The Public Utilities Commission’s public hearing on Hawaii Electric Light Co.’s rate increase and biofuel surcharge proposals is a month away, and all sides are digging in for what could be an explosive meeting.
The PUC has scheduled public hearings to gather community input on Oct. 29 at the Hilo High cafeteria and Oct. 30 at the Kealakehe High cafeteria. Both meetings start at 6 p.m.
At issue are two proposals by HELCO. One is for a $19.8 million increase in revenue, or 4.2 percent in the coming year. The other, which is being jointly proposed by Hawaiian Electric Co., is the establishment of a biofuel surcharge provision of between 84 cents to $1 per month to support a Ka‘u biodiesel refinery to be built by Aina Koa Pono.
The article goes on to discuss the Big Island Community Coalition and actions we are taking. It also discusses the Aina Koa Pono project.
Both proposals are opposed by the Big Island Community Coalition, formed by a group of prominent citizens who are asking people to come out and tell the PUC the effect of HELCO’s utility prices on their lives. Read the rest here
Did you mark your calendar yet? Come to the PUC meetings (October 29 at Hilo High cafeteria, and October 30 at Kealakehe High cafeteria; both at 6 p.m.) and here’s more on what you can do to help with our mission to make Big Island electricity rates the lowest in the state.
The further some things recede in the rearview mirror, the clearer they become.
Concepts that were new and cutting edge at Peak Oil conferences several years ago are now mainstream.
I want to introduce you to the Resource Insights blog, which we have added to our list of blog links at right. You can always click over to it from there.
This was posted a couple days ago (that’s my emphasis there in its final paragraph):
This is the fourth of a six-part series introducing readers of The Christian Science Monitor to concepts useful in understanding the Resource Insights blog. Selected posts from Resource Insights are now appearing regularly on the Monitor’s Energy Voices blog. To read the previous installments of this series click on the following: Part 1, Part 2,Part 3
It is with trepidation that independent petroleum geologist Jeffrey Brown has watched global oil exports decline since 2006. With all the controversy in the past several years over whether worldwide oil production can rise to quench the world’s growing thirst for petroleum, almost no one thought to ask what was happening to the level of oil exports. And yet, each year a dwindling global pool of exports has been generating ever greater competition among importing nations and has become a largely unheralded force behind record high oil prices.
Even though the trend in oil exports has been evident in the data for some time, the analyst community was caught by surprise when a Citigroup report released earlier this month forecast an end to oil exports in 2030 from Saudi Arabia, currently the world’s largest oil exporter. Read the rest
If the Citigroup report is right and Saudi Arabia will stop exporting oil by 2030, then we in Hawai‘i are in big trouble.
Our solution, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, anticipates 70 percent freedom from fossil fuel by 2030. That is to be achieved by 40 percent renewable energy and 30 percent energy efficiency – which means that 60 percent of our energy will still depend on fossil fuel.
But there may not be any oil we can afford then. And actually, we probably won’t be able to afford oil way before 2030 – even, say, 2020? That’s only eight years from now.
There are other views of the future that are just as persuasive. Richard Heinberg and others talk about the end of growth in this video:
In this scenario, oil prices may fluctuate in a relatively narrow band, going from expansion when oil prices dip and contraction when oil price rise above, say, $115/barrel for any extended period.
We all feel the same urgency. The Coalition anticipates driving Big Island electricity prices to be the lowest in the state, in a timely manner. This protects us from whatever happens with oil prices.
We started with the desired end result, and worked backwards:
Protect Big Island families from rising electricity rates
Make the Big Island more food secure
Raise our standard of living relative to the rest of the world
Give working homeless better options
Help Big Island businesses become more competitive in the O‘ahu market, as well as worldwide
Prevent having to export our children, our most precious resource, by having jobs available here on the Big Island
To get the above desired results, we need lowest cost electricity. So our focus is clear. Read more about the Big Island Community Coalition.
The master gardeners came to visit Hamakua Springs yesterday. I told them their entry fee was that they had to listen to my pitch about the Big Island Community Coalition, through which we advocate for lowest electricity rates in the state.
We all laughed, and then I handed them flyers to post everywhere they can.
The Master Gardeners, solely as volunteers, help staff the University Extension Service. Somone pointed out that when they are not there, the Extension Service office is empty.
It was great to talk with people who grow things and have hands-on experience with insect and disease issues. They peered under leaves and asked lots of questions. Many of them grow tomatoes, so we had a lot in common. We feel a special closeness to them.
Master Gardeners decided to do their vegetable shopping while on their tour.
My daughter Tracy
explained our Food Safety program, which involves nearly 60 line items for the field operation and 60 more for the packing operation. Everything is documented.
I pointed out that
smaller growers have a very difficult time both farming and maintaining the
detailed paperwork necessary to become Food Safety-certified. The Food Safety program evolved as large retailers pushed the liability down the chain. It is neither good nor bad – It just is.
Someone asked how long we have been at Pepe‘ekeo and why we chose this location, and I explained that we started looking at different possible locations 20 years ago. Plantations were closing down, the market was on O‘ahu – there were many factors in play.
What it came down to were the physical resources. At Pepe‘ekeo, which is located close to a deep water port, there is deep soil, and most of all, there is an abundance of water. Our average annual rainfall here is close to 140 inches per year. More than 1/4 of the volume of water that goes to the Ewa plains on O‘ahu flows downhill through our farm alone. And there is a 150-foot elevation difference in the water flow.
That water was free, and would be free for as long as we could imagine. We made our decision based on free water.
In this article called The Close Tie Between Energy Consumption, Employment, and Recession, from OurFiniteWorld.com, Gail Tverberg says that our energy use rises and falls with employment numbers, and also that Gross Domestic Product is related to energy use: The cheaper the energy, the more one uses and conversely, the more expensive the energy, the less people use. It’s all about the cost of the energy.
The Close Tie Between Energy Consumption, Employment, and Recession
by Gail Tverberg
Posted on September 17, 2012
…Since 1982, the number of people employed in the United States has tended to move in a similar pattern to the amount of energy consumed. When one increases (or decreases), the other tends to increase (or decrease)….
I have written recently about the close long-term relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. We know that economic growth is tied to job creation, so it stands to reason that energy consumption would be tied to job growth1. But I will have to admit that I was surprised by the closeness of the relationship for the period shown.
This close relationship is concerning, because if it holds in the future, it suggests that it will be very difficult to reduce energy consumption without a lot of unemployment. It also would seem to suggest that a shortage of energy supplies (as reflected by high prices) can lead to unemployment….
Gail Tverberg’s former career was as an insurance actuary. Her job was about pricing insurance risk. That’s a relevant set of skills to have as we move into the uncertain future.
Here in Hawai‘i, we are very fortunate: We have a robust set of alternative energy workarounds. But we do need to focus on affordable energy and proven technology to help us dodge the economic downturn bullet.
The latest numbers from the USDA firm up the outlook for this year’s corn crop, and the final numbers may not be as bad as some feared.
Despite the worst drought in half a century, the government only slightly reduced total projected production for the year to 10.72 billion bushels. That would be a 13 percent drop from last year and the smallest crop since 2006….
My friend Dave Ross invited me to be a guest speaker on Kona Blog Radio. The program was recorded at Boston Basil’s in Kailua-Kona on Tuesday, and you can listen to it here:
I talked about the Big Island Community Coalition (BICC), the organization recently formed to make the island’s electricity rates the lowest in the state.
The PUC is holding these hearings to learn what people think about HELCO’s proposed 4.2 percent rate hike, as well as the proposed Aina Koa Pono biofuels project at Ka‘u. BICC is against both proposals because they would raise our electricity rates, not lower them.
The first PUC hearing is on Monday, October 29, 2012, 6 p.m. at the Hilo High School cafeteria. The next is on Tuesday, October 30 at 6 p.m. at Kealakehe High School.
We need your input so we can work on getting our electricity rates down, instead of just watching them go up.
The Yogurtland folks came by the farm a couple of weeks ago.
Yogurtland’s flavorologist, Scott Shoemaker, was here on the Big Island and one of his goals was to find a special banana flavor to make Bananas Foster frozen yogurt.
After Scott walked through our fields, he made a call to his company headquarters.
He had tasted our bananas at the Farmers Market and been
very impressed. He wanted to see the farm and hear our story.
I told him that a Chiquita engineer had called me several years ago, on his way over to the Philippines, and told me that Chiquita was in the process of developing a high-elevation banana plantation there. His objective was to lengthen the time to harvest, so that more complex tastes could develop. He was attempting to replicate the taste of bananas in Hawai‘i and in Taiwan, which is 22 degrees north of the equator.
Hawai‘i bananas take up to three weeks longer before they are ready for harvest compared to those at the equator.
I told Scott that we are located where the prevailing tradewinds drop lots of rain as they meet the slopes of Mauna Kea. We measure rain in feet instead of inches (11 feet per year) and bananas love that. Also, our soil was formed from volcanic cinder, so the combination of good drainage and water retention is unusual and very good for banana production.
I told him that our farm was first in the world to be certified ECO-OK by the Rainforest Alliance, which is the world’s first and
largest third-party certifier of banana production methods. This program transformed the banana industry, worldwide, by making it comply with stringent pesticide regulations, waste disposal, employee conditions and rules of environmental protection.
For a change of pace here, Richard says why don’t I tell you all about Cleo.
Cleo needs a good home. She is about 3 years old, and truly one
of the sweetest dogs we’ve ever had (but she needs to go to a home that doesn’t have chickens or cats).
Very good-natured, always happy, good with kids, etc. (Here’s how happy she always is: Her middle name is “Wigglebottom.” But you could change that if you want.) Our friends had her since she was a puppy, and then we took her when they moved
away, so she has had a known, good upbringing. When they had her, she was an inside/outside dog and she is good in the house. With us she’s been an outside dog. She’s spayed, and up to date with shots. She’s a great dog and I’m sad we need to find her another home, but we do.
Cleo’s perfect home:
Doesn’t have chickens or cats.
Is a ranch, farm, or home with a fenced yard where she can run
around. (No life on a chain!)
Bonus points if there’s another dog or two for her to play
with. She would love that.
Please comment here or email leslie@leslielang.com if you would like to meet Cleo. She lives near Hilo and would travel to meet someone who is interested. She is very affectionate, smart and friendly and would make some family a wonderful friend.
Monday, October 29, 2012 at 6 p.m. at the Hilo High School cafeteria, and
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 6 p.m. at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria.
The Big Island Community Coalition opposes both proposals because they would raise, rather than lower, our electricity rates.
The PUC members are caring human beings. But they have to know what the people want. Only two people, I think, showed up at the last PUC hearing in Hilo. We need hundreds!
The Big Island is in trouble. We have one of the highest electricity rates in Hawai‘i – almost 25 percent higher than O‘ahu’s.
High electricity rates are like a giant regressive tax, only worse. As people leave the electric grid to escape its high cost, those who cannot afford to do so pay even more.
The Big Island has a robust supply of alternatives to oil. We need to mobilize and make meaningful change.
The world has been using twice as much oil as it’s been finding for 20 to 30 years now, and this trend continues.
In the last 10 years, the price of oil has quadrupled. Something significant has changed: This has never before happened in the 150 years comprising our “Age of Oil.”
In China, they use two barrels of oil/person/year, and even when oil costs $100/barrel, their economy continues to grow. Here in the U.S., we use 23 barrels of oil/person/year, and at $100 oil, our economy is sputtering. It is reasonable to assume that the price of oil will continue to rise as it continues to be influenced by China’s demand.
Who here is most vulnerable to rising electricity costs?
Senior citizens on fixed income, for one, who sometimes have to make choices between food, medicine and electricity. We cannot leave our kupuna – our moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas – out there to fend for themselves. These are the ones who sacrificed so we could have a better life.
Single moms are also very vulnerable. I talked to a person who has several kids she hopes to send to college. She told me the threat of rising electricity prices weighs on her every day.
