Tag Archives: Big Island

Challenges of Biofuels on the Big Island

April 23, 2012 Richard Ha 1 Comment

In the video below, Robert Rapier, Managing Editor and Director of Analysis at the Consumer Energy Report, discusses the challenges of producing cellulosic ethanol, the role natural gas plays in biofuel production, and the uses of excess heat in the production of biofuels.

In general, a circular production model with the production facility in the middle is most efficient. Flat land, deep soil without rocks, lots of sunshine and adequate water supply give significant efficiency advantages.

These conditions do not exist in sufficient scale on the Big Island, making it difficult to produce biofuels in any cost-effective way.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Government

Should Farmers Grow Biofuels Instead of Food?

March 2, 2012 Richard Ha

Should farmers grow biofuels instead of food?

This is a fundamental question that our society will need to answer. How much do we value food production?

When farmers look at rising and uncontrolled oil prices, and are not able to raise their prices to keep up, the message they get is that our society does not, fundamentally, value farmers.

One thing that can help our farmers is geothermal – because it is cheap and its price is stable. Having cheap electricity bills would mean that the people who are the farmers’ customers will have discretionary income, which they can then use to help support farmers.

Every day I talk to many people who are very fearful about rising electricity and gas prices.

Mayor Billy Kenoi has thrown down the gauntlet. He is saying: “We have geothermal; why aren’t we using it?”

I agree with the mayor. Geothermal can help the folks that are on the verge of having their lights turned off. It’s truly about the effect on real people.

Geothermal, Government, Renewable Energy Sources

Mayor Kenoi Asks Why We Aren’t Using Our Geothermal Resource Better

February 29, 2012 Richard Ha 4 Comments

Hawai‘i Island Mayor Billy Kenoi addressed the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce the other day. He asked, “If we have the most productive geothermal in the world, how come we are not using it?”

The Mayor is serious! He is organizing a trip to Ormoc City, Philippines, which has an economy similar to the Big Island’s. Its populationis close to the population of the Big Island. They produce 700MW of geothermal, which they share by cable with other islands. We only produce 30MW.

The mayor wants to see how they do it. Since “if they can do it, we can do it.” Mayor Kenoi understands energy issues very well.

People do not say that 100 percent renewable is a dumb idea, but some say it can’t be done. I agree with the Mayor – it can be done, and it will be done. Not no can. CAN!

And the beneficiary of cheap, proven-technology, environmentally benign geothermal electricity will be all the folks and businesses here who are struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps we will see jobs develop that keep our children from leaving Hawai‘i.

Right now, there are more Hawaiians living outside of the state than in the state. What’s wrong with that picture?

From a West Hawaii Today article:

How, Kenoi then asked the crowd, can the island have the most productive geothermal hotspot in the world and not use it?

“It’s not intermittent,” he said. “It’s cheap, renewable, clean power. How can we not have this opportunity to encourage investment and fully develop the island of Hawaii as a 100 percent renewable energy island?”

He said with excess geothermal electricity, “we can have hydrogen to power buses.”

On both the renewable energy issue and keeping Kona’s international airport designation, Kenoi said he is also working with Sen. Daniel Inouye’s office, seeking federal assistance….

Geothermal, Peak Oil

Can We Have the Same Electricity Rates Statewide?

February 13, 2012 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Levelized electricity rates across the whole state?

Yes, but it needs to be done in a deliberate, thoughtful manner.

Geothermal is gaining momentum, but we need to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves. This must be a bottom-up process, and it must be a Big Island-driven process.

We must assure public safety and demonstrate appropriate deference to cultural concerns.
That accomplished, there must be a clear pathway to lower electric rates for Big Islanders.
And, as the geothermal working group suggests, there needs to be transparency in the distribution of royalties.

So, as geothermal electricity is expanded, Big Island people need to see a plan that shows that rates will stabilize at a reasonable level in a reasonable amount of time. The people have an abundance of common sense.

If geothermal results in lower and stable electricity rates for the Big Island, and if transparent royalty distribution shows that the more geothermal production the more benefit now and for future generations, then Big Islanders will ask themselves, “How can we share?”

There is a big difference between volunteering to share and being forced to share. Local people hate it when the opportunity for sharing is taken away. This is the heart of the matter.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Tverberg: ‘Businessweek Gets It Wrong’

February 6, 2012 Richard Ha

Here is a link to an article by Gail Tverberg. As I’ve said before, I cannot find fault with Gail’s analyses.

Businessweek Gets it Wrong—Everything You Know About Peak Oil is ‘Not’ Wrong

Posted on February 6, 2012

On January 26, Bloomberg Businessweek printed an editorial by Charles Kenney titled, “Everything You Know About Peak Oil Is Wrong.” This editorial reflects several common misunderstandings.

According to Kenney:

Titled Limits to Growth, their report suggested the world was heading toward economic collapse as it exhausted the natural resources, such as oil and copper, required for economic production. The report forecast that the world would run out of new gold in 2001 and petroleum by 2022, at the latest.

Limits to Growth gives a table that might be interpreted to show that oil and gold new extraction will be exhausted by the dates indicated. The book is careful to explain that the situation is more complicated, though.

I agree that it is about the cost of oil and its consequences. I try to find workarounds that can help us here in Hawai‘i. Geothermal is one of those workarounds.

What Should Oahu Do When Big Isle Electricity Rates Drop?

January 30, 2012 Richard Ha

As the Big Island deploys more geothermal, its electricity rates will come down relative to O‘ahu’s.

It won’t be too long before the Big Island’s electricity rates are lower than O‘ahu’s.

See HECO rates per island here.

Should O‘ahu try to levelize rates, in order to take advantage of some of this decrease in electricity cost? Or should it wait for a cable, which would lower electric costs more?

For various reasons, it is better to wait for a cable.

To be continued

Big Island

Introducing Ka‘u Coffee Mill

January 23, 2012 Richard Ha

We went to the grand opening of the Ka‘u Coffee Mill, an Ed Olson project. As Senator Gil Kahele said – and we agree – Ed is a good guy!

John Cross, a good friend of June’s and mine since plantation days, is Project Manager. He’s a good guy, too.

This is Senator Kahele (left) with John.

Coffee drying.

Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources

About the Hawaii Island Economic Summit

January 18, 2012 Richard Ha 2 Comments

On Friday, I attended the Kona/Kohala Chamber of Commerce’s Hawai‘i Island Economic Summit.

One of the questions during an energy session I attended was whether Big Island Mayor Billy Kenoi’s vision of “100 percent renewable energy by 2015” is reasonable.

I replied with some facts:

Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) estimates that it has 200MW of geothermal power at its present site.
At peak use, the Big Island uses less than 200MW.
Right now, PGV is authorized to produce 60MW.
Last time it took them just six months to get authorization from the Planning Commission.
That would leave three and a half months for building the needed production units.

This is doable. What we need is the will to do it.

A description of the Economic Summit:

This Summit will consist of a morning panel “conversation” comprised of five to six guest thinkers and leaders who will discuss their work, ideas that inspire them and what they see as the future for Hawai‘i Island. Confirmed speakers include Dr. Earl Bakken, engineer, businessman, philanthropist, inventor of the pacemaker; William P. Kenoi, Mayor of Hawai‘i County; Sanjeev Bhagowalia, Director of the newly created State Office of Information Management and Technology, Robert Pacheco, President and Naturalist Guide, Hawaii Forest & Trail and Michele Saito, President of Farmers Insurance Hawaii. Moderator for this panel will be Steven Petranik, editor of Hawaii Business magazine.

Our luncheon keynote speaker is Eric Saperston, acclaimed film director and producer, successful author and award-winning speaker and storyteller. Eric is Chief Creative Officer for the ‘inspire-tainment’ company, Live in Wonder, a forward thinking experiential company on the cutting edge of communication to ignite, inspire and enliven the world.

Eric’s story:

Dr. Earl Bakken talked about his manifesto (read about June and I visiting him at his request to discuss geothermal), which includes inspiring kids to use a live cam during the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope, the development of geothermal and Ku‘oko‘a, as well as building a world-class hospital in Waimea.

West Hawaii Today wrote about the summit.

Community, Design, Education, Food and Drink, Melons, Schools

Hawaii Community College and its Food Art

January 16, 2012 Richard Ha 4 Comments

Incredible fruit carvings and sculpture by Chef Alan Okuda’s culinary students at Hawai‘i Community College.

Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources

What the Geothermal Working Group Found

January 11, 2012 Richard Ha

Advantages of geothermal:

It is an indigenous resource
It generates revenue for the state
It generates community benefits
It provides stable power
It is less than half the cost of any of the renewable energy alternatives.
The Big Island will be over the geothermal “hot spot” for 500,000 to 1 million years

I want to share some highlights of the Geothermal Working Group’s final report.

Page 10, Revenues derives from geothermal:

Page 12:

IV. Recommended Steps for Hawaii State Legislators

– Make the allocation of geothermal royalties more transparent to show how benefits come back to the community. Designate the records of the allocations to be public domain.

– Establish a community advisory board to offer suggestions to the DLNR about how royalties generated by geothermal power plants are spent. The advisory board should be members of the communities that host existing or future geothermal power plants and/or those who are most impacted by the development of geothermal energy.

– Encourage the DLNR to use geothermal royalties to identify promising geothermal sites and to further develop the resource.

– In light of the probability that oil will reach $200 per barrel (Lloyds of London), the legislature is requested to commission a study to show the economic impact of various prices of oil.

– Facilitate development of geothermal with a critical review of the geothermal permitting process, regulatory capabilities, and possible investment incentives.

Page 5:

The Geothermal Working Group’s principal findings

– Geothermal is a renewable resource indigenous to the island of Hawaii that is dissociated from the price volatility of petroleum fuels.

– Geothermal can be a key component in a diversified energy portfolio for Hawaii County, both for the electrical grid and for transportation.

– In Hawaii, geothermal is a firm-energy resource at lower cost than fossil fuel. – Developing multiple geothermal plants is the most prudent approach.

– Geothermal has the potential to supply baseload electricity; long term reliability and the ability to supply grid management services (currently supplied by conventional fossil-fueled power plants) must be demonstrated in order to consider geothermal as the primary energy resource.

– With geothermal power plants, agricultural fertilizers, hydrogen, oxygen, and business-enterprise power can be produced for off-peak rates during the hours of curtailed electrical demand.

Page 9:

Overview

Geothermal energy can be developed to become the cheapest form of baseload power for Hawaii County. There are no importation or storage costs. Using geothermal as the primary source of baseload power will permit the county’s businesses to be more competitive with the rest of the world. Using geothermal as the primary source of baseload power will also help folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder—those who struggle with the cost of services.

In addition to stability and affordability, geothermal can leave less of an environmental impact than the commercially-available baseload power sources of electricity. There are no greenhouse gases, emissions and no oil spill risks.

The lower rates of off-peak geothermal electricity encourage the production of ammonia locally. Ammonia is an efficient hydrogen carrier that can be used to power internal combustion engines and as an aid to local agriculture as fertilizer. Light-industry business parks constructed near geothermal energy plants can use excess heat as a resource for heating vegetable and tropical flower hothouses, drying wood, and drying fish.

Benefits of geothermal energy to the community include sharing in geothermal royalties. In accordance with state law, the geothermal royalties are paid directly to the Department of Land and Natural Resources who allocate the royalties in three ways:

1. Department of Land and Natural Resources receives 50% 2. County of Hawaii receives 30% 3. Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) receives 20%

Potential adverse impacts are listed below:

– Interference with worship of the Goddess Pele – Interference with certain Native Hawaiian practices – Rainforest destruction – Possible health and safety impacts – Disruption of the way of life for nearby residents – Hydrogen sulfide and other air quality issues – Noise – Increased strain on an inadequate infrastructure – Impact on native fauna and flora