Category Archives: Geothermal

Iceland Rocks

August 5, 2011 Richard Ha 4 Comments

In the 1970s, the Icelandic people made a decision to use geothermal in a big way. The decision was made around the time of the “oil crisis.”

Now, 50 years later, you can see the results. More than 90 percent of their houses are heated by geothermal. The people are warm in their homes, and they don’t have to cut firewood.

Hawaii monitors for Hydrogen Sulfide much more than Iceland does. We were about 100 yards away when I took that video. You wouldn’t want to be right in the stuff, but no one seemed very concerned.

I have not seen one overhead utility line. Except for the heavy transmission lines, they are all buried underground.

Hawai‘i could be like this, too.

I’m standing on a black sand beach that stretches as far as you can see in both directions.

These would be perfect imu rocks! Very porous.

This next picture could have been taken somewhere on the Big Island.

The rocks in Iceland look like our rocks. It all comes from the same place.

The Icelandic folks have their electricity supply situation completely under control. They focused on affordable and renewable.

This is a small, camouflaged geothermal well that is used only for heating. It brings up heat from around 2,000 feet down and is piped to homes in the area. These are spread around the city and one hardly notices them.

Hydrogen is made on site using cheap electricity and water. This is still experimental.

And they take every opportunity to make multiple revenue streams. Think “exporting tomatoes using artificial light and heat from cheap geothermal.” And raising tilapia. We can learn a lot from these folks.

Roald Marth (left) and I met with Ambassador Luis E. Arrega (middle).

When Iceland transitioned to geothermal, they kept some of their old, oil-fired generating units in place. We drove by one yesterday and were told that in 50 years, they have never had to fire it back up.

(To be continued)

Catch up on the Icelandic Saga:

Part 1, Enroute to Iceland, With a Stop in New York

Part 2, Still in Iceland, Still in Shorts

Biofuel, Geothermal, Iceland, Travel, Water

Still in Iceland, Still in Shorts

August 3, 2011 Richard Ha 5 Comments

We landed in Iceland, where the temperature is mild – it’s in the mid 50s. My shorts and a jacket are working very well, so far. I’m going to stay in shorts as long as it makes sense.

We took a cab into Reykjavik. My first observations were that there are hardly any trees, and that the lava base is very familiar to those of us who live on the east side of the Big Island.

My most significant observation was that there are no overhead electric lines. Everything is underground.

We passed an aluminum manufacturing company on our way in.

I expected it to be belching black smoke, but there wasn’t even a wisp of steam. It looked very benign. We have to visit those folks.

We checked into the hotel. Here’s the view from the hotel.

Then we got a car and went down to the Blue Lagoon. We went in the water and stayed in for maybe two hours; I’m not sure, because I lost track of time. It felt good to relax and get the kinks out after that long trip.

It was sea water with a very slight smell of sulfur, and you could open your eyes under water. People had silica mud spread all over their faces for its therapeutic value. I imagine the silica had the consistency of the stuff women put on their faces at a spa. It was very fine and actually felt kind of good. But I bet it would raise all kinds of problem in the geothermal pipes when it hardens and coats the surfaces.

That’s a geothermal well in the background.

There is a live webcam at the Blue Lagoon!

After that, we explored downtown Reykjavik.

We walked up and down the old city, which has a European feel.

It’s very nice and clean, and things were hopping on a Sunday night. We had to wait more than an hour on our third attempt to get a seafood dinner.

David Stefansson (the project manager at Reykjavik Geothermal) and his wife Olga Fedorova (an international trade lawyer and Russian translator) took us for coffee. They are very nice, friendly and fascinating people and we had a wide-ranging conversation. They told us a lot about the history of Iceland and its people in the context of moving from coal to geothermal many years ago. And in that conversation, we learned that the island’s trees had been cut down many years ago for fuel.

Of course, this all makes a lot of sense. It kind of makes me think of what can happen with biomass.

I want to learn more about the leaders who forced the change that has made the Icelandic people one of the most prosperous people in the world (notwithstanding the disaster that the banking industry recently placed upon the people. They apparently confused capital with energy.)

People here reserve Sundays for family time. It’s kind of like the old plantation days in Hawai‘i. Monday was a national holiday and so we went exploring.

One of many waterfalls in Iceland.

And another one. Iceland has incredible amounts of water from the glaciers.

I happened to be looking through the lens and saw this starting, so I recorded it. This kind of thing happens at random here:

Here’s one of the few products grown in Iceland.

Most are brought in from Europe or the Middle East.

Stay tuned. Much more to come!

Read Part 1 of my Iceland trip here.

Geothermal, Iceland, New York City, Travel

Enroute to Iceland, With a Stop in New York

August 1, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Roald Marth (CEO of Ku‘oko‘a) and I just flew from Honolulu…

…to Los Angeles, and then got a connection to JFK, where we laid over for twelve hours. This gave us the opportunity to meet up with TJ Glauthier in New York City. TJ is on the Ku‘oko‘a Board of Directors, and at one time he was second in command at the U.S. Department of Energy.

He’s great, and it’s good that the timing worked to see him there.

At JFK:

We’re traveling light, for maximum flexibility. Instead of catching a limo into the city, we decided to explore and so we went by train. We took the Long Island Railway to Jamaica, Queens, and then to Penn Station in Manhattan.

This is when we were leaving Penn Station.

We walked down and checked in at the Hilton, where we showered and then did a circle tour of Manhattan Island by boat. We passed the exact spot that Captain Sullenberger landed US Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson River.

Then we caught a cab to meet TJ at the Algonquin Hotel. This next picture, left to right, is me, Ro and TJ.

photo Wikipedia

He told us about the rich history of the writers who used to meet there regularly in the heyday of print media. There is a mural on the wall of the famous people who hung out there. We even saw the Algonquin cat, who was stretching and lounging right next to TJ’s chair.

More about the cat Matilda.

Then it was back to the hotel, and then we caught a cab back to JFK and on to a Delta flight to Iceland.

It was nearly 17 hours in the air. Piece of cake!

Ro and I thought: We’ve got financing team people on the West Coast, we have a team on the East Coast and a team in Hawai‘i. We’re thinking about Europe as well as Asia. And we’re getting on a plane to Iceland.

It’s good to have clear goals.

(to be continued)

Geothermal, Iceland, Travel

Headling to Iceland

July 29, 2011 Richard Ha

Ro Marth and I are leaving for Iceland today, where we will be guests of Reyjkavik Geothermal.

I’m curious to see in how many ways they have been able to leverage geothermal energy. It is true that the economic downturn of 2008 hit Iceland especially hard, but that was due to financial matters, not energy ones.

August is a good time to visit – there are long days with mild temperatures of 55 F or so.

I plan to land there in shorts and then adapt from there as needed. Read more about my wearing shorts all the time.

I will be posting from Iceland, so stay tuned!

From Wikipedia:

Reykjavík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈreiːcaviːk] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. Its latitude at 64°08′ N makes it the world’s northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore ofFaxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in theGreater Reykjavík Area) it is the heart of Iceland’s economic and governmentalactivity.

Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established around 870. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national centre of commerce,population and governmental activities.

Geothermal, How We Do It, Hydroponics

Forcing Change

July 26, 2011 Richard Ha

On Saturday, I spoke at a workshop on soil-less farming, which was put on by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at UH Manoa. The core group was made up of aquaculture enthusiasts, and the workshop expanded into hydroponics (the growing of crops in soil-less media). About 170 people attended.

Fred Lau spoke on the challenges that he has faced while developing his aquaponic operation. Tim Mann and Susan Friend spoke on their Friendly aquaponic operation on the Big Island. They sell modular aquaponic systems with complete, how-to instructions.

Tisha Uyehara spoke about marketing produce. She pointed out the importance of growing what is in demand, and in the quantity and quality that retailers need.

I was asked to speak about Hamakua Springs’ hydroponic tomatoes. I started by asking how many in the audience were new farmers or folks who are interested in farming. Maybe 40 people raised their hands. They looked to be younger folks, in their 20s to 30s. I have noticed that lots of folks are interested in farming; they are just trying to figure out how they can make a living at it. I got the feeling that most of the audience was made up of community folks.

Instead of talking about the technical details of our operation, which they could learn by taking courses or getting information from the internet, I decided to share with them the thought processes that went into developing our farm.

I related how my Pop told us small kids to look for three answers to every problem and then find one more. He also said, “There are a thousand reason why no can; I am only looking for the one reason why Can!”

I told them about being influenced by my experiences in the jungles of Vietnam, where the unwritten rule was that “We all come back or no one comes back.” I liked that attitude of taking care of each other. Although I had flunked out of UH earlier, this time I knew I wanted to go into business and so I decided to major in accounting, in order to keep score.

Then Pop asked me to come and run the family poultry farm. I had no money, but really that was a blessing, because then I could not lose money. Instead, I gained experience. We traded chick manure to get banana keiki, and eventually grew to be the largest banana farm in Hawai‘i.

Along the way, we had to change and adapt constantly, and so change is second nature to us. We just look into the future five to 10 years, and force the changes to get us there. I told the audience that this is the secret to our survival. It isn’t rocket science, but is common sense: Being able to adapt and force change are traits that have served us well over the years.

I could tell from the audience’s reaction that they absolutely got it; that they have the tools, or can get the tools, that are necessary to make a difference.

Six or seven years ago, we realized that input costs to our farm were rising due to the fossil fuel component. I went to the Peak Oil Conference to learn about oil and figure out how we would force change so we could adapt our farm to be relevant in the future.

I learned that the world has been using twice as much oil as it has been finding, and has been doing so for 20 to 30 years. That was clearly not sustainable and we set out to transform our farm. We looked into using the water flowing downstream to generate electricity. Soon we will be completely off the electric grid.

We also downsized our farm, and then made up for the loss of production by leasing land to area farmers. The result is that the productivity of our land has actually increased, and the variety of products has increased as well. Another benefit: It strengthens our community.

I talked about how sun energy gives mainland farmers an edge over Hawai‘i farmers. Long summer days result in high production, and as the production follows the sun around the country, this advantage is kept throughout summer.

But I told the audience that we could get an advantage if we were able to use our natural resources to get cheaper electricity. Quite often folks think that fuel is the highest cost of getting farm-grown food to the table. It is actually the cost of electricity that is more important. Keeping the cold chain from the farm to the home refrigerator is actually more costly than the cost to run the tractors.

When oil is $100 per barrel, which is near today’s price, the cost to make electricity from oil is around 20 cents/kWh. However, the cost to make electricity from geothermal is only about 10 cents/kWh, and it will remain stable.

Lloyds of London warns of $200 per barrel oil by 2013. The cost to generate electricity from that oil will rise to 40 cents/kWh, while geothermal electricity will stay at 10 cents/kWh.

The answer to food and economic security is to force change.

I was struck by people’s reactions to my talk. The way that people expressed their appreciation for what I said makes me think that people are getting very worried for Hawai‘i’s future. I think that people felt hopeful, that common sense was more important to survival than any amount of letters after one’s title.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

A Humorous Look at How This Could All Play Out

July 22, 2011 Richard Ha

Since the start of the industrial revolution, our energy use has grown about 2.9 percent per year. This article says that to keep growing at even 2.3 percent per year beyond 275 years, we would have to put solar panels on every square meter of land.

Considering the sun’s energy seems limitless, what happens if we could maximize its use?

The article, from Energy Bulletin (July 12, 2011), is Part One of a series that tries to bring large concepts into view by using simple estimations to their logical, and sometimes humorous, conclusions.

Galactic-scale energy

by Tom Murphy

…Surely in 275 years we will be smart enough to exceed 20% efficiency for such an important global resource. Let’s laugh in the face of thermodynamic limits and talk of 100% efficiency (yes, we have started the fantasy portion of this journey). This buys us a factor of five, or 70 years. But who needs the oceans? Let’s plaster them with 100% efficient solar panels as well.

Another 55 years. In 400 years, we hit the solar wall at the Earth’s surface. This is significant, because biomass, wind, and hydroelectric generation derive from the sun’s radiation, and fossil fuels represent the Earth’s battery charged by solar energy over millions of years. Only nuclear, geothermal, and tidal processes do not come from sunlight—the latter two of which are inconsequential for this analysis, at a few terawatts apiece…. Read the rest

Plant leaves are mini solar collectors. Can we convert the product of leaves’ work and convert that result into something that yields more usable energy than what the leaves manufactured in the first place? So far, we have not been very successful.

Most of the processes that involve biofuels have a low net energy result — energy-in versus energy-out. In fact, because there are fossil fuel inputs, there is a term that describes the result. It is called the “receding horizon.” The break-even point recedes into the horizon as fossil fuel prices rise.

While I am for using sun energy to help solve Hawai‘i’s food and fuel problem, I am also for emphasizing geothermal energy as a way to give Hawaii a game-changing energy/food/social advantage relative to the rest of the world. This is about positioning future generations for survival and prosperity all at once.

My Pop would say: Find three solutions for every problem and then find one more just in case. Now is the time to implement that special, geothermal solution.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

Defining Terms & Why Oahu’s In Trouble

July 20, 2011 Richard Ha

Base Power: Eighty percent of the feed source (oil, geothermal energy, biofuels) that an electric utility uses to produce electricity must result in what is called “base load” power. Base Load Power is the power that keeps electricity flowing smoothly to customers, so there aren’t rolling blackouts and flickering lights.

Because 80 percent of the utilities’ power must be base load power, one should pay close attention to the cost of that base load power.

Intermittent Power: The other 20 percent, made up mostly of sun power and wind power, is “intermittent power.” Big Wind falls into the 20 percent category.

O‘ahu depends overwhelmingly on oil for its base power. The utility could import biofuels, but biofuels are much more expensive than oil.

The International Energy Association, which represents the “rich” countries of the world, warns that the era of cheap oil is over.

In Jan 2011, the cost to generate electricity from oil was approximately 16 cents per kWh. By June (when oil was close to $100 per barrel) this had increased to 22 cents/kWh.

Barrons and Goldman Sachs predict that oil will cost $150/barrel within two quarters, and so we can guess that the cost to make electricity from oil may be more than 30 cents/kWh.

And Lloyds of London warns of $200 oil by 2013 – so 40 cents/kWh to make electricity? That’s less than two years from now, and almost double what it costs now.

By contrast, electricity from geothermal is estimated to cost around 10 cents/kWh and this would not change much over the years. Jim Kauahikaua, the chief scientist at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, told me that the Big Island would be over the hot spot that generates geothermal activity for 500,000 to a million years.

Below is one estimation of the world’s future oil supply. In spite of rising prices, world oil supply has not increased since 2004. Keep in mind that we may not have started to drop down the backside of the world oil supply curve – YET.

Oahu is in trouble!

Geothermal

Hawaii: Roots of Fire

July 18, 2011 Richard Ha

I just happened to run across Hawaii: Roots of Fire, a new PBS documentary about the hidden forces driving the planet’s largest and most active volcanic system – the one here in the Hawaiian Islands.

Here’s a clip from the documentary:

This is especially significant because geothermal energy has been so prominent in political discussions here these last few days.

According to the documentary, the lava upwelling that formed the chain of islands up to the Aleutians Islands originated from below the mantle, and maybe even from the earth’s core. This process has been going on for 75 million years.

Geothermal energy does not come from the “hot spot.” It originates in stored heat from old lava flows. So the use of geothermal energy does not interfere with Pele’s ability to make land. Lava for new land (like the new island Lo‘ihi that is forming on the bottom of the ocean right now) comes directly from the hot spot.

This next video is also worth a look. It’s a podcast that lets you tour some of the Big Island’s geologic and cultural sites.

Take a virtual tour of the Big Island of Hawaii’s unmatched volcanic features with volcano expert Dr. Donald DePaolo of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley. This tour is hosted by geologist and filmmaker Doug Prose, co-producer of Hawaii: Roots of Fire. You will visit eleven important geologic and cultural sites on the Big Island outside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It starts in Hilo and ends at South Point. If you want to see these amazing places in person, download the map and take it with you. Allow a few days to visit every place quickly, but you could easily spend a full day at each place exploring!

Heading to Iceland

July 15, 2011 Richard Ha

This is Part Two of a series; see Part One here.

Along with Ro Marth, CEO of Kuokoa, I have been invited to go to Iceland.

We want to find out how Iceland went from being a developing country in the 1970s to one of the most productive countries in the world today. With fishing, geothermal and hydro, they have food and fuel in abundance.

From Wikipedia:

While Iceland is a highly developed country, until the 20th century it was among the poorest countries in Western Europe….

In 2007, Iceland was the seventh most productive country in the world per capita (US$54,858), and the fifth most productive by GDP at purchasing power parity ($40,112)….

Renewable sources—geothermal and hydropower—provide effectively all of Iceland’s electricity[83] and around 80% of the nation’s total energy,[83] with most of the remainder from imported oil used in transportation and in the fishing fleet.[84][85] Iceland expects to be energy-independent by 2050. Iceland’s largest geothermal power plants are Hellisheiði and Nesjavellir,[86][87] while Kárahnjúkavirkjun is the country’s largest hydroelectric power station.[88]

If it’s true that an increasing energy supply due to oil is mostly responsible for the work that goes into manufacturing things – in other words, the world economy – then declining oil supplies will result in less manufacturing of stuff.

For the last 20 to 30 years, the world has been using twice as much oil as it’s been finding, and this trend will likely continue. Since the world’s oil supply is declining, rather than increasing, we cannot expect to rely on government grants, because governments rely on growth to get their revenues. This raises the question of how Hawaii State and County governments will balance their budgets.

We will have to tax the people who cannot bear the taxes when the economy is not growing. Or we need to grow the economy. Growing the economy is clearly the best alternative. But how?

I’m very interested in seeing what they are doing in Iceland.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Sustainability

A Quandary At HELCO

June 27, 2011 Richard Ha 2 Comments

HELCO issued a Request For Information re: geothermal energy this week.

Although in my opinion Hawaiians are overwhelmingly in favor of geothermal, I am finding, as I ask around, that people are conflicted about HELCO’s intentions.

Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), the parent company that owns Hawaii Electric Light Company (the Big Island’s HELCO) and the Maui Electric Company (MECO), readily acknowledges that it has a duty to protect the interest of its stockholders.

And when the interests of the stockholders and the interests of the people are in conflict, HECO’s loyalty lies with the stockholders.

That is at the heart of the problems they are having on Moloka‘i and Lana‘i. And it’s at the heart of the problems they deal with when facing the unprecedented future of rising oil prices.

Passing the cost and risk of Peak Oil, as a result of decoupling, straight through to the rate payers – the public – is not comforting to the people.

We need a new model here, one that lines up the needs of the people with the needs of the utility. We need a new model that transforms the utility into an economic driver, rather than an economic impediment. A new model that focuses on a better life for future generations.

People are very uncomfortable with the prospect of handing over, to future generations, a diminished life compared to what they had. We must do better.

There are a thousand reasons why no can. We need to find the one reason why CAN!