In Support of Lower-Cost Electricity for the Big Island (HB106)

March 20, 2013 Richard Ha 7 Comments

Richard Ha writes:

Although we are testifying in strong support of HB106 HD2, SD1, we would support any bill or combination of bills that further our efforts to bring lower-cost electricity to the Big Island in a pono way.

Aloha Chair Gabbard and Vice Chair Ruderman:

The Big Island Community Coalition (BICC) is strongly in favor of HB106 HD2, SD1.

The BICC steering committee members are Dave DeLuz, Jr., President of Big Island Toyota; John E. K. Dill, Chair of the Ethics Commissions; Rockne Freitas, former Chancellor, Hawai‘i Community College; Michelle Galimba, Rancher and Board of Agriculture member; Richard Ha, farmer, Hamakua Springs; Wallace Ishibashi, Royal Order of Kamehameha; Ku‘ulei Kealoha Cooper, Trustee, Kealoha Estate; D. Noelani Kalipi, who helped
write the Akaka Bill; Ka‘iu Kimura, Director of Imiloa Astronomy Center; Robert Lindsey, OHA; H. M. (Monty) Richards, Rancher; Marcia Sakai, Vice Chancellor, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo; Kumu Lehua Veincent, Principal, Kamehameha High School, Kea‘au; William Walter, President, Shipman Estate. All speak here in their private capacity.

Our mission is to drive down the cost of electricity on the Big Island. The cost of the Big Island’s electricity has been 25 percent higher than O‘ahu’s for as long as we can remember. Yet the Big Island has the lowest median family income in the state. Three school complexes in East Hawai‘i lead the state in free and subsidized school lunches: Pahoa at 89 percent, Ka‘u at 87 percent and Kea‘au at 86 percent.

Education is the best predictor of family income. But because the Big Island’s electricity rate is 25 percent higher than O‘ahu’s, we waste more than $250,000 annually in some of our school complexes.

The cost to generate electricity from geothermal is less than half that of oil. And because the Big Island will be over the hot spot for more than 500,000 years, that cost will be relatively stable – unlike the cost of oil, which will rise in the not-too-distant future.

I asked Carl Bonham, Executive Director of the UH Economic Research Organization, if it is fair to conclude that if geothermal were the primary base power for the Big Island, then the Big Island would become more competitive to the rest of the world as oil prices rise? He said, Yes, we would become more competitive. I concluded, and he agreed, that our standard of living would then rise. And that our working homeless could get off the streets.

We all need to work together to make things work. Get thousand reasons why no can! We only looking for the one reason why CAN!

Richard Ha
BICC Steering Committee Representative

Contest

Caption This Photo!

March 18, 2013 Richard Ha

Caption this picture! Send us your caption by this Friday, March 22, 2013. Submit your caption to leslie@leslielang.com.

Your prize? The inner satisfaction that comes with knowing you are clever and a quick wit!

Really, it's just for fun. So fire away! We'll share some of them here.

Geothermal

PGV Tripped Offline, All Went Well

March 15, 2013 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

Puna Geothermal Venture tripped offline a few days ago. It’s very encouraging to know that everything worked well with Civil Defense and our emergency procedures. This is a result of folks having raised concerns, which has heightened awareness.

As Patrick Kahawaiola‘a always says, “It’s about the process.”

Going through the process makes for a better result. So you have to aloha everyone on all sides of an issue.

HELCO just issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for 50 megawatts more of geothermal power. There will be much more discussion. House Bill 160 draft 2, which has now crossed over to the Senate, is an attempt to bring “home rule” back to geothermal development, and to streamline procedures without sacrificing safety.

This is all about balance. How do we insure safety, while at the same time keeping costs under control?

If we can do that, we can protect the rubbah slippah folks, and that in turn helps all of us.

Council Councilman Greggor Ilagan issued this press release:

MEDIA RELEASE

At approximately 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, Puna Geothermal Venture, tripped off line and experienced a steam release. The steam was released through the plant’s Emergency Steam Release System, which abates hydrogen sulfide emissions.

Council Councilman Greggor Ilagan of District 4, went directly from the council meeting in Hilo to the PGV site in Puna. He met with PGV staff, including operations manager William E. Wiebe and plant manager Cliff Townsend.

“Everyone worked together quickly and effectively. PGV’s safety mechanisms were put into action immediately, the public was notified, and the appropriate authorities took action,” Ilagan said. “I feel it’s better to be overly cautious than unprepared.”

PGV staff monitored the facility and surrounding area through the afternoon and into the evening. Fire Department personnel also assisted in these efforts.

“Everything went well … precautionary procedures were implemented early on. The community did a great job. Those that were concerned chose to leave and seek information,” said Darryl Oliveira, Civil Defense administrator.

The Pahoa Community Center, under direction of the Department of Parks and Recreation, opened itsdoors for those who preferred to remain outside the area.

According to Ken Nagasawa, Pahoa Community Center director, “just one” couple arrived in the evening after the center had been notified to “stand down,” at approximately 6:45 p.m.

Hawaiian Electric Light Company indicated power to 20,095 customers in Waikoloa, Waika, Kailua, Kaloko, Captain Cook, Kuakini, Waiakea Uka and lower Puna, which included the PGV plant, was interrupted when HELCO’s transmission line tripped open. The PGV plant tripped off line following HELCO’s power interruption.

HELCO continues to investigate the exact cause of the event.

“I’d like to thank Civil Defense, Fire Department, Department of Parks and Recreation, and staff of the Pahoa Community Center for their swift execution of contingency plans,” Ilagan said. “To the residents of Puna and Hawaii County, thank you for maintaining calm with aloha, during this event.”

Ilagan, the District 4 representative, can be reached at 965-2712 or gilagan@co.hawaii.hi.us.

Big Island, Geothermal, History, Mauna Kea, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Guest Post: We Underestimate The Old Hawaiians

March 10, 2013 Richard Ha 2 Comments

By guest blogger Rodrigo Romo:

With every question that seems to stir up controversy (geothermal, the Thirty Meter Telescope [TMT], etc.), the way I see it is to ask: "What would Kamehameha (or the old Hawaiians) do?"

The old Hawaiians lived in harmony with what the land/sea provided them, making sure they took care of their resources and making sure they were not depleted.

Would the old Hawaiians bring oil from distant lands to meet their energy needs? Or would they take advantage of what the land and the gods provided them (geothermal, solar, wind, hydroelectric)?

The old Hawaiians were famous for their star-based navigational skills. If they had the chance to further understand the universe from the top of Mauna Kea, would they pass on that opportunity? Or would they take advantage of the privileged location they were given by the land/gods to learn more about the universe?

I think part of the problem is that people underestimate what the old Hawaiians would do in today's technologically advanced world, and many think that they would still live like they did prior to the arrival of Cook.

I don't think that is the case. They were incredible wise people from an environmental point of view. They understood that by living on an island their resources were extremely limited and that their environment was very delicate.

Because of modern-day technology, we tend to forget that. It's easy for us to go to the grocery store and buy tomatoes from California, peaches from Chile and Atlantic salmon. We turn on the switch and expect the light to come on, because we know that there will be a ship/plane coming over to deliver our goods; goods that were not produced here from the land.

People see geothermal or wind as an intrusion to the environment, but have no problem with burning fossil fuels that are brought in from thousands of miles away.

They worry about the impact that a geothermal well may have on the air quality, but never think about the consequences that an oil spill from a tanker would have on our corals and the life around them.

People see the TMT as an intrusion into sacred land (regardless of the telescopes already present) but fail to see the wonderful opportunities it will provide to local young future Hawaiian scientists to be in the lead of space exploration.

We can learn a lot from the ways of the past: An understanding of the real value of our local resources, and how delicate our environment is. Combining that understanding with advances in technology will lead the path to achieving, or at least to moving closer to becoming a sustainable community/culture.

Aloha.

Rodrigo Romo was a member of the second Biosphere 2 crew. He is currently VP of Engineering for Zeta Corporation, where he is involved in water conservation projects. He lives in Hilo with his family.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Can Geothermal Exist In Harmony With the Hawaiian World View?

March 9, 2013 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

On Thursday, Kalei Nu‘uhiwa and I spoke on a geothermal panel at the UH Manoa’s Richardson School of Law.

Kalei talked about Papakū Makawalu, a Hawaiian deconstruction of the universe into its basic component parts. Here is an interesting talk she gave on this topic about a year ago. (It’s about 13 minutes; well worth a watch.)

From the Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation:

Papakū Makawalu is the ability of our kupuna to categorize and organize our natural world and all systems of existence within the universe. Papakū Makawalu is the foundation to understanding, knowing, acknowledging, becoming involved with, but most importantly, becoming the experts of the systems of this natural world.

At our panel discussion, the essential question was: “Can geothermal exist in harmony with the Hawaiian world view?”

Kalei’s answer, as I understood it, was, “Yes – If we have a full discussion ahead of time to assure that all concerns are adequately addressed. We need to understand and be comfortable in knowing what its effect on the Hawaiiian environment would be.”

I agree with this point of view. When we were asked what would we do if one of the geothermal developers did not agree to abide by this I said, “Then they need to get out of here!”

Hawaiians in pre-contact time were very successful. Here in Hawai‘i today, we are less successful.

This is why I really like Charles Hall’s EROI concept, which measures net energy. It provides empirical data that compares use of energy from ancient times to the present. It’s a way of comparing apples and apples across time.

Education, Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Blessing or Curse? Native Hawaiians & Geothermal Energy

March 6, 2013 Richard Ha

Tomorrow (Thursday, March 7, 2013) Richard will be sitting on a panel called Native Hawaiians and Geothermal Energy: Blessing or Curse? It's at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa's Richardson School of Law.

Kalei Nu‘uhiwa is also on the panel, which takes place from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free and open to the public. We invite you to come and learn more about this subject!

– Leslie Lang

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Very Simple Explanation of ‘Energy Return on Investment’

March 4, 2013 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Richard Ha writes:

Every organism, organization and even civilization needs surplus energy or it goes extinct.

When a mama cheetah catches an antelope, for instance, she needs to get enough energy from consuming that antelope to take care of her kids.

Let’s say all the antelopes are very skinny, and the energy she gets from eating a skinny antelope only gives her enough energy to make one more sprint, and that’s all.

That would be described as an "energy return on investment," an EROI, ratio of 1-1. She has no excess energy available to do anything but catch her next meal. That would be a very scary existence: She would have to catch an antelope on every single sprint, or her species would go extinct.

But if the antelopes got fatter, and the cheetah could make two sprints from eating one antelopes, we would call this an EROI of 2-1.

When the cheetah could make five runs from eating one antelope, things would be starting to look better (EROI 5-1). She would have energy left over to do more than just survive. She could spend time washing and playing with the kids.

At an EROI of 10 to 1, she could send the kids to grad school; things would be wonderful.

At an EROI of 30 to 1, the cheetah population would start to grow. The cheetahs would move into condominiums and take vacations in Hawai‘i.

So what does this mean in real life? Here’s some history.

In the 1930s, we could extract 100 barrels of oil from the ground by using the energy we got from one barrel of oil. That’s an EROI of 100-1.

By 1970, we were only getting 30 barrels of oil from the use of one barrel (an EROI of 30-1).

And in 2013, it’s around 10 barrels of oil (EROI 10-1).

Tar sands is around 5-1.

And biofuels are less than 3-1. Some biofuels (for example, alcohol from corn) are barely more than 1-1. You can see why putting our money and efforts into biofuels hardly makes sense.

Especially when you realize that geothermal, as we have in Hawai‘i, appears to have an EROI ratio of 11-1. It’s also significant to note that this rate won’t change anytime soon. The Big Island will be over the “hot spot,” which creates our geothermal conditions, for 500,000 to 1 million years.

Here is an article about the minimum EROI a sustainable society must have, by Charles A.S. Hall, Stephen Balogh and David J. R. Murphy.

What don’t we understand about this?

Education, Geothermal, Lowering Electric Rates, Schools

How To Dramatically Increase Big Island School Budgets

March 1, 2013 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

Because the Big Island pays 25 percent more for its electricity than O‘ahu does, it follows that Big Island schools have 25 percent less of their budgets available to pay teachers than O‘ahu’s schools. Did you ever think about it this way?

Some Big Island school complexes (an area’s elementary, middle and high school) are paying around $1 million/year just for electricity. As compared with O‘ahu, that’s around $250,000/year that isn’t going toward teachers and other education services. At $70K per teacher, that could be three full time-teachers, for instance.

On top of the Big Island having paid 25 percent more for its electricity than O‘ahu for as long as anyone can remember, our Puna district has one of the lowest median family incomes in the state.

And what’s the best predictor of family income? Level of education. Therefore, one of many benefits of cheaper electricity is that a lot more of our schools’ money would go toward educating our children. Lowering the cost of electricity would allow Puna schools more resources to focus on teachers and learning, and it follows that this could lead to increased median family incomes.

Geothermal done in a responsible manner can lower the cost of electricity. But we all must work together. It’s great that HELCO is moving forward with low-cost alternatives, such as calling for requests for proposals for expanding geothermal production.

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

Adopt-a-Class, Alan Wong, Food Security, Schools, Sustainability, Tomatoes

What Is That Circle Around Us?

February 27, 2013 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

A bunch of things are happening right now. They look very different, but see if you notice what they all have in common.

We are just seeing the tomatoes start to produce more in spite of the dark, wet weather. It’s the third week of February; and last year, too, our tomatoes’ rate of production started climbing in the third week of February. That gives me a good feeling, because I’d been looking around and anticipating this.

All around I see growth. Avocado trees everywhere are choke with flowers right now. The ‘ulu are starting to develop on the tree; the ones I’m watching are about baseball size right now. Everything’s growing and producing around us.

We spent Saturday in Kona at a get-together for Armstrong Produce and its farmers. We stayed there for several hours, talking story with everybody.

I was sitting next to Timothy Choo, a chef from Sodexho, which does food service for UH Hilo. Sodexho is a huge supporter of local products, they go out of their way to buy locally, and we had a big conversation about it. Sodexho is supplied by Suisan, also a big supporter of local products.

I was also talking to Troy Keolanui, manager of OK Farms. Ed Olson owns that farm, 200 acres of many kinds of fruit and other trees, and we help distribute their produce under our Hilo Coast brand.

They are located behind Rainbow Falls, and they have a tent, with chairs in it, where they can sit and look at the falls. They purposely set it up behind some bushes so it doesn’t disrupt the more common view of Rainbow Falls, the one that tourists look at every day.

Then we drove back to this side of the island and went straight
to Puna. Chef Alan Wong was there, and he was throwing a small dinner for the farmers he buys from here.

Alan Wong and I started talking about the Adopt-A-Class project. I
said, “Why don’t we do a broader Adopt-A-Class project this time, in Puna. We’ll take the whole district and go to each of the schools there, including the charter schools. Everywhere there are elementary school kids.”

He’s into it. When we did this in the past, Alan Wong gave a class at Keaukaha Elementary School where he showed the kids how
to use tomatoes, and passed tomatoes around and had some of those kids eating, and loving, tomatoes.

Then yesterday, the folks from Zippy’s came by the farm. They’re going to open up a restaurant at Prince Kuhio Plaza soon and we’ll be supplying some of their products. Zippy’s has a strong “support local” program. When you go into any Zippy’s restaurant, you always see signs about which farms they get some of their products from. Zippy’s also uses local beef. It’s a corporate decision to support local growers.

Do you see the common link among all these things? Everybody’s coming at it from a different point-of-view, but the common
denominator is that we are so lucky to live here in Hawai‘i!

It’s all about local food and making ourselves food-secure. Our tomatoes are thriving and plentiful; where else in the country can you grow tomatoes throughout the winter? Other food is growing all around us.

Armstrong Produce distributes the products of many local farmers and producers. So does Suisan. Sodexo buy that local food.

And Alan Wong, too, is very interested in supporting local farmers and teaching local school kids. He’s very aware of the movement to be self-sustaining and is always reaching out to teach kids about where they come from, how their parents used to live and how we can live now. He’s all about helping people be grounded, and he comes at it with the training of a very high-level chef.

People are really helping each other out. Everybody has to make money, but they’re looking after the next person in the chain. If you’re the farmer, you’re hoping that your wholesaler is caring about you and not just the retailers. Everybody is look after everybody else.

It’s the only way I can figure out that we can help our own workers. Because, of everyone, who’s going to protect the workers? I’ve got to do everything I can to protect them.

There’s a big circle of sustainability around us, and it’s one that’s getting bigger and bigger. It’s really incredible, though it’s easy to get caught up in our busy lives and forget to notice.

Biofuel, Peak Oil

We Need More People With Cutting-Edge Energy Knowledge!

February 25, 2013 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Richard Ha writes:

Hawai‘i should be sending more people to the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference. The folks at ASPO are on the leading edge of energy data interpretation. We need more people with cutting -edge energy knowledge.

For example, for several years now ASPO folks have been utilizing Energy Return on Investment (EROI) as a tool to evaluate energy
options.

If HECO had understood the concept and its parameters, it
may not have committed to Aina Koa Pono’s biofuel project so wholeheartedly.

Biofuels, in general, have very low EROI ratios (net energy). It takes a ratioof 3 to 1 just to maintain society’s petroleum infrastructure. Biofuels, except for cane ethanol, are lower than 2 to 1.

If we can’t make money in Hawai‘i now with cane ethanol, what makes us think we can do cellulosic biofuels, which are more costly and more difficult?

Despite spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, there are zero commercial competitive cellulosic biofuels in production
today. Zero. We wish AKP well, but it should use its own money, not that of the rate payers.

The shale oil and shale gas story is probably only be an interim solution. Aubrey McClendon, the fracking cheerleader of Chesapeake Energy, has been removed as its Chairman and will soon resign as CEO. The ASPO folks have known for several years that shale oil and gas is a bunch of financial smoke and mirrors.

When HECO responded to Consumer Advocate questions about how it justified its pricing, the utility used the Energy Information Agency (EIA) 2012 AEO report’s high-case scenario for its long-term forecast.

But the EIA’s short-term forecast, just a couple of weeks ago, estimates the 2014 price of oil at $101/barrel – while HECO estimates that oil will cost $180/barrel in 2015. The rate payer wouldn’t care about this if they didn’t have to subsidize the biofuels at $200/barrel.

Putting a secret $200/barrel biofuel surcharge on rate payers, and then telling them, “Trust us, this won’t hurt much” – while raising the pay of top executives – stands in sharp contrast to the CEO of Japan Airlines, who insists on being treated exactly like his workers. Watch that short (2:20) video for a very different approach than we are used to. Really interesting.