Fork in the Road

August 19, 2011 Richard Ha

We are coming to a fork in the road. Which way do we want to go?

If we stay on our present course, represented above by the blue line, electricity costs will keep on rising. The graph assumes a modest doubling of oil prices every 15 years, but it might be even more than double.

If we stay on the present path, we will have an increasingly difficult time paying our bills. Schools will pay more money for electricity, and less for education. Supermarkets will pay more for refrigeration, and farmers will get less for their produce. The hotel industry will be hit with higher electricity bills and fewer tourists. Small businesses will have a tougher time. More people will be homeless. And it will be the folks who can least afford it that will end up getting their lights turned off.

On the other hand, following the Ku‘oko‘a ala kai (path), where we use more geothermal as our primary base power, we can go to a place where we use all the renewable energy available to us and electricity costs stabilize. (See the red line above.) Our schools will be comfortable for our keiki to learn in. People will have more work opportunities and we will have fewer homeless people. Because our energy costs will be stable and reasonably priced, we can become competitive in many different areas of production. People will have more money in their pockets and so they will support local farmers, and more and younger farmers will start to grow things.

And because we helped each other to take this positive, renewable energy fork in the road, we will aloha each other.

In the uncertain future that is fast approaching, we will need to have stronger communities, we’ll need to make more friends and we will need to stay closer to our families. The Ku‘oko‘a path will lead us there.

Biofuel, Food Security, Geothermal, Iceland, Renewable Energy Sources

Iceland, In Conclusion

August 15, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

I want to conclude my “Iceland Series” by pointing out something very simple and straightforward that they have learned in Iceland and put into practice, but that we in Hawai‘i have not:

Cheap and proven technology, and clean energy projects, protect an economy from oil crises.

If what the International Energy Association says is true – that we have come to the end of cheap oil – then the bottom line is that by decoupling from expensive oil, we protect ourselves. It is the cost that’s important, not the color or anything else.

In Hawai‘i, we are trying to replace fossil fuel oil with biofuels. But if the replacement is as expensive as oil – which biofuels for electricity generation is – this doesn’t do us any good.

Geothermal, on the other hand, would totally disconnect us from the high cost of energy. It’s the cost that is the most important. And because it’s safer to diversify, we should also maximize our other energy sources, such as wind and solar, without destabilizing the electric grid.

When you go over to Iceland, you see that they have inoculated themselves from rising oil prices. In doing so, they have also made themselves food secure, because their electricity is cheap relative to other sources of energy. For instance, when they export aluminum, which is electricity-intensive, as long as their electricity costs are lower than that of their competitors, they will always have money coming into their economy.

Iceland’s economy depends on cheap energy and fishing as its base. (And Iceland’s tourism increased when the country devalued its currency, so cheap energy had a double benefit.) Hawai‘i’s economy depends on the military and tourism. We need a third leg to give our economy some stability and security.

It was interesting for me to see how a native people, left to their own devices, coped. As of today, Iceland is more energy and food secure than Hawaii! This is why Ku‘oko‘a needs to purchase HEI. The rubbah slippah folks all know this to be true.

Cheap electricity makes an economy competitive in the world. This is where the people’s needs and the utility’s needs should coincide.

Everybody knows that Iceland’s economy crashed in 2008. That happened because they privatized their banking industry, the banks went crazy, and they got caught by the downturn. But because the country has cheap energy, they are pulling out of their recession and the excesses of their banks – while we are struggling to forestall a double dip recession.

This shows us that if you’re in a competitive position relative to energy, and you don’t do anything stupid, you can withstand any oil-induced depression or recession, which is where the world is headed.

Iceland is also concerned about its dependence on fossil fuel for transportation. It has a commercial hydrogen refueling station, and I rode in an SUV powered by methane from municipal waste. They are even looking into making liquid fuels from geothermal electricity and CO2.

Iceland is like a little lab. You go over there and look at the country and say, “Holy smokes! It can be done.”

Now to do it here.

Food Security, Geothermal, Iceland

‘From Across the Sea: Aloha Iceland’

August 13, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Jon Letman, a writer on Kaua‘i, wrote an article and put together an audio-slide show looking at similaries between Hawai‘i and Iceland after he visited Iceland five years ago. It’s called “From Across the Sea: Aloha Iceland.”

From the article, which appears in the Iceland Review Online:

It comes as no surprise that Iceland and Hawaii rarely come up in the same conversation, but perhaps its time that changed. After all, Europe’s northernmost island nation and America’s southernmost island state share more in common than one might imagine…. Read the rest

Iceland has really grabbed the bull by the horns and it has solved its problems of food security and energy. It’s incredible that it’s Iceland who did this.

Hawai‘i could – we should – be doing this.

Awards, Education

Richard Wins Distinguished Alumni Award

August 10, 2011 Leslie Lang

Richard was honored recently as a 2011 Distinguished Alumni of the University of Hawai‘i.

“This award was less about me and really about all of us,” he told me. “I was pleased to be able to acknowledge June’s contributions, as well as my family’s – especially Mom and Pop.”

He was happy, too, that he had a chance to talk about the “common sense” value of using geothermal energy here in Hawai‘i.

He said it was hard to follow Chef Alan Wong and Dr. Henry Yang. “They are both very, very special individuals,” he said.

“Something like this award was beyond my wildest imagination when I flunked out of UH the first time around,” he said. “It just goes to show: Not ‘no can.’ ‘CAN!’”

Geothermal, Iceland, Renewable Energy Sources, Travel

Power Plant Earth

August 8, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

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.

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.

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.

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.

They have an electric car on display.

It was very interesting.

Geothermal, Iceland

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.

Sustainability

Scientists With Heart & Common Sense

July 28, 2011 Richard Ha

The scientists at Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center (PBARC) in Hilo are pursuing their project of “zero waste.” The objective is to utilize all the byproducts of agriculture production in a sensible way.

Their funding had been cut to the bone. But Director Dennis Gonsalves and the scientists there are refusing to give up. They are doing it because they believe in sustainability for Hawai‘i.

This is Marissa Walls, research food technologist at PBARC, and Dennis Gonsalves.

I wrote previously about their algae-to-oil for waste papaya. They started with a test tube of a specially evolved algae that preferred papaya as its food, and it produced oil.

They started the papaya algae-to-oil trial at a 1-liter scale.

This is a short video clip of the algae on a shaker.

Now they are scaling up the process to a 5-gallon size. I was there to witness the first batch being done. First they took the papaya mixture into a special hood, where filtered air was brought in causing positive air flow out of the front. This prevented unfiltered air to come in from the outside.

Just before taking the 5-gallon bucket to the next room, they took a sample of the mixture to test for contamination. If mixture is contaminated by something that grows faster than the algae, they’ll know.

Here is Dr. Gonsalves transferring the first of the 5-gallon batch. Note that the bucket is a plain plastic bucket. They got it from Home Depot.

Because they don’t have funding for a lab, they are using a space under the stairwell of the PBARC building. The algae functions in the dark, so they have black plastic taped to the stairwell to maintain the dark.

There the mixture will be constantly stirred. Instead of a shaker, the 5-gallon bucket mixture is agitated by what looks like a paint mixer.

Dr. Gonsalves tells me that they are getting batches of new evolved algae as they go along, and after a bunch of tweaking by these smart scientists, they have got the oil yield up to 35 percent. After the 5-gallon scale, they will go to 50-gallon and then to 1000 gallons. The mixing, sterilizing and dewatering procedures will change as appropriate for each scale.

I can very easily relate to that. It’s exactly what we did when we scaled up our farm from one acre to 600 acres. These are common sense scientists. I could not be more impressed.

One of the scientists is now looking into the nutritional content of the leftover algae cake. I can’t wait to see if it can be used for fish food. Just imagine, farm waste to oil and then the leftover for fish food. Sounds like common sense to me.

Dr. Gonsalves’ objective is to have real numbers and actual oil for evaluation within a year.

This project is impressive because it focuses on value to society as its end result. Many times, money as an end result goal takes us in a direction we don’t want to go. This project’s focus, and its methods, are simple and practical.

We farmers characterize it as common sense. Nowadays, that is high praise.