Teru Talk Newsletter

Teru's Trash Talk

When California's governor told CalRecycle a few years ago that he wanted a feedstock driven, technology neutral approach to clean waste conversion, he sure didn't add - except for those nasty thermal technologies. Uh, so where's the progress? Yeah, that's what we thought.

California's been used to leading progress, not lagging behind: the view from the front is always better. The Air Board that has been swimming upstream for years, setting the global standard for responsible, sustainable conversion of low-value stuff into high-value, low-carbon fuels. The state's Energy Commission takes very seriously their charge to guide the clean conversion of biomass and even municipal solid waste into, you guessed it, Energy. One look at their most recent Notice of Proposed Awards assures their commitment.

Teru Talk provides a catbird seat for watching real-time global waste conversion. What we serve up shows that our societies are learning to smartly integrate diverse garbage-to-goods technology platforms into their regional resource economy. What we do not see worldwide is the off-handed rejection of thermally based waste conversion as being part of that tool-set. We aren't talking about the proliferation of monstrous old style incinerators. Although the new-age big burners do seem to have their place in the infrastructure, frankly we are more interested in molecular recovery than destruction, with or without efficient utilization of the heat they generate - but that's just us. Thankfully, we see all levels of heat being applied to every sort of discarded material to good effect. Where this is proving successful over the long haul, there is an agency responsible for carefully constructing and maintaining an "environmental sanity" net ensuring things are done right. That's what a Waste Management Agency is supposed to do, right?

Californians should fully expect, nay demand , the California Department of Recycling and Resource Recovery (you know 'em as CalRecycle) to be the embodiment of science-driven waste management guidance. The agency is well equipped to investigate, verify, guide, and support multi-technology implementation for the recovery of resources from what everyone continues to throw away. What have we gotten over the last decade? "We'll permit conversion of waste into useful goods, as long as you don't propose to use anything that operates over body temperature."

Twenty years ago environmental protection focused people rose up and forced an international remake of the Waste Incinerator industrial framework. Honestly, when you look at the poor performance of those old-school burners, the painful process was necessary. The mass-burn tools now used globally are orders of magnitude cleaner. All well and good - but the residual mind-set against anything using heat to break down clumps of molecules has out-lasted its usefulness, and now interferes with attaining the very goal of environmental sanity and cleanliness. Those erstwhile enviro-soldiers relied on Science to prove the error and change their world. We need to honor that stance, and again demand that our waste management agency "leaders" also follow Science, and set their course according to their governor's directive: Implement feedstock driven, technology neutral waste conversion for resource recovery.

Hey Rube!

When you go all the way back to the state's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) you find that the Public Utilities Commission charged its implementation to both the Energy Commission and CalRecycle. High time our other RPS agency stepped up to bat.

This Week's Extra Reading

Teru talks about his Entrepreneur's Boot Camp experience last month and shares the video of his final pitch at Demo Day..

This Week's Top Story

Green Biologics Secures $76M to Deliver 1st Commercial US Plant

United Kingdom based Green Biologics (GBL) has announced that it has raised $76 million in debt and equity financing, positioning the company to deliver its first modern commercial plant in the US. 01/21/2015

The Week's News

CEC Releases Notices of Proposed Awards for Distributed Gen, Bioenergy

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has posted two Notices of Proposed Awards (NPOAs) for PON-14-303, "Advancing Cleaner, Less Costly, More Reliable Distributed Generation to Enable Customer Solutions and Zero-Net Energy Communities", and PON-14-305, Electric Program Investment Charge, Demonstrating Bioenergy Solutions That Support California's Industries, the Environment, and the Grid. 01/24/2015

ABC Presents Upcoming Webinar on Reinventing Biogas Financing

The American Biogas Council (ABC) has announced a webinar scheduled for January 28, 2015 on the subject of "Reinventing Biogas Financing". 01/23/2015

ANDRITZ Provides Woodyard Equipment to Two US Biomass Pellet Plants

Austria headquartered ANDRITZ has announced receipt of an order from Maryland, US based Enviva to supply woodyard equipment, engineering, and field services for two biomass pellet plants in Ahoskie and Northampton, North Carolina. 01/23/2015

St. Landry Parish Approves $2.8M Landfill Gas to Biofuel Expansion

The St. Landry Parish Solid Waste District in Louisiana has announced its approval of expansion of the Opelousas Landfill biogas to biofuel conversion plant during their regular meeting last month. 01/22/2015

New Remanufacturing Research Hub Opens in Scotland

The Scottish Institute for Remanufacture officially opened today (January 21) with a mission to help grow remanufacturing businesses in Scotland and to develop an international research institute. 01/21/2015

Edeniq Secures $16 Million in Funding for Cellulosic Sugar Production

California based Edeniq, Inc has announced that it has raised more than $16 million in equity to support the roll-out of its PATHWAY™ Platform, which increases ethanol yield at existing plants by three to six percent through a more complete conversion of starch and cellulosic corn kernel fiber into ethanol. 01/21/2015

US EPA Approves Algenol Fuels for Renewable Fuel Standard

Florida based Algenol, LLC has announced certification by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its process for producing advanced biofuels, meeting the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction requirements under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). 01/20/2015

Methes Energies Receives $4M Upfront for Biodiesel Technology License

Las Vegas based Methes Energies International Ltd has announced the non-exclusive licensing of its modular biodiesel production design to an un-named US company. 01/20/2015

The Week's Action Items

Due 03/18/2015: Peak Capacity Power Proposals to APS in Arizona

Arizona Public Service Company (APS) has announced that it will release a Request for Proposals (RFP) for dispatchable capacity to meet peak capacity demand. 01/22/2015