Tag Archives: electric car

Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources

Forcing the Change

Shall we take the fork in the road that leads us to Hawaiian self-fulfillment?

Dieter Paulmann and the seven vaka showed how it is possible to utilize ancient knowledge to transform fossil fuel transportation on the ocean to one that is fossil fuel-free. They took ancient methods and joined them with modern technolog, strengthening up the masts and using GPS, solar panels and auxiliary electric motors. Thus equipped, these crafts can maneuver better in port. And there’s lots more. Hopefully this will help our Pacific brothers and sisters cope with rising oil prices.

Now Dieter wants to headquarter his operation Okeanos here in Hawai‘i.

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Volkswagon is envisioning a vehicle that is zero emission if it aligned with a zero emission electricity source. In Hawai‘i, we have geothermal, wind and solar. It’s a one-seater for now, but it’s the thought process, the moving toward a desired future, that’s important.

VW TO UNVEIL SINGLE-SEAT ELECTRIC CAR

By John Reed and Chris Bryant in Wolfsburg The Financial Times.

Volkswagen is poised to unveil a single-seat, ultra-frugal, zero-emission electric car. The German carmaker also plans to offer a “full-service package” for customers of its electric cars by selling them power from renewable sources, Jürgen Leohold, head of research, told the Financial Times.

VW’s one-seat concept or experimental car will showcase the carmaker’s ambition to build vehicles that generate no carbon dioxide, even on a “well-to-wheel” calculation that takes into account the carbon dioxide generatedby power plants. Read the rest here

And our visit to Iceland showed us how a people can free them selves from fossil fuel electricity generation, and make themselves food secure in the process.

All these ideas converge on Hawai‘i.

We take cultural concerns very seriously; having a pono approach to this whole business is critical to us. At its most basic level, going geothermal has to be about taking care of both our Hawai‘i environment – which we can do – and our people. Using geothermal means that our people will be able to not only pay their electric and other bills, but also start getting ahead. Respect for the land and for the people: Those are cultural moves right there.

We must force change here, so we can embrace these visionary ideas and collaborate with these people. The result can be the elevation of the standard of living for future generations.

Maybe we can even incorporate Bhutan’s measurement of standard of living – they measure Gross National Happiness there.

Get thousand reasons why no can. We’re looking for the one reason why CAN!

Geothermal, Iceland, Renewable Energy Sources, Travel

Power Plant Earth

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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.

Building

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.

Combustion

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.

50MW turbine

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.

Education center

They have an electric car on display.

Electric car

It was very interesting.