Category Archives: Aquaponics

Aquaponics, Big Island, Community, Eating Locally, Family of Farms, Food Security, History, How It All Started, Hydroelectric, Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability, The New Ahupua‘a, Watercress

The New Ahupuaa, Revisited

November 22, 2013 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

This is a post I wrote back in 2007. I recently reread it and realized it's the same story as what's happening today. It's six years later, and people still don't realize we don't have time to fool around.

I'm going to rerun the post here.

***

October 10, 2007

I spoke at the Hawai‘i Island Food Summit this past weekend, which was attended by Hawaiian cultural people, policy makers, university researchers, farmers, ranchers, and others.

The two-day conference asked the question, “How Can Hawai‘i Feed Itself?”

I felt like a small kid in class with his hand raised: “Call me! Call me!”

I sat on one of the panels, and said that our sustainability philosophy has to do with taking a long-term view of things. We are always moving so we’ll be in the proper position for the environment we anticipate five, 10 and 20 years from now.

I told them I had a nightmare that there would be a big meeting down by the pier one day, where they announce that food supplies were short because the oil supply was short and so we would have to send thousands of people out to discover new land.

I was afraid that they would send all the people with white hair out on the boats to find new land—all the Grandmas and Grandpas and me, but maybe not June.

Grandmas and Grandpas hobbled onto the boats with their canes and their wheelchairs, clutching all their medicines, and everybody gave all of us flower leis, and everyone was saying, “Aloha, Aloha, call us when you find land! Aloha!”

I spoke about where we want to be in five, 10 or 20 years. We know that energy-related costs will be high then. And that we need to provide food for Hawai‘i’s people.

We call our plan “The New Ahupua‘a.”

In old Hawai‘i, the ahupua‘a was a land division that stretched from the uplands to the sea, and it contained the resources necessary to support its human population—from fish and salt to fertile land for farming and, high up, wood for building, as well as much more.

Our “New Ahupua‘a” uses old knowledge along with modern technology to make the best use of our own land system and resources. We will move forward by looking backward.

• We plan to decouple ourselves from fossil fuel costs by developing a hydroelectric plant, which will allow us to grow various crops not normally grown at our location.

• We are moving toward a “village” concept of farming, and starting to include farmers from the area, who grow things we don’t, to farm with us. This way, the people who work on our farm come from the area around our farm. We will help them with food safety, pest control issues and distribution.

• We are developing a farmers market at our property on the highway, where the farmers who work with us can market their products.

• We will utilize as much of our own resources for fertilizer as possible, by developing a system of aquaponics, etc.

This “New Ahupua‘a” is our general framework for the future. It will allow us to produce more food than we can produce by ourselves. It is a safe strategy, in case the worst scenario happens; if it doesn’t, this plan will not hurt us.

It is a simple strategy. And we are committed to it.

My assessment of how we came to be here and where we need to be in the future is this: In the beginning, one hundred percent of the energy for food came from the sun. The mastodons ate leaves, the saber tooth tiger ate the mastodon and we ate the tiger and everything else.

The earth’s population was related to the amount of food we could gather or catch. And sometimes the food caught and ate us. So there were only so many of us roaming around.

Then some of us started to use horses and mules to help us grow food. As well as the sun, now animals provided some of the energy for cultivating food. We were able to grow more food, and so there were more of us.

About 150 years ago, we discovered oil. With oil we could utilize millions of horsepower to grow food—and we didn’t even need horses. Oil was plentiful and cheap; only about $3/barrel. We used oil to manufacture fertilizer, chemicals and for packaging and transportation.

Food became very, very plentiful and we started going to supermarkets to harvest and hunt for our food. Hunting for our food at the supermarkets was very good—the food did not eat us and now there are many, many, many of us.

But now we are approaching another change to the status quo—a situation being called “Peak Oil.” That’s when half of all the oil in existence is used up. Half the oil will still be left, but it will be increasingly hard to tap. At some point, the demand for oil—by billions and billions of people who cannot wait to get in their car and drive to McDonalds—will exceed the ability to pump that oil.

Food was cheap in the past because oil was cheap. Five years ago, oil was $30/barrel but now it’s over $80/barrel. Now that oil is becoming more and more expensive, food is also going to become much more expensive.

In the beginning the sun provided a hundred percent of the energy and it was free. Today oil is becoming very expensive, but sun energy is still free. The wind, the waves, the water—they are all free here in Hawaii. It’s the oil that is expensive.

For Hamakua Springs, the situation is not complicated at all. We need to use an alternate form of energy to help us grow food!

With alternate energy, we should be able to continue growing food—and maybe local food can be grown cheaper than food that is shipped here from far away.

I told the Food Summit attendees that we farmers need to grow plenty of food so that others can do what they do and so we continue to have a vibrant society. If we don’t plan ahead to provide enough food, and as a consequence every family has to return to farming to feed themselves, it would be a much more limited society. People would not be able to pursue the arts, write books, explore space. We would have way fewer choices – maybe only, “What color malo should I wear today?”

There was a feeling going through the Food Summit’s crowd that we were a part of something very important and very special. What I found different about this conference is that people left feeling that this was just the beginning.

We are going to take action.

***

Aquaponics, Bananas, Big Island, Blog, Family of Farms, How It All Started, Hydroelectric, Lowering Electric Rates, Mauna Kea, Our Story, Peak Oil, Sustainability, Video, Where We Live

Huffington & Omidyar Visit Hamakua Springs

September 7, 2013 Richard Ha 1 Comment

By Leslie Lang, blog editor

Thursday was such an interesting day. Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, and Pierre Omidyar, founder of Honolulu’s online newspaper Civil Beat (and founder of eBay), spent some time at Hamakua Springs Country Farms.

The background is that Huffington Post and Civil Beat have teamed up to start HuffPost Hawaii (and they asked Richard to blog for the new online news organization. Here’s his first HuffPost Hawaii post, by the way.)

So this week, Arianna and Pierre were making the rounds in Hawai‘i for the big HuffPost Hawaii launch. They spent Thursday on the Big Island, where they were welcomed with a big reception at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center.

The only other Big Island stop they made was to Richard’s farm. They had asked if they could come and meet Richard and learn about what he’s doing. So that happened Thursday afternoon, and Richard invited me to join them there.

What a completely fascinating day. There’s something about being around really smart people who are doing big and really interesting things, making things happen and making a difference. Richard is completely like that, too, as you know if you’ve been reading this blog. It’s invigorating to be around that kind of energy.

Both Arianna and Pierre are very friendly and down-to-earth, and both are interested in issues of sustainability and what Richard is doing.

Richard told them about his background — flunking out of college the first time around and ending up in Vietnam, coming back and trading manure from his father’s chicken farm for bananas to start what eventually became Hamakua Springs Country Farms — about seeing prices start rising, rising, rising and wondering why; about attending five Peak Oil conferences and starting to learn what was happening. He talked about how he forces the changes needed to get to where he needs to be five or 10 years in the future.

He talked about the current threat to Big Island farming from anti-GMO bills, and Pierre asked some very salient (and polite) questions about some common GMO fears, such as of:

Commercial control of seeds. Richard replied that in many cases, such as with, for instance, the Rainbow papaya, virus-resistant seeds are developed by the university and not controlled by any big business at all. This, he said, is often the case.

Cross-pollination, or “pollen drift.” Richard responded that due to numerous studies, we know how much drift there is for different crops. Farmers work together, he says, to plan what is planted where, plant so many lines of “guard rows” and it’s completely manageable.

They asked about Richard’s new hydroelectric system, and we took a dusty, bumpy country road drive out to see where the water runs through an old sugar cane flume, and then through a turbine.

Arianna and Pierre were very interested in this, and in how, when the switch is thrown very shortly, the farm will be saving perhaps almost half of its monthly electric bill, which now averages $10-11,000.

Pierre asked about returning excess power to the utility, and was shocked to learn that due to a technicality, Richard will not be paid for the power he feeds to HELCO. Pierre kept returning to that and said, more than once, “That’s just not right.” Richard finally replied, “Well, at least it’s not wasted.”

Richard Ha, Arianna Huffington, Pierre Omidyar, Leslie Lang, June Ha

Richard talked about how they have converted the farm from growing mostly bananas to being a family of farms, which brings in local farmers who then have a close-to-home place to farm. This, in turn, means the farm produces a more diverse crop.

He told Arianna and Pierre about growing their current experiment growing tilapia, to learn how to add a protein component to the food they produce and also use the waste as fertilizer. Workers can fish for tilapia there and take some home for their families.

Arianna and Pierre both seemed sincerely interested. They paid close attention and asked good questions.

Richard told them about talking with Kumu Lehua Veincent, who was principal of Keaukaha Elementary School back in the early days of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) push. He told them that he asked Kumu Lehua, “What if we ask the TMT for five, full-ride scholarships to the best schools in the nation for your best students?” He told them that Kumu Lehua thought about it for a minute and then quietly asked, “And what about the rest?”

This was a turning point, explained Richard, who said that at the time he could feel his ears turning red. He told Arianna and Pierre that that phrase, What about the rest? gives him an “unfailing moral compass.”

It always brings him back to the rubbah slippah folk, he told them. The “rubbah slippah” folk are in contrast to the “shiny shoes” folk. When he explained this, Pierre looked down at his own shoes.

“I wore my shiny shoes today,” he said, “but I meant to change into my sneakers before coming to the farm.” He mentioned his shiny shoes a couple more times during the visit.

“I felt they absolutely got what I meant when I advocated for the ‘rubbah slippah’ folks,” Richard told me, “and completely support that idea.”

Richard’s daughter Tracy had laid out a beautiful spread of Hamakua Springs produce back by the office, where there was a tent set up, and Arianna zeroed in on the longan.

“What’s this?” she said, and Tracy explained that it’s a delicious fruit. She handed one to Arianna, along with some wipes (they are juicy and messy), and Arianna loved it.

Arianna gives the impression of being very family-oriented. “At what point did you and June get married in this long process?” she asked, when Richard was explaining how he got started farming 35 years ago. (The answer: 32 years ago, and when June joined the family she took all the farm receipts out of a big banana box and straightened out the accounting.) Arianna asked Tracy if she had siblings. When she was introduced to Richard’s grandson Kapono, she looked at him, and at his parents, and asked, “Now, are you Tracy and Kimo’s son?” (Yes.)

She gave June a copy of her book, On Becoming Fearless.

Both Arianna and Pierre are such interesting people. One of the things Richard talks about is forcing change, and that is something that both his guests are all about, too: Looking down the road and fixing things, forcing the change instead of letting things bumble along.

It is refreshing to be in the presence of such interesting thinkers and doers. Great day.

This is a video Civil Beat did with Richard recently, before Arianna and Pierre’s visit. It’s really nicely done and you get to hear a bit about some of the topics they discussed yesterday (while seeing gorgeous views of the farm).

Aquaponics, Family of Farms, Food Security, Hydroelectric, Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability, Water

State of the Farm Report

August 15, 2013 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Richard Ha writes:

Yesterday at the farm I had a meeting with all our workers. It was an update on where we have been and where we are going.

Where we’ve been

The price of oil has quadrupled in the last 10 years, and those who could pass on the cost did. Those who could not pass on the cost ended up paying more. Farmers are price takers, not price makers, so farmers’ costs increased more than their prices.

Anticipating higher electricity prices, we lobbied for and passed a law that the Department of Agriculture create a new farm loan program that farmers could use for renewable energy purposes. Then we started to design a hydroelectricity program to stabilize our electricity costs.

Where we are today

The hydroelectricity project is within weeks of completion. With the combination of a farm loan and a grant from the Department of Energy, we will stabilize our electricity price at 40 percent less than we pay today.

The pipe that transports the water appears to me like it will last for more than 100 years. After the loan is paid off, our electricity will be practically free for more than 60 years.

Where we are going

We are taking advantage of our resources – free water and stable electricity costs – by working with area farmers to help each other grow more food.

What kind of food? Responding to consumer demand, we want to
produce food with a wide variety of nutritional content, including protein, via aquaculture.

In order to be sustainable, the feed-based protein must be vegetation-based. And since the building block of protein is nitrogen, we are looking for an adequate nitrogen source. Unused, wasted electricity can be used to make ammonia, which is a nitrogen fertilizer and, like a battery, can be used to store energy.

What does the future
look like?

Other than stable electricity, which would help us, our serious
concern is the anti-GMO Bill 79. It seeks to ban any new biotech solutions to farmers’ problems on the Big Island. The result is that the rest of the counties and the nation would be able to use new tools for more successful farming, and the Big Island would not.

What would happen is that Big Island farmers would become
less competitive, which would put even more pressure on those already at the bottom of the pay scale. It would result in higher food costs, making consumers less able to support local farmers.

The folks pushing for the anti-GMO bill have not talked to farmers, and they have no clue that this bill would make Hawai‘i less food
secure. The bottom line is that food security involves farmers farming. If the farmers make money, the farmers will farm. If not, they will quit.

Aquaponics, Food Security, Government

Anti-GMO Bill 79, Farmers & Science

August 12, 2013 Richard Ha 2 Comments

Richard Ha writes:

Hawai‘i County Councilmember Margaret Wille is planning to
resubmit an anti-GMO bill – because, she says, her fellow council members generally recognize there is a need to restrict any further introduction of GMOs here on the Big Island.

And yet, after talking to the other council members, farmers don’t think Councilmember Wille is correct about that.

Note, too, that she has not bothered to meet with the farmer
groups affected – those who produce most of the food grown here on the island – and we can only assume she does not want their input.

In an earlier note, Wille indicated that if GMO crops were allowed, that would be the end of organic, natural farming and permaculture farming.

Actually, the reason organic farming does not produce more food is actually because its cost of production is very high. This would not change with Councilmember Wille’s bill.

The result of her bill passing would actually be more expensive food for the Big Island’s people.

One of the basic reasons Bill 79 is not fair to conventional farming is because farmers on other islands would be allowed to use new biotech seeds for nutrition improvement, disease prevention, heat tolerance and other labor and cost saving methods, while Big Island farmers would not be able to do so.

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus is an example of a very serious tomato
disease. If farmers on other islands are allowed biotech solutions to such diseases, while Big Island farmers are not, that could be the difference between Big Island tomato farmers surviving or not.

It could also be the difference between whether conventional farmers continue farming, or do not. Yet Councilperson Wille has chosen to not even meet with farmers.

In this morning’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Maria Gallo
wrote an excellent commentary on genetically modified foods. She is Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and Director of Research and the Tropical Extension Service at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. She writes from a knowledgeable, scientific background.

Not all genetically modified foods the same and a blanket ban on them would be misguided

By Maria Gallo

For years, I taught a course on genetically modified organisms.

First, we covered the biology behind GMOs so that students had the science background. Then we described agricultural systems so that they understood the challenges facing food production.

Next, we reviewed the applications of GMOs so that they knew the products being used along with their benefits and risks. And last, we discussed the controversy surrounding GMOs.

The objective was to develop students’ critical thinking skills so that they could make informed decisions…. Read the rest (subscription required)

Gallo points out that the GM technique itself is not harmful, and that, in fact, new GM traits aim to do things like reduce how much water crops use, through drought tolerance; to reduce saturated fats and allergens in foods, and to increase disease-fighting nutrients in food. She warns that a blanket ban on GMOs in Hawai‘i, when we are already in a position of so little food self-sufficiency, would be short sighted.

In yesterday’s Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald, Michael Shintaku had a letter to the editor along these same lines. He points out that “Supporters of this bill were surprised that so many farmers rose in opposition,” and says, “Please talk to a farmer before supporting these bills.” He makes some excellent points. From his letter:

“Bill 79 and efforts like it are terrible mistakes. It is fear-based legislation that comes from the misunderstanding that biotechnology is too dangerous to use…. Biotechnology is young, and we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.”

“Bill 79 would condemn all biotechnological solutions based on irrational fear….There is no credible argument on this point in the scientific community. This issue is pretty much settled.”

He asks that we “Please allow Big Island farmers, who are among our best friends and neighbors, to use the best technology available.”

Aquaponics, Bananas, Big Island, Eating Locally, Family of Farms, Food Security, Geothermal, Hamakua Coast, How It All Started, Hydroelectric, Hydroponics, Lowering Electric Rates, Our Employees, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability, Taro/Poi, Tomatoes, Water, Where We Live

The Wheres & Whyfors of Hamakua Springs

June 9, 2013 Leslie Lang

By Leslie Lang

The other day Richard gave some of us a tour of Hamakua Springs Country Farms in Pepe‘ekeo, and its new hydroelectric plant, and wow. I hadn’t been out to the farm for awhile, and it was so interesting to ride around the 600 acres with Richard and see all that’s going on there these days.

Most of what I realized (again) that afternoon fell into two
broad categories: That Richard really is a master of seeing the big picture, and that everything he does is related to that big picture.

Hamakua Springs, which started out growing bananas and then expanded into growing the deliciously sweet hydroponic tomatoes we all know the farm for, has other crops as well.

These days there are farmers leasing small plots where they are growing taro, corn, ginger and sweet potato. These farmers’ products go to the Hamakua Springs packing house and Hamakua Springs distributes them, which speaks to Richard’s goal of providing a place for local farmers to farm, wherethere is water and packing and distribution already in place.

As we drove, we saw a lot of the water that passes through his farm. There are three streams and three springs. It’s an enormous amount of water, and it’s because of all this water that he was able to develop his brand new hydroelectric system, where they are getting ready to throw the switch.

The water wasn’t running through there the day we were there because they’d had to temporarily “turn it off” – divert the water – in order to fix something, but we could see how the water from an old plantation flume now runs through the headworks and through a pipe and into the turbine, which is housed in a blue shipping container.

This is where the electricity is generated, and I was interested to see a lone electric pole standing there next to the system. End of the line! Or start of the line, really, as that’s where the electricity from the turbine is carried to. And from there, it works its way across the electric lines stretched between new poles reaching across the land.

He asked the children who were along with us for their ideas
about how to landscape around the hydroelectric area, and also where the water leaves the turbine to run out and rejoin the stream.

“We could do anything here,” he said, asking for thoughts, and
we all came up with numerous ideas, some fanciful. Trees and grass? A taro lo‘i? Maybe a picnic area, or a water flume ride or a demonstration garden or fishponds?

There are interesting plans for once the hydro system is operating, including a certified kitchen where local area producers can bring their products and create value-added goods.

Other plans include having some sort of demo of sustainable
farming, and perhaps ag-tourism ativities like walking trails going through the farm, and maybe even a B&B. “The basis of all tourism,” he said, “is sustainability.”

Hamakua Springs is also experimenting with growing mushrooms
now, and looking into several other possibilities for using its free
electricity.

As we stopped and looked at the streams we kept coming
across, which ran under the old plantation roads we drove upon, Richard made an observation that I found interesting. In the Hawaiian way, the land is thought of as following the streams down from mountain to sea. In traditional ways, paths generally ran up-and-down the hill, following the shape of the ahupua‘a.

“But look at the plantation roads,” he said, and he pointed
out how they run across the land, from stream to stream. The plantation way was the opposite. Not “wrong” – just different.

Richard has plans to plant bamboo on the south sides of the
streams, which will keep the water cool and keep out invasive species.

At the farm, they continue to experiment with raising
tilapia, which are in four blue pools next to the reservoir.

June with a full net

The pools are at different heights because they are using gravity to flow the water from one pool to the next, rather than a pump. Besides it being free, this oxygenates the water as it falls into the next pool. They are not raising the fish commercially at present, but give them to their workers.

Everything that Richard does is geared toward achieving the same goal, and that is to keep his farm economically viable and sustainable.

If farmers make money, farmers will farm.

Continuing to farm means continuing to provide food for the local community, employing people locally and making it possible for local people to stay in Hawai‘i: This as opposed to people having to leave the islands, or their children having to leave the islands, in order to make a decent life for themselves.

The hydroelectric system means saving thousands per month in
electric bills, and being able to expand into other products and activities. It means the farm stays in business and provides for the surrounding community. It means people have jobs.

This is the same reason why, on a bigger scale, Richard is working to bring more geothermal into the mix on the Big Island: to decrease the stranglehold that high electricity costs have over us, so the rubbah slippah folk have breathing room, so that we all have more disposable income – which will, in turn, drive our local economy and make our islands more competitive with the rest of the world, and our standard of living higher, comparably.

When he says “rubbah slippah folk,” Richard told me, he’s always thinking first about the farm’s workers.

This, by the way, is really a great overview of how Richard describes the “big picture.” It’s a TEDx talk he did awhile back (17 minutes). Really worth a look.

It was so interesting to see firsthand what is going on at the farm right now, and hear about the plans and the wheres and whyfors. Thank you, Richard, for a really interesting and insightful afternoon.

Aquaponics, Bananas, Hamakua Coast, Hydroponics, Lettuce, Peak Oil, Sustainability, Taro/Poi, Water, Where We Live

Conversations With My Mom

June 11, 2012 Richard Ha 4 Comments

Richard Ha writes:

I took Mom to Hamakua Springs to get a few tilapia for her dinner.

While we were there, we looked at some of the things we have going on.

Corn

Hamakua Springs bananas

Hydroponic lettuce, with special procedures to control slugs

Sweet potatoes

Zucchini

One thing that strikes me is how much water we have running through our 600-acre farm. We must maximize its usage.

Water Supply will build a new reservoir adjacent to this one and bring electricity right through the farm to the new well, which is right behind this reservoir

I really want to raise tilapia when the price of oil goes so high that bringing it in from Asia is prohibitive.

Tilapia for Mom. These are the small ones, to fry crispy.

And, while doing that, we want to demonstrate how Hawaiians were self-sufficient in ancient days.

Then while we are at it, we want to reforest the streams with ‘ohi‘a, koa, bamboo, kukui, hapu‘u, etc.

Also, how about aquaponics with tilapia and taro?
How about a certified kitchen to make lomi salmon, poi and other things where we and other farmers can add value?
What about classes for at-risk students?
Maybe a permanent imu.
Events set around food?
How about showing how food was produced then and now – ancient and modern?

Mom and I always have these kinds of conversations. I like it.

Alan Wong, Aquaponics, Our Employees

The Women of Hamakua Springs, & Tilapia

August 16, 2010 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Last week we gave our workers fish from our first tilapia harvest.

Farm Manager and Son-In-Law Kimo, Grandma (my mom), my daughter Tracy, and my wife June

We are convinced that oil prices will keep rising, and that it will cost more and more to bring fish to Hawai‘i from all over the world.

Grandma, in the middle of the action

We are trying to fit tilapia production into a zero waste program. Since tilapia is a vegetarian fish, we will be experimenting with how to utilize our waste bananas as well as vegetables. We want to be prepared for when it might be profitable to produce tilapia commercially.

June has a full net

For those who have not tried locally grown tilapia, I can tell you that I was so surprised myself to find out how good this fish is. Chef Alan Wong serves it in his restaurant. That is how good it is.

And it’s heavy!

One of my favorite ways to prepare it is to get a smaller sized fish, deep fry it very crispy and eat the whole thing.

Grandma giving some fish to Aurellio

Farming is a tough business. We’d like to raise our workers’ pay but are finding it very difficult to do so right now. June is the one who made sure we are growing fish for our employees. We are committed to doing this from now on.

The women of Hamakua Springs

Aquaponics, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Lloyds of London says ‘Expect $200/Barrel Oil by 2013’

June 14, 2010 Richard Ha

Lloyds of London just issued a White Paper on Sustainable Energy Security. It is a paper addressed to businesses and it says everything I’ve been saying for the last couple of years.When I attended those two Peak Oil conferences, it was because I wanted to learn how to position my business for the future. And I did.

Here is a formal road map that other businesses can follow. Modify the information to allow for Hawaiian conditions.

Strategic risks and opportunities for business
Executive summary

1. BUSINESSES WHICH PREPARE FOR AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEW ENERGY REALITY WILL PROSPER – FAILURE TO DO SO COULD BE CATASTROPHIC
Energy security and climate change concerns are unleashing a wave of policy initiatives and investments around the world that will fundamentally alter the way that we manage and use energy. Companies which are able to plan for and take advantage of this new energy reality will increase both their resilience and competitiveness. Failure to do so could lead to expensive and potentially catastrophic consequences.

What if the EPA declares CO2 a dangerous gas? What is plan B? C?

2. MARKET DYNAMICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS MEAN BUSINESS CAN NO LONGER RELY ON LOW COST TRADITIONAL ENERGY SOURCES
Modern society has been built on the back of access to relatively cheap, combustible, carbon-based energy sources. Three factors render that model outdated: surging energy consumption in emerging economies, multiple constraints on conventional fuel production and international recognition that continuing to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will cause climate chaos.

This means that people will need to bite the bullet and accept the high cost of renewable fuels. But what if we have the opportunity for cheap renewable electricity? And what if this means that we can elevate the living standards of the host Hawaiian culture? Should we turn it down, or should we fight for it?

Geothermal is cheap and renewable and, compared to fossil fuels, bio fuels and bio mass alternatives, it is environmentally friendly. Of course we should fight for it!

3. CHINA AND GROWING ASIAN ECONOMIES WILL PLAY AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN GLOBAL ENERGY SECURITYChina and emerging Asian economies have already demonstrated their weight in the energy markets. Their importance in global energy security will grow. First, their economic development is the engine of demand growth for energy. Second, their production of coal and strategic supplies of oil and gas will be increasingly powerful factors affecting the international market. Third, their energy security policies are driving investment in clean energy technologies on an unprecedented scale.

China in particular is also a source country for some of the critical components in these technologies. Fourth, as ‘factories of the world’, the energy situation in Asian countries will impact on supply chains around the world.

4. WE ARE HEADING TOWARDS A GLOBAL OIL SUPPLY CRUNCH AND PRICE SPIKE
Energy markets will continue to be volatile as traditional mechanisms for balancing supply and price lose their power. International oil prices are likely to rise in the short to mid-term due to the costs of producing additional barrels from difficult environments, such as deep offshore fields and tar sands. An oil supply crunch in the medium term is likely to be due to a combination of insufficient investment in upstream oil and efficiency over the last two decades and rebounding demand following the global recession. This would create a price spike prompting drastic national measures to cut oil dependency.

With every year that goes by, the world’s oil fields are aging at the rate of 4 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia produces only 10 million barrels per day. This means that every 2½ years we need to have found the equivalent of a Saudi Arabia. Are we doing this? NO! We have not found giant oil fields like Saudi Arabia since the 1970s. We have not found enough to make up the natural aging of oil fields.

It is estimated that we will only be able to produce half of the 4 million barrel decline. This means that in less than two years, once our extra capacity runs out, we will be short two million barrels per day.

Supply constraints will drive up the price of oil.

“A supply crunch appears likely around 2013…given recent price experience, a spike in excess of $200 per barrel is not infeasible.” Professor Paul Stevens, Chatham House.

5. ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY VULNERABLE AS A RESULT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND OPERATIONS IN HARSHER ENVIRONMENTS

Much of the world’s energy infrastructure lies in areas that will be increasingly subject to severe weather events caused by climate change. On top of this, extraction is increasingly taking place in more severe environments such as the Arctic and ultra-deep water. For energy investors this means long-term planning based on a changing – rather than a stable climate. For energy users, it means greater likelihood of loss of power for industry and fuel supply disruptions.

6. LACK OF GLOBAL REGULATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE IS CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT OF UNCERTAINTY FOR BUSINESS, WHICH IS DAMAGING INVESTMENT PLANS
Without an international agreement on the way forward on climate change mitigation, energy transitions will take place at different rates in different regions. Those who succeed in implementing the most efficient, low-carbon, cost-effective energy systems are likely to influence others and export their skills and technology. However, the lack of binding policy commitments inhibits investor confidence. Governments will play a crucial role in setting policy and incentives that will create the right investment conditions, and businesses can encourage and work with governments to do this.

7. TO MANAGE INCREASING ENERGY COSTS AND CARBON EXPOSURE BUSINESSES MUST REDUCE FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION
The introduction of carbon pricing and cap and trade schemes will make the unit costs of energy more expensive. The most cost-effective mitigation strategy is to reduce fossil fuel energy consumption. The carbon portfolio and exposure of companies and governments will also come under increasing scrutiny. Higher emissions standards are anticipated across many sectors with the potential for widespread carbon labelling. In many cases, an early capacity to calculate and reduce embedded carbon and life-cycle emissions in operations and products will increase competitiveness.

8. BUSINESS MUST ADDRESS ENERGY-RELATED RISKS TO SUPPLY CHAINS AND THE INCREASING VULNERABILITY OF ‘JUST-IN-TIME’ MODELS
Businesses must address the impact of energy and carbon constraints holistically, and throughout their supply chains. Tight profit margins on food products, for example, will make some current sources unprofitable as the price of fuel rises and local suppliers become more competitive. Retail industries will need to either re-evaluate the ‘just-in-time’ business model which assumes a ready supply of energy throughout the supply chain or increase the resilience of their logistics against supply disruptions and higher prices. Failure to do so will increase a business’s vulnerability to reputational damage and potential profit losses resulting from the inability to deliver products and services in the event of an energy crisis.

We have changed our business model to give our customers the opportunity to shorten their supply chain. And we have included many small farmers in order to make ourselves more resilient, which benefits our customers (the retailers).

With our hydroelectric plant, we will immunize ourselves from the increasingly risky and unstable fossil fuel infrastructure.

HECO should go to geothermal faster, rather than slower, in order to accomplish the same thing.

9. INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ‘INTELLIGENT’
INFRASTRUCTURE IS BOOMING. THIS REVOLUTION PRESENTS HUGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW business PARTNERSHIPS
The last few years have witnessed unprecedented investment in renewable energy and many countries are planning or piloting ‘smart grids’. This revolution presents huge opportunities for new partnerships between energy suppliers, manufacturers and users. New risks will also have to be managed. These include the scarcity of several essential components of clean energy technologies, incompatible infrastructures and the vulnerability of a system that is increasingly dependent on IT.

Many opportunities will come up. Will we recognize them? If we expect this to happen, we can.

“Peak oil presents the world with a risk management problem of tremendous complexity.” US Department of Energy 2007. A vast array of studies have attempted to predict the time at which global oil production will reach a maximum level, from which point it will go into irrevocable decline. Some suggest that this ‘peak’ has already occurred, while others maintain it is either impossible to predict or shows no sign of appearing. Looking further than a decade into the future presents many uncertainties, including: the availability and cost of extraction technologies; substitute technologies; pricing systems in major economies; and carbon legislation. A comprehensive two-year study by the UK Energy Research Centre completed in August 2009 found that a peak in conventional oil production before 2030 appears likely, and there is a significant risk of a peak before 2020. With average rates of decline from current fields, the report says that just to maintain current production levels would require the equivalent of a new Saudi Arabia coming on-stream every three years. What’s more, giant fields pass peak production levels and there is a shift to smaller, more difficult to produce fields that have faster depletion rates meaning the rate of decline will accelerate.

Better to be safe than sorry. Plan on oil spikes in two years.

Rare earth metals (REMs) are a group of 17 elements whose unique properties make them indispensable in a wide variety of advanced technologies. They are an important example of material scarcity in the ‘third energy revolution’, because they are indispensable for so many of the advanced technologies that will allow us to achieve critical national objectives. As such, disruption to their global supply is a new energy security concern. Their production, alongside the metals and magnets that derive from them, is dominated by one country, China. At present, China produces 97% of the world’s rare earth metals supply, almost 100% of the associated metal production, and 80% of the rare earth magnets. REMs such as neodymium are the world’s strongest magnets and are key components for more efficient wind turbines, each of which requires about two tonnes. They are also important in enabling the miniaturising of electronic equipment; consequently demand grew between 15% to 25% per year from 2003 to 2008.

We need to know where they occur so we can avoid bottlenecks. In many cases in the future, simplicity will be a virtue.

Aquaponics, Mauna Kea

Busy Day of Many Issues

March 26, 2010 Richard Ha 1 Comment

It was a busy day for me. At 8 a.m., I met researchers from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at our Hamakua Springs County Farms at Pepe‘ekeo. They were visiting to understand how they might help us develop fish food by recycling our farm waste. We talked for a while. I showed them our tilapia, and they were happy they visited so they could understand the scope of our project.

By 9:30 a.m., I was at ‘Imiloa to observe the Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting, which was to discuss and make decisions about the 4 sub plans they were requesting be added to the Comprehensive Management Plan.

I noticed that there was more people attending this hearing than the last. And there were less folks in the audience who were against the CMP than last time. My immediate assessment was that some of those folks must have been satisfied with the extra requirement the Land Board required last time.

I signed up to give a short statement. This was the speech I had planned to give.

From the time we started down this path of developing a Comprehensive Management Plan for Maunakea, the world has changed. We are suddenly realizing that although the world is not running out of oil, it is running out of cheap oil we can afford to burn. The International Energy Association, the official world oil barrel counter, tells us that the natural decline rate of world oil fields is 4 million barrels of oil per day each year. Since Saudi Arabia produces only little more than 8 million barrels per day, we need to find a new Saudi Arabia every two years. And it is estimated that within 30 years, the oil exporting countries will no longer be exporting oil. This is very scary!

Patrick Kahawaiola‘a, president of the Keaukaha Community Association, once told me: “It is the process that is most important.” If that is so, I thought, then everyone who contributes to the process helps to make a better end product. That means we have to aloha everyone who contributes to the process, no matter what side of the issue.

Especially now, in this changing world, we need to strengthen our communities; we must make more friends and stay closer to the ones we have. We can agree to disagree. But when this is all over, let’s all respect each others’ contribution.

By 10:15 I’d run out of time to testify, and I caught a plane to O‘ahu. Later in the afternoon, I got a text message that the four sub plans had been approved by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

I thought of how hard Kealoha Pisciotta, Nelson Ho, Debbie Ward, Clarence Ching, Paul Neves, the Kanaka Council, Hank Fergerstrom, Palikapu Dedman, Jimmie Medeiros and many others have fought to get their voices heard. I know that the reason we have this good Comprehensive Management Plan is because we all had to stretch and work even harder on the CMP than if they had said nothing.

So we must aloha them. For they helped immeasurably to make this Comprehensive Management Plan a better document.

And, then a couple of hours later I was testifying before the Senate on Senate Concurrent resolution 99— REQUESTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WORKING GROUP TO ANALYZE THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY AS THE PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCE TO MEET THE BASELOAD DEMAND FOR ELECTRICITY ON THE BIG ISLAND.

More about that here on Monday.

Alan Wong, Aquaponics

We Took Alan Wong To See The Tilapia

March 13, 2009 Richard Ha

Chef Alan Wong came to our farm and cooked an unbelievable meal for his Big Island farmer friends this past Friday.

He does this every year, bringing along staff from his Alan Wong’s Restaurant as well as the Pineapple Room, and it serves several purposes. Touring farms and breaking bread with the farmers gives his staff a totally new confidence level when they describe the ingredients that make up dishes on the menu. Instead of just a word on the menu, the ingredient becomes a product of a friend.

And as for the farmers, Chef Alan and his staff have become our friends. Can you imagine it? Chef Alan and his staff cooking for the farmers?

Farmers look at the people they supply as the customer. Customers are never wrong! And so farmers are always attempting to please the customer.

Chef Alan reverses this role. And the farmers are very, very grateful. Now, we all want to try even harder to make sure everything we supply to Chef Alan is absolutely top notch. I know I speak for all the farmers when I say this.

For all us farmers, Alan Wong’s Restaurant is no longer an abstraction. It is made up of people—real people.

We went together down to Roy Tanaka’s tilapia farm, and because it was drizzly and muddy Chef Alan had to choose between wearing slippers or waterlogged shoes. Who knew that Chef Alan wears slippers! Chef Alan and his staff are real people; they did not let a little Hilo rain stop them from checking out the fish. It impressed me and I know it impressed Roy.

That’s Alan Wong in the blue jacket; Roy Tanaka with hand on fishpond

Richard (left) and Roy Tanaka

Roy’s farm is elegant in its simplicity. Water from a waterfall was piped into a series of tanks, each one dropping to the next, aerating and cleaning as it passes by. His plumbing joints were not glued so draining his tanks was just a matter of disconnecting some joints or repositioning angles. Harvesting the fish was simple when the water level was lowered to a manageable level. Alan’s crew enjoyed talking to Roy. They got it that there was definitely more there than meets the eye.

Alan with tilapia
Alan Wong with tilapia

Leigh Ito of Alan Wong’s staff

Chef Alan and Leigh Ito had too much fun catching dinner. Chef Alan and his staff cooked the tilapia for us that night.

Thanks to Roy, we are setting up a similar system on fish farming at our farm. Since we have a difficult time raising our workers’ pay, we are attempting to grow food for our workers. Every Thursday we distribute fruit and vegetables to them.

We have running water going into our reservoir, so we diverted some and utilized the same principle that Roy uses.

Tilapia at Hamakua Springs Country Farms

Tilapia fish are vegetarians and we are attempting to feed them some of the waste stream from our operations. And their waste goes into the reservoir that we use to irrigate our crops. We may then be able to decrease a certain amount of fertilizer input.

Roy Tanaka

Our objective is to see how much of a zero waste farm we can achieve. Thanks to Roy Tanaka for helping us. He even gave all the tilapia fish for stocking our tanks.

Stay tuned for Part 2: “…And Then They Cooked For Us.”

Where we’ve been

Where we are today

Where we are going

What does the future look like?

Not all genetically modified foods the same and a blanket ban on them would be misguided

What does the future
look like?