Tag Archives: Geothermal

‘From Across the Sea: Aloha Iceland’

August 13, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Jon Letman, a writer on Kaua‘i, wrote an article and put together an audio-slide show looking at similaries between Hawai‘i and Iceland after he visited Iceland five years ago. It’s called “From Across the Sea: Aloha Iceland.”

From the article, which appears in the Iceland Review Online:

It comes as no surprise that Iceland and Hawaii rarely come up in the same conversation, but perhaps its time that changed. After all, Europe’s northernmost island nation and America’s southernmost island state share more in common than one might imagine…. Read the rest

Iceland has really grabbed the bull by the horns and it has solved its problems of food security and energy. It’s incredible that it’s Iceland who did this.

Hawai‘i could – we should – be doing this.

Geothermal, Iceland, Renewable Energy Sources, Travel

Power Plant Earth

August 8, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

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.

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.

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.

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.

They have an electric car on display.

It was very interesting.

Geothermal, Iceland

Iceland Rocks

August 5, 2011 Richard Ha 4 Comments

In the 1970s, the Icelandic people made a decision to use geothermal in a big way. The decision was made around the time of the “oil crisis.”

Now, 50 years later, you can see the results. More than 90 percent of their houses are heated by geothermal. The people are warm in their homes, and they don’t have to cut firewood.

Hawaii monitors for Hydrogen Sulfide much more than Iceland does. We were about 100 yards away when I took that video. You wouldn’t want to be right in the stuff, but no one seemed very concerned.

I have not seen one overhead utility line. Except for the heavy transmission lines, they are all buried underground.

Hawai‘i could be like this, too.

I’m standing on a black sand beach that stretches as far as you can see in both directions.

These would be perfect imu rocks! Very porous.

This next picture could have been taken somewhere on the Big Island.

The rocks in Iceland look like our rocks. It all comes from the same place.

The Icelandic folks have their electricity supply situation completely under control. They focused on affordable and renewable.

This is a small, camouflaged geothermal well that is used only for heating. It brings up heat from around 2,000 feet down and is piped to homes in the area. These are spread around the city and one hardly notices them.

Hydrogen is made on site using cheap electricity and water. This is still experimental.

And they take every opportunity to make multiple revenue streams. Think “exporting tomatoes using artificial light and heat from cheap geothermal.” And raising tilapia. We can learn a lot from these folks.

Roald Marth (left) and I met with Ambassador Luis E. Arrega (middle).

When Iceland transitioned to geothermal, they kept some of their old, oil-fired generating units in place. We drove by one yesterday and were told that in 50 years, they have never had to fire it back up.

(To be continued)

Catch up on the Icelandic Saga:

Part 1, Enroute to Iceland, With a Stop in New York

Part 2, Still in Iceland, Still in Shorts

Biofuel, Geothermal, Iceland, Travel, Water

Still in Iceland, Still in Shorts

August 3, 2011 Richard Ha 5 Comments

We landed in Iceland, where the temperature is mild – it’s in the mid 50s. My shorts and a jacket are working very well, so far. I’m going to stay in shorts as long as it makes sense.

We took a cab into Reykjavik. My first observations were that there are hardly any trees, and that the lava base is very familiar to those of us who live on the east side of the Big Island.

My most significant observation was that there are no overhead electric lines. Everything is underground.

We passed an aluminum manufacturing company on our way in.

I expected it to be belching black smoke, but there wasn’t even a wisp of steam. It looked very benign. We have to visit those folks.

We checked into the hotel. Here’s the view from the hotel.

Then we got a car and went down to the Blue Lagoon. We went in the water and stayed in for maybe two hours; I’m not sure, because I lost track of time. It felt good to relax and get the kinks out after that long trip.

It was sea water with a very slight smell of sulfur, and you could open your eyes under water. People had silica mud spread all over their faces for its therapeutic value. I imagine the silica had the consistency of the stuff women put on their faces at a spa. It was very fine and actually felt kind of good. But I bet it would raise all kinds of problem in the geothermal pipes when it hardens and coats the surfaces.

That’s a geothermal well in the background.

There is a live webcam at the Blue Lagoon!

After that, we explored downtown Reykjavik.

We walked up and down the old city, which has a European feel.

It’s very nice and clean, and things were hopping on a Sunday night. We had to wait more than an hour on our third attempt to get a seafood dinner.

David Stefansson (the project manager at Reykjavik Geothermal) and his wife Olga Fedorova (an international trade lawyer and Russian translator) took us for coffee. They are very nice, friendly and fascinating people and we had a wide-ranging conversation. They told us a lot about the history of Iceland and its people in the context of moving from coal to geothermal many years ago. And in that conversation, we learned that the island’s trees had been cut down many years ago for fuel.

Of course, this all makes a lot of sense. It kind of makes me think of what can happen with biomass.

I want to learn more about the leaders who forced the change that has made the Icelandic people one of the most prosperous people in the world (notwithstanding the disaster that the banking industry recently placed upon the people. They apparently confused capital with energy.)

People here reserve Sundays for family time. It’s kind of like the old plantation days in Hawai‘i. Monday was a national holiday and so we went exploring.

One of many waterfalls in Iceland.

And another one. Iceland has incredible amounts of water from the glaciers.

I happened to be looking through the lens and saw this starting, so I recorded it. This kind of thing happens at random here:

Here’s one of the few products grown in Iceland.

Most are brought in from Europe or the Middle East.

Stay tuned. Much more to come!

Read Part 1 of my Iceland trip here.

Geothermal, Iceland, Travel

Headling to Iceland

July 29, 2011 Richard Ha

Ro Marth and I are leaving for Iceland today, where we will be guests of Reyjkavik Geothermal.

I’m curious to see in how many ways they have been able to leverage geothermal energy. It is true that the economic downturn of 2008 hit Iceland especially hard, but that was due to financial matters, not energy ones.

August is a good time to visit – there are long days with mild temperatures of 55 F or so.

I plan to land there in shorts and then adapt from there as needed. Read more about my wearing shorts all the time.

I will be posting from Iceland, so stay tuned!

From Wikipedia:

Reykjavík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈreiːcaviːk] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. Its latitude at 64°08′ N makes it the world’s northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore ofFaxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in theGreater Reykjavík Area) it is the heart of Iceland’s economic and governmentalactivity.

Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established around 870. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national centre of commerce,population and governmental activities.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

A Humorous Look at How This Could All Play Out

July 22, 2011 Richard Ha

Since the start of the industrial revolution, our energy use has grown about 2.9 percent per year. This article says that to keep growing at even 2.3 percent per year beyond 275 years, we would have to put solar panels on every square meter of land.

Considering the sun’s energy seems limitless, what happens if we could maximize its use?

The article, from Energy Bulletin (July 12, 2011), is Part One of a series that tries to bring large concepts into view by using simple estimations to their logical, and sometimes humorous, conclusions.

Galactic-scale energy

by Tom Murphy

…Surely in 275 years we will be smart enough to exceed 20% efficiency for such an important global resource. Let’s laugh in the face of thermodynamic limits and talk of 100% efficiency (yes, we have started the fantasy portion of this journey). This buys us a factor of five, or 70 years. But who needs the oceans? Let’s plaster them with 100% efficient solar panels as well.

Another 55 years. In 400 years, we hit the solar wall at the Earth’s surface. This is significant, because biomass, wind, and hydroelectric generation derive from the sun’s radiation, and fossil fuels represent the Earth’s battery charged by solar energy over millions of years. Only nuclear, geothermal, and tidal processes do not come from sunlight—the latter two of which are inconsequential for this analysis, at a few terawatts apiece…. Read the rest

Plant leaves are mini solar collectors. Can we convert the product of leaves’ work and convert that result into something that yields more usable energy than what the leaves manufactured in the first place? So far, we have not been very successful.

Most of the processes that involve biofuels have a low net energy result — energy-in versus energy-out. In fact, because there are fossil fuel inputs, there is a term that describes the result. It is called the “receding horizon.” The break-even point recedes into the horizon as fossil fuel prices rise.

While I am for using sun energy to help solve Hawai‘i’s food and fuel problem, I am also for emphasizing geothermal energy as a way to give Hawaii a game-changing energy/food/social advantage relative to the rest of the world. This is about positioning future generations for survival and prosperity all at once.

My Pop would say: Find three solutions for every problem and then find one more just in case. Now is the time to implement that special, geothermal solution.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

Defining Terms & Why Oahu’s In Trouble

July 20, 2011 Richard Ha

Base Power: Eighty percent of the feed source (oil, geothermal energy, biofuels) that an electric utility uses to produce electricity must result in what is called “base load” power. Base Load Power is the power that keeps electricity flowing smoothly to customers, so there aren’t rolling blackouts and flickering lights.

Because 80 percent of the utilities’ power must be base load power, one should pay close attention to the cost of that base load power.

Intermittent Power: The other 20 percent, made up mostly of sun power and wind power, is “intermittent power.” Big Wind falls into the 20 percent category.

O‘ahu depends overwhelmingly on oil for its base power. The utility could import biofuels, but biofuels are much more expensive than oil.

The International Energy Association, which represents the “rich” countries of the world, warns that the era of cheap oil is over.

In Jan 2011, the cost to generate electricity from oil was approximately 16 cents per kWh. By June (when oil was close to $100 per barrel) this had increased to 22 cents/kWh.

Barrons and Goldman Sachs predict that oil will cost $150/barrel within two quarters, and so we can guess that the cost to make electricity from oil may be more than 30 cents/kWh.

And Lloyds of London warns of $200 oil by 2013 – so 40 cents/kWh to make electricity? That’s less than two years from now, and almost double what it costs now.

By contrast, electricity from geothermal is estimated to cost around 10 cents/kWh and this would not change much over the years. Jim Kauahikaua, the chief scientist at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, told me that the Big Island would be over the hot spot that generates geothermal activity for 500,000 to a million years.

Below is one estimation of the world’s future oil supply. In spite of rising prices, world oil supply has not increased since 2004. Keep in mind that we may not have started to drop down the backside of the world oil supply curve – YET.

Oahu is in trouble!

Geothermal

Hawaii: Roots of Fire

July 18, 2011 Richard Ha

I just happened to run across Hawaii: Roots of Fire, a new PBS documentary about the hidden forces driving the planet’s largest and most active volcanic system – the one here in the Hawaiian Islands.

Here’s a clip from the documentary:

This is especially significant because geothermal energy has been so prominent in political discussions here these last few days.

According to the documentary, the lava upwelling that formed the chain of islands up to the Aleutians Islands originated from below the mantle, and maybe even from the earth’s core. This process has been going on for 75 million years.

Geothermal energy does not come from the “hot spot.” It originates in stored heat from old lava flows. So the use of geothermal energy does not interfere with Pele’s ability to make land. Lava for new land (like the new island Lo‘ihi that is forming on the bottom of the ocean right now) comes directly from the hot spot.

This next video is also worth a look. It’s a podcast that lets you tour some of the Big Island’s geologic and cultural sites.

Take a virtual tour of the Big Island of Hawaii’s unmatched volcanic features with volcano expert Dr. Donald DePaolo of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley. This tour is hosted by geologist and filmmaker Doug Prose, co-producer of Hawaii: Roots of Fire. You will visit eleven important geologic and cultural sites on the Big Island outside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It starts in Hilo and ends at South Point. If you want to see these amazing places in person, download the map and take it with you. Allow a few days to visit every place quickly, but you could easily spend a full day at each place exploring!

Heading to Iceland

July 15, 2011 Richard Ha

This is Part Two of a series; see Part One here.

Along with Ro Marth, CEO of Kuokoa, I have been invited to go to Iceland.

We want to find out how Iceland went from being a developing country in the 1970s to one of the most productive countries in the world today. With fishing, geothermal and hydro, they have food and fuel in abundance.

From Wikipedia:

While Iceland is a highly developed country, until the 20th century it was among the poorest countries in Western Europe….

In 2007, Iceland was the seventh most productive country in the world per capita (US$54,858), and the fifth most productive by GDP at purchasing power parity ($40,112)….

Renewable sources—geothermal and hydropower—provide effectively all of Iceland’s electricity[83] and around 80% of the nation’s total energy,[83] with most of the remainder from imported oil used in transportation and in the fishing fleet.[84][85] Iceland expects to be energy-independent by 2050. Iceland’s largest geothermal power plants are Hellisheiði and Nesjavellir,[86][87] while Kárahnjúkavirkjun is the country’s largest hydroelectric power station.[88]

If it’s true that an increasing energy supply due to oil is mostly responsible for the work that goes into manufacturing things – in other words, the world economy – then declining oil supplies will result in less manufacturing of stuff.

For the last 20 to 30 years, the world has been using twice as much oil as it’s been finding, and this trend will likely continue. Since the world’s oil supply is declining, rather than increasing, we cannot expect to rely on government grants, because governments rely on growth to get their revenues. This raises the question of how Hawaii State and County governments will balance their budgets.

We will have to tax the people who cannot bear the taxes when the economy is not growing. Or we need to grow the economy. Growing the economy is clearly the best alternative. But how?

I’m very interested in seeing what they are doing in Iceland.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Sustainability

A Quandary At HELCO

June 27, 2011 Richard Ha 2 Comments

HELCO issued a Request For Information re: geothermal energy this week.

Although in my opinion Hawaiians are overwhelmingly in favor of geothermal, I am finding, as I ask around, that people are conflicted about HELCO’s intentions.

Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), the parent company that owns Hawaii Electric Light Company (the Big Island’s HELCO) and the Maui Electric Company (MECO), readily acknowledges that it has a duty to protect the interest of its stockholders.

And when the interests of the stockholders and the interests of the people are in conflict, HECO’s loyalty lies with the stockholders.

That is at the heart of the problems they are having on Moloka‘i and Lana‘i. And it’s at the heart of the problems they deal with when facing the unprecedented future of rising oil prices.

Passing the cost and risk of Peak Oil, as a result of decoupling, straight through to the rate payers – the public – is not comforting to the people.

We need a new model here, one that lines up the needs of the people with the needs of the utility. We need a new model that transforms the utility into an economic driver, rather than an economic impediment. A new model that focuses on a better life for future generations.

People are very uncomfortable with the prospect of handing over, to future generations, a diminished life compared to what they had. We must do better.

There are a thousand reasons why no can. We need to find the one reason why CAN!