More and more people are looking into the possibility of doing geothermal projects. Mililani Trask and the Honolulu-based Innovations Development Group, a Native Hawaiian renewable-energy development firm, are interested in pursuing a geothermal model that benefits the local community, not only the developer. They have been doing just that in New Zealand.

Ku‘ulei Kealoha Cooper-Springer, trustee of the Kealoha Estate, told me that Jimmy and Miulan Kealoha, her grandma and grandpa, told her many, many years ago that she should pursue geothermal. She said the trust has 89 acres in the geothermal subzone, and that now the time seems to be right.

I have spoken with a representative of another group that is very interested, too, as well as another landowner.

If HELCO were ready to purchase geothermal power, many people would step forward right now.

There has been a major change in how geothermal is perceived by the native Hawaiian community, compared to in the 1970s, when it was done in a heavy-handed, “top-down” manner. The old technology that existed in the 1970s has been replaced by much safer production methods. Puna Geothermal has been in operation for many years now as a good neighbor.

And the world around us has changed since then. The evidence is everywhere – it’s indisputable – that oil will soon start to decline, and that we must find alternatives to fossil fuel oil. The cost of electricity made with fossil fuel oil will rise with increasing oil prices. And it will be the poor folks whose lights will be turned off first. Too often, those folks will be native Hawaiian.

Geothermal is the cheapest form of “base power.” Base power is approximately 85 percent of the electric utility’s needs – it’s the dependable power that prevents our lights from flickering. Geothermal gives off no greenhouse gases, and it has a small footprint compared to solar and biofuels.

And off-peak geothermal power, which would otherwise be wasted, can be used to make H2 and NH3 for use in internal combustion engines. All that takes is electricity, water and air. We have everything we need right here in Hawai‘i to help future generations.

The tide is turning.