Tag Archives: Big Island Community Coalition

Biofuel, Food Security, Geothermal, Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Energy & the Future of the Big Island

January 21, 2013 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

This past Friday I participated on an energy panel at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel called “Energy: Facing the Reality of Renewables.” Panel members were Jay Ignacio, President of Hawaii Electric Light company; Mike Kaleikini, who is General
Manager of Puna Geothermal Venture; and myself, as steering committee member of the Big Island Community Coalition.

From the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce: “The 2013 Summit will further explore those initiatives via ‘panels of conversation’ on each topic. Three guests per topic have been invited to participate on panels to discuss their work with the Summit audience, ideas that inspire them and what they see as the future for Hawaii Island. Each panel will have 45 minutes of discussion followed by questions from the audience. We are pleased to have Steve Petranik, Editor of ‘Hawaii Business Magazine’ as our moderator again this year.”

There were five panels: Education, Sustainability, Employment, Energy and Health Care.

West Hawaii Today wrote about it in an article called Prospects of an All-Geothermal Isle Unlikely.

I started out by saying mixed messages are being sent out. Some say that the U.S. has enough oil and gas that we will soon replace Saudi Arabia as a world energy supplier. Using data and scientific methods, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA (ASPO) has come to different conclusions. Its agenda is merely to spread the best information it has on this topic. You can learn more by viewing video at the ASPO-USA.org website.

I described the Big Island Community Coalition’s mission, which is to achieve, for the Big Island, the lowest-cost electricity in the state. Striving for a low cost solution hedges our bets. It is better to be safe than sorry. I told them that those interested in supporting this group can get on the Big Island Community Coalition mailing list.

I related how food and energy are inextricably tied together. Food security has to do with farmers farming. And if farmers make money, the farmers will farm! But while only two percent of the mainland’s electricity comes from oil, more than 70 percent of the electricity in Hawai‘i does. The mainland, of course, is our main supplier of food and our biggest competitor. As oil prices rise, Hawai‘i becomes less and less competitive.

As oil prices rise, and electricity prices rise, and farmers and other businesses become less competitive, local families have less spending money.

The answer is to find the lowest electricity cost solution. For if people have extra money, they will spend it. Two-thirds of our economy is made up of consumer spending.

Provided that the expensive and ill-advised Aina Koa Pono biofuel project does not go forward, we have a bright future ahead of us. In the pipeline is Hu Honua’s 22MW biomass burning project, and
next is 50W of additional geothermal. Add to that 38MW of present geothermal, and, assuming the old geothermal contract is renegotiated, that would amount to 110MW of stable affordable electricity. This would be more than 60 percent of the peak power use on the Big Island. Even if we do not count wind and solar renewables, this would put the Big Island on a trajectory of achieving the lowest cost electricity in the state.

What would happen if our electricity costs were lower than O‘ahu’s? We can’t even imagine it.

It would change our economy.
It would help our County government preserve services.
Fewer of our kids would have to go to the mainland to find jobs.
More of our money could be used for education, instead of paying for oil.
More people would have money to support local farmers.
Single moms would have less pressure than they do now.
Folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder would not be pushed over the edge.
There are lots and lots of younger folks who want to farm. Maybe they could actually make money so they could farm.

I told the audience that we on the panel were all friends. But there is too much at stake for the BICC to give ground on our goal to make the Big Island’s electricity the cheapest in the state.

During the Q & A, someone asked what we each thought about an undersea cable to connect all the islands. I replied that our primary objective is to bring low cost electricity to the Big Island before we do anything else.

The audience liked that a lot and spontaneously applauded.

Biofuel, Lowering Electric Rates, Renewable Energy Sources

Is HECO Seriously Damaging Its Credibility?

January 13, 2013 Richard Ha

A proposed biofuels project that Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) supports is going through PUC approval process right now.

HECO’s public relations people say that as a result of this new project going through, the average Hawai‘i rate payer’s electricity bill would increase by only about $1 per month.

But let’s look at that in a little more depth. HECO is seeking approval to pay Aina Koa Pono (AKP) $200/barrel for the biofuel it produces on the Big Island at Ka‘ū, and would pass on any extra cost (beyond what oil actually costs at the time) to its rate payers, both on the Big Island and on O‘ahu.

HECO has kept that $200/barrel price secret – they are still keeping it secret – but the Big Island Community Coalition folks figured out the price, and how the “$1/month rate increase” was determined.

Using the Energy Information Agency’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook (AEO-2012), one can see that HECO is using the highest price scenario, which projects an oil price close to $180/barrel in 2015. In the AKP discussion, it was said that the price of oil would exceed the actual price projected at the end of the period.

We can see that the line hits $200/barrel in 2035. Since they assume that oil will be $180 in 2015, they can therefore say that the difference (between the actual and projected price) would be very small: Hence, an increase of only perhaps $1/month for the average rate payer.

However, it follows that if the actual price of oil is much lower than $180/barrel, rate payers will be paying the difference between that amount and $200. What if the actual cost of oil in 2015 is $120/barrel? That would cause rates to go up much more than $1/month – especially for high-power users.

I cannot help but think that HECO is damaging its credibility immensely by pushing this project. HECO is spending hundreds of
thousands of dollars on public relations to convince us that it is trying to lower people’s rates – when, in secret, it appears to be doing exactly the opposite.

By the way, HECO says the hundreds of thousands of dollars it spends on PR comes from its shareholders. How can rate payers tell when HECO is speaking on behalf of its shareholders, and when it’s speaking on behalf of its customers?

This Aina Koa Pono project needs to be rejected because it will make our electricity rates rise. Rising electricity rates act like a giant regressive tax, because as folks who are able to leave get off the grid, those who cannot afford to are left to pay for the grid.

This results in farmers and other business folks having higher operating costs. For everyone else, it takes away discretionary income. And we know that two-thirds of our economy is made up of consumer spending.

There are also problems with the project itself. Fuel has never actually been produced using the process and feedstock that Aina Koa Pono proposes. AKP does not know what it is going to grow. So far, the feedstock it is testing experimentally is white pine. The Micro Dee technology that AKP wants to use is still experimental.

There is also a risk that this process might use more energy than it generates. Generating electricity is generally about boiling water and making steam that turns a turbine. It is cheapest to burn the stuff, boil water and make steam.

But Aina Koa Pono’s proposed process is extremely energy-intensive and expensive: It would make electricity to make microwaves to vaporize the cellulose to get the liquid and then take the pyrolysis oil, refine it to make it burnable, and then haul it down to Keahole in tanker trucks to make steam. Why should the rate payer pay for all that?

Cellulosic biofuels are not yet a cost-effective technology. On the mainland, in the middle of last year, the Environmental Protection Agency drastically decreased its 2011 estimate for cellulosic biofuel from 250 million gallons to a paltry 6 million gallons.

In 2010, cellulosic biofuel companies on the mainland needed to buy their feedstock for $45/ton. But because farmers were earning $100/ton for hay, the biofuel firms received a $45/ton subsidy.

I asked how much AKP expected to pay for feedstock, and the AECOM Technology Corporation consultant said between $55 and $65/ton. The problem there is that Hawai‘i farmers have been earning $200/ton for hay for 10 years now.

There is an agricultural production risk, as well. Palm oil is the only industrial-scale biofuel that can compete with petroleum oil. AKP has 12,000 acres and it says it will produce 18 million gallons of biofuel annually, and another 6 million gallons of drop-in diesel. So it will produce 24 million gallons using 12,000 acres. That is 2,000 gallons per acre, and that is four times the production of palm oil. More likely they would need at least four times as much land, or 48,000 acres. But where?

Consider too that Ka‘ū Sugar relied on natural rainfall, and it was one of the least productive of the sugar companies. There is a drought right now. And at 22 degrees N latitude, the area has less sun energy than the palm oil producers located on the equator.

According to Energy Expert Robert Hirsch, in his book The Impending World Energy Mess, the best model for biofuel production is a circular one, where processing is done in the
center of a field (which does not exceed a radius of 50 miles) consisting of flat land and deep fertile soil with irrigation and lots of sun energy. This situation exists in Central Maui, where Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) is located. It explains exactly why HC&S is the sole surviving Hawai‘i sugar plantation.

To compete heads up in the world market would require the best possible combination of production factors. These are not them.

It’s also important to consider that locking ourselves into a 20-year contract now would preclude lower cost alternatives. Geothermal, for example, is the equivalent of oil at $57/barrel. Ocean thermal has the possibility of being significantly lower in price than $200/barrel oil. LNG is on the radar and so is biomass gasification. Who knows what else would come up in 20 years?

Paul Brewbaker and Carl Bonham, both highly respected Council of Revenue members, have said, very emphatically and for a while now, that low energy cost is critical. We should listen to them.

The International Monetary Fund team modeled different oil supply scenarios and did a presentation at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference a month and a half ago. They could not model a constant $200/barrel oil. Those would be uncharted waters; and ones, by the way, that would devastate Hawai‘i’s tourist industry. Why should we start paying $200/barrel for oil in 2015 if we don’t have to?

Five people from Hawai‘i attended this year’s ASPO conference. Notably, Kamehameha Schools sent two high-level people. Next year, Hawai‘i should send 20 people to learn what’s happening with oil prices and energy.

In the meantime, the amount of risk involved in the AKP biofuels proposal is just far too great. In the investment world, reward is generally commensurate with risk. Except for protection from $200/barrel oil in later years, the AKP project would provide little reward for all the risk we rate payers would assume.

This is a very, very bad deal for consumers.

Big Island electricity rates have been 25 percent higher than O‘ahu’s for as long as anyone can remember. This probably adds to the reason why the Big Island has the lowest median family income in the state, as well as the social ills that go with it. We need lower rates, not higher rates!

Although this is not an official Big Island Community Coalition (BICC) communication, I would like to point out that the BICC has been very instrumental in getting lots of people to stand up and say, “Enough is enough.”

The BICC is a bare-bones, grass roots citizen group with some of the most recognizable names on the Big Island on its steering committee: Dave DeLuz Jr., John E K Dill, Rockne Freitas, Michelle Galimba, Richard Ha, Wallace Ishibashi Sr., Ku‘ulei Kealoha Cooper, D. Noelani Kalipi, Ka‘iu Kimura, Robert Lindsey, H M Monty Richards, Marcia Sakai, Kumu Lehua Veincent and William Walter.

Big Island, Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil

What I Gleaned From This Year’s Peak Oil Conference

January 1, 2013 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Richard Ha writes:

I’ve found it takes about a month for me to assess what I learn at Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conferences. And it’s been about a month now since I returned from the most recent conference, my fifth one.

As we start a new year, I can say that I am very optimistic about our prospects on the Big Island. Our new County Council is thinking about the whole island, not just East vs. West. The Big Island Community Coalition has shown that people can indeed draw a line in the sand and make a difference on electricity price issues.

This is truly about all of us; not just a few of us. Instead of focusing on the thousand reasons why “No can,” we need to form into communities of people who agree on the one reason why CAN:

For the greater good.

The U.S. shale, gas and oil boom will not last forever. But it does give us some time to position the Big Island to be a better place for future generations. It is about utilizing low cost options, and it is about taking care of our community. Doing these things will make all of us more prosperous.

Community, Government, Lowering Electric Rates

Bill Walter Tells PUC No to 4.2% HELCO Increase

November 29, 2012 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

Here is Bill Walter’s testimony against HELCO’s proposed 4.2 percent rate increase, which he submitted to the PUC. Tomorrow (Friday, November 30, 2012) is the deadline for all testimony against this rate increase, as well as the proposed Aina Koa Pono project. You can email your testimony to: hawaii.puc@hawaii.gov.

It’s in the interest of the utility, as well as in the interest of the people, that we all seek lower electricity rates.

To: hawaii.puc@hawaii.gov
Subject: HELCO RATE INCREASE OF 4.2% – Docket 2012 – 0099

Commissioners,

Thank you for the opportunity to write you on this subject. At some point, the questions before you on various rate increases proposed by HELCO/HECO are simple:

•How much is enough? and

•When do we draw the line on increases?

We understand that while the questions are essentially fairly simple, finding answers can seem very difficult. Those wanting the rates to increase run through myriad statistics, data, logic and come up with apparently compelling reason. These answers come in an age old context of how we, as a society that is primarily market based, handle a monopoly supplier of an essential ingredient of our modern life. Over the generations the solution has typically revolved around ensuring a reasonable return on company (hence, stockholder) assets while providing a level of service that ensures quality to the community. While in a general case over the last 75 years that may have been reasonable, we suggest questioning that – at least for this community at this time. Please note the following:

• As it is, Hawaii Island rate payers pay four times the US national average for electric power. We pay a 25% premium compared to Oahu – today.

• Hawaii Island residents include among the most economically challenged in the State of Hawaii. While certainly not the only reason, the high cost of power works to keep our residents economically challenged. Why?

The cost of operating any business with more than a marginal energy input on the Island experiences higher energy costs than competition from most other locations. When you add to this the cost of getting our product to market (or the market to our product in the case of tourism) the competitive hurdle can become prohibitive to overcome. This increase will only add to that hurdle.

• Because of the integral nature of electric power to our way of life, the cost of electricity is little different in effect from the most regressive of taxes. If you look at this simile several issues jump at you:

In the last four years governments across the country have been highly reticent to raise taxes understanding the negative impact higher taxes would have on the economy and on those most economically challenged. This relates back to the point above – namely that higher electric power costs have a depressing affect on the economy of the Island of Hawaii, at their current level.

Local governments – including ours here on the Island of Hawaii – have taken extraordinary steps to reduce the cost of government services while retaining government service levels. On this island that has included furloughs of County workers, layoffs, employment freezes, job sharing, looking for efficiencies that allow for reduced expenses across the board, reductions in executive staff salaries, suspension or reduction in non essential services – and the list goes on. It is common place to hear of businesses on this island taking similar – and in some cases more radical steps to reduce expenses. It is uncomfortable, but notable that we have heard of no such steps taken by our utilities in order to try to pass on to the community reduced costs that may be helpful in these difficult times. In fact, what we have heard is like this – requests for higher prices. Somehow that difference is hard to take.

•The long term reality is that power generation is moving to dis-integration much as phone service has rapidly moved in that direction. It would be wise for both the Commission and the companies to ask if it is not time to consider this coming dis-integration. The only way for the current system to survive in the long run is to be in a price reduction, not price increase mode. The cost of standalone competition is inexorably being reduced. Sooner than later only those who cannot afford to get off the grid will have departed it – how will that work and will the commission have been a part of that scenario?

So my short answer to these questions is that “enough is already enough” and the line needs to be drawn now – for the survival both of the island economy and for the survival of the utility.

My personal response has been to join the Big Island Community Coalition looking for ways to reduce power costs. I am becoming proactive in this direction. We ask that the commission and, indeed, HELCO/HECO become proactive in this direction as well. Better that we spend our efforts looking for cost reducing solutions than for cost increasing reasons.

Thank you for your consideration.

Bill Walter

Community, Hawaiian Role Models

Noelani Kalipi & Kaiu Kimura Named Omidyar Fellows

October 24, 2012 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

The Omidyar Fellows has announced its inaugural class of statewide Hawai‘i leaders -13 people chosen from more than 150 applicants -and two of them are members of our Big Island Community Coalition (BICC). Wow!

Read about all the Fellows here.

Here’s how the program is described:

Hawaii’s future will be shaped by the ability of its leaders to meet the increasingly complex challenges facing our state. That’s why it’s important to cultivate a community of emerging executives and to equip them with the skills and relationships they’ll need to collectively transform Hawaii.

In the fall of 2012, a diverse group of talented local leaders will be convened as the first class of Omidyar Fellows. Over a 15-month period, Fellows will participate in a rigorous program that’s designed to build stronger leaders, more effective organizations, and cross-sector connections that are necessary to collectively affect community change. Omidyar Fellows will cover all costs associated with the program for each participant. And while the investment is significant (estimated at over $50,000 per participant), so is the promise of a group of leaders with the skills and experience needed to help lead Hawaii into the future.

The program is just the beginning of a lifelong commitment by Omidyar Fellows to make a positive difference with the knowledge and network gained and to help subsequent generations of emerging leaders. The cumulative impact of this extraordinary learning opportunity has the promise to be a life changer for Omidyar Fellows and a game changer for the people of Hawaii.

I attended the kick-off reception, and after all the speaking, what I was left with is that the Omidyar Fellows are about the greater good. Though it wasn’t said in these exact words,what I took away was they would focus on the question “What about the rest?”

This is what we are doing in the BICC, too. It is so appropriate that Kumu Lehua, when we were in the early days of the Thirty Meter Telescope effort, asked me that exact question. I never forgot it.

I am involved because Noe asked me to be her sponsor, and that’s a big deal to me. These young leaders are really special people and to be associated with them is something else.

Noe is interesting in that she is completely comfortable and effective operating in various different worlds. She totally fits in around here, local style, and you’d never know she spent 15 years in Washington D.C., where she worked in Senator Akaka’s office. Yet when she’s in Washington, she is completely comfortable talking with people at the congressional level. And she’d never tell you that she was a lawyer in the Army Airborne corps and used to jump out of airplanes.

She’s an impressive person – organized, steady and very focused. She thinks big!

I recognize this leadership ability in both Noe and Ka‘iu. I’m really happy about this because I’m looking at the future and it’s obvious to me that they both have that kind of grounding, that “What about the rest of us?” This means the moral compass is
clear. The direction is clear. You know where they are all the time.

Congratulations, Noe and Ka’iu. You guys make us all proud.

Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil

Our Plan to Lower Electric Bills, Validated

October 17, 2012 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

If you signed up on the website with the Big Island Community Coalition, you recently received the following email from us.

Gail Tverberg received it and she emailed me this:

Thanks! Good for you!

The message about getting lower cost electricity is exactly right. It is hard to be very competitive (except maybe at tourism) with very high energy costs.

It’s hard for me to express how respected a position Gail holds in the world of energy commentary. She is very knowledgeable, highly respected and she holds the starkest possible view.

I look at what she has to say as, “Okay, that’s the worst case possible, and let’s figure out a way around it.” What she emailed me validates our “work-around.” It’s an extremely important validation.

From the Big Island Community Coalition:

Aloha Members!

The PUC is holding two hearings this month, one in Hilo on October 29th, 6:00pm at Hilo High Cafeteria, and the other on October 30th, 6:00pm at Kealakehe High School Cafeteria. They want to hear YOU. Bring your kids, bring the kupuna, and bring your friends. Tell the PUC how rising electricity rates are affecting you and your family. We do not have to accept these rate hikes.

Rising electricity rates act like a giant tax that hurts the most defenseless among us. Seniors on fixed income, single moms, renters, working homeless, and businesses are all hurt by rising electricity rates. Just last month, it was reported that two houses burned down from using candles. One household was using candles for light because they could not afford the electricity bill.

The Big Island has had electricity rates 25% higher than Oahu for as long as anyone can remember. If we were successful in getting the Big Island electricity rate lowest in the state, we would be able to grow and sell more products on Oahu. There would be more jobs here on the Big Island. Instead of leaving for the mainland to find jobs, our children would be able to stay here and work.

If we were successful in getting locally-produced, lower-cost electricity, our school budget would not rise by 25% every two and a half years. That saving would go toward your child’s education instead of oil from a foreign country.

Already your actions are starting to get results. Just a short time ago, no one could imagine talking about lowering electricity rates. But because of the actions of the Big Island Community Coalition, HELCO is running full page ads in the newspaper. They are now focusing on how they can lower your electricity rates. If you show up in large numbers at the PUC hearings, you can change the thinking of the state government as well.

At the last PUC hearing the participants were mostly from Ka’u. This time folks from Ka’u, Kona, Kohala, Puna, Hilo, Waimea — the whole island, will be represented. At the last PUC hearing, the Consumer Advocate was in favor of ‘Aina Koa Pono, dismissing the opposition as NIMBYism. This time when you all show up from all parts of the Big Island, the Consumer Advocate has no choice but to advocate for the consumers — all of us.

Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.

– Mahatma Gandhi

When you show up at the PUC hearings in large numbers, your words will become your actions. Then your actions will become your habits — on the way forward, your values will become your destiny. Our values are — taking care of all of us, not just a few of us, for generations to come.

Share Your Story

How has the rising cost of electricity affected you and your family? How would an even higher electricity rate have an impact on your lifestyle? Are you neighbors with the family who spends their evenings by candlelight? We want to know. Every story matters. This issue of costly energy involves all of us. Email us your story to bigislandcc@gmail.com.

Please mark on your calendar the PUC meeting nearest you, and consider attending if you can. Every person in attendance, every story, will make a difference.

And join us at the Big Island Community Coalition if you haven’t yet. Enter your email address here, and we will send you an occasional newsletter, like the one above, to keep you informed.

Lowering Electric Rates

Front Page News

September 28, 2012 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Richard Ha writes:

Front page news today in the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald newspaper:

September 28, 2012

Isle’s energy at center of debate

By PETER SUR

Tribune-Herald staff writer

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.

Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Peak Oil Concerns Now Mainstream: Christian Science Monitor, Citigroup

September 24, 2012 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

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):

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Global oil exports in decline since 2006: What will importing nations do?

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.

That is the reason we formed the Big Island Community Coalition.

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.

Community, Lowering Electric Rates

My Audio at Kona Blog Radio

September 14, 2012 Richard Ha

Richard Ha writes:

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:

Listen to internet radio with KBP on Blog Talk Radio

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 next step: Asking people to attend upcoming PUC hearings.

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.

Big Island, Community, Lowering Electric Rates

PUC: Here’s When You Can Show Up & Make a Difference

September 5, 2012 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Richard Ha writes:

If we show up in huge numbers at PUC hearings, we can make a difference.

The PUC will hear HELCO’s proposal for a 4.2 percent rate hike, as well as about Aina Koa Pono’s proposed biofuel project, on:

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.

According to this week’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald, 3,000 of the 10,000 folks in Hawai‘i who receive federal aid to help pay their electric bill are on the Big Island. We have less than 15 percent of the state’s population, yet more than 30 percent of Hawai‘i’s residents who receive federal assistance to pay their electricity bill are on the Big island.

Join the Big Island Community Coalition to receive an occasional email telling you how you can help bring down the cost of Big Island electricity.