OTEC – No Longer an Overlooked Energy Source

This blog was launched 18 months ago next Monday in a mixture of alarm (oil hit $111/barrel that day) and personal frustration that ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) was rarely and barely mentioned as an important potential renewable energy resource for Hawaii.

Our post two days later complained that a Honolulu newspaper’s editorial had left OTEC out of its list of “the Islands’ reservoir of power….”

That’s no longer the case. Oil prices that peaked at $147/barrel in July ’08 had the positive effect of accentuating the importance of developing a range of renewables in helping Hawaii get off oil.

Lockheed Martin says it can have a 10-MW OTEC plant operating off Oahu’s Kahe Point within four years, and Sea Solar Power has a representative in town now making a round of meetings about its intentions to build a plant 10 times larger.

So OTEC’s no longer the forgotten resource – still just a potential baseload power source but apparently closer to realizing that potential than ever before.

Here’s an excerpt from Governor Linda Lingle’s September 4th address to the Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce on energy and other issues:

Now, they’re going to be issues with the undersea cable, no question about it. There are going to be environmental issues, there are going to be cultural issues, there are going to be financial issues; but we could say the same thing about the wind project that went up at Kaheawa. There were environmental issues, there were cultural issues, and there were financial issues. You could say the same thing about the wave energy project off the Haiku area. There are environmental issues, cultural issues, and financial issues. In fact, I can’t think of a renewable energy project that someone couldn’t raise an issue and then say, “That’s why I’m against it.”

Nothing as bad as burning oil

Think about it like this: is any one of those alternatives – wind, solar, wave, ocean thermal energy conversion, geothermal, hydropower – is any of them as bad as taking $5-7 billion a year out of the Hawaii economy and giving it to a foreign country or a foreign company to buy oil to ship it across the ocean to burn into the atmosphere?

I take the position that none of those are as bad as burning fossil fuel, sending pollution into the environment, sending our money outside of the state, creating no jobs for the people of Hawaii. Just taking those billions every year – the very thought of it should upset all of us. That depending on the price of oil, every year, we take our own money that we could be using to create jobs here at home for our people and we hand it off to a foreign country or a foreign company.

So when this issue comes up about the undersea cable, or issues about the solar farm, or an ocean energy project, maybe use this context. Instead of seeing that project in isolation, think about it in the bigger framework. Is it as bad as sending our money out of Hawaii to buy oil from foreign countries or foreign companies? And then burn it and send the pollution into the atmosphere? I take the strong position that there is nothing you can point to that is worse than what we are doing with our money, than what we are doing to our environment.

Belaboring Clean Energy on Labor’s Weekend

Writing not much and referring a lot – over to Hawaii Public Radio’s
Energy Futures show. Stop in.

10 MW Pilot OTEC Plant in Hawaii Can Be Built by 2013, Scaled to 100 MW by 2015: Lockheed Martin

Dr. Ted Johnson of Lockheed Martin discusses Hawaii's future OTEC plant.

The Asia-Pacific Clean Energy Summit & Expo continues tomorrow, but we heard enough today to satisfy our curiosity about Lockheed Martin’s plans for an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plant in Hawaii.

Dr. Ted Johnson, Lockheed’s director of Alternative Energy Development, told a packed Ocean Energy breakout session that a pilot plant could be up and running within four years. It would be 10 megawatts and sit in at least 3,000 feet of water four miles off Kahe Point on Oahu’s western shore.

Kahe is the site of Hawaiian Electric’s largest generating station, so the plant’s intended location makes sense. When asked how long it would take to scale the plant up to 100MW, Johnson said it could be done in only two years if the pilot plant pans out. (The Honolulu Advertiser carried essentially the same information on 9/3.)

Two Big Questions

Johnson seems to suggest that the Department of Defense will be the funding source, although he offered nothing concrete. And if that source isn’t sufficient, Johnson said some kind of a “private-public partnership” could be pursued – again, no details.

The DOD’s huge reliance on fossil fuels might be what it takes for its purse to open with help from Hawaii’s Daniel K. Inouye, chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Inouye's not shy about his ability to target federal funding, and it's not a stretch to imagine him making it happen.

Beyond funding, Johnson said the cold water pipe is the biggest technological hurdle remaining to be overcome, but he seemed confident that a plastic material perfected by Lockheed Martin’s space program will prove up to the challenge.

Path to Commercialization

When asked about costs to build Lockheed Martin’s plant, Johnson said he likes to put it in terms of cost per kilowatthour to generate OTEC power – in the low 20s of cents, he said. The average electricity rate for all sectors in Hawaii's economy in May 2009 was 18.92 cents/KWH, the highest in the nation.

Lockheed’s projection of having a pilot plant in place and providing valuable operational data within four years seems pretty aggressive. One can imagine a least a year devoted strictly to obtaining regulatory and environmental approvals.

Still, this proposed schedule is encouraging. We’d feel even better if we knew Ted Johnson and Senator Inouye have each other on speed dial.

Asia-Pacific Clean Energy Summit Opens Monday; Counting Down 100 Days to Copenhagen Summit

We never thought we’d do this – link to an item posted at “Hawaii Reporter.” The politics just isn't our style, and we do so only because it’s a convenient place to pick up a column by Ted Liu, director of the Hawaii Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

Liu writes about the Asia-Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo, which kicks off at the Sheraton Waikiki on Monday, August 31. Not coincidentally, the Summit is the focus of Monday’s Energy Futures show on Hawaii Public Radio.

We’ve put in our bid for two dynamic Summit participants on the program, plus (just maybe) a “surprise guest” by telephone to start the show. Now who do you suppose that could be?

Energy Futures: Monday, 5-6 pm, KIPO-FM, 89.3 in Hawaii and also streamed on the Internet.

The Last 100 Days

As the handy counter in the upper right of this page shows, we’re about 100 days away (depending on when you’ve clicked in) from the big Copenhagen Climate Conference. Let’s hope it’s the last 100 days of non-cooperation among the developed and developing nations on the global effort to reverse damage to the only climate we have – Planet Earth’s.

For one of the more intelligent assessments you'll hear about Copenhagen, global warming and climate change, listen to Hawaii Public Radio's interview with Dr. Stephen Schneider of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President al Gore. Dr. Schneider was the guest on HPR's Energy Futures program on August 17.

Last-Minute Plug for Hawaii BizTax Summit

Better late than never…… Never up, never in…… A stitch in time saves nine....

We're familiar with clichés and do our best to keep the art form flowing like the Hudson River.

The BizTax Summit Hawaii 2009 is happening tomorrow and will offer “the newest tax saving opportunities,” according to its website. Here’s one gem:

“…more than 90% of a solar photovoltaic system can now be paid for with tax benefits, completely eliminating your tax liability.”

Where’s the line to sign up?

Speakers include Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, KGMB’s Howard Dicus and Mark Duda of Distributed Energy Partners. Duda’s also the President of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association.

We know. The train’s nearly left the station and we’re practically closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, but under the circumstances, it’s the best we can do. You snooze, you lose.

Lockheed Awarded Navy Contract for OTEC Work

OTEC will tap solar energy stored in the tropical ocean.

Money to fund more development work on ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) isn’t gushing, but at least there’s a steady flow to encourage believers in this promising but still-distant technology.

The Defence Professionals website included the Navy’s $8.1 million contract with Lockheed Martin in a long list awards by the Department of Defense. At least one of them – to Boeing Co. – had 10 figures.

We can only hope that an 8- or 9-figure award is in somebody’s future to launch a full-fledged OTEC plant somewhere, such as Hawaii. Estimates to build even a 10-MW pilot plant are in the $200 million range, so if this technology is every to get a foothold, it’ll probably take a big fat DoD contract to make it happen.

Lockheed is putting a fair amount of its formidable PR muscle into OTEC, such as an attractive video featuring Dr. Ted Johnson, the company’s director of Alternative Energy Development.

Johnson will be in Hawaii for the 2009 Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo the first week of September. He’ll participate in an Ocean Energy breakout session Wednesday afternoon, September 2 with a presentation titled “OTEC Pilot Plant Project in Hawaii.” (We're looking forward to the session, as little has been said publicly about the project since Governor Lingle made an announcement nine months ago.)

DefPro’s OTEC Announcement

Lockheed Martin Corp., Manassas, Va., is being awarded an $8,119,625 firm-fixed-priced contract to advance the development of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) technology system components and subsystems for Navy applications.

The work will support the Naval Facilities Engineering Services Center (NAVFAC ESC) Ocean Facilities Department in the execution of ocean energy systems development to advance OTEC as a renewable ocean energy technology for future applications at Department of Navy facilities.

The primary work to be performed includes identifying and supporting the most efficient and direct path to OTEC commercialization, and OTEC component and subsystem design, fabrication and validation tests. Work will be performed in Hawaii, California, Texas, and Virginia, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2010.

Funds are provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with four proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Specialty Center Acquisitions, NAVFAC, Port Hueneme, Calif., is the contracting activity (N62583-09-C-0083).

Plugging a Nobel Winner’s Hour on Public Radio

Dr. Stephen Schneider during his visit to HPR's studios.

We’re still traveling and pretty much distant from energy issues in Hawaii, but thanks to Hawaii Public Radio’s capabilities, our interview with Dr. Stephen Schneider was captured and played back yesterday on “Energy Futures.”

Schneider of Stanford University was in Honolulu recently to attend the Hawaii Conservation Conference. He and his colleagues on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President All Gore.

It was pretty much a stream-of-consciousness performance by the climate scientist and is highly recommended as background for your future global warming and climate change conversations. Here’s a taste:

Schneider said we routinely avoid activities that have a 3-percent risk of a bad – perhaps even fatal – outcome, yet many still require convincing that a massive effort is required to confront climate-change consequences with a 33-percent chance of happening.

Our interview with him was archived and is accessible at this link. Dr. Schneider died on July 19, 2010.

And Now for Some Weather of a Different Kind

In keeping with the weather them we’ve been stuck on for several posts, here’s the current Iowa-Illinois weather scene – thunderstorms approaching the Quad Cities from the southwest.

We’ll be back in the renewable energy groove in a few days after we take this brief interlude for a trip back to our roots. Thanks for stopping by.

The Amazing, Disappearing, Depressed Felicia

The "swoosh" east of the state is all that's left of Felicia.

Well, she’s gone….never really arrived here actually. Felicia, a category 4 hurricane just days ago, went 3, 2, 1, tropical storm, depression and remnant before it got within a couple hundred miles of Oahu.

There’s some rain, and we’re on a flash flood watch. But that’s about it. The hurricane center doesn’t even have links to the former storm on its primary satellite website.

So long, Felicia. We hardly knew ye.

Watching Felicia but Moving On for OTEC, Part 3

8:30 PM Update: Felicia is hard to see Monday evening, so we've dropped in a graphic over the center of circulation. Yes....we're happy she's been downgraded to a tropical storm:

The breeze is barely moving the leaves, but that’s expected to change significantly within 24 hours or so as Felicia blows through the islands. “We could use the rain,” as they say, but we hope the sustained winds will be below the current 45 mph. A flash flood watch is in effect for most of the state. Here’s a recent look at Felicia:

But back to ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and the final part in the series at Renewable Energy World dot com. This final article is full of quotes from Hawaii people, and their enthusiasm for the technology is catching.

This is the most comprehensive and energizing online focus we’ve seen about OTEC in a long time – maybe the best ever; here’s a tip of the hat to freelance science journalist Mason Inman, who’s based in Pakistan.

Recommended reading before taking on a long Part 3 are Part 1 and Part 2.

Today on ‘Energy Futures’

Just about when Felicia’s clouds move in we’ll be talking solar energy this afternoon at 5 on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii and streamed on the Internet). Guests will be Mark Duda, president of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association, and Riley Saito, senior projects manager for SunPower Corporation, which built Hawai`i’s largest solar farm on Lanai.

Felicia To Blow Through Hawaii as Tropical Storm

Felicia at 12:30 pm HST today -- blown apart by upper-level winds.

It’s already windy today ahead of Felicia, now downgraded to a tropical storm. The latest storm track (above) cuts right through the middle of the state. Here’s today’s assessment from The Weather Channel:

It is likely that Felicia will be either a weak tropical storm or a tropical depression as it moves through or near Hawaii on Monday. At this time, it appears impacts to Aloha State will not be major.

Gusty winds can be expected in the higher elevations, along the coast and in the channels between islands. Rainfall could be locally heavy resulting in localized flooding issues. Waves will rise on the east coast later today and peak in the 10 to 15 foot range on Monday.

Felicia Is an Energy Option We Can Do Without

It's been many years since a hurricane blew straight through Hawaii from the east,

as Felicia is expected to do early next week.

The latest on Hurricane Felicia has her taking dead aim on the Big Island of Hawaii. That sentence requires no additional qualifiers or adjectives; any storm this size and this close to the islands deserves respect.

Yes, the fact that Felicia has “weakened” may be somewhat comforting, but it’s still a Category 2 storm right now, with winds of 100 miles per hour. Hurricane Iwa in 1982 struck Oahu as a Category 1 storm.

Iwa knocked out 8 of Hawaiian Electric Company’s 14 138-KV transmission lines and blacked out 95 percent of HECO’s customers, some for two weeks or more. So we’re cautioned to stay aware of this approaching storm. It could cause treacherous flooding on all islands and bring winds strong enough to….well, we really don’t know, do we?

Back in January, the threat of strong winds was enough for schools and government offices to close all over the state. “Overblown” was the reaction of many to the near panic that preceded the non-storm's arrival. (That was pretty much the take at our sister blog, Citizens Helping Officials Respond to Emergencies.)

We’ll just have to wait and see how Felicia blows through....and stock up on supplies, just in case.

Is Your Island Remote and Overwhelmingly Reliant On Imported Fuel? OTEC Could Be Your Answer

But first, a word about Hurricane Felicia:

Here's The Weather Channel's take on Felicia:
“TWC's hurricane expert, Dr. Steve Lyons is watching the forecast models and feels that Hurricane Felicia will weaken dramatically as it moves near Hawaii in the next 5 days, but urges all to continue to monitor the latest updates and forecasts through the weekend.”

Renewable Energy World dot com published part 2 of its three-part series on ocean thermal energy conversion today, and it comes like a breath of fresh air after what seems like a long quiet period about the technology. It’s written by freelance science journalist Mason Inman, who somewhat curiously is based in Karachi, Pakistan.

The pro-ocean power arguments flow one after the other, with an emphasis today on the applicability of OTEC for isolated islands with few if any energy resources.

Ron Baird, chief executive officer of the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), says OTEC is ideal for remote locations like Hawaii. The Authority has issued a request for proposals to build a 1-megawatt “OTEC scale-up" plant. Says Baird:

“Hawaii’s electricity price is 44 cents per kilowatthour — the highest in the U.S., and probably one of the highest electricity costs in the world."

A 1-MW OTEC plant could cut that cost in half, Baird says.

The last part of the series will describe other OTEC benefits, according to the website. Stay tuned – and if you’re an OTEC advocate, pass it on.

‘Orphan’ OTEC Touted Anew as Biggest Source of Energy – Enough Juice To Power the Entire Planet

Where do you start with the online article from Renewable Energy World dot com? How about this:

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) “could sustainably produce more electricity than the whole world consumes today.”

We won’t even quibble with the lack of a time reference in Part 1 of a three-part series about OTEC. Are they talking annually, monthly, weekly, daily? Who cares? The assertion stands by itself as an attention-getter with global implications.

Oh, sure….there are the usual qualifiers. OTEC still has to prove itself, blah blah blah. Tell us something new, why don’t they? (See our very first post here for some enthusiastic OTEC boosting.)

As Gérard Nihous of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute says in this article, “The principle is elementary, but the practical application is a headache.” Yes, the old practical application angle must be honored.

A Matter of National Security

Nihous and OTEC promoter Hans Krock will be guests on a future Energy Futures program on Hawaii Public Radio – date to be determined – and will detail all of these issues in our hour-long discussion. Check in with our sister blog about the program for updates on future shows, as well as what we’re discussing here and now.

For now, we’re energized by this three-part series on OTEC, which moves on to a review of pilot OTEC installations in Part 2– maybe Tuesday. Whenever, bring it on. We’re true believers out here in oil-dependent Hawaii, future OTEC capital of the Northern Hemisphere.

C’mon Department of Defense: Turn loose your purse strings and fund the first OTEC pilot plant here in the name of national security!

The Future of Geothermal Energy in Hawaii’s Mix

Our Energy Futures program on Hawaii Public Radio on Monday will continue the discussion geothermal energy that began on the most recent show.

As we heard on July 27, some Native Hawaiians strongly object to using the volcano’s underground heat to generate electricity because, in their view, it degrades the power of their deity – the volcano goddess Pele.

The guests on Monday’s show will be State Senator Kalani English, vice chair of the Energy and Environment Committee, and Puna Geothermal Energy plant manager Michael Kaleikini (left and right in graphic). Both have Hawaiian heritage and will share their perspectives on the quiet debate on geothermal energy’s future.

The issue was far from quiet in the 1990s, when the proposed geothermal development in the Wao Kele O Puna rainforest on the Big Island was met with determined opposition that eventually ended that possibility.

The Puna Geothermal Venture plant has been providing about 30 megawatts of power to the island’s grid for nearly 16 years. Will that contribution increase or has geothermal energy reached an early peak that will never been exceeded?

That’s one of the issues we’ll explore with English and Kaleikini on Energy Futures, Monday at 5 pm HST (11 pm EDT) on KIPO-FM – 89.3 in Hawaii and streamed on the Internet.

‘Energy Futures’ Show Highlights Hawaiian Views; Tuesday, a Nobel Prize Winner Takes the Spotlight

This can be short; we’ll simply refer readers to our sister "publication" over at Energy Futures on HPR for a condensed version of our “live” show on Native Hawaiian Perspectives on Renewable Energy today on Hawaii Public Radio (archived here).

This is Conservation Week in Hawaii and it’s only right that the Hawaii Conservation Conference is being held this week, too. The Tuesday highlight is a morning presentation by Dr. Stephen Schneider (below), the distinguished climate change scientist and winner (along with four generations of fellow authors on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. (Co-winner former Vice President Al Gore got most of the publicity.)

We were delighted to have him as our guest Tuesday evening for a recorded session of the Energy Futures show on Hawaii Public Radio. The interview will be broadcast on August 17 on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and streamed on the Internet.

Examining Some Native Hawaiians’ Energy Views

With the weekend at hand, it’s time to look ahead to one of the more intriguing energy-related issues Hawaii will face in the years ahead: To what extent are representatives of the host Native Hawaiian culture supportive or opposed to renewable energy development?

The seriousness of this issue dare not be overlooked. Perhaps more than ever since the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in 1893, Native Hawaiians are demanding and receiving respect for their views and aspirations.

A self-determination movement is gaining strength, and spokespersons from within the Native Hawaiian community are asserting positions on land management issues that the rest of the population is well advised to note.

The Next Energy Futures Show

Dr. Davianna McGregor, professor and founder member of the University of Hawaii Ethnic Studies Department, will be a guest on Hawaii Public Radio’s Energy Futures program on Monday. As recorded in an earlier post here at Energy Options, Dr. McGregor and some of her associates who observe Native Hawaiian religion and cultural practices are not enthusiastic about the renewable energy potential of the islands.

Joining her with be Ramsay Taum, director of External Relations and Community Partnerships within UH’s School of Travel Industry Management. We’ll examine their presumably disparate views on Hawaii’s energy issues and options and invite you to listen no matter where you reside. The show is streamed on the Internet at 5 pm HST (11 pm EDT) and heard locally on KIPO-FM (89.3).

A Veto and No Override, a Molokai Puzzler, and an Energy Festival..…Playing Catch-Up with the News

We’re scrambling to mention, if briefly, the major events of the past week that seemed to pile up while we focused on other issues, including tomorrow’s Energy Futures show on Hawaii Public Radio.

The Governor’s veto of a $1/barrel tax increase on imported oil to fund renewable energy and food security initiatives and the Legislature’s failure to override will have repercussions. Supporters of the measure already are blasting both decisions and presumably are more determined than ever to see a tax succeed next year, election year be damned.

The lobbying effort that swayed legislators to vote against the veto override was led by the local airline industry, according to media reports. We failed to find any coverage of what the impact on the airlines might have been under the tax, so we asked Jeff Mikulina of the Blue Planet Foundation:

“About 25 cents per ticket. The airlines claim this will add $2,752,000 to their fuel costs inter-island (total of $2.9 million with existing 5-cent tax). Based on 2007 numbers, where 9,188,139 passengers flew inter-island, this would be $0.2995 per person. But some of the inter-island fuel cost goes to cargo, so I figure the impact on passengers would be slightly less, say 25 cents…. I still can't believe we lost this.”

Harmful to Poor?

The Governor’s veto message said the tax would hurt Hawaii’s poor by raising gasoline prices 2 or 3 cents a gallon. Mikulina commented on that reasoning yesterday at the Hawaii Clean Energy Festival, noting that residents are hurt much more by rising oil prices.

That much is irrefutable. The price of oil reached $147/barrel a year ago this month, and every Hawaii resident paid dearly -- at the pump, at the grocery store, in their electric bills, everywhere. The proposed tax increase would have slapped a big fat target where it belongs – imported oil. Yes, we’re still dependent on it, but that has to change, and two bits per passenger per flight hardly seems like reason enough to lead the effort to kill this measure.

The Molokai Puzzler

We’ll give passing mention to the alleged intention of a New Mexico company to build a hydrogen-powered generation plant on the Friendly Isle. Nearly everything about the company’s announcement was puzzling, including the media’s lack of curiosity about it.

The company said it can’t disclose the location of its planned hydrogen production plant because negotiations for the site are still under way, according to a company official. He also said Jetstream Wind Inc. hopes to break ground in 30 to 60 days. You have to wonder where in that time frame they plan to fit in an environmental impact statement and review process.

Continuing, the Honolulu Advertiser story (reprinted by The Maui News) reported that the plant would generate electricity to power 6,000 homes and businesses. Molokai’s population is somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000, so on the face of it, the company proposes to service all homes and businesses on the island and presumably replace Maui Electric as the island's power provider.

But according to the Advertiser story, Maui Electric’s parent company, Hawaiian Electric, has not been contacted by the company. That’s the most glaring point of all.

This whole endeavor reminds us of the proposal floated earlier this year to build a wind farm in the middle of the humpback whale sanctuary in the Penguin Bank region of open ocean southwest of Molokai. That company also had not yet contacted Hawaiian Electric about its plan, an obvious red flag that prompted us to ask at the time whether every proposed renewable energy project deserves community support.

Putting press releases ahead of due diligence is a sure way to not gain support for projects in the islands. You’d think mainland developers would have learned that by now.

New UC Study Endorses Battery-Switch E-Cars

“It took over sixty years and six generations of gasoline engines for the Chevy Corvette to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour in under four seconds. The first version of the Tesla Roadster, which is the world’s first Lithium-ion battery powered car, achieved that feat immediately.”

Those are the first sentences in the Introduction to a new study just released by the University of California at Berkeley”s Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology: Electric Vehicles in the United States, a New Model with Forecasts to 2030.
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July 14th Update: Want to know what's on their minds at Hawaiian Electric Company, which supplies electricity to 95 percent of the state's population? The "Energy Futures" website has a link to Hawaii Public Radio's audio archive of Monday's discussion with guest Robbie Alm, HECO executive vice president.

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Among its predictions, the study anticipates massive penetration of the light-vehicle market by electric cars in the next two decades with a big if – IF the cars use switchable batteries and charging networks financed by pay-per-mile contracts. It says removing the cost of the batteries from the sale price of electric vehicles will eliminate a major price component, resulting in impressive market penetration. E.G.:

“In the baseline forecast electric cars account for 64% of U.S. light-vehicle sales by 2030 and comprise 24% of the U.S. light-vehicle fleet. The rates of adoption are driven by the low purchase price and operating costs of electric cars with switchable batteries. The estimates include the cost of installing charging and battery switching infrastructure to extend the range of electric vehicles.”

The study definitely is worth a read – especially in Hawaii, arguably the best test market for the new electric vehicle networks, such as proposed by Better Place. Plug me in!

‘Energy Futures’ Show

Read what dominated today’s program on Hawaii Public Radio here.

Getting Picky about Energy in Hurricane Season

Hurricanes are marvelous energy machines -- nature’s way of expelling excess amounts of it from the tropics. According to some calculations, an average hurricane produces the “equivalent to 200 times the worldwide electrical generating capacity….” We're all for renewable energy, but that’s bull-in-a-china-shop energy, not what we need.

The Eastern Pacific is now officially experiencing increased ocean temperatures – what they call an El Niño, which historically means we can expect more tropical storms in the Central Pacific. Our friend Jan TenBruggencate reminds us in his Raising Islands blog today that a hurricane could arrive in the islands within a week or 10 days.

So we’re chiming in, too, with this cautionary note for island residents to start taking precautions. Hawaii has been remarkably free of tropical storms in recent years, unlike the Gulf and Atlantic states, but our two most recent hurricane strikes – Iwa in 1982 and Iniki in 1992 – both were during El Niño conditions. We are forewarned.

Monday Update

Carlos has weakened and is expected to remain a tropical storm for the remainder of its life. We'll have a lively discussion on KIPO this afternoon (5 pm HST, 11 pm EDT) about Hawaiian Electric Company's evolving role in delivering cleaner energy to its customers.

Linking Cap-and-Trade to Proper Grammar – an Innovative Approach to Revolutioninzing Society

We love online news stories that give us an excuse to do multiple referrals to our other blogs. Here’s one on CNBC today that discusses strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Hawaii.

The first referral goes to our new blog Energy Futures on HPR for the weekly “live” program on Hawaii Public Radio that focuses on energy issues here. The CNBC article mentions cap-and-trade proposals, a topic that surely will be mentioned in next Monday’s show with guest Robbie Alm, executive vice president of Hawaiian Electric Company.

The article also gives us excellent cause to link to our Killing English blog, which addresses the increasingly widespread use of poor grammar in American life. If you’re so inclined, read the article and see if you can find the one big egregious grammar mistake, and then click on our link to Killing English.

Mixing energy and grammar – going all out to promote best practices in both fields.

Afternoon Update

Dr. Ted Johnson, Lockheed Martin’s principal advocate for ocean thermal energy conversion, has received the Ocean Energy Pioneer Award from the Ocean Energy Council. The award apparently was presented at Ocean Energy 2009 a few weeks ago in Rockport, Maine. We learned of it only today in a story printed in Johnson’s community newspaper.

Congratulations, Ted! (The photo was lifted from LM's new OTEC video.)

Lockheed’s New OTEC Video Merits a Long Look; Energy Futures Program Debuts on Public Radio

A screen grab from Lockheed Martin's OTEC video shows
Makai Ocean Engineering's graphic of a plant off Oahu's Waianae Coast.

It figures; while we were recording an Energy Futures program on ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) for future broadcast on Hawaii Public Radio, an email arrived with a link to Lockheed Martin’s apparently new video touting OTEC’s potential to change the energy game.

The Energy Futures OTEC show hasn’t been scheduled for broadcast, but if OTEC developments pick up, it will air sooner than later. Guests Hans Krock and Gerard Nihous, long-time OTEC proponents with decades of experience between them, gave a good description of OTEC’s technology and its promise, as does the Lockheed video.

July 6th Update

Ted Peck and Robert Harris before today's Energy Futures broadcast.

Energy Futures was broadcast for the first time this afternoon, with guests Ted Peck, Hawaii state energy administrator, and Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club’s Hawaii Chapter. We invite the loyal readers of the Hawaii Energy Options blog to visit our new site for the radio show.

Renewable Project Backers Hear Significance of Native Hawaiian Religious and Cultural Practices

Daviana McGregor gives her views on renewable energy development.
Myron Thompson was among several other Native Hawaiian panelists.

Last night’s Sakamaki Extraordinary Lecture panel on Native Hawaiian Perspectives on Renewable Energy featured eight Native Hawaiian participants, some of whom appear to have views that are diametric opposites regarding renewable energy development in the islands.

Some hold key executive positions in renewable companies and therefore spoke on the importance of outreach to communities and neighbors. Others are legislators whose responsibilities include creating energy policy to reduce the islands’ dependence on foreign oil. The moderator and a pastor articulately framed the discussion in terms of Native Hawaiian cultural values.

From our perspective, the most penetrating remarks were by Davianna Pomaikai McGregor, a professor and founding member of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaii. Professor McGregor is a practitioner of Native Hawaiian religion and culture and described why she and other supporters of the Pele Defense Fund continue to discourage if not resist altogether renewable energy development.

Everyone on the panel agreed that respect for Native Hawaiian values and members of that and the broader community is mandatory for renewable projects. However, Professor McGregor’s comments reveal a gulf between renewable developers and those who observe Native Hawaiian cultural and religious practices that is wide and appears to require innovative approaches to bridge.

We recorded most of the panel discussion and are posting much of Professor McGregor’s presentation here to give her position a wider audience than she enjoyed last evening. A portion of moderator Ramsay Taum’s closing comments are at the end of today’s post.

Professor Daviana Pomaikai McGregor:

In the traditions of Pele, we know that every time someone assaults her, that she moves on to form another island or moves on to another place on an island. And the belief of the Pele Defense Fund practitioners is that it is not a renewable resource, that it is a source deeply depleted of Pele herself and saps her life force, and that if geothermal energy is expanded, that she will move, and she already is moving on to another island off shore. And that those of us who worship Pele will no longer be able to witness her manifestation as she dances on the ridge or in the steam that rises, or witness the manifestation of her brothers and sisters (unintelligible) in the realm of Pele. And the (unintelligible) or mandate from Pele in the chants that come down, the specific chant is, “You can join my dance if you want to dance, but all this hot belongs to me.” And that is the belief of the Pele practitioners.

So I first began to be involved through that and then with colleagues in the School of Social Work…. We did the cultural impact study for the geothermal project and interviewed people in the community on both Hawaii Island and Maui, because it was going to be transported by cable to (Maui), and we interviewed people on both sides of the channel and came up with the first cultural impact study that was ever done in Hawaii…..

Energy Forms as Deities

We’ve come to understand that Hawaiians really honored all of the energy forms and the natural primordial energy forms as deities. So Pele, if we look at geothermal, is a deity as Pele. If we look at hydroelectricity, the water is (undecipherable). If we look at solar …. And the winds were honored by Hawaiians, some as the (undecipherable), are believed to be a form of a deity… and the Hawaiians named the winds as they did the rains. So that all of these energy forms were honored, and we as humans are small in comparison, and the mana that we get from these natural elements, these are forms that we cannot create or destroy, and we honor them as deities. So when you look at renewable resources in Hawaii, we begin to understand that they have an impact on Native Hawaiians that they do not have on the rest of the community because of our belief system in natural energy forms as deities.

The other aspect that has a particular impact on Native Hawaiians is that a lot of these renewable resources are in remote areas or seek to be developed in remote areas. Puna is a remote area. Wind resources are sought in remote areas. And these areas are in my research are called cultural kipuka where the Hawaiians who lived outside the mainstream of economic development and off of the grid and off of the water systems, just in the elements, were able to perpetuate our Hawaiian cultural practices and language and belief systems, so now the development of these so-called renewable forces brings an industrial element into reserves and places that have been refuge for Native Hawaiian cultural practice and will impact upon very pristine resources and will also challenge whether or not Hawaiians can continue to access the natural resources that we have continued to rely upon generation to generation for their subsistence and their cultural practices.

Looking to the Long-Term Future

So this is the concern when we begin to look at branching out into renewable energy resources. Hydroelectricity will impact upon the free flow of the (undecipherable) and the pristine qualities of the streams…. Siting is another issue of concern. Will the sites impact upon cultural sites? Burial sites are of particular concern. Will it block access to subsistence resources? And the distribution, the infrastructure for the transmission is of concern. An underwater sea cable will have impact on the ocean and (unintelligible) of the resources. And the (locations) that are suggested invariably are sited on Hawaiian Home lands or ceded lands that are Hawaiian national lands and which we as Hawaiians looking to the future, at the sovereign future, the Akaka Bill perhaps or other forms, seek to have control over these national lands, and so we need to be part of the planning. Is this what we want for the long-term future of these national lands?

And there’s the additional impact that some of these remote places are also places where one goes to renew our connection to our deities. And how do these industrial structures impact upon visual impact and the experience in these remote isolated areas where we are best able to connect to these natural life forces? There have been other projects for ocean platforms to generate electricity, siting the Penguin Banks, which is a heavily fished aquatic fishing grounds for not only Native Hawaiians but (undecipherable) fishermen.

So these are all the kinds of concerns that have emerged when you look at it on the impacts on Native Hawaiians. In this study we looked at receptors, and we said we need to look at how would it impact on value systems, on community networks, on health and human wellbeing, on cultural and natural resources, on national lands and on Hawaiian rights, and those are some of the things to consider as we look at development. And the last thought is that we should probably begin to look at principles that would help to protect Native Hawaiian rights. The development of these resources should not deplete the life force of the deity. Islands should be self-sufficient and should not be expected to support Oahu for its development. Access to sites of natural cultural resources needs to continue to be open. I’ll leave you with these thoughts. Mahalo.

Taking the Next Step

Moderator Ramsay Taum, Director of External Affairs and Community Partnerships at the School of Travel Industry Management (TIM) at UH, ended the evening with his own Native Hawaiian perspective by recalling his conversation with a cherished elder near the end of her life:

…In her wisdom and her thought process, she said,

"Change the way you see the world and to not be afraid to take the next step, because all too often we of culture, any culture, find comfort in walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. The challenge, as we come to the end where they have left off, most of us turn around and start walking back again to find the comfort, but we know that when we continue to walk in the path of our ancestors, it becomes a rut."

Our challenge today is to take the next step, is to take what they taught and learn from it and begin to take those next courageous new steps and create a new path for the next generation. And hopefully it’s through events like this that we all will be able to take the next step in the journey that we’re all on together, especially here in the middle of the city. And with that, we’ll say Mahalo, Aloha and A hui hou.

Henry Curtis of Life of the Land videotaped the entire event and will present an edited version on ‘Olelo Community Television sometime in July.

Native Hawaiian Perspectives on Renewable Energy To Be Discussed Tonight in Lecture Series Panel

The Sakamaki Extraordinary Lecture Series tonight shifts to one of the key issues that must be considered in developing Hawaii’s renewable energy resources.

As we noted here several months ago, Native Hawaiian concerns about the potentially insensitive exploitation of the Big Island’s geothermal resource contributed to capping the existing geothermal plant’s output at 30 MW. It seems likely that those concerns about the tropical rain forest and the culture surrounding Madame Pele (above) still exist and therefore must be accommodated.

Anyone who aspires to tap into Hawaii’s renewable resources might well be in attendance this evening. We’ll be there and will post a summary – hopefully NLT tomorrow.

Cross-Referencing the Social Media; We Post our First Audio File To Promote New Energy Program

It’s Father’s Day, so this will be short – and also self-promotional, since it’s Father’s Day. We just stumbled across an application called CellSpin that gives us yet another way to promote the new energy-focused program on Hawaii Public Radio.

CellSpin allows users to post text, photos, video and audio to the social media sites, so we’ve posted audio in keeping with the medium that will carry Energy Futures beginning on July 6.

Our first CellSpin post simply promotes the new radio program without mentioning the first show’s guests. We’ll do that in future CellSpin posts, but for the record, the inaugural show will feature Ted Peck, State Energy Administrator, and Robert Harris, executive director of the Sierra Club’s Hawaii chapter.

Energy Futures will be broadcast “live” 5-6 p.m. HST on Mondays on KIPO, 89.3 FM, and streamed on the ‘net at HawaiiPublicRadio.org. Other shows this summer will examine Hawaiian Electric Company’s possible energy futures, greenhouse gas implications for Hawaii’s economy, the anticipated new solar energy law here and Native Hawaiian perspectives on renewable energy.

That’s the current thinking. We invite you to be a regular listener to see how it all plays out, and be a caller, too; the program will reserve a big chunk of the hour for listeners’ calls.

Every 3 Weeks, the Ocean Absorbs the Equal of the Planet’s Entire Energy Supply Since Forever: Krock

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re familiar with our enthusiasm for the elusive Holy Grail of renewable energy – ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), the reason we started the blog in the first place.

Dr. Hans Krock, an emeritus professor at the University of Hawaii and indefatigable OTEC proponent and would-be developer, made the case for OTEC in his UH lecture last night. (The Sakamaki Extraordinary Lectures 2009 series has an impressive lineup of speakers and subjects this summer. A panel on “Native Hawaiian Perspectives on Renewable Energy Development" moderated by UH’s Ramsay Taum will be featured on June 24, and UH's Dr. Denise Konan will discuss “Energy and Greenhouse Gas Solutions for Hawaii’s Economy” on July 22.)

Krock made several major points, the first being that OTEC has been proven feasible numerous times since it was first theorized in the 19th Century. OTEC predates the era of the automobile and the internal combustion engine.

The eye-popping fact of the night was Krock’s assertion that the solar energy absorbed by the ocean every three weeks is equivalent to all the Earth’s energy sources (still intact or already used up) since the planet’s creation – all the fossil fuels, all the radioactive energy, everything.

Plugging In

The trick, of course, is to tap this inexhaustible supply of ocean energy. Hawaii has an impressive OTEC history and was center stage in the 1970s for small but successful OTEC projects. One on the Big Island had an energy flow to the electric grid so steady and unvarying that a “brake” had to be installed on the generator to match the utility’s power fluctuations.

But virtually all major OTEC work was halted by the Reagan Administration. There’s been no shortage of OTEC proposals in the decades since (Krock’s included), and there are frequent reports about the Navy’s interest in OTEC for Guam, Hawaii and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Lockheed Martin and the Taiwanese were reported to be working on a pilot plant near Oahu, but the announcement was made during a trade mission by Hawaii’s Governor and has been followed by near total silence from the two parties involved.

Krock and other OTEC enthusiasts are not going away; that most certainly includes the US Navy, which as well as any organization knows the global warming, sea-level rise and national security consequences of continued fossil fuel usage.

What the planet needs today are visionaries the equal of OTEC’s 19th-Century theorists – visionaries with cash. Maybe the recent sharp increase in the price of oil, along with the daily drumbeat of new global warming findings, will this time shake loose the funds necessary to build a working OTEC plant in the Pacific and usher in the Hydrogen Age.

The future widespread use of hydrogen for the planet's energy was another of Dr. Krock’s major themes that we’ll explore with him in the coming months on Hawaii Public Radio’s “Energy Futures” program. The series will be launched on July 6th -- “live” at 5 pm on Mondays on KIPO-FM (89.3) and streamed at HPR’s website.

Back in the Mid-Pacific Groove, OTEC’s on Deck

European wind farms are a dime a dozen, solar arrays less so.

It’s time to refocus on Hawaii energy issues – not that we lost any intensity while vacationing in France. The above photo is submitted as proof of our vigilance – a massive photovoltaic array tucked away on the back lot of a nuclear power facility northeast of Pertuis.

Back here at home, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) will attract some well-deserved attention tomorrow night when Dr. Hans Krock participates in the Sakamaki Extraordinary Lecture series at the University of Hawaii.

Showing a flash of show-biz marketing savvy, the long-time OTEC proponent has titled his lecture “The Poseidon Adventure: A Down-Side-Up Story of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion.”

More information is available by calling (808) 956-8246.

A Vacation Interrupt for a Few Words on OTEC

Our “research trip” to probe recent developments in ocean thermal energy conversion has bogged down in France, where OTEC was first theorized, and we’re frankly not getting much research done along those lines.

It therefore was encouraging to receive word on this Defense News article on “Electricity From the Sea – U.S. Navy Plans Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plants” From the story:

“The Navy thinks ‘ocean thermal energy conversion’ may be the answer to Guam’s future electricity needs – and Diego Garcia’s Kwajalein’s and Hawaii’s, too.”

There hasn’t been much out there on OTEC developments lately, so this fairly long article is good news. That said, we’re heading to Mont Ventoux in Provence today to see if we might encounter an “atmospheric thermal energy conversion” project that’s heretofore gone unreported.

Looking for Any Excuse To Visit “La Belle France”

We really do appreciate the visits to this blog by readers from around the world, and we often wish we knew why some of you visit – what your recurring interest in Hawaii energy issues is that brings you back to our little site.

Who are you, “army.mil” -- and why did you click in four times today? We can understand the passing interest of Hawaiian Electric Industries; thanks for stopping by. And you there – Level3.net: Why are your listed locations always out-of-the-way places like Hanford, CA and Schurz, NV? Shurz? You have got to be kidding. Don’t you ever hang out in metro areas?

By now it should be obvious we’re filling space today as the hours count down to our vacation in France. We appreciate our readers’ visits, and we apologize in advance for not posting much (if at all) over the next three weeks.

But since it’s France we’re visiting, maybe we can swing into some obscure museum somewhere that features the work of French inventor George Claude, the 19th Century proponent of ocean thermal energy conversion who lost his fortune attempting to make the technology work. If it’s any comfort to you, M. Claude, wherever you are -- they’re still trying.

Perhaps an OTEC breakthrough will be announced while we’re traveling so we’ll have to play catch-up from halfway around the world. If that happens, we’ll consider it justification to write off this trip!

What's with Concern over ‘Green Energy Bubble’?

Some people are worrywarts. Take the concern over a so-called “green energy bubble” -- please. What’s next – “too much” swine flu vaccine?

Can we really have too much non-polluting energy? Is there a danger the United States – the biggest user of destructive fossil fuels on the planet – will over-commit to new technologies that don’t pollute and warm the atmosphere, melt Greenland, disappear the polar ice caps and raise sea levels?

From where we sit, concern over this alleged bubble is just more evidence of an anti-green agenda, and if this offends the bubble boys and girls, we can’t muster an apology.

Want something real to worry about? Spend time with the writing of Dr. James E. Hansen, including this page-turner – his article on “Scientific reticence and sea level rise.” His summary:

"I suggest that a 'scientific reticence' is inhibiting the communication of a threat of a potentially large sea level rise. Delay is dangerous because of system inertias that could create a situation with future sea level changes out of our control."

We’re just a tad sensitive about this particular topic, out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so don’t expect any hand-wringing about the “green energy bubble” in these quarters. We side with Dr. Hansen, who wants to pop the denial bubble about what’s in store for coastal and island societies in the decades ahead. It isn't good.

Electric Cars (cont.): ‘Better Place’ Makes News

A Better Place electric car pulls into the dock of a
fully automated battery transfer station.

• May 14 Update: Chevron may close refinery

The marketing and PR savvy of Better Place, the company intent on wiring cities around the globe for electric car hookups and battery changes, was evident on the Internet today. The company seems to have made news just about everywhere, including a blurb in the Honolulu Advertiser and a longer piece in the Star-Bulletin.

The big event was a Yokohama, Japan demonstration of the company’s automated battery switching technology. It’s frankly nothing like we had envisioned and looks more like a NASA “clean room” than a service station.

The above image is from a YouTube video of the demonstration, and if the switch routinely happens that fast, it will be quicker than a full-tank fill-up. The procedure happens while the driver sits in the car.

We confess to being more than a little impressed, and we look forward to seeing similar demonstrations here on Oahu, where the so-called mileage limitations of electric cars won’t scare away prospective buyers. You can drive nearly everywhere on the island well within the range of a single charge.

Electric Cars Only as ‘Green’ as Generation Source

Today’s “Business Daily” feature on the BBC World Service mentions Hawaii as one of the locations Better Place intends to build a network of electricity charging stations for a new generation of electron-powered vehicles. CEO Shai Agassi unveiled his plan here with considerable fanfare last December.

The radio clip is worth sitting through for its main point: An electric vehicle that takes its electricity from a power plant fired by fossil fuel doesn’t help much if at all in reducing carbon pollution of the atmosphere.

France is cited in the piece as an ideal location for the electric car revolution because it uses non-carbon-polluting nuclear power to generate the vast majority of its electricity. We’ll nominate Hawaii for the same reason – eventually. Once the state's vast solar and ocean power potential is realized, Hawaii will become a showcase for Better Place and other electric car industry movers and shakers.  It can’t happen soon enough.

Work Already Underway on Next Year’s Legislation; Busy Summer Ahead on Renewable Energy Topics

The work of the 2009 legislative session won’t be completed until legislation clears the Governor’s desk one way or another, but there’s hope for optimism that several “green” energy bills will become law.

The Blue Planet Foundation is tracking several measures at its website, including urging followers to send notes of appreciation to legislators who voted for new renewable energy portfolio standards and other legislation.

The failure to pass a ban on future fossil fuel-fired power plants is the major disappointment of the session, and we can expect it to be high on the priority list in 2010. A summer-long series of renewable energy and sustainability happenings will help build support.

UH Manoa as Center Stage

The Sakamaki Extraordinary Lectures series on the University of Hawaii Manoa campus will offer a summer-long opportunity to increase your renewable energy and sustainability knowledge. A sampling:

• May 20 – A screening of The Sky’s the Limit: Energy Opportunities for Hawaii, an award-winning film with “simple, practical, affordable solutions to America’s energy crisis,” followed by a presentation from Kanu Hawaii’s Darren Kimura.

• June 6 – Hawaii Clean Energy Day. An impressive list of participants will focus on the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative and its goal of revolutionizing how energy is produced in the state over the next two decades.

• June 17 – Ocean thermal energy conversion could be a major contributor to the Hawaii’s energy mix by 2030. Long-time OTEC advocate Dr. Hans Krock will be the featured speaker – The Poseidon Adventure: A Down-Side-Up Story of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion.

• June 24 – Native Hawaiian Perspectives on Renewable Energy Development, a panel moderated by Ramsay Taum that will “discuss policies and actions to ensure a sustainable energy future for Hawaii.”

Additional lectures will round out the series and help prepare the agenda for even more far-reaching legislative action during the next session.

Keeping Tabs: Oil Price Jumps to 6-Month High

It’s nothing to be alarmed about, say the economists. The recent price rise to above $58/barrel has nothing to do with supply and demand and most likely reflects optimism among investors.

That may be reassuring elsewhere but not Hawaii, where the cost of virtually everything depends on the price of oil. Sure, the price is only about 40% of the high mark last July, but it’s 20% more than it was in early April and 54% higher than in late December. No wonder the electric bill is creeping up, month by month.

T. Boone Pickens has a piece at Huffington Post’s Green site today that promotes his natural gas solution to getting off imported oil. That aside, when Pickens takes note of an upswing in “the oil price roller coaster,” we probably ought to pay attention.

Another 25-percent increase in the price from where we are today and we’ll be back to half of last summer’s all-time high. All of which is to say, now that the drama of the legislative session is behind us, it’s time to refocus on renewable energy developments in Hawaii.

So whatever happened to plans to build a pilot ocean thermal energy conversion plant here? It’s been six months since the Governor popped the cork on that one while on a trade trip to Taiwan – and there’s been nothing official about it since.

Legislature’s Final Days Include Votes to Increase Oil Tax, Promote Renewable Energy Development

4:45 pm Update: “HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaii’s per barrel tax on distributors of petroleum is due to rise under legislation that the House and Senate passed Thursday and sent to the governor.

“The measure would raise the levy from 5 cents to $1.05 and generate $31 million annually for alternative energy projects and food safety programs. It could cost consumers 2 to 3 cents more per gallon of gasoline.”

The Governor today vetoed other tax hikes passed by the Legislature, but since renewable energy advancement is one of her priorities, there’s no reason to believe she'll veto this one.

The egg we had for breakfast two days ago after wiping it off our face had a bad taste, so we’re treading carefully in assessing the status of energy-related bills in the last days of the Hawaii State Legislature's 2009 session. Over-reliance on government websites can be humbling.

Nevertheless, two bills are up for final passage on the floors of both houses today. HB 1271 increases the per-barrel tax “…on each barrel or fractional part of a barrel of petroleum product sold by a distributor to any retail dealer or end user, other than a refiner, of petroleum product….” The bill splits up the proposed $1 increase into several funds that support energy and agriculture sustainability in the islands.

The bill’s introduction is a good description of Hawaii’s fossil fuel energy dependence problem, beginning with: “Hawaii is at a crossroads. As the most geographically isolated state in the country, we are dangerously dependent on imports for basic food and energy needs.” It’s a sobering reminder of why renewable energy development must happen here.

Getting By on Half a Loaf

HB 1464 was the cause of our aforementioned chagrin. Its original form would have banned construction of future fossil fuel power plants. Had it passed, Hawaii would have gone boldly where none had gone before, sending a clear message to the world that the state is open for green energy business.

But timidity prevailed over courage, and the watered-down version is a shadow of its former self. Still, the renewable energy portfolio standards have been strengthened.

We await today’s floor action in the Legislature and will post on the results – after obtaining triple confirmation. Our taste for egg isn't what it used to be.

The Fossil Fuel Plant Ban that Was, then Wasn’t

Some of you may be under the mistaken impression that the Hawaii State Legislature is about to ban construction of new fossil fuel plants in the state. You would be thinking that because you read it here.

My mistake. I took my cue from the online post of the next-to-last draft of HB 1464 that was under discussion by a conference committee as the deadline hour approached Friday night. That draft remained online after the committee’s midnight deadline and through the weekend. Alas, the committee reported out this final version without a ban. (Regrettably, my incorrect May 2 post, which has been deleted, will probably remain online as a cache until the end of time.)

So forget the effusive wording in that earlier post. Here’s a newspaper report on some of the late action on this and other bills, including the Governor’s disappointment over the ban’s demise. We share her view.

You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby; Once-Ignored Ocean Technology Is Finding Its Place in the Sun

Advocates of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), which extracts solar energy trapped in the sea for use on land, have to be somewhat surprised by OTEC’s sudden emergence into the mainstream of renewable energy media coverage.

OTEC was being overlooked so consistently that we started this blog to write about it, as noted in post #1. And just two days later we complained that OTEC had been left off a local editorial’s list of renewable technologies that Hawaii needs to lessen oil’s grip on the state.

But that was then. OTEC has gone from completely left out of editorials to being the sole subject of one in today’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin that was inspired by a New York Times story published last week and reprinted in yesterday’s Bulletin.

This well-deserved attention is important because it makes the average citizen aware of OTEC’s potential, something we’ve always thought is necessary. It’s not enough for scientists and engineers to believe in the technology; voters also have to understand something about OTEC to help elected officials appreciate its importance, too.