities can or
even should supplant global use
of fossil biomass (you know:
coal, crude oil) to accomplish
the same goals. But we can and
always should ask the key
questions. Which makes the most
mess? Which supports Life on
this watery planet, which
doesn't? Humans are
energy-voracious resource hogs,
endlessly seeking more stuff,
and the power to run it. That
probably isn't going to change
any time soon. It looks like we
will continue to need, or at
least want, everything we can
get our hands on to satisfy
that gnawing energy / resource
hunger. We just need to be a
lot less stupid in how we feed
the Beast.
We have spent decades,
generations even, figuring out
more sanitary ways of disposing
of the Tsunami of Trash we
generate. Packing crud in a
double-lined landfill is much
cleaner than setting fire to
that same rubbish in a
burn-barrel, but even burning
garbage causes less damage than
leaving it to rot and breed
rats in piles behind our
hovels. We have made and
continue to make progress. Now
we need to brace for change,
again, to focus on Recovery. It
isn't going to be cheap nor
simple.
Clue #1: As long as the
agencies and the industries who
collect and direct the trash
traffic to the dump survive on
the bucks per ton disposed
instead of tons of resource
recovered, the outcome will
remain the same. Follow the
money; right now it is about
the only thing being recovered
en masse from what society
throws away.
Clue #2: What! Me, touch that
nasty stuff? Why, I'd rather
toss it, flush it, just make it
Go Away. Where? Well, that's
somebody
else's
problem. After
all, that's what we pay
our taxes for, right? As
long as folks feel
entitled to dispose
rather than recover
resources, that is
exactly what they will
continue to
do.
Clue #3: One apple in 10 makes
it from the orchard to the
kitchen. Only about half of
produce ever makes the cut to
be "marketable". A
community-scale supermarket
pushes a ton or two of food
into the dumpsters every single
day. Decisions are made on
cosmetics, not real
value.
Globally, we are retraining
ourselves to enable the flow of
resource from goods to discards
and back to raw materials,
ready to be remanufactured into
new goods. If that circular
economy hat-trick can be done
smartly, cleanly, does it
really matter
how
it is
accomplished?
Hey Rube!
Between
the Energy Commission and the
US Department of Agriculture,
California institutions and
communities have been taking
some big steps forward in
turning local woody biomass
excess into local heat, power
and jobs. Most impressive:
folks are really working
together.
This Week's Extra
Reading
The
proposed
criteria for CalRecycle's
Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Grant and Loan Programs,
Fiscal Year 2015-16.
CalRecycle staff will make a
presentation and receive
comments at the previously
announced
Public Meeting on April 21,
2015. A video
of the
March 19th workshop,
stakeholder comments, and
background materials are
also
available.
This Week's Top Story
Cascades
Invests in New Technology
for Biorefinery Project at
Cabano
Plant
Quebec based Cascades Inc. has
announced its investment in a
new technology at its Norampac
- Cabano facility that is used
to extract hemicellulose, a
cellulosic sugar with high
value-added potential from wood
chips.
04/14/2015
The Week's News
SCOPE
Releases Report on
International Bioenergy and
Sustainability
The Scientific Committee on
Problems of the Environment
(SCOPE) has released "Bioenergy
and Sustainability: Bridging
the Gaps".
04/17/2015
USDA Awards
Funds for Wood Energy and
Wood Product Markets in 23
States
The US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) has
announced award of over $9
million to expand and
accelerate wood energy and
other wood product markets.
04/17/2015
Shanks
Secures 6 Year Contract
Extension for ICOPOWER®
Energy
Pellets
United Kingdom based Shanks
Group plc has secured an
important six year contract
extension with Heidelberg
Cement Group for the supply of
ICOPOWER® energy pellets.
04/15/2015
LanzaTech
Teams with ORNL and NCSU on
Biofuels Bug DNA
Dataset
Illinois based biofuels firm
LanzaTech commercialized
microbial fermentation of
industrial emissions and other
waste and synthesis gases laden
with carbon dioxide, into
liquid biofuels.
04/15/2015
Minnesota
Schedules First Stakeholder
Meeting for CHP Deployment
in
State
The Minnesota Department of
Commerce was awarded a US
Department of Energy grant to
carry out a strategic
stakeholder engagement process
and develop an action plan for
combined heat and power (CHP)
deployment in Minnesota.
05/15/2015
Cambi
Awarded Contract for South
Korean Sewage Treatment
Plant
Project
Posco E&C, one of South
Korea's largest EPC Turnkey
contractors, has awarded Norway
based Cambi a contract for a
Cambi B12 Thermal Hydrolysis
Process plant (CambiTHP TM) for
the Anyang Sewage Treatment and
co-digestion Project.
05/15/2015
Ontario
Canada Adopts Cap and Trade
System to Reduce GHG
Pollution
The Canadian province of
Ontario joins California and
many other jurisdictions in the
Western Climate Initiative by
adopting a Cap and Trade system
to impose a hard ceiling on the
pollution allowed in each
sector of the economy.
04/14/2015
Cool Planet
Wins Bloomberg Award for
CoolFuel™ and
CoolTerra™
Colorado based Cool Planet has
been named winner of the New
Energy Pioneer Award 2015 for
its hydrocarbon and biocarbon
products that address three of
the world’s largest markets:
energy, food, and water.
04/14/2015
SeAB
Launches New Generation
Flexbuster Micro-AD Power
Plant
United Kingdom based SEaB
Energy has launched its new
generation Flexibuster™ micro
power plant that convert food
scraps into energy, with guest
of honor, Caroline Nokes MP,
Member of Parliament for Romsey
and Southampton North, opening
the site on the 10th April
2015.
04/14/2015
Council
Plans North Fork Community
Forest Bioenergy Plant
Meeting
The North Fork Community
Development Council (NFCDC)
will hold a community meeting
on April 29, 2015 in the North
Fork Fire Station at the town's
old sawmill site to provide an
update on their recently-funded
North Fork Community Power
Forest Bioenergy Facility
Demonstration project.
04/13/2015
The Week's Action
Items
Due
05/08/2015: Clean Energy
Generation Proposals to
NYSERDA
The New York State Energy
Research and Development
Authority (NYSERDA) has issued
Request for Proposals (RFP)
3084 to procure the
environmental attributes
created by eligible generation
resources under the Renewable
Portfolio Standard Program (RPS
Attributes).
04/13/2015
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