Our electric utility needs to match up its output with customer needs. Renewable sources of electricity such as wind and solar have short- and long-term problems with fluctuation. That’s why the utility needs to have electricity generation units on standby.
We are so fortunate here to have geothermal electricity, which is not only stable but is also cheaper than wind and solar, all things considered.
And we know that geothermal works in Iceland. In spite of that country’s recent economic crash caused by irresponsible bankers, Iceland is one of the highest-rated countries in the world in terms of quality of life issues.
Hawaii and California utilities are moving to add storage on their grids to accommodate ‘green’ energy and better match production energy production and consumption. But storage is still expensive.
By Ken Silverstein, Contributor / May 11, 2014
Hawaii Electric Co. – no stranger to solar power – has a problem with the sun.
When it shines, so much energy from utility and home-based solar panels comes surging in that it can overload some circuits in the grid and, potentially, cause a power surge that damages home and office equipment. When the sun goes into hiding, the utility has to generate power from somewhere else. That’s why the utility is casting a net to find vendors that could supply it with the technology to store electricity….
The further some things recede in the rearview mirror, the clearer they become.
Concepts that were new and cutting edge at Peak Oil conferences several years ago are now mainstream.
I want to introduce you to the Resource Insights blog, which we have added to our list of blog links at right. You can always click over to it from there.
This was posted a couple days ago (that’s my emphasis there in its final paragraph):
This is the fourth of a six-part series introducing readers of The Christian Science Monitor to concepts useful in understanding the Resource Insights blog. Selected posts from Resource Insights are now appearing regularly on the Monitor’s Energy Voices blog. To read the previous installments of this series click on the following: Part 1, Part 2,Part 3
It is with trepidation that independent petroleum geologist Jeffrey Brown has watched global oil exports decline since 2006. With all the controversy in the past several years over whether worldwide oil production can rise to quench the world’s growing thirst for petroleum, almost no one thought to ask what was happening to the level of oil exports. And yet, each year a dwindling global pool of exports has been generating ever greater competition among importing nations and has become a largely unheralded force behind record high oil prices.
Even though the trend in oil exports has been evident in the data for some time, the analyst community was caught by surprise when a Citigroup report released earlier this month forecast an end to oil exports in 2030 from Saudi Arabia, currently the world’s largest oil exporter. Read the rest
If the Citigroup report is right and Saudi Arabia will stop exporting oil by 2030, then we in Hawai‘i are in big trouble.
Our solution, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, anticipates 70 percent freedom from fossil fuel by 2030. That is to be achieved by 40 percent renewable energy and 30 percent energy efficiency – which means that 60 percent of our energy will still depend on fossil fuel.
But there may not be any oil we can afford then. And actually, we probably won’t be able to afford oil way before 2030 – even, say, 2020? That’s only eight years from now.
There are other views of the future that are just as persuasive. Richard Heinberg and others talk about the end of growth in this video:
In this scenario, oil prices may fluctuate in a relatively narrow band, going from expansion when oil prices dip and contraction when oil price rise above, say, $115/barrel for any extended period.
We all feel the same urgency. The Coalition anticipates driving Big Island electricity prices to be the lowest in the state, in a timely manner. This protects us from whatever happens with oil prices.
We started with the desired end result, and worked backwards:
Protect Big Island families from rising electricity rates
Make the Big Island more food secure
Raise our standard of living relative to the rest of the world
Give working homeless better options
Help Big Island businesses become more competitive in the O‘ahu market, as well as worldwide
Prevent having to export our children, our most precious resource, by having jobs available here on the Big Island
To get the above desired results, we need lowest cost electricity. So our focus is clear. Read more about the Big Island Community Coalition.
