Geothermal, Peak Oil

Why We Need Geothermal

Geothermal is the cheapest of the “base power” alternatives, and we must choose the cheapest alternative first. It’s the people on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder who will have their lights turned off first. We must take care of the most defenseless among us. If they are safe, we are all safe.

Geothermal is also the only alternative that is a resource for the native Hawaiian community.

Why we need geothermal:

One of the most important, yet mostly unnoticed, things happening in the field of energy is that production in world oil fields is declining due to natural causes. Every year we have 4 million fewer barrels of oil than we had the year before, and this needs to be made up by new discoveries.

Saudi Arabia produces approximately 10 million barrels of oil annually. That means that in order to keep the status quo, we need to find the equivalent of another Saudi Arabia every 2-½ years. This is very unlikely.

Here in Hawai‘i, we don’t have time to waste – we must implement economically feasible, proven technology wherever possible. We must do the right things for our future generations.

The technologies:

Because of their sporadic natures, both solar and wind are not likely to supply more than 15 percent of the electric utilities’ total needs.

What about biofuels? Where can they fit? Most are not economically feasible at this time. And its Energy Return on Energy Invested is very low—less than 2 to 1. Robert Rapier, a very well-respected expert in the field, has doubts about much of its technology. I agree with his assessment.

Some say we are discovering more than enough oil, pointing to Iraq as a potential supplier of 12 million barrels per day, if everything goes according to schedule. This, though, would merely delay the “peak” by three years.

What about the Canadian tar sands? They are producing only 300,000 barrels per day now. Even if that doubled, it would be relatively insignificant.

How about the deep ocean off Brazil? If it hits full production in six years – well, oil will have declined by 24 million barrels per day by then. It is unlikely that field will have twice the production of Saudi Arabia.

Because our current economic recession has caused demand to decrease, we have not been paying much attention to oil supplies and this is why we don’t notice too much that’s unusual. But more and more people are starting to notice the seriousness of the situation and they are starting to speak up.

Several very well-respected people in the world oil industry express their concern in this short video clip. They are: Jeremy Gilbert, former chief petroleum engineer for British Petroleum; Sadad al-Husseini, former VP of Production and Exploration Saudi Aramco; and Chris Skebrowski, Editor, Petroleum Review and Principal, Peak Oil Consulting. They all say we have a very serious oil supply problem.

Jeff Rubin is the former Chief Economist of CIBC World Markets and the author of Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller. He built his reputation as one of Canada’s top economists based on a number of successful predictions, including the housing bust of the early ‘90s and the rise in oil prices.

In his recent book, Mr. Rubin predicts $225 per barrel oil by 2012 and with it, the end of globalization, a movement towards local sourcing, and a need for massive scaling up of energy efficiency. In this video, Jeff Rubin explains lots of things one would not normally know. There is also a written transcription of the video, if you’d rather read it. Here’s how it starts:

You know, the world’s not running out of oil. There’s all kinds of oil left in all kinds of places. There’s 165 billion barrels of the stuff in the Alberta tar sands. And if we run out of that, there’s tar sands in the Orinoco. And there’s oil 5 to 10 miles below the ocean floor, in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Brazil. And if we run out of that, there’s oil in shales, in places like Wyoming and Colorado. So it’s not about running out of oil. We’re never going to run out of oil.

But what the world is going to run out of, indeed, what the world has already ran out of, is the oil that you can afford to burn. Not just burn in your cars, and 60 percent of all the oil that we consume is consumed in the form of either gasoline or diesel fuel to power those cars. But maybe, more fundamentally, the ways that we burn oil in a million different degrees to which we’re not aware of. But most fundamentally, the way we burn oil to run a global economy. And by a global economy, I mean where we produce something at one end of the world, ostensibly to take advantage of cheap labor costs, to be sold at the other end of the world.

Because, while that model of the economy is based on wage arbitrage, it assumes, implicitly and critically, that the cost of moving goods and parts around the world is trivial or marginal at best. But no matter how we move goods around the world, whether we move them by air, whether we move them by boat, whether we move them by rail, or by truck, we are burning oil. And soon, we will no longer be able to do that…. (read more)

Geothermal is proven technology. It’s also the lowest cost “base power” source, meaning it will put more discretionary income into the hands of consumers. Businesses will flourish and people will have jobs to raise their families.

As a bonus, “off peak” geothermal power can be used to make ammonia, which can be used as a source of nitrogen fertilizer. It can also be used as a transportation fuel for gas and diesel engines, and can be moved and stored with the same infrastructure as propane.

Remember: geothermal is the cheapest answer, and it is the least well-off among us whose electricity will be shut off first when prices skyrocket beyond what we can now imagine.

Uncategorized

Organic Farming Tunnel

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This is a simple, stand-alone plastic tunnel that people can use to start into covered, organic farming. It’s called a Super Solo tunnel.

SuperSolo
The tunnel is 25’ x 200’ x approximately 11’ tall at the top of the hoop. The roller door is 12’ wide. The poly is 6 mil, hi UV Luminance and the door poly is 12 mil poly.

It is stand-alone, and with the addition of a $300 trellis kit it is strong enough to support tomatoes, cucumbers and more.

Kits are shipped in a basket with pre-bent, three-piece hoops that the grower bolts together; there’s no on-site bending or construction training required.

Stillages

Because of the need to grow cover crops, a Jamaican grower suggested building multiple Super Solo tunnels placed 25′ apart and growing cover crops between them. Then, after two years of building up the soil between the tunnels, you can move the tunnels over 25 feet to cover the “new” soil (using the anchors already in the ground) and grow cover crops on the “old” soil.

The only extra hardware needed to move all the tunnels one “space” to the side would be an extra row of anchors alongside the last Super Solo in the row. After two more years, the tunnels would be moved back to their original position.

We believe in this product and are regional distributors of it.

Geothermal

Looking Back at Looking Forward

Back in January 2008, before most people even realized that trouble was brewing with our economy, Gail Tverberg wrote how the financial system was in for a serious battering. Because she worked as an insurance actuary, she was in a unique position to understand the intertwining and dependencies of financial products and institutions.

Here is a link to a talk she gave in October 2009, which updates her view of what she feels will influence the world’s economies.

I ask myself: Why did we not have more warning? Is it possible we were not looking at the right things?

Being a farmer, I tend to rely on simple physical processes as a basis for explaining things. The simpler, the better. “Energy Return on Investment” is much easier for me to understand than graphs and charts. It has predictive value and it seems like common sense –- i.e., there is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine. Water does not run up hill. Things cool off by themselves. Etc.

I do think that we can still do meaningful things for our future, providing we don’t waste time. For us here on the Big Island, it is clear that we need to develop geothermal sooner, rather than later.

Eating Locally, Education, Food Security, Government, Schools

Update on Punahou Class’ ‘Project Citizen’

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Do you remember the 8th grade class at Punahou School in Honolulu, which wrote to Richard about its class project?

From the email Richard received back in November:

My name is L.T. [name removed]. I’m a 14 year old. I’m a 8th grade Punahou School student. Wanda Adams from the Honolulu Advertiser, recommended you to me to answer some questions on a project my class is doing. The project is called project citizen, we choose a problem in our community, research the problem, and then as a class act on the problem. The problem my class chose is that many local farms are struggling because Hawaii is too dependent on imports from the mainland and around the world. Wanda Adams told me that you know a lot about this topic. I have some questions for you about this it if you won’t mind answering….

Richard recently emailed again to see how they’re doing. Here’s their exchange.

Hi L.:

How is your class doing with project citizen? I have told a fair number of folks about what your class is doing. Reaction is overwhelmingly favorable. People find it inspiring.

Aloha,
Richard

Dear Richard,  

So far, my class has made a lot of progress. My class has come up with a public policy of trying to urge the State to not have an excise tax for Hawaii’s local farmers. And our civic action (something my class is going to do) is hand out wristbands to people to remind them to buy local and, have them sign a contract to pledge that they will try to buy local as much as possible.

My class has contacted a few of Hawaii’s Senate members and House of representatives members to try to get them to pass SB1179, a bill that is similar to our public policy which we want to have as a bill in the 2010 Legislative Secession. SB1179, (National Farm to School program) is a bill that relates to our class project. If passed the National Farm to School program will be taught in all of Hawaii’s public schools, and will teach students about how important local farming is, it will encourage students to eat a healthy diet, and it will have the public school cafeterias provide as much local foods to the children for meals that are bought from local farmers.

If you would want to know more about this bill, here’s the link. I hope this bill or our proposed public policy bill will get passed through Hawaii’s Legislature this year.

Thanks,
L.

Alan Wong, Tomatoes

Honolulu Magazine Article Singles Out Hamakua Springs Tomato

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For your reading pleasure, an article about Alan Wong’s Restaurant in Honolulu that opens with “one perfect red tomato from Richard Ha’s Hamakua Springs Farm on the Big Island.”

Read the Honolulu magazine article here.

Learn more about Alan Wong’s Restaurant here. (Hey, Richard’s picture with Chef Alan is on the home page now! That’s new since last I looked.)

Review how Richard got named “Uncle Tomato.” (Call him that at your own risk if you are more than 2 years old. Well, 5-1/2 now; that’s an old post.)

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Listen To Richard on KIPO-FM Monday 2/1/10

Next Monday’s Energy Futures program on Hawaii Public Radio will focus on sustainable agriculture and its relationship to energy efficiency. Guests will be Richard Ha, president of Hamakua Springs Country Farms located on the slopes of Mauna Kea on the Big Island, and Jerome Renick of the Integrated Agriculture Network, also on the Big Island’s Hamakua Coast.

Energy Futures is broadcast live on Mondays 5-6 pm HST on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and is streamed on the Internet. An archive file of each week’s show is usually posted sometime on Tuesday at the Hawaii Public Radio website.

To listen to this program over the Internet via live streaming audio, click on your player (Windows Media, Real Media or iTunes).

We will be talking on the radio about ag and energy, both subjects that are dear to my heart. Here are some of the things I want to discuss.

Agriculture

For two years now, I have been the only person from Hawai‘i, where we are heavily dependent upon oil for our transportation and for the generation of our electricity, to attend the Peak Oil conference (in Houston 10/07 and Denver 10/09).

The world is not running out of oil – it’s running out of cheap oil. I believe that, in close consultation with the Hawaiian community, we should consider using geothermal for most of the Big Island’s electrical base power needs.

Geothermal breaks even at the equivalent of $57 per barrel oil and will stay steady for centuries. Fossil fuel oil prices will keep on rising, and bio fuels are even more expensive than fossil fuel oil.

We need to choose the alternative that is cheapest and that will not rise in cost, and that is geothermal.

We are busy reorganizing our farm so it will be relevant as oil and gas prices keep on rising. Last summer, when gas prices spiked, some of my workers asked to borrow money to pay for gas to come to work. Clearly, this is not sustainable.

We don’t think that importing foreign labor is sustainable, either. So we are reorganizing into units of small family farms. We call it the “family of farms.” The idea is to utilize our large-scale economy to the benefit of smaller, family-sized units.

For example, we have a local farmer growing all the Japanese cucumbers we used to grow. We provide free water and cooling and they do the farming. We hope to replicate this many times. The result is that all the family farmers will come from the immediate neighborhood, and this way we are not pressured to find workers, nor to provide labor housing.

Energy

I’m big on using Energy Return on Investment (EROI) as another tool to evaluate energy resources.  In the 1930s, to generate 100 barrels of oil took the energy equivalent of 1 barrel. In the 1970s that had declined to approximately 30 to 1, and now it is around 10 to 1. Clearly this trend is not good.

Folks who study these things, Professor Charles Hall in the forefront, estimate that an EROI of 3 to 1 is the minimum for a society to be sustainable. Biofuels, which are often discussed as the solution to the oil problem, have an EROI of <2 to 1.

On the other hand, geothermal has an EROI of 10 to 1 and it will be that way for centuries.

Plus, geothermal is the cheapest form of base power. And because the State owns the mineral rights to geothermal, it is a resource for the Hawaiian people: 20 percent of proceeds from geothermal goes to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

In addition, from the “off-peak” stranded power that geothermal provides, we can make ammonia, which can be used as a transportation fuel as well as a fertilizer source.

There’s a lot to like about geothermal.

Hamakua Coast, Hydroponics, The New Ahupua‘a, Water, Where We Live

Kahua Ahupua‘a

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The last few days, I’ve been focusing on Kahua Ahupua‘a. Of the three ahupua‘a that comprise Hamakua Springs Country Farms, I find this one the most interesting.

Within 600 feet there are two streams: Makea on the north boundary, and Ali‘a on the south. Between the streams is a ridgeline, maybe 75 to 100 feet from stream level, and running on the ridgeline from mauka to makai is a cane haul road.

It has a clear view of both Mauna Kea and the ocean, as well as of the greenhouses in the valley facing north, toward Honoka’a, and the banana fields facing south, toward Hilo. June and I plan to eventually build a house there. We just submitted a plan to the County in order to subdivide.

Yesterday I spent several hours on the bulldozer, reopening old roads and clearing access to the streams. Today I spent time knocking down many, many 20-foot albizia trees, and making sure the roots were completely pulled out of the ground. There’s one giant albizia tree that is even larger than the ones in this picture. The base is at least 10 feet around and the tree is easily 100 feet tall with many giant side branches. That’s where the seeds for the others are coming from.

I wonder how I’ll get rid of it. Cutting it down is just unimaginable. Here is how they cut a tree down at Lyons Arboretum.

Here is an easier way, with a drill and injecting.

The whole time on the bulldozer, I was thinking about how I can situate some hydroponic hoop houses that would allow us to capture fertilizer runoff, grow algae and raise tilapia. I would get the water further upstream, at a higher elevation, and then run it to the hydroponic hoop houses and use the excess fertilizer to grow algae and then, further downstream, send it to the tilapia. Gravity and free water are our friends.

I am going to grow algae for fuel. Not for cars, but to grow tilapia. Food fuel. The hydroelectric project is close by.

I’m also thinking of making a place to just sit and listen to the stream. I wonder where I can get hapu‘u? Where would kukui nut trees go? Lauhala? Ulu? Hmmm.

This is going to be a big, long project. I’ll write about it as I go along.

Big Island, Community, Food Security, Sustainability

Michelle Galimba & Kuahiwi Ranch

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Richard told me he is very impressed with what Michelle Galimba and her family are doing in Ka‘u, and so I thought I’d give her a call and learn a little more.

Michelle galimbaMichelle (left) and her family

I learned that Michelle grew up on dairy farms in Ka‘u and then lived in Haleiwa on O‘ahu, where her dad worked for Meadow Gold Dairies. These days, she and her family own and run a cattle ranch in Na‘alehu.“There’s a little bit of irony in the name,” she told me about their Kuahiwi Ranch. “Kuahiwi means ‘mountain,’ but the other meaning is ‘back country,’ like ‘the sticks.’”

To some people, Ka‘u has that sort of back country reputation. Michelle says she thinks people in Ka‘u are starting to rethink values, though, such as of its traditional culture, and that the lifestyle of Ka‘u is becoming more and more relevant.

“If we can find success stories for people in Ka‘u,” she says, “I think that goes a long way in changing other people’s perceptions and also our own, for ourselves.”

She mentions the coffee industry that’s recently sprung up in Ka‘u. “My friend Chris [Manfredi] started talking with the coffee farmers and thought their coffee was really good. He entered it into this international competition and it did really, really well. People were just so thrilled.”

She is one of the organizers of this year’s Ka‘u Coffee Festival, which will be May 1st and 2nd.

“There’s starting to be a stable of agriculture products in Ka‘u that are premium and interesting and something people can be proud of,” she says. “It’s what I’m hoping for with our beef. That we can get other ranchers involved with it and build up this market for it.”

Kuahiwi Ranch started in 1993, about the time the sugar plantations were going out and sugar cane lands were becoming available. It’s operated by Michelle’s parents, her youngest brother and herself, with age-appropriate help from her daughter and her brother’s three children (who range in age from 8 to 13).

They raise cattle for beef on 10,000 acres between Wood Valley and Waiohinu. Their cattle are free range and grass fed, and the cattles’ diet is also supplemented with grain.

“It’s a little different from grass-fed beef,” she explains. “If you just feed the cattle grass, the tenderness varies. Our beef is a little bit more expensive, but it’s more consistently tender.”

From the Kuahiwi Ranch website:

With the growing public interest in eating local and sustainable food systems, Kuahiwi Ranch decided to offer the public the best beef we know how to produce — beef that is tender, mild-flavored, and of consistent quality, but also raised naturally and humanely.

Our cattle always have plenty of room to roam and green grass to eat, but they are also given access to a grain ration for approximately 90 days.  This grain ration consists of three natural ingredients — corn, barley, molasses, that’s it.  It’s kind of like granola.

Since the late ‘70s, most Hawai‘i ranchers ship their cattle to mainland feed lots, which has been the most economically efficient model. In the last three or four years, says Michelle, as corn and transportation prices have risen, things have changed and it’s become more viable to keep cattle here.

There is little infrastructure here, though, to process the beef, and until recently there wasn’t a market locally for grass-fed beef.

She says you cannot get local beef at any supermarket on O‘ahu, and that this is a focus for Kuahiwi Ranch right now. “But everything is set up to come over in a container from the mainland,” she says. “It’s what everybody’s used to working with.”

“It’s an ongoing struggle on all kinds of fronts, and in the industry as a whole, to get it to work,” she says. “On the other hand, there’s a lot of enthusiasm – from chefs and people at the farmers’ markets. That’s kind of what keeps us going.”

Here on the Big Island you can buy their beef at KTA, where it’s sold under the “Kulana Natural” and “Mountain Apple” labels. She also sells their product, under the Kuahiwi Ranch name, at the Na‘alehu Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and at the Volcano Farmers Market on Sundays.

Somewhere in the midst of all that dairy farm living and cattle raising, Michelle went to UC Berkeley and got a PhD in comparative literature. It’s a little jarring in its dissonance from what she does now – the ranch’s marketing as well as its accounting, though she says her favorite thing is to get on her horse and drive the cattle – until she is asked about her thesis, which was about an 11th century Chinese poet named Su Shi.

“He was this academic superstar,” she says, “and in China if you were really good in literature you rose through politics really quickly. He became the premier, running the whole country, but then he was exiled to, like, Ka‘u.” She laughs.

“He wrote a lot of poems about having to grow his own food and how rewarding that was,” she says.

I get the impression that Michele and Su Shi would have gotten along.

Shorts, Where We Live

Frozen Food

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Farmers face many risks. This is something we all have in common.

A couple of weeks ago, Florida farmers experienced temperatures that were 30 degrees below normal.

Here is a slide show of the freeze, from The Packer

 In Belle Glade, Fla., temperatures dropped during the early morning hours Jan. 10 and into Jan. 11, falling to the upper 20s at a time when normal lows are typically 51 to 52 degrees. The result was a freeze that destroyed most of the area’s sweet corn and green bean crops. On Jan. 12, Bryan Biederman, assistant sales manager for Pioneer Growers Co-op, Belle Glade, said losses to crops grown in Palm Beach County will be high. “It appears that we have lost all of our winter corn and winter beans in Belle Glade,” he said. “There may be a planting or two on warmer land that we may be able to save, but for the most part we were completely wiped out in Belle Glade.” Biederman said the corn market shot up to $18 from $12 the week before for wirebound crates of 4-4 1/2 dozen… Read more

Though of course we have other risks here, we are lucky that we don’t have freezes like that. I stood on the farm today, wearing shorts like I do all year long, and in one direction I looked up at Mauna Kea, and in the other direction I could see the ocean.

I thought about how lucky we are to live here in this climate on the Big Island.