Here is an easy-to-understand video that explains Peak Oil, and it’s well worth watching.
It isn’t a theory of when oil will run out. Rather, it’s a description of what happens to oil wells as they age, and it makes simple collective observations and assumptions about all the oil wells in the world. It is simple and easy to predict that oil will become more and more costly.
When that happens, we will need to get out of the line of fire. It’s not complicated.
We are incredibly lucky here on the Big Island, because we have a geothermal resource beneath us at many locations all around the island. The State owns this resource. They should go map it out and contract out the energy production to the highest bidder. Part of the rents and royalties would go to the Native Hawaiian people, on whose land it sits, and the actual energy would benefit all of us.
Geothermal energy can also be used to make hydrogen. In the future we will run our cars and trucks on hydrogen, using the internal combustion engine. Here’s a clip of a hydrogen car that was shown on Good Morning America.
The electric utilities are using internal combustion engines — just larger than most. Could we run it all on hydrogen? If hydrogen can be used in regular car engines, could it be used in the diesel engines that the electric utilities use to generate electricity?
Can you imagine it? The biggest and the best telescope in the world located on the Big Island. And most of the state’s electricity needs powered by geothermal wells on the Big Island. Rents and royalties would go to Native Hawaiian people and the rest of us would have the benefit of being free of Middle East oil.
We would be the envy of the world.
Not, no can. CAN!
I’d think that energy conservation requires appropriate application and/or level of any given technology.
As you rightly point out, a criteria for appropriateness is also greater energy independence for Hawaii.
Would not greater energy independence imply greater local reliance?
It would be interesting to learn more of the details of how geothermal and hydrogen powered combustion engines would achieve this. Mahalo.
Richard,
The same author that explains Peak Oil so well does an analysis that indicates hydrogen to be an energy sink with no net value. Why is the hydrogen car a good thing and how does it make sense to convert extensive infrastructure to accommodate hydrogen?
http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse/chapter-17b-energy-budgeting
You are right Chuck;
Hydrogen made from a fossil fuel source is normally uneconomical. But, when made from a geothermal source, the characteristics change. Geothermal energy use severs our tie to fossil fuels completely. This situation does not exist in many places. Aloha Richard
Darren:
You raise some very important points. I’ll do a blog to address some of the issues.
Thanks for your comments.
Richard