Category Archives: Renewable Energy Sources

Geothermal, Iceland, Renewable Energy Sources, Travel

Power Plant Earth

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We toured the Reykjanes district of Iceland on Thursday, where the Blue Lagoon is located, and saw how they are using geothermal energy for multiple purposes.

We saw that some of it goes to a nearby town to heat homes. What they do is heat up fresh water and transmit it through a pipe that is covered with fiberglass insulation, and which runs inside a larger pipe. Now I understand how they can move hot water 15 miles and only lose 2 degrees C. That is also why there is no smell of sulfur coming through the hot water pipes.

Other uses:

  • Some of the heat is used to make electricity.
  • Some is used in a fish farm.
  • And some is used for high-end pharmaceutical plants, which grow in an enclosed greenhouse that is temperature-controlled using warm water, and LED-lit in the proper growth spectrum to maximize production.

One of the most important uses is Carbon Recycling International’s project: Capturing CO2 from the power plant and, with hydrogen from hydrolysis, making methanol as a synthetic liquid fuel for automobile transportation. This seems to be a more direct process than growing plants, microwaving it with petroleum electricity, etc.

It’s easy to imagine Iceland exporting tomatoes to Europe. It’s all about energy!

Would we do all that in Hawai‘i? Maybe not, because we have free sun energy.

But we do know that it is about analyzing energy in and energy out. Common sense.

This building at right has the 150KW of geothermal generation, as well as Power Plant Earth, a scientific exhibit area.

Building

It’s very clean, modern and site-appropriate. These are some of the combusion turbines and hardware located indoors. It’s so clean one could eat off the floors.

Combustion

The red is a 50 MW turbine. There’s an overhead crane to pick it up and move it around, and large roll-up doors to move it in and out. There were two of the 50 MW turbines in place and ready to operate, and one more to be installed. A 150 KW geothermal plant is not really very big.

50MW turbine

The education center Power Plant Earth is at the entrance to the geothermal building. It’s a popular place for students to tour, and reminds me of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.

From its website:

From the “big bang“ theory of how the universe evolved from the size of a grapefruit to the harnessing of geothermal power in the Reykjanes peninsula, the exhibition shows how man utilizes different energy sources and how we benefit from it in our everyday lives. The exhibition´s most impressive showpiece is a geothermal turbine generating 50 MW of “green” electrical power, enough to keep Reykjavík City running on a good day.

Education center

They have an electric car on display.

Electric car

It was very interesting.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

A Humorous Look at How This Could All Play Out

Sun

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.

Geothermal, Iceland, Renewable Energy Sources, Travel

Heading to Iceland

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, Renewable Energy Sources

Video: Renewable Energy Panel Discussion

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Click on the link to watch a 4-minute video with Richard, as well as short videos by the others mentioned below.

VIDEO: Energy Common Sense for Hawaii panel discussion

June 1, 2011

Video by David Corrigan

Respected figures in energy philosophy and industry were given several minutes to express their opinions on the direction Hawaii should be headed at a recent Democratic Party convention in Kona.

A panel of experts and noteworthy advocates for renewable energy spoke to an audience at the Hualalai Academy about two weeks ago.

The panel included farmer and geothermal advocate Richard Ha, Representative Denny Coffman, attorney and Innovations Development Group consultant Mililani Trask, HELCO general manager Jose Dizon, and president of H2 Technologies Guy Toyama.

Read the rest and watch the videos here.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources

Mopping the Deck of the Titanic

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In October 2008, the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) – which aims for 70 percent of the State’s energy needs to be met by renewable energy by 2030 – was outstanding for its ambitious approach to the challenges facing Hawai‘i’s future. It anticipates a 30 percent reduction in oil dependency through efficiency improvements, plus a 2 percent/year reduction in fossil fuels over 20 years.

Now we are realizing that 40 percent less oil dependency in 20 years is not ambitious enough. And as we move to implementation, we are finding that some of our assumptions may not work out as planned. A key question is whether or not we are flexible enough to react to the rapid changes taking place.

It is clear to me that we are furiously sweeping and mopping the deck of the Titanic.

Picture 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative was enacted into law in April 2010. But by then, the world oil supply situation was changing rapidly. Two months later, Lloyd’s of London advised its business clients to be prepared for $200/barrel oil by the year 2013. Economists at the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization told me that $200/barrel oil would devastate our tourist industry.

I asked, “Is it fair to say that if we used geothermal as our primary base power, Hawai‘i would become relatively more competitive to the rest of the world as the price of oil rises?” The answer was “yes.”

In a report last week, the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘I (UHERO) pointed out that the State’s current weak recovery is being fueled by the tourism industry—which is dependent on future oil prices.

Hawaii has liquid fuel, transportation and electricity problems. The mainland fixed its liquid fuel electricity problem, after the oil shocks of the 1970s, by switching to natural gas and coal.

This past October, when I attended a Peak Oil conference in Washington D.C., they pointed out that the U.S. mainland is less than 9 percent dependent on petroleum oil. A large part of that 9 percent, they then said, was due to the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) in Hawai‘i. I was shocked!

To think that we have done nothing about this for the last 20 years. And now we hear the excuse that, since nothing has been done, it will take 10 years to ramp up geothermal, so we cannot wait for geothermal.

Here is a comparison of Energy Return on Investment (EROI) for fossil fuels: In the 1930s, to get 100 barrels of oil, it took the energy of just one barrel. In the 1970s, one barrel would get you 30 barrels. Now, the average EROI is that one barrel will get you 10. Clearly, the trend is not good.

The ratio for geothermal is also around 10 to 1. The difference, though, is that this ratio will not decline for a very long time. Jim Kauahikaua, Scientist-in-Charge of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, told me that the Big Island will be over the hot spot for 500,000 to a million years.

Instead of fossil fuel, HECO wants to use biofuels to generate the electricity for most of its base power. The problem is that the EROI for biofuels is close to 1 to 1. And it should also be a warning that SunFuels, a company that actually knows about green diesel, is closing up shop in Hawai‘i. Not to mention that farmers knew three years ago that they would not grow biofuels, because it was obviously a money loser for them.

I am not against biofuels, but I think if we are to grow liquid fuel it should be used for jet fuel or transportation fuel—not electricity. I support biofuels through Pacific Bioldiesel. These folks use waste oil to support their capital costs. To the extent they can integrate feedstock from farmers, I think that their model has a reasonable chance of success. I also support UH Hilo’s College of Agriculture and Forestry’s initiative to study palm oil cultivation. This, too, is proven technology.

Geothermal is cheap, proven, gives off no carbon emissions and occupies a very small footprint. And through the generation of NH3 from its off peak power, which can fuel internal combustion engines, geothermal can put future generations into a position so they can win.

NH3 can also help with food security. Eighty percent of NH3’s present use is as fertilizer.

Furthermore, electricity generated from geothermal to power electric cars is clean and cheap.

So geothermal both takes care of us today and can take care of future generations. To farmers, this is not rocket science. It’s just common sense.

We can and must use every renewable energy option available to us, and to its maximum potential. By diverting excess electricity production to alternatives such as NH3 (ammonia), geothermal offers a safety valve that can allow more renewable energy in.

Can we imagine prosperity, instead of doom and gloom? Not, no can. CAN!

The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative:

On October 20, 2008, an Energy Agreement was signed by the State of Hawai’i, the Hawaiian Electric Companies, and the State Consumer Advocate to accelerate the accomplishment of Hawai’i’s energy objectives in the regulated electric utility sector.

In April, 2010, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative Program was added to State law, in Chapter 196 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

The Challenge

Hawai’i relies on imported petroleum for nearly 90% of its primary energy

Up to $7 billion flows out of the state annually to meet Hawai’i’s energy needs

Hawai’i’s economy is extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in global oil prices

Hawai’i residents pay among the nation’s highest prices for electricity and fuel

The Solution

The Hawai’i Clean Energy Initiative is helping transform Hawai’i from the most fossil-fuel dependent state in the nation to one run on Hawai’i Powered clean energy within a generation

Its goals and objectives:

Hawaii is the most fossil fuel dependent state in the nation.

This can be explained in large part because of our dependence on tourism and the military – together, they make up roughly 50% of our total economy. That’s a dangerous scenario for the future because of the finite nature of fossil fuel and the fact that our state is more and more vulnerable to fluctuations in oil prices and availability.

Community, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Schools, Sustainability

The Kids at Kua O Ka La Charter School

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High school students from the charter school Kua O Ka La came to Hamakua Springs the other day on a field trip.

HamakuaSprings30

Richard talked about how great it was to connect with that school, which is located on the ocean at Pu‘ala‘a in Puna, right next to the Ahalanui warm pond. “They are off the grid and all their computers are run by solar,” he said. “They have composting toilets that are very sanitary. They live on, and with, the land. I really like their hands-on learning style. They live sustainability.”

From Kua O Ka La’s website:

Pu`ala`a is an intact ancient Hawaiian village complete with historical sites, fishponds, and native habitat that affords an ideal outdoor learning environment for our project-based curriculum.

Kimo Pa, the farm’s manager, told me that he and his wife Tracy Pa were surprised, and pleased, at how interested the students were.

“We told them about what Richard has been working on,” said Kimo, “wondering how we are going to adapt to the new way of doing business, and to the high cost of oil. I talked about how we looked into Peak Oil, studied it for a few years, to really understand it. And how Richard got to the point of looking at geothermal and how he can help the rest of the community.

“We told them we’ve been looking at our resources here. We had water, so we could make hydroelectric….

“I told them that Richard said, ‘What about our workers, the island, the state? What resources do we have that could help the rest of the people?’ That’s how he found geothermal. Now he’s working with Ku‘oko‘a.

“They were really into that part, and had questions,” he said. “This has to do with their community. They’re next to the warm pond. Why is that water hot? Because of the volcano.”

He told the students that our huge dependence on oil now has to do with the leaders we have picked over the years, and their decisions.

“I told them how important they are as an individual, and that it’s their responsibility to pick the leaders; that their vote counts, because they are the future leaders. That their decision making is for the generations under them.”

He showed the students the farm’s hydroponics system, the tomatoes, and the fish they are raising.

“And I explained that we are working with other farmers, and that we like to employ people from nearby,” he said. “Working with other farmers, we can produce more food. We want to fit into the community and grow food for the area. It’s all about the sustainability – taking care of your neighbor, doing the right thing for your community so in the next generation, and the next generation, things don’t get worse.”

It’s a perfect fit with the school’s vision:

Kua O Ka Lā has adopted the concept of `Ke Ala Pono – The Right Path – to describe our goal of nurturing and developing our youth. We believe that every individual has a unique potential and that it is our responsibility to help our students learn to work together within the local community to create a future that is pono – right.

 

Biofuel, Food Security, Renewable Energy Sources, Zero Waste

Biofuels and Feedstock

One of the main stumbling blocks to making biofuels is the cost of the feedstock. And feedstock frequently involves farmers farming.

For example, it is said that making an industrial-scale biofuel operation work requires feedstock that costs between $45 and $60/ton. Since farmers were making $100/ton for making hay, a $45/ton subsidy was put into place. This makes growing feedstock for cellulosic biofuels competitive with making hay—on the mainland.

But here in Hawai‘i, making hay costs $300 per ton, instead of the $100 per ton on the mainland. Farmers won’t do it for $100 per ton.

Who will pay the difference? If the biofuel is being used to make electricity, it will obviously be the rate payer.

Will oil prices rise so high that eventually the biofuel will be cost competitive? Farming inputs and logistic costs are fossil fuel related and rise as oil prices rise. This effect is called “the receding horizon.”

But when waste products are used as the feedstock, the economics change. A good example is Pacific Biodiesel, which uses waste cooking oil. If they asked farmers to grow extra virgin olive oil to make biofuel, obviously it wouldn’t work.

There is a limit as to what can be produced. That limit is the amount of used oil available.

The same is true of the oils potentially developed from the USDA’s Zero Waste project. Its biofuel production is limited to the waste that can be converted to making oil.

The advantage of using the waste stream is that the cost of the feedstock is very low. And in the case of the Zero Waste project, it supports food security for Hawai‘i.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Ku‘oko‘a Partners Speak at Crowded Kona Town Meeting

Richard and some of his Ku‘oko‘a partners spoke at a well-attended Kona Town Meeting the other day, and what an interesting meeting it was.

Richard Ha

Watch a video of the talks, taken by Big Island Video News: Ku’oko’a details bid to buy HEI at Kona Town Meeting.

Geothermal energy touted as last hope for Hawaii energy future

Video by David Corrigan | Voice of Stephanie Salazar

Its been several weeks since the Geothermal Working Group submitted their preliminary report to the 2011 State Legislature.

Its also been weeks since the co-chair of that effort, Hamakua farmer Richard Ha, made public his lofty goal of buying  HELCO, the island’s power company, along with some partners.

At a well attended Kona Town Meeting on Tuesday night, residents got the chance to hear the details about both of these developments, first hand….See the rest

The whole thing is worth a listen. You’ll hear Richard start speaking at 3:41 and then enthusiastic applause breaks out at around 4:50 when he says, “Maybe what we need to do is buy the electric utility out.”

Big Island, Current Affairs, Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources

Hydrogen-Powered Big Island Buses

The University of Hawai‘i’s Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) is working on a very interesting project. They are going to use geothermal electricity to generate hydrogen to power two County of Hawai‘i buses.

Because the hydrogen will be stored in cylinders, the process can be turned off and on as necessary to help the electric utility stabilize the grid.

The biggest obstacle to using hydrogen as a transportation fuel is cost. Most of the time, hydrogen is extracted from fossil fuels, whose price will keep on rising.  But hydrogen can also be obtained by electrolysis – running an electric current through water – at the geothermal plant, where costs are low and stable.

The beginnings of this project date back several years to when we did the E Malama ‘Aina sustainability festival. That’s when and where I met Guy Toyama, who had a demonstration hydrolysis project that used electricity generated from a stream in Hakalau.

Guy has a company that does hydrogen projects. He speaks Japanese and he goes all over the world looking for processes that will make Hawai‘i attractive as a place to do hydrogen demonstration projects. He wants to attract major car companies to do their field testing on the Big Island. If you start seeing hydrogen fueling stations pop up on the Big Island, it will likely be because of him.

At the sustainability festival, Kimo Pa, our Hamakua Springs farm manager, and I saw the hydrogen bubbling up from water that had electricity passing through it. I introduced Guy to the folks in Iowa who were exploring making NH3 (ammonia) for fertilizer and for transportation.

That evolved into asking Rick Rocheleau, head of the HNEI, how we could make hydrogen or NH3 from geothermal energy to use for transportation and fertilizer. Rick got interested and allowed this direction to develop. Mitch Ewan, who is in charge of hydrogen projects at HNEI, is the one who conceived this current project.

The following press release announces that HNEI will soon issue a request for proposals to do this project. None of this would have been possible had it not been for the active support of the folks at Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV), Mike Kaleikini, PGV’s plant manager in particular.

Here is the press release:

Honolulu, HI – The Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii (“RCUH”), on behalf of the University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (UH-HNEI) plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) the week of January 4th 2011 for the supply of a “Turn-Key” hydrogen production and fueling system as a component of a Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and US DOE project to demonstrate hydrogen energy systems as a potential grid management tool.   The objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing a hydrogen production and storage system to mitigate the impacts of renewable energy generation intermittency on the Big Island electrical grid. A unique element of the overall program is the demonstration of an electrolyzer as a controllable variable load that can provide grid services such as:

·        Up regulation;

·        Down regulation; and

·        Off-peak load (relieving curtailment of as-available renewable energy).

As background, regulation is responsible for maintaining the frequency of the grid at 60 Hz.  This is accomplished by using a real-time communication signal directly controlled by the grid operator.  The regulation control signal can call for either a positive “Up regulation” or negative “Down regulation” correction.  If load exceeds generation, frequency and voltage drop, and the grid operator relays a signal to generators requesting “Up regulation.”  When generation exceeds load and frequency increases, the grid operator requests “Down Regulation” and asks generators to reduce generation.

In this mode, the electrolyzer would be operated at a production rate that would be determined by the demand for a combination of transportation fuels, auxiliary power, and chemical feedstock production.  The electrolyzer would have the ability to reduce its load (i.e. ramp down) in response to a loss of renewable generation on the system.  This capability to quickly drop load is equivalent to “up-regulation” carried by generating units on the system.  The hydrogen energy system could also provide a quick transient increase in load (i.e. ramp up) that would be useful in loss-of-load events, such as a loss of transmission lines.  For this service, the difference between the maximum capacity of the electrolyzer and the steady state defines the ability of the electrolyzer to provide down regulation.  Hydrogen produced from the system could be used for a variety of value-added products, including use as a transportation fuel for two Ford E-450 shuttle buses operated by the County of Hawaii Mass Transportation Agency.  Optimized use of the electrolyzer and high value products are intended to increase the use of renewable energy resources, and reduce barriers to the introduction of further hydrogen infrastructure in Hawaii.

The RFP is intended to promote open and transparent competition among parties able to design, fabricate, and install the system at a geothermal plant on the Big Island of Hawaii.  A key design driver is the ability for remote monitoring and control of the system over the Internet.  This RFP will be technology neutral and any type of electrolyzer i.e Alkaline or Solid Polymer Electrolyte may be proposed.  Proposers may include teams comprised of systems integrators and electrolyzer manufacturers.  A primary focus of this program is rapid delivery and installation of equipment with a target operational readiness date of August 30th, 2011.  When released, the RFP and accompanying information will be published at http://www.hnei.hawaii.edu.  Any prospective offeror desiring an explanation or interpretation of the RFP must request it in writing (emailed to: Mitch Ewan at ewan@hawaii.edu) no later than January 31st, 2011 with the subject line “RFP for Turn-Key Hydrogen System.”  It is planned to conduct a bidders meeting and / or webinar in Washington DC on January 18th, 2011.  Proposals must be received by RCUH no later than 4:00 PM HST, February 15th, 2011.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

The World Energy Outlook for 2010: We Must Change Our Behavior

The International Energy Association (IEA) just issued its World Energy Outlook (WEO) for 2010. Image003

This graph shows that oil production from presently producing oil fields is projected to decline from around 65 million barrels/day to 20 million barrels/day in 2010. That’s 45 million barrels per day less coming out of today’s aging oil fields.

It’s approximately 1.8 million barrels/day less every year. From a previous WEO report, it was estimated that oil fields decline annually, due to old age, at around 4 million barrels per year. In order for our oil supply to stay steady until 2035, we would need to find 2.2 million barrels every year from now until 2035. This means we need to find the equivalent of a Saudi Arabia every 4.5 to 5 years. That’s five Saudi Arabias in 25 years.

We know that we’ve been using two to three times more oil than we’ve been finding for the past 20 to 30 years. We must change our behavior.

Here in Hawai‘i, we have many renewable options. Geothermal is a proven technology, has less impact on the environment and is cheap relative to the other options.

The report concludes:

Image004