Tag Archives: Richard Ha

Maku‘u Stories, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Hawaii Needs to Show the Way, Not Serve as a Warning

December 5, 2011 Richard Ha

Robert Rapier and I have an article in Civil Beat today. Read the article here.

Hawaii Should Show Way to Better Energy Future

Over the past decade, world oil prices have advanced from approximately $25 per barrel to more than $100 per barrel. Had the price of oil merely kept pace with inflation, the $25 barrel in 2000 would have been worth just over $30 in 2010. Thus, there was a fundamental shift in the oil markets.

By 2005, the idea that the price increase was being caused by oil depletion – commonly referred to as “peak oil” – was receiving widespread attention. While some dismissed the idea of peak oil, instead offering up speculation, OPEC, growth in developing countries, or other geopolitical factors as the primary factors behind the advance in prices – oil production remained flat despite record high oil prices. Read the rest

The world is changing, and our next 20 years will be completely unlike the past 20 years. We need to adapt to this change.

We can start by taking a triple bottom line approach to the problem. We need to put the needs of the people first and foremost, we need to consider the effect on the environment and we must make sure that the investment makes sense. It isn’t the strongest that survive; it’s the ones who can adapt that survive.

Chris Martenson’s YouTube video explains in a commonsense way how the world is changing. Economic growth requires energy growth. Energy growth has hit a plateau and so economic growth is slowing down. If net energy starts to decline, there will be serious, and unpredictable, consequences.

We have geothermal, the gift of Pele, to help us cope. We must change and adapt.

Also from the Civil Beat article:

Because of our heavy dependence on oil, it has been said that Hawaii is the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the U.S. But in warning others of impending danger, the canary dies. We do not want to serve as a warning to others; we want Hawaii to be the beacon for the world to see how we have achieved a better future.

Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability, Water

Hydroelectric Project at Farm is Full Steam Ahead

November 29, 2011 Richard Ha

Somebody asked me the other day about Richard’s hydroelectric project at the farm. I hadn’t even gotten around to asking him about it yet when I saw this Pacific Business News article.

Hydroelectric energy will power Big Island farm

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011 AT 10:24AM

(Pacific Business News) Hamakua Springs Country Farms plans to use the streams along the Hamakua Coast to generate electricity as early as next year and has hired a system developer to move the process forward.

The idea has been in the works since last year, and Richard Ha, president of Hamakua Springs, said development of the hydropower system is likely to begin in 2012. The farm has received the proper permits, he said, but the cost and design analysis has not yet begun. He expects the evaluation and building process to take about seven months to a year. Read the rest

Richard told me, “We cannot wait to make our electric bill predictable and stable.”

Mauna Kea

Washington Place Reception for People Behind the Thirty Meter Telescope

November 14, 2011 Richard Ha

On Friday I attended a reception at Washington Place, the governor’s mansion, given for the people behind the Thirty Meter Telescope.

It was great to get together. So many people worked so hard to accomplish what we did.

I remember Roberta Chu and I standing in the parking lot in the very early days asking each other: “Do you think we can do this?” We never looked back.

Roberta Chu, Barry Mizuno and Don Straney

Henry Yang, President of the TMT Corporation, is a very special person. He flew in and out of the Big Island more than 15 times, and spent all of his time talking to the regular folks. He never once spoke to the press.

Henry Yang

He learned firsthand that the lowest common denominator that folks on all sides of the issue could agree upon was keiki education, and so the TMT committed $1 million annually for keiki education on the Big Island.

All throughout the tough negotiations, this was completely off the table. No one could touch it, nor even think about touching it.

Jean-Lou Chameau, me, Henry Yang

Henry did not come into town telling everyone he was there to save them. He told them what was going to happen. But mostly he listened. And, slowly but surely, people started to trust.

Dilling and Henry Yang, me

Roberta Chu greeting Dilling and Henry Yang

Henry and I were like brothers during this project. He was the kind of guy I could do business with on a handshake. He and Jean-Lou Chameau, President of Cal Tech, are people persons. The right people at the right time.

Jean-Lou Chameau

I missed seeing my friend Dawn Chang. She and I worked very closely in the tough, early days.

Senator Daniel Inouye arriving

Senator Inouye speaking

Senator Inouye, me, Henry Yang

Irene Inouye and MRC Greenwood

Ka‘iu Kimura was very brave.

Rep. Mazie Hirono with TMT Board Members

Me, Rockne Freitas, Herring Kalua and Don Straney

And I learned an important lesson from Kumu Lehua Veincent. When I suggested to him that we try to get five “full-ride” scholarships to the best schools in the nation for Keaukaha kids, he asked me: “And what about the rest of them?” Of course he was right.

Barry Taniguchi, Carl Carlson, Jim Omura, Virginia Hinshaw

Mike Bolte and Sandra Dawson

Patrick Kahawaiola‘a told me something profound. He said that it’s all about the process. Then it dawned on me: “You have to aloha everyone, no matter on what side of the issue.”

Aloha to the Kanaka Council and other folks like Kealoha, and Ku Ching, who do not agree. I’m pretty sure they know that we were trying to be pono.

Jim Omura, Virginia Hinshaw, Mark Yudov

MRC Greenwood and Governor Neil Abercrombie

Me, Greg Chun and Dennis Hirota

Jennifer Sabas, Roberta Chu and Mike Bolte

David Lonberg, Carl Carlson, Doug Ing

Here are some startling facts about the Thirty Meter Telescope:

9 times more light collecting area than a Keck Telescope
12.5 times sharper images than we can get with the Hubble Space Telescope (This is amazing!)
Will be able to see through the universe back to the time when the very first stars and galaxies formed
Will be able to image planets orbiting other stars and to look for the signposts of life
Will be able to discover and study supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies throughout the Universe
Will be able to determine the nature of dark energy and dark matter – These are key to determining the ultimate fate of the Universe.

Articles, Food Security, Games, Renewable Energy Sources

Richard Ha at Civil Beat

September 28, 2011 Richard Ha

Civil Beat asked Richard to write some opinion pieces for them, and his 3-part series on energy and food security in Hawai‘i is running right now. You can click the titles to read the whole article.

Part 1:

Trying to be Safe by Doing Nothing is No Longer Safe

I am Richard Ha, chairman of the board of Ku‘oko‘a. Ku‘oko‘a is trying to align the needs of Hawai‘i’s people with the needs of the electrical utility.

I want to start by telling you who I am and what my values are. My mom is Okinawan, Higa from Moloka‘i, and my Pop was half Korean and half Hawaiian. His mother was Leihulu Kamahele. Our family land was down the beach at Maku‘u in Puna. We were very poor but didn’t know it….

Read the rest

Part 2:

Expensive Electricity Threatens Hawaii’s Food Security

At the 2010 Peak Oil conference, held in Washington, D.C., a speaker pointed to a graph showing that oil is used for a very small portion of the U.S. mainland’s production of electricity.

He pointed out that Hawai‘i is responsible for a huge portion of the nation’s oil use. The U.S. mainland uses oil for less than 10 percent of its electrical generation, while Hawai‘i depends on oil for 76 percent of its electrical generation. So when oil prices rise, Hawai‘i’s electricity ratepayers are significantly more affected than mainland electricity ratepayers.

And as oil prices rise, any imported mainland product that has electricity usage imbedded in its production has a cost advantage over the same product produced in Hawai‘i. This is true for ice cream, bakery products and even jams and jellies….

Read the rest

Part 3:

What Works, Works

Farmers cut straight to the chase. We farmers are concerned about survival, the bottom line, people and the environment.

Although we do support maximizing other technologies available to us in Hawai‘i, here I am talking about “base power” electricity – stable, steady power. Eighty percent of our electricity needs to be stable, steady base power. Base power has the biggest impact on our electricity bills….

Read the rest

Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources

What Kuokoa is All About

September 14, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

The Ku‘oko‘a Board of Directors recently briefed a group of influential people on what we are all about.

Former CIA Director Jim Woolsey talked about our dependency on oil, and its national security implications. He talked about Hawai‘i’s situation – that we have the potential to free ourselves from the tyranny of oil – and explained that this possibility is what made him want to be involved.

Former U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary TJ Glauthier, who brings a high level of experience to our team, spoke about the Ku‘oko‘a business plan, and said that the preliminary numbers do work.

Former Harvard Professor of Entrepreneurship, and current UH Shidler College of Professor, Rob Robinson acted as moderator. He explained why the Ku‘oko‘a model, which emphasizes a low cost of electricity, is so important to the future of Hawai‘i.

Venture Capitalist Roald Marth, who is also CEO of Ku‘oko‘a, spoke about how he came to be involved in the energy issue, and how he has committed his life to freeing Hawai‘i from fossil fuel. Ro has been relentless in his efforts.

Former Hawai‘i State Energy Administrator Ted Peck walked everyone through the basic Ku‘oko‘a plan.

It’s a powerful team. At the end, there was a Q&A period, during which board members answered questions and addressed comments from the audience.

I spoke first, and here is what I said:

Aloha Everyone,

I am Richard Ha, Chairman of the Board of Ku‘oko‘a. Ku‘oko‘a is trying to align the needs of the people with the needs of the utility.

I am a farmer, so I tend to go straight to the essential elements. The world has been using three times the oil it has been finding for the last 30 years. In 2003, oil price was between 20 and 30 per barrel. The price rose steadily, yet the supply did not increase. Sooner or later we will start to drop down the backside of the oil supply curve.

In addition, because it is taking more energy to get energy, the net energy left over to do work will also decline. And on top of this, China and India’s people cannot wait to jump in their cars to drive to McDonalds. And the oil exporting nations have to use more oil for their own people, or they will get thrown out of office.

All these things occurring simultaneously tell us that the safety of the status quo, where Hawai‘i relies on oil for 76 percent of its electricity generation, is increasingly not safe.

Since we are talking story here, I want to tell you who I am and what my values are. Mom is Okinawan, Higa from Molokai. Pop’s father was Korean – Ha, and his mom was Leihulu Kamahele. Her mom was Meleana Kamoe Kamahele and her dad was Frank Kamahele. Our family land was down the beach at Maku‘u, in Puna.

We were very poor, but we didn’t know it. Pop would tell stories at the dinner table where he would talk about impossible situations, impossible odds.

Then he would pound the table and point in the air. “Not, no can. CAN!”

And he would say, “There are a thousand reasons why no can. I only looking for the one reason why can.” He told us to find three solutions for every problem, and then find one more just in case. He finished 6th grade but he was a wise man.

I was a kolohe kid growing up. I went to UH Manoa, where I flunked out. Too many places to go, people to see and beers to drink. I was drafted and applied to go to Officers’ Candidate School, and then I volunteered to go to Vietnam. Ended up walking in the jungle with 100 other soldiers. If we got into trouble there was no one close enough to help us. The unwritten rule was that we all come back or no one comes back. I liked that and have kept that attitude ever since.

I went back to UH and majored in accounting so I could keep score when I went into business. Pop asked if I would come back and help to run the family chicken farm. I came back and saw an opportunity to grow bananas but I had no money.

“Not, no can. CAN!” So we traded chicken manure for banana keiki. By questioning everything, looking into the future and forcing change, we were able to survive in farming for more than 30 years. We farm 600 fee simple acres outside of Hilo with 60 workers. It just goes to show that anything is possible.

We are not afraid to try stuff. I was given the University of Hawai‘i College of Business’s “Hall of Honor” award, as well the UH’s Distinguished Graduate award, for my role in bringing theThirty Meter Telescope to the Big Island. That is a $1.3 billion project, and it was a foregone conclusion that it was going to Chile until we went to work engaging our Big Island community here. It’s now coming to the point in the legal process where construction can begin in a short time.

Our family’s company was the first banana company in the world to be certified ECO-OK by the Rainforest Alliance, the largest third party certifying organization. That was reported widely in the banana producing areas of Central and South America. In fact, they scrambled to find a farm in Costa Rica who could be certified along with us, so we both could say we were first in the world. And it had a big influence in changing the environmental behavior of the Doles, Chiquitas and Del Montes.

We were one of six national finalists for the SARE award, a sustainable production award open to all farms in the nation. I mention all these things because we live by the spirit, “Not, no can. CAN!”

One day five years ago, we realized that our farming supply costs had been steadily rising, and found that it was all due to oil. So I went to go learn about oil so we could reposition our company for the future. I was the only person from Hawai‘i to attend three Association for the Study of Peak Oil conferences.

The main lesson there was that the world had been using two to three times the oil it had been finding for the last 30 years, and that soon, the game will be up.

Coming back to Hawai‘i, we repositioned our farm and soon we start construction of a hydroelectric plant that will take us completely off the grid.

Several years went by, and then I met Ro Marth and we embarked on this project. It made total sense to me. First it was Ro, myself and Ted Peck. The paper called us the government bureaucrat, the tomato farmer and the motivational speaker. It was kind of humorous.

We did not let ourselves get distracted, but went about doing our work – first by putting our board together. We needed to be credible with Wall Street, Bishop Street and Kinoole Street. Especially Kinoole Street. This needed to be a company that the rubbah slippah folks would see as local, and, preferably, their own.

It’s all about people, and we have put together a strong team. We have incredibly smart, caring and courageous people. Our diversity is what gives us our strength, and also we watch each other’s backs. And we would love for courageous folks, who can see a brighter future for Hawai‘i, to join us.

Ro and I visited Iceland recently. Iceland has managed to make itself energy secure and food secure by using cheap geothermal and hydro. Its electricity costs are less than half of ours. In Iceland, they export energy in the form of aluminum, and that allows them to buy food. The cheap-energy sector of their economy is helping the country recover from its banking sectors meltdown. Low cost energy makes them competitive with the rest of the world. Not high cost energy.

Mayor Kenoi will soon sign a sister city document with the Mayor of Ormoc City in the Phillipines. They have the same population as the Big Island, but Ormoc City produces 700 MW of electricity with its geothermal, compared to our 30MW.

We are very fortunate to have geothermal on the Big Island. It costs less than 10 cents/kWh to generate electricity from geothermal, while it costs more than 20 cents/kWh to generate electricity from oil.

Can we find the solution to our energy problems while taking care of the rubbah slippah folks too? It’s about the cost of energy. If we choose an expensive alternative for electricity, we know that folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder will get their lights turned off first. Leaving the rubbah slippah folks behind should not be an option. If we try hard enough to find solutions, we should be able to take care of everyone.

One of our solutions is to replace oil with geothermal as base load for the generation of electricity. One day, I asked Jim Kauahikaua, Chief Scientist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, “Eh Jim, how long the Big Island will be over the hot spot?” He said, “Between 500,000 and a million years.” I thought to myself, “That should be long enough.”

In modern Hawaiian history, the economy has taken taken taken and the culture has given, given, given. We have a unique opportunity now where the economy can give and the culture can receive. If we can stabilize energy costs at a low level, we will become more competitive to the rest of the world as oil prices rise and our people’s standard of living will rise. We can address the energy problem and take care of the rubbah slippah folks too.

We can look forward to handing our children and their children’s children a brighter tomorrow.

We are looking for like-minded, brave folks to join us and help bring about the kinds of change that will take all of us into a brighter future.

As my Pop used to say: “Not, no can. CAN!”

Geothermal

Video: Geothermal Energy Forum

August 31, 2011 Richard Ha

Over the weekend I participated in a geothermal energy forum here in Hilo.

We have got to start doing something.

Watch video of the forum here.

The coverage is from Big Island Video News, and it starts like this:

HILO, Hawaii: The public courtship concerning the future use of Geothermal Energy continued with this forum in Hilo on Saturday.

A large and varied panel of specialists discussed the sustainable energy that is abundant on Hawaii Island, a growing candidate to lead the Hawaii towards energy independence.

Many faces seen in previous forums were present: including Richard Ha, local farmer and co-chair of the Geothermal Working Group, back from a recent trip to Iceland where he gathered information of that nation’s use of geothermal power.

A mix of government and utility officials, and business persons rounded out the panel….

See the rest here.

Renewable Energy Sources

“How Could I Not Know This?!”

August 29, 2011 Richard Ha

Noe Kalipi also spoke at the Council of Native Hawaiians conference last week.

I knew Noe was on Senator Akaka’s staff for many years, and I thought she was a wonderful Hilo girl, very unassuming and nice.

But then I saw her in action, in Washington D.C., when we went up to see TJ Glauthier and Jim Woolsey. She is at home in Washington, and can jab elbows with the best. Who would have imagined that she was in the Airborne Judge Advocate Corp?

This Hilo girl was an Army lawyer and also jumped out of airplanes.

This is the speech she gave:

Why I Joined Kuokoa

I was born and raised in Hilo and spent 18 years in D.C., going to school, serving in the U.S. Army, and working on Capitol Hill for Senator Akaka. I moved back to Hilo in 2006 with my husband, Gaylen, who is from Molokai, to raise our two daughters, Hauoli and Kuuipo, in Hilo. It was important to us that they grow up in Hawaii, in our culture, exposed to the way we think, the way we live, and the way we do things in Hawaii.

I worked as the Government & Community Relations Director for First Wind. It was in THAT job where my eyes were opened to how dependent Hawaii is on fossil fuels and how DANGEROUS that is for our future, for our children’s future, for our moopuna’s future. Not blow up dangerous — dangerous because we have no control over the pricing for the one thing that we rely on for one of our most basic needs: energy.

I thought to myself, how could I not know this — I had been was working at the top levels of government in Washington DC!

It’s because I took things for granted. My thought process was – I need lights, turn on the switch; I need gas – go to the gas station – I need food – go to the store. I never thought about what made the lights go on or how the gas and food got to the store. I never thought about WHAT IF SOMETHING HAPPENS AND THE BARGES CAN’T COME TO HAWAII, and not just because we have a tsunami or hurricane, what about if we run out of oil?

Knowledge can be a blessing and it can be a burden. Once our eyes are opened to issues such as energy and food security then we have the kuleana to figure out how to address it.

The good news is that we live in Hawaii. We have the resources, the tools, to fix this situation. We have land and water to grow food, we have indigenous resources wind, solar, ocean, water, geothermal to generate electricity.

But most importantly, we have us, the indigenous peoples who have lived here for 2000 years, who have the moolelo, the history, of this place. We can look back to our history to figure out how we can go forward, embracing technology and finding solutions that are based and shaped by the knowledge of our incredibly scientific ancestors. As someone told me yesterday, we had the first light switch BEFORE THE WHITE HOUSE.

This means not only generating electricity but conserving and preserving our resources — turn off the lights, use energy efficient appliances, reuse, reduce, recycle.

What scares me is that this is not a new issue — people were talking about this when I was five years old — back in 1975 — how we had to get off of oil and use our resources.

I’m 41 years old. When are we going to stop talking and start doing?

So . . .when I learned about the Kuokoa plan from Richard Ha, our Chairman, I said YAY!! FINALLY — a collaborative way to do what we — as the box & rope, grassroots, rubbah slippah folks — whatever you want to call us — know what needs to be done. We can stop closing our eyes and pretending that someone else will take care of it. We can stop thinking that this is too hard, too complicated, too overwhelming.

As Richard said, get thousand reasons why no can, we need to focus on finding the ways that CAN. I thought, well, if HE, then I can, so WE GO

And that is why Kuokoa is at this convention. We need Native Hawaiians to lead this effort — WHY? Because this is OUR homeland.

This is a way to shift the paradigm — shift the way things are done. Base the action on culture, on history, on the knowledge that our ancestors left to us.

But Ramsay, Richard, and I cannot do it alone. Between the three of us, we know many of you in the audience and we hope that you will invite us to talk story with you so that we can explain what we are trying to do in more detail and to ask for you to join us in this effort. Kuokoa cannot succeed without you — because we need everyone working with us if we are going to make the changes that need to be done to secure Hawaii’s energy independence.

Kuokoa’s plan is simple — we build a clean tech industry in Hawaii and in that process we will:

– transform the electrical grid so that instead of running mainly on imported fossil fuel, it will use Hawaii’s indigenous resources: geothermal, wind, solar, water, ocean, biomass, etc. This stops our electricity prices from rising with oil prices.

– make electric vehicles a reality in Hawaii – this stops us from being slaves to the price of gas — it’s $5.49 a gallon on Molokai — what is going to happen when oil goes up further?

– to utilize excess electricity to create energy exports — hydrogen, for example, which can be exported as ammonia which sells globally and can be used for farming

In doing this, we make our universities and our schools the best schools in science, technology, research and development AND we make Hawaii the place to look to learn how to utilize indigenous resources in a culturally appropriate AND environmentally sensitive way.

In doing this, we create jobs and companies. We create opportunities for communities participate — and hopefully– to own the companies that are going to be created to make this plan successful. Let the Hawaiians hire the consultants to work for us instead of us always being the consultants for the mainland companies.

It’s not just science. It’s everything — farming, housing, education, economic development, cultural preservation, hawaiian language, health care –its everything we all are involved in because energy is a basic need — it either drives what we do or it prevents us from doing something. Lights or no lights. Gas or no gas.

All of our policy priorities that we just discussed ASSUMES that we have energy, ASSUMES that we have power. We need to make sure we address this basic need so that the policy goals that we are discussing this morning can truly help us to move forward the way we intend.

We are just three Hawaiians up here — our canoe is very big, and very heavy. We know we cannot paddle by ourselves. We hope you will be willing to pick up a paddle and join us and help us figure out how to get where we know we have to go.

Mahalo.

Geothermal, History, Renewable Energy Sources

My Speech at the Council of Native Hawaiian Advancement Conference

August 26, 2011 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Noe Kalipi, Ramsay Taum and I – all board members from Ku‘oko‘a – each spoke for five minutes at the Council of Native Hawaiian Advancement conference.

Noe and Ramsay were just awesome. It’s clear that Ku‘oko‘a is a native Hawaiian company with native Hawaiian sensibilities. The good wishes and warm requests for information were very humbling.

Senator Akaka spoke right before us.

Here is the speech I gave.

Aloha Everyone,

I am Richard Ha, chairman of the board of Ku‘oko‘a. Ku‘oko‘a is trying to align the needs of the people with the needs of the utility.

I want to start by telling you who I am and what my values are. Mom is Okinawan, Higa from Moloka‘i; Pop’s father was Korean, Ha. My pop’s mom was Leihulu Kamahele. And her mom was Meleana Kamoe Kamahele and her dad was Frank Kamahele. Our family land was down the beach at Maku‘u in Puna. We were very poor but didn’t know it.

Pop would tell stories at the dinner table. He would talk about impossible situations, impossible odds. Then he would pound the table and point in the air. “Not, no can. CAN!”

And he would say, “There are a thousand reasons why no can. I only looking for the one reason why ‘Can.’”

He told us to find three solutions for every problem, and then find one more just in case. He only finished sixth grade, but he was a wise man.

I was a kolohe kid growing up. I went to UH Manoa, where I flunked out. Too many places to go, people to see and beers to drink. I was drafted, and applied to go to Officers Candidate School, and then I volunteered to go to Vietnam. Ended up walking in the jungle with a hundred other soldiers. If we got into trouble there was no one close enough to help us. The unwritten rule was that we all come back, or no one comes back. I liked that and kept that attitude ever since.

I went back to UH and majored in accounting so I could keep score when I went into business. Pop asked if I would come back and help run the family chicken farm. I came back and saw an opportunity to grow bananas, but I had no money.

“Not, no can, CAN!” so we traded chicken manure for banana pulapula. By questioning everything, looking into the future and forcing change we have been able to survive in farming for more than 30 years.

We farm 600 fee simple acres with 60 workers. Five years ago, we noticed supply costs had been steadily rising, and we found it was all due to oil. I was the only person from Hawai‘i to attend three Peak Oil conferences. I went to learn about oil so that we could position our business.

There I found out that the world had been using twice as much oil as it had been finding for the last 30 years. This is a very serious situation. I am stuck with this knowledge and that knowledge has become my kuleana. I know what is likely to happen and so try to find solutions that are good for all of us.

There are truly Native Hawaiian sensitivities embedded in our Ku‘oko‘a team and organization. The board and the team we have put together are the best we could find. Ramsay Taum and Noe Kalipi are members of our board and we will each say a few words. Board members went to Hilo to participate in the festivities for the seven vaka that came up from the south. We felt that it was important.

Right now there are no guidelines to choose the low-cost, proven technology solution that eases the pressure on the rubbah slippah folks. We can do this. You folks all know the consequence of rising cost of energy, water, school lunches, etc. It is the folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder who will get their lights turned off first. Too often they are Hawaiians.

Iceland has managed to make themselves energy secure and food secure. Their electricity costs are less than half of ours. Can we find the solution to our energy problems while taking care of the rubbah slippah folks too? Leaving them behind is not an option. If we search for the solution, if we ask the question, we can find the answer.

In modern Hawaiian history, the economy has taken taken taken and the culture has given, given, given. We have a unique opportunity now where the economy can give and the culture can receive. If we can stabilize energy costs at a low level, as oil prices rise we will become more competitive to the rest of the world and our people’s standard of living will rise. We can address the energy problem and take care of the rubbah slippah folks too.

As Pop used to say: “Not ‘no can;’ ‘CAN!’”

Awards, Education

Richard Wins Distinguished Alumni Award

August 10, 2011 Leslie Lang

Richard was honored recently as a 2011 Distinguished Alumni of the University of Hawai‘i.

“This award was less about me and really about all of us,” he told me. “I was pleased to be able to acknowledge June’s contributions, as well as my family’s – especially Mom and Pop.”

He was happy, too, that he had a chance to talk about the “common sense” value of using geothermal energy here in Hawai‘i.

He said it was hard to follow Chef Alan Wong and Dr. Henry Yang. “They are both very, very special individuals,” he said.

“Something like this award was beyond my wildest imagination when I flunked out of UH the first time around,” he said. “It just goes to show: Not ‘no can.’ ‘CAN!’”

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.