Special Invitation for Military Personnel on Oahu

Our SiteMeter visitor tracker captures the “army.mil” and “navy.mil” ISP designations fairly often here at Hawaii Energy Options. That being the case, we invite you military visitors and all service personnel stationed on Oahu to visit our Yes2Rail blog. Today’s post invites you to submit comments on the Draft EIS for the Honolulu rail transit system.

Among the many reasons rail transit makes sense for Honolulu (and just about everywhere else) is that it will be good for the environment. Moving commuters by train is remarkably more efficient and less energy hungry than by private automobile.

One of the compelling pro-rail arguments we especially like is that the trains one day will be powered exclusively by renewable energy. That’s the only logical conclusion if we think Hawaii can achieve its Clean Energy Initiative goals – or reach them earlier. As we wrote back in August at Yes2Rail, clean OTEC energy one day will help power the rail system.

Here’s an invitation to all energy-oriented visitors to this blog: Become wholehearted boosters of rail within your circles of influence. It’s the green way to ride.

Blue Planet Sets Preferred Course for Lawmakers With Recession-Busting, Job-Creating Tools; plus: Hawaii’s ‘Declaration of Energy Independence’

State legislators, their staffers and energy experts

met in the Capitol today on proposed renewable energy policies.

1/13 Update: Ted Liu says a "smart" electric grid will improve reliability and accommodate renewable energy advances.

Blue Planet Foundation’s “Clean Energy Policy Forum” in the State Capitol today was timed nicely for the beginning of the State Legislature’s 2009 session next week. Though few in number, legislators present included the chairs of the Senate and House energy committees – Senator Mike Gabbard and Representative Hermina Morita respectively.

Foundation head Henk Rogers, executive director Jeff Mikulina and several mainland experts presented components of a legislative package designed to achieve “more than energy security.” The package is intended to:
• bust the recession with tools to plug the $6 billion-plus annual payment for imported fossil fuel;
• create high-paying jobs in the renewable energy industry;
• protect the environment and decrease Hawaii’s annual contribution of 22 million tons of greenhouse gas;
• spur a high-tech economy by making the state a hub for clean energy research and development;
• create the Hawaii model in indigenous energy solutions for others around the globe to follow.

This is going to be a long post, but it’s worth devoting this much space to the Foundation’s policy recommendations; if implemented, they would move Hawaii along the path of becoming a world clean energy model.

Efficiency Policy Recommendations
1. Create the framework for dramatic increases in efficiency.
• Declare that energy efficiency shall be the first priority resource for new electric system resources in Hawaii.
• Establish an “energy efficiency resource standard” requiring annual energy efficiency program electricity savings equivalent to 3 percent of 2008 retail sales by the end of 2011, 10 percent by the end of 2015 and an additional 2 percent per year each year thereafter.
• Establish a system of incentives and penalties by a third party administrator and the utility for achievement of efficiency goals.
2. Provide real resources for efficiency investments.
• Establish a system benefit charge to provide a minimum energy efficiency program funding equivalent to 2 percent of total retail electricity sales revenues in 2009, 3 percent in 2010 and 4 percent in 2011 and each year thereafter.
• Establish a revolving fund from a fee on imported barrels of oil where customers could secure low-interest financing for energy efficiency improvements.
• To overcome an upfront cost barrier, allow customers to repay the cost of major energy efficiency measures through their bills.
3. Encourage design of smart, efficient buildings.
• Establish statewide energy efficiency building codes for residential and commercial new construction that are at least 30 percent more efficient than the current IECC codes. (Also, consider a state policy to keep Hawaii “best in nation.”)
• Create a “Time of Sale Efficiency Standard” requiring residential and commercial properties to be brought up to the energy efficiency standard upon transfer of ownership.

Clean Energy Policy Recommendations
1. Align Hawaii’s energy policy with a clean energy future: Allow no new fossil fuel generating plants.
• Exemptions could be created for emergency stand-by generators of less than 2 megawatts for hospitals, etc.
• This policy would be the nation’s first among the states.
• Hawaiian Electric Company supports this recommendation.
2. Create the path to clean energy.
• Clarify the current renewable portfolio standard’s (RPS) language to ensure that only clean, indigenous resources are counted.
• Set the RPS at 15 percent by 2015, 25 percent by 2020 and 40 percent by 2030.
• Establish clear penalties or “alternative compliance” mechanisms for a utility’s failure to achieve the standard.
3. Accelerate clean energy adoption.
• Remove the “avoided cost” barrier in HRS 269 that may prevent renewable energy adoption when oil prices are low. (Under current law, utilities’ payments to independent power producers is set at no less than the cost they avoid spending on imported fossil fuel. Low oil prices translate to low renewable energy payments.)
•Enable the counties to begin community-based “renewable energy zone” identification processes for permitting and transmission purposes.
• Ensure solar access – i.e., clarify that customers with solar devices have rights to the solar resource.

Mobility Policy Recommendations
1. Smarter: encourage efficient vehicles.
• Adopt California’s “Clean Car” standards to foster purchase of high miles-per-gallon cars in Hawaii (18 states already have adopted such standards).
• Establish a “Feebate”: incentivize high-efficiency vehicles and penalize the gas guzzlers for their negative impact on society.
• Mandate that all gas stations provide working, free air and tire gauges for filling tires to proper pressure and thereby provide up to 5 percent greater vehicle energy efficiency.
2. Better: increase indigenous fuel substitution.
• Establish biofuel support with market stimulation incentives for the development of biodiesel in the islands.
• Make state agricultural lands available for biodiesel fuel crops.
• Create a tax exemption for the development of indigenous biofuel sources within a reasonable time frame – such as 5 years.
3. Different: alternatives to internal combustion.
• Support electric vehicles and clean energy by directing the Public Utilities Commssion to create a preferential rate for electric vehicle charging from indigenous renewable energy resources.
• Direct the Department of Transportation to provide true bike lanes, and establish bike lane requirements when roads are being resurfaced and upgrade.

Integration Policy Recommendations
1. Make energy a priority.
• Create a State Energy Security Office as a stand-alone entity within the Governor’s office by moving the current DBEDT energy office.
• Coordinate system-wide planning through the office.
• Fund the office with a portion of the “barrel fee.”
• Consider establishing an energy commission to provide oversight.
• Direct the energy office to develop a state energy master plan covering backbone planning, transmission and distribution with long-term planning and commitment.
2. Encourage storage on the grid.
• Provide an incentive for energy storage or creating firm capacity that can be fed to the grid.
• Direct the PUC to implement a schedule of incentives dpending on technology type, location and availability (i.e., electric vehicles, capacitor banks, pumped hydro, batteries, etc.)
3. Recharge the Public Utilities Commission.
• Provide ample resources through the “barrel fee” for the PUC to research, deliberate and implement the critical list of energy issues they are charged with overseeing.
• Increase the transparency of PUC actions and initiation of PUC dockets; set public notice guidelines for increased public participation and awareness.

The ‘Zero Tolerance’ Quest

Rep. Pono Chong asked the 64-dollar question at the end of the presentation by suggesting that attaining “zero tolerance” as a public policy (with drugs, as an example) hasn't had much success. He asked how realistic it is to expect zero fossil fuel use in Hawaii’s future.

Denis Hayes, who was present for the Foundation’s Blue Planet Summit last April and participated in this weekend’s policy forum, responded that unleaded gasoline is an example of a “zero tolerance” policy that has in fact worked. Mikulina observed that getting to 100 percent renewable reliance requires first that we achieve 5 percent, then 10 percent and so on. Hawaii has to start with the achievable early goals and strive hard to reach full compliance as a consequence of early successes, he said.

Hayes also noted that finding substitutes for jet fuel is likely to be the last step in going completely fossil fuel free. Achieving that goal may require technological breakthroughs that can’t even be imagined today but which could make current concerns seem irrelevant in a few years. Also weighing in on the subject was Kyle Datta, founder and president of New Energy Partners, who said Hawaii is positioned well to achieve substitutes for jet fuel. He said the state is one of the few places in the world that knows how to grow algae at industrial levels thanks to years of research and development at the NELHA laboratory on the Big island.

Geothermal’s Potential

Chairman Gabbard asked about the potential for that island’s geothermal field to be expanded and thereby make greater contributions to the state’s renewable energy mix. (Geothermal has been capped at 30 megawatts since the 1990s; plans to grow the field to as much as 500 MW and ship the energy to Maui and Oahu via undersea cable were scrapped in the face of religious and environmental opposition.)

Jon Hurwitch, principal of Sentech, Inc., said every energy option has consequences, but continuing the status quo option of overwhelming reliance on imported oil and coal – resources over which the state has no control – is the worst option of all. He said just about all visiting energy experts see great potential in the Big Island’s geothermal field – up to several hundred megawatts, more energy than could be consumed on the island. Conversion to hydrogen for use in fuel cells is a possibility, as is transmission using an undersea cable. “Geothermal energy is critical to freeing yourself from oil,” Hurwitch said.

Henk Rogers said Blue Planet already has begun a dialogue with Hawaiian leaders and hopes to continue discussions with the community about whether Madame Pele’s bounty might be used for the benefit of the islands’ population.

A ‘Declaration of Energy Independence’

Rogers wrapped up the session by agreeing that 100 percent reliance on renewable energy is a huge goal, “but at some point we need to declare our energy independence.” He then proposed such a declaration, which is still in working draft form:

“We, the people of Hawaii, in order to end our state’s debilitating energy dependence, do hereby declare our intention to secure our energy future by replacing imported fossil fuel with renewable indigenous resources.”

Our apologies to Henk if we missed some of his intent and wording. Whatever its final form, here’s hoping the people of this state and their elected representatives endorse it.

Hawaii’s Largest Solar Farm Dedicated on Lanai

The island of Lanai has taken an important step toward its goal of eliminating fossil fuels from its energy mix with today’s dedication of the 1.2 megawatt La Ola Solar Farm.

Castle & Cooke (and Lanai) owner David Murdock has even bigger plans, including two or three hundred wind turbines that would ship their output to Oahu via undersea cables.

"Castle & Cooke is committed to helping the state of Hawaii achieve energy independence,” said Murdock. “With the dedication of Hawaii's largest solar farm, we are delivering on our commitment by bringing clean solar energy to the people of Lanai. This state-of-the-art solar farm helps pave the way for Hawaii to become a leader in the production of renewable energy. La Ola is just the first step of Castle & Cooke's plans for renewable, sustainable energy."

We have to hand it to Mr. Murdock and his team for their progress so far. We still hope he gets the ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) bug somewhere along the way, as we first suggested nearly a year ago.

Someone on the inside once told us the boss doesn’t take easily to projects that aren’t grounded – literally. An OTEC plant serving Lanai presumably would be anchored offshore a few miles, so the insider’s assessment was that OTEC didn’t stand a chance.

And now that solar and wind projects either have left the station or are lining up on a siding, maybe OTEC and Lanai will never get hitched. Which leads us back to Oahu, the population center of the state and the island with the greatest need to get off oil.

Anticipating OTEC

We’re still waiting for follow-on news regarding the announcement from two months ago concerning an OTEC plant to be built on or near Oahu. The two parties allegedly behind the project have published nothing about it since Governor Lingle created the initial buzz on a trip to Taiwan.

It’s a New Year, and Hawaii is eager for more oil-crushing news on the green side. Let’s go, Lockheed Martin: The suspense is killing us!

And speaking of "killing us," how about the 37-percent increase in the price of oil in the past 10 days? (See chart at right.) Have we seen the bottom? (1/9 UPDATE: There's been a 25-percent drop in oil's price in the past three days, so all bets are off -- as usual -- on where price is going.)

New Year Brings Renewed Commitment to OTEC

We began this blog last March 14th when the price of oil hit $111 per barrel. Our stated purpose was to generate more buzz about Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) than had been seen in recent years.

OTEC received considerable media attention in 2008, and the buzz is carrying over into the New Year, as seen in a piece published today in the San Jose Mercury News.

Yet we’ve also heard (if not read) comments to the effect that big industrial processes like OTEC are the “enemy” of distributed generation on a more human scale.

We don’t see any enemies among those who advocate freedom from our oil dependence, especially in places like Hawaii that have an inexhaustible supply of ocean-based energy available for exploitation.

If there must be enemies, let them be Eagles, Vikings, Patriots, Chargers or Titans. In the move to Get Off Oil, we’re all on the same team.

Hawaii Poised for Revolution in Energy Policy, plus: Will Sea Level Change Be Faster than Predicted?

The island-wide blackout one week ago today is still a warm (if not hot) conversation topic and won’t soon be forgotten by residents – even temporary ones like the President-Elect – who went without power for 12 hours or longer. It was the second such outage in just over two years.

On the plus side, the blackout hit less than a month before the opening of the 2009 legislative session and is sure to be a fresh memory in the State Capitol. Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Henk Rogers’ Blue Planet Foundation, lays out “five steps to a greener tomorrow” in an editorial page piece in today’s Advertiser, timed for our legislators’ benefit.

Mikulina notes that today’s relatively low energy costs provide “some breathing room for us to take actions to prepare for the inevitable: skyrocketing prices.

“Let's not squander this opportunity. Replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLs, putting in a solar water heater, swapping out an old, inefficient fridge, driving less — all go a long way to keeping oil in the ground and money in your pocket. And although the cost of oil is down, its cost to the environment hasn't changed one bit. Each of us doing our part really makes a world of difference.”

Mikulina’s five-point manifesto is must reading for legislators, utility commission members and everyone who is concerned about Hawaii’s unique oil dependency and hopeful for the state’s renewable energy potential.

"Abrupt Client Change" Report

Jan TenBruggencate of Kauai writes on his Raising Islands blog that a new federal government report predicting much faster sea level rise has received no media coverage in Hawaii since its release on December 15.  Among the report's unsettling conclusions:

"...inclusion of these ice-sheet and glacier processes into future modeling experiments will likely lead to sea-level rise projections for the end of the 21st century that substantially exceed those presented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change fourth assessment report (IPCC AR4)."

Jan's blog has links to several documents that may disrupt your sleep cycle.

Island-Wide Blackout Fails To Dim Obama Visit

It was lights out all over Oahu Friday night. (EUGENE TANNER, Honolulu Advertiser)

President-Elect Obama has looked up some old haunts in Honolulu during his trips here in 2008. Something else he may remember from his childhood on Oahu is the relative fragility of the electric grid.

Sorry to say, Oahu’s island-wide power outages have become all too frequent. Just off the top, we can recall upwards of 10 total or near-total island-wide outages since 1980.

The December 26-27 outage is still unexplained, and our sister blog – Citizens Helping Officials Respond to Emergencies (CHORE) – asks a few questions about how a lightning strike (the presumed cause at this date) in a remote location on the island could prompt a complete shutdown of the grid.

The outage made national headlines in light of Obama’s holiday vacation here, but reports indicate his family took the disruption in stride and simply went to bed early Friday night.

As did many of us.

Obama Comes Home; Holiday Visit May Outshine Annual Sojourn of that Other High-Profile Celebrity

Our Christmas Eve cartoon prediction: “Santa Barack” in his red suit, sitting on his throne, Hawaii politicians and renewable energy advocates in line with gift requests, Governor Lingle on his lap. (If we had any sway with Honolulu Weekly, it would be on page 3 next Wednesday.)

• Christmas Eve Update: The Advertiser cartoon today was close:

The Advertiser’s page-one, above-the-fold headline today declares “Obama coming home tomorrow” (take that, Chicago), and the president-elect’s 10-day holiday vacation has his hometown abuzz. The weather forecast for Christmas Day is typical for Hawaii – partly sunny with windward showers, high 77. Obama’s holiday home is on the windward side, so he may enjoy some of those passing “blessings.”

Also in the forecast is a flurry of stories and editorials aimed at PEOTUS, some of them about Hawaii’s oil dependence and renewable energy potential. In the unlikely event that a deputy assistant under press secretary-designate should stumble across this blog, we’ll link our August “Obama Talk Story” and hope some of it sticks.

We wish the entire Obama entourage (and you) a Mele Kalikimaka and send you all a couple YouTube versions of the song -- by Bette Midler (like Obama, a local high school graduate) and someone else -- to put ev erybody in an Island Christmas mood. It doesn't get much better.

Obama Transition Team Briefing Should Embrace Diversity in Hawaii’s Renewable Resource Future

Rep. Cynthia Thielen is excited about participating in a “wave energy briefing with President-Elect Obama’s Transition Team” two days from now. (We’re still searching for information on this briefing and welcome your assistance by leaving links in the Comments section, below.)

Thielen is an ardent wave energy supporter and promotes the technology frequently. We wish her well in impressing Transition Team members with Hawaii’s renewable energy potential and hope she doesn’t stop with wave energy. As Jan TenBruggencate of Kauai wrote recently: “It's a dangerous game to insist that any one energy source, whether it's oil/coal, or waves or even OTEC, is all we need to be working on. There is danger in putting all your eggs in one basket.”

Thielen notes in her piece that “the University of Hawaii is one of only two National Marine Renewable Test Centers in the nation, and they will be funded for the next five years to study and implement wave energy systems.”

Thielen stopped short in describing the funding. The complete quote from the Department of Energy press release says the Hawaii Center “…will facilitate the development and implementation of commercial wave energy systems and to assist the private sector in moving ocean thermal energy conversion systems beyond proof-of-concept to pre-commercialization, long-term testing."

In other words, there’s more than wave energy in the Center’s agenda. We hope a variety of renewable energy technologies will be on the table when the Transition Team allots some of its valuable time this week to Hawaii’s renewable energy potential.

Big Island Geothermal Venture Marks 15th Year

Often overlooked as a natural energy resource in Hawaii is the geothermal field on the Big Island. Puna Geothermal Venture’s plant celebrated its 15th anniversary yesterday, an event recorded by a new and promising news-gathering organization, Big Island videonews.com.

The video coverage highlights the participation of native Hawaiians in the ceremony. It’s the usual practice at groundbreakings and blessings in Hawaii for prayers and chants to be offered by representatives of the host culture. Beyond the usual ceremonial practice, it’s worth noting that native Hawaiian support will be required if the resource is ever to grow beyond 30 megawatts, the plant’s current size. (The above photo shows a segment of the cable once proposed to transmit electricity from the Big Island to Oahu.)

Native Hawaiian concerns about the industry’s potential to respect their culture, as well as damage the Wao Kele O Puna rainforest, was instrumental in blocking plans to expand the geothermal field. The Pele Defense Fund, backed by the Rainforest Action Network, was the most visible defender of cultural practices and an environment cherished by Hawaiians, including the rainforest.

Described by the Network as the last large lowland expanse of tropical rainforest in Hawaii, Wao Kele O Puna was eyed in the 1980s as a potential 500-MW geothermal field. The federally funded Hawaii Deep Water Cable Program explored transmission of electricity from the Big Island to Oahu using a seabed cable across the Alenuihaha Channel between Hawaii Island and Maui, then onward to Oahu. (The project is described in detail in the document “Hawaii and Geothermal: What Has Been Happening?”)

A Cultural Miscalculation

In their enthusiasm over geothermal energy’s potential, supporters misunderstood or simply were unaware of native Hawaiian cultural and religious sensitivities surrounding geothermal energy. Many Hawaiians came forward to say exploitation of that potential would be an affront to Pele, goddess of fire and protector of the Big Island’s volcanoes (at right, as envisioned by artist Walfrido Garcia).

That miscalculation included Hawaiian Electric Company’s TV spot in the early ‘80s shot near the rim of Halemaumau Crater (Pele’s home!) that ended with a giant electric plug being jammed into a giant receptacle planted on the ground. A leader in the Pele Defense Fund movement later told us the spot’s symbolic plunging of a dagger into Pele’s breast was the trigger that ramped up opposition to geothermal energy on the island. (Mea culpa time: the spot was created on our watch while at HECO.)

All of which is to suggest that if a new attempt is launched to expand geothermal energy’s contribution to the state’s renewable resource inventory, native Hawaiian sensitivities must be respected. Everyone in the state is negatively affected by Hawaii’s dependence on imported oil, and more energy drawn from the Big Island’s subterranean heat resource would benefit us all.

Getting there certainly will depend on the native Hawaiian community benefitting as well as or more than the rest.

Phoenix Motorcars, MECO To Test Electric Cars; Another Look at HCEI’s Renewable Energy Goal

Phoenix Motorcars CEO Dan Elliott (right) and Maui Electric CEO Ed Reinhardt sign their agreement today as Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares and Governor Linda Lingle look on.

Phoenix Motorcars announced today it will test up to 30 of its built-in-Korea electric vehicles on Maui starting in the first quarter of 2009 in partnership with Maui Electric Company.

The California company and MECO signed the agreement in Governor Linda Lingle’s office, where Better Place and Hawaiian Electric inked their own pact one week ago aimed at building a statewide network to service electric cars.

CEO Dan Elliott said its alliance with MECO is the company’s first partnership with a utility. When asked by an Associated Press reporter “what’s to test?” since electric cars have been around for years, Elliott and others said Maui already is studying how the mix of renewable energy resources can best be integrated on the island’s electric grid. Adding electric vehicles to the mix will result in valuable information for future vehicle rollouts, they said.

HCEI's '70 Percent' Goal

A comment made by the Governor today about the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative makes us wonder whether we and virtually all media have missed something about the HCEI goal. Just about every media piece we’ve seen since January has said HCEI's goal is to achieve 70 percent reliance on renewable energy in Hawaii by 2030.

The Governor today said the 70 percent figure is reached by combining 40 percent renewable resource reliance with 30 percent in improved efficiency. “That’s how we get to 70 percent,” she said.

Yet that’s not how HCEI’s goal has been described by the media. Google it yourself, but here are just a few typical citations:
• The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 29, 2008
• The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
• Hawaiian Electric Company
• Renewable Energy World.com

That said, here’s a quote from the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism’s website on HCEI:

“The goal is to decrease energy demand and accelerate use of renewable, indigenous energy resources in Hawaii in residential, building, industrial, utility, and transportation end-use sectors, so that efficiency and renewable energy resources will be sufficient to meet 70% of Hawaii’s energy demand by 2030."

So maybe what this boils down to is that the media essentially have given too little credit to the efficiency side of the equation and have inaccurately tied the 70-percent figure to renewable energy alone. If that’s the case, today’s press conference served a valuable purpose beyond the electric car test announcement by shedding more light on HCEI's goal.

It remains to be seen whether Hawaii and federal officials will consistently emphasize 40 percent renewable energy reliance instead of 70 percent when they discuss HCEI, as the Governor did today. Some observers already have said Hawaii's oil vulnerability makes even the higher number too conservative.

Obama, Biden & Gore To Meet on Climate, Energy

Let’s turn the search engines loose again and see if we can attract some attention to Hawaii’s energy issues and unique problems by linking them to tomorrow’s meeting between President-Elect (and Hawaii’s Own) Barack Obama, Nobel laureat and former Vice President Al Gore and Veep-Elect Joe Biden:

Obama Hawaii Energy Biden Hawaii Renewable Gore Hawaii Oil Dependency OTEC

That might do it. We tried the same tactic a few months ago with some success, according to our visitor tracker. While we’re at it, we hope some of you visitors review the “Obama Talk Story” script we proposed when he vacationed here in August.

And since Hawaii's Favorite Son will be vacationing here again this month, there's always a chance someone will try it out on him.

12/9 Update:  MSNBC previews the Chicago meeting.  So does CNN.

Same Time, Same Place – Governor’s Office Sets Another ‘Major Clean Energy Announcement’

Renewable energy advocates here on Oahu are learning to keep their Tuesday calendars free at 1:30. That’s becoming the designated announcement hour by the Governor’s office – for two weeks running, at least.

This week’s “major clean energy announcement” involves Phoenix Motorcars, which is taking reservations at its website for motorists who want “to be among the first to buy a real-world electric vehicle….” (The company's SUV is shown above.)

Last Tuesday at 1:30, the office hosted Better Place’s announcement for a statewide billion-dollar network of electric charging stations. It will be interesting to learn about Hawaiian Electric Company’s involvement with Phoenix, if any.

We’re optimistically blocking out the 1:30 hour on Tuesdays for the foreseeable future. Now, if the people who run the State Capitol would only block out more stalls for the public...(what a concept!)... citizens might actually be able to park their new electric cars there.

32,000 Miles on No Gallons of Gas; Swiss Teacher Completes World Tour in Solar Energy-Powered Car

Louis Palmer (right) gives a lift to Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the climate change conference being held in Poznan, Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Electric cars are the current rage, what with Better Place’s globetrotting marketing, most recently in Hawaii, and other developments all over the place. “Swiss adventurer” Louis Palmer rolled into Poznan, Poland yesterday after a 17-month, 32,000-mile journey through 38 countries in an electric car.

Palmer timed his arrival for the start of a United Nations climate conference that’s working on a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The plan is to ratify the new treaty at an international conference next December in Copenhagen, Denmark, where Better Place will build another of its electric car networks.

Hawaii is getting a fair amount of media attention thanks to Better Place’s initiative here; the Salt Lake Tribune even added a blurb about the proposed electric car network in Hawaii when it rewrote the Associated Press story out of Poznan.

Just like the electric panels on a trailer hitched to Palmer’s car, Hawaii doesn’t mind hitching itself to renewable energy initiatives launched elsewhere -- the more the merrier.

Better Place Vision of EV Heaven Comes to Hawaii; Backers Predict Nation’s First Statewide Network

Better Place CEO Shai Agassi meets the media today with Gov. Linda Lingle and Ted Liu, Director of the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

(See 12/4 Update at end of this post.)

If you’re going to skip a meeting with President-Elect Obama and 41 of your fellow governors to craft an economic recovery plan for the nation, you’d better have a news-making plan of your own on the same day. Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle didn’t disappoint.

For the second time in less than two months and the 10th time this year (see notably the "HECO Plan” and the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative), the Governor’s office was host to an energy-related announcement, and this one appears to have the potential to transform transportation in the Aloha State.

Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO of Better Place, was today’s featured speaker at the Governor’s press conference as he outlined a plan to make Hawaii the test kitchen and proving ground for widespread introduction of electric vehicle (EVs).

Noting the state’s abundant renewable energy resource potential and the historically high price of oil, Agassi said Hawaii’s case for electric vehicles has become even more compelling. According to a Better Place handout:

“At the same time, technological developments, particularly those related to batter technology, mean that electric cars are becoming more advanced. Hawaii is ready for the large-scale adoption of EVs and is poised to become a leader in environmentally friendly technologies over the next few years.”

Better Place’s Plan

Agassi’s company is into building electric car networks that will make internal combustion engine vehicles so last century. His website has two press releases dated today. The one on Hawaii says the state is the second to commit to oil independence by joining “the Better Place network.” (If you have to be Number 2 to anybody, it’s pretty cool if California is Number 1.)

Follow the above links to websites for more information, and for those of you who can’t get enough news about Better Place and EVs, we’ll add to this list as the media coverage becomes available.
• The Washington Post

• The Honolulu Advertiser
• The Honolulu Star-Bulletin
• KGMB-TV (video)
• KHNL-TV (video)
• KHON-TV2
• Reuters
• Chicago Tribune (with a "first statewide network" angle)
• The New York Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• earth2tech
• greentechmedia

12/4 Update: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin's editorial today mentions the "chicken and egg problem" in developing an electric car and plug-in network that others have identified, including National Public Radio earlier this week.

NY Times & Hawaii's Renewable Energy ‘Moon Shot'

Even The New York Times blogs. “The Board” is written by members of the Times’ editorial board and includes “…a variety of posts that give background to the day’s editorials, cover other major topics of the day, or provide a first-person take on an aspect of politics or society that we might not address in the editorial line-up.”

Hawaii’s quest for renewable energy independence is one such topic today. Henk Rogers’ Blue Planet Foundation and executive director Jeff Mikulina get a ton of exposure in a blog entry that equates the state’s drive to develop renewables with America’s race to the moon four decades ago:

"The project is Hawaii’s own moon mission, led by the Blue Planet Foundation and not by the state’s political establishment, which tends to prefer the slow and tortured way to change (a long battle over a new commuter rail system was bogged down by a ferocious debate over whether it should have steel or rubber wheels)."

Insert wince here – but remember, this is an opinion piece by a Times editorial board member, not necessarily the views of the aforementioned individuals and foundation. Still, it’s true that Rogers tells audiences we may be too conservative in aiming for 70 percent clean energy in Hawaii by 2030, the goal of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

Somebody has to be at the point of the spear, and whether they claim that position for themselves or not, that’s where one Times writer has put Rogers and Mikulina.

Remember the old advice: As long as the papers spell your name right, it’s good publicity.

More News on OTEC Deal Strangely Still Missing

We offered a champagne toast when the news broke on a collaboration to build a 10-megawatt ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plant in Hawaii. Yet 11 days later, there’s still no follow-up from the parties to what Governor Lingle’s office released on November 18th.

We don’t doubt the truth of the announcement made in Taiwan during a State trade mission. Still, it’s puzzling that the only news about the OTEC plant has come from the Governor’s office. Far as we can tell, neither Lockheed Martin nor the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan has issued a release.

If this is as big a deal as ocean energy enthusiasts hope it is, surely the parties want to put their own spin on their plans. But they haven’t, and that makes you wonder.

Lockheed representatives will be in Hawaii next week, and maybe that’s when we’ll learn more about what could be a breakthrough in renewable energy development here.

More Reasons To Be Thankful than We Can Count

Pardon us for indulging in some personal thanks before we get on with the usual business of this website. As parents of three adults who are contributing to their world in unique ways, and as grandparents of two great kids who live about three minutes away, we have much to be thankful for.

Hawaii’s renewable energy scene has had an up year, too, starting with the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative that was announced early this year by the Governor and the federal Department of Energy.

The Hawaii news media, which seemed burdened with blinders that restricted their vision to the obvious renewable energy technologies (windmills do mesmerize), are now broadening their horizons. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is finding a place in their editorials and stories, and since we began this blog specifically to build OTEC awareness, that’s a good thing. And thanks to private industry, OTEC has a brighter future than we could have imagined earlier this year.  (An Advertiser columnist makes our point on both counts in a day-before-Thanksgiving Day piece.)

Thankful for a Progressive Utility

What a refreshing change it is to have an electric utility taking a leadership position in advancing the state’s renewable energy interests. We have to admit to a soft spot for Hawaiian Electric; being there gave this inveterate communicator more on-air time than we could have imagined thanks to numerous island-wide power outages during the years we handled communications for the company. HECO brought wind farms and a geothermal plant online during that decade, but its recent leadership in partnering with the State deserves special recognition.

In that regard, the State government deserves thanks for its own initiatives, beginning with the aforementioned Clean Energy Initiative. More recently, the Governor announced a major agreement involving the State, HECO and the Consumer Advocate that, if the hype is to be believed, promises to transform the regulatory environment here and create a new business model that rewards the utilities for renewable energy innovation rather than for kilowatthour sales.

Non-Profits Stand Tall

The non-profit community deserves accolades, too. Entrepreneur Henk Rogers launched his Blue Planet Foundation with a spectacular Summit in April that brought Dr. Stephen Schneider (of the Nobel Prize-winning Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change), James Woolsey, Denis Hayes and Robert Kennedy, Jr. to Oahu to share their views and stimulate discussion on the clear and present danger of the planet’s continued fossil fuel dependence. Rogers, by the way, has one big matzah ball of a mission statement hanging out there – to end fossil fuel use on the planet, beginning in Hawaii. What’s not to like about that!?

Not to be forgotten, the Hawaii Venture Capital Association sponsored a series of monthly meetings on renewable energy development late this summer, attracting standing-room-only luncheon crowds.

Thankful for Being Taken Seriously

Finally, we’re really thankful for the interest of visitors to this website from around the world – literally around the world. Our SiteMeter service keeps track of visitors in dozens of countries who check in with us regularly. Relax – we don’t know exactly who you are, just your ISPs.

Thanks for reading these posts since our launch on March 14th. And thank you for supporting renewable energy development – especially if that support helps Hawaii prove what a small but determined society can do to rid itself of fossil fuel dependence.

Oh, yeah. We almost forgot: Thanks for Hawaii-born Barack Obama. Forget it, Chicago. He’s ours!

News about Pilot OTEC Plant Caught in Doldrums, But the OTEC Buzz Is Picking Up Around the World

NewScientist's illustration of an OTEC cycle.

We have another bottle of champagne ready to pop when more news is released about the pilot ocean thermal energy (OTEC) pilot plant slated for development here (see earlier post for the first pour).

Either coincidentally or providentially, the OTEC buzz seems to be picking up around the nation and world. The current issue of NewScientist, which went to press before Tuesday’s OTEC announcement, carries a long story on the technology’s promise and potential hurdles. A standout quote from the piece:

“This has the potential to become the biggest source of renewable energy in the world.” – Robert Cohen

We’ll leave the world to Mr. Cohen, but it parallels what we’ve been saying about OTEC’s potential in Hawaii. The tropical ocean traps prodigious amounts of solar energy each day; the quote we’ve heard is that the daily absorption is the equivalent of 250 billion barrels of oil.

OTEC also gets a look from Softpedia’s “Sci Pri” column and the Science Blog. All well and good, but we’re eagerly awaiting additional news about the Hawaii pilot plant. 

Surely Lockheed Martin and its Taiwanese partner, the Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute, will have something to say about this project, and soon (one would hope).

Still Waiting for Details re Hawaii’s Pilot OTEC Plant

It’s been a little more than 24 hours since we learned of the ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) pilot plant project planned for Hawaii, and the “when” and “where” details – not included in the press release -- have yet to be distributed in a followup release.

An important “who” also wasn’t spelled out, but we have to believe Hawaiian Electric Company or one of its subsidiaries will be involved. We’ve called the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) to fill in those blanks and will update this post when the information is received.

6 p.m. UPDATE: A DBEDT representative called to say the multi-party agreement announced by the Governor last month has these details, including the mention of HECO as the utility and HECO's Kahe power plant on Oahu's leeward coast as the site. So we're beginning to see yesterday's OTEC pilot plant announcement in a new light -- as a continuation of the earlier agreement. The truly "new" news is the pairing of Lockheed Martin and the Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute to construct and demonstrate the plant.

Here's our suggestion to DBEDT and the Governor's office: Interested parties around the world are waiting for more news about who, when and where, and it would be preferable to put this information in one updated press release or statement, rather than require everyone to search them out in other documents. Just a thought....

We’ve gently urged our daily papers to jump on this story and give it the coverage it deserves, but so far the announcement has merited only relatively brief mention in the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin. We invite our visitors to keep returning to this blog for updates, as we’re following developments as much or more than anyone else.

OTEC Shoe Finally Falls; Lockheed To Team with Taiwanese To Build Demonstration Plant in Hawaii

Pardon our enthusiasm, but we think this news deserves a toast --
appropriately backed by an ocean with limitless power generation potential.

We’ve been predicting it for months – and as recently as two days ago. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology is going to be built in Hawaii!

We have to say it’s about time. First theorized in the 1880s and shown to be feasible, at least in a small way, in the 1970s off the Kona Coast in Hawaiian waters, OTEC is potentially the major baseload generation source that will free Hawaii from its addiction to imported oil.

The announcement came today from Governor Linda Lingle’s office, which issued a press release that begs for more details – such as when and where. We’ll probably hear from Lockheed Martin in a day or a few more. (Pacific Business News carried the first media story to our knowledge.)

According to the release, Lockheed will team with the Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute to build a 10-megawatt plant. More details to come……

(See this blog's first post for some background on OTEC.)

Bring On the Energy Options, but Should Hawaii Embrace Them All Just Because They’re Possible?

Like many others, we’ve been in a post-election state of mind, imagining changes in energy policy that the Obama Administration and a more progressive Congress might deliver. Then the Sunday Advertiser arrived with three energy-related commentaries that nudged us out of our hiatus.

Hawaiian Electric Company executive vice president Robbie Alm has the lead commentary in the paper’s Focus section. Alm discusses the Clean Energy Agreement announced last month in the Governor’s office with considerable fanfare. The piece repeats much of what we already know about HECO’s transformation to a new business model.

That agreement is Jay Fidell’s subject in his “Think Tech” column in the Business section, but with a different slant. Under a headline that predicts billions of dollars in renewable investment costs, Fideil says those costs will be paid by consumers. He’s also concerned that the Legislature may be left on the sidelines if only the Public Utilities Commission and a State department have power over its implementation. He asks, “Should we react in awe, or in concern?”

The third commentary is by Rep. Cynthia Thielen, a member of the dwindling Republic minority in the Legislature, who advocates a major investment in wave energy conversion technology for Hawaii. Her vision: “Wave energy in Hawaii could meet 100 percent of the power needs of our Neighbor Islands, and 80 percent here on Oahu.”

Time for a Pause

Two of the three commentaries today are evidence of widespread enthusiasm for renewable energy technologies to help Hawaii get off oil. While enthusiasm and the goal both are desirable, Fidell’s column is a worthy read because of the caution he suggests is needed in our rush to embrace renewables.

The danger, as we see it, is that waves of enthusiasm from different quarters will pile up on one another, like a tsunami at the shoreline, washing away everything in its path. As Fidell notes, the undersea cable to connect Lanai and Molokai with Oahu to transmit wind energy alone could cost up to $800 million, and we consumers are going to pay that bill.

So it’s useful to ask repeatedly as we head down this path, is each and every renewable energy technology that’s promoted worth developing? For example, what are we to make of the assertion that wave energy derived from sea surges could meet 100 percent of the Neighbor Islands’ power requirements, and 80 percent on Oahu?

Can that truly be the case, or might there be a shortfall on days like today? From where we sit, the ocean looks like a mirror this morning, and one wonders how much electricity would be finding its way to shore on days like this. And if wave energy likely can’t be considered baseload power, capable of generating electricity 24/7 year-round, do we assume a breakthrough in energy storage capability that will get us through the calms?

If not, the utilities would have to have other generation sources – baseload sources – at the ready if wave power falters. What would fire those backup generators, and what about the environmental implications of wave power and the “wiring” of our shorelines? These and more questions need answers before we can return the enthusiasm for wave power.

And Then There’s Wind

The biggest wind energy project being touted in Hawaii is the Castle & Cooke proposal to build hundreds of turbines on Lanai and send the power via undersea cable to Oahu and perhaps the other islands in Maui County. Wind energy generates enthusiasm just about everywhere its proposed with some exceptions. The Waianae Coast community on Oahu rejected HECO’s proposal because of the project’s perceived visual “blight,” and some Lanai residents also are concerned about what the project would do to their island.

Nevertheless, David Murdock’s Lanai plan – like the Pickens Plan for a wind energy mega-project in the Great Plains – is building support in the islands. In these early evaluation stages, the project looks like a winner all around: Castle & Cooke could turn money-losing Lanai into a revenue generator, and the state would replace polluting oil-fired generation with clean wind power.

But then there’s that pesky Jay Fidell and his observation that the cost of building the cable, as well as the wind farm construction costs, essentially would be paid by consumers in their electric rates. As we’ve come to appreciate over the years, alternate energy isn’t free energy, and just because the wind blows free doesn’t mean our rates will go down. The infrastructure’s capital investment is huge.

Come One, Come All?

So we finally come to the point suggested in the headline over today’s post: Should Hawaii embrace all renewable energy technologies just because it’s possible to do so? Should we take them all on like mountain climbers – just because they’re there?

We think the answer is no. There’s little enthusiasm today for the early biofuel energy proposals that would have resulted in deforestation to make room for palm oil plantations. In that vein, each of the proposals being trotted out before consumers deserves scrutiny.

For us, the key issue is baseload generation. If a renewable energy project doesn’t have the capability to deliver power around the clock, questions must be asked about the backup requirement for each project. If the goal is to prevent new fossil fuel generation and replace current fossil fuel generation, clean baseload generation sources of energy must be introduced.

The Ocean Around Us

We started this blog on March 14th to generate discussion about ocean thermal energy conversion, a technology in search of a customer. To avoid becoming a Johnny One Note on this subject, we’ve often written about the other clean technologies that can contribute to Hawaii’s quest to Get Off Oil.

That said, OTEC stands out as the best long-term solution to Hawaii’s energy predicament. OTEC is baseload generation, unlike wind, wave and solar technology in the absence of massive storage capabilities.

OTEC demonstration projects in Hawaii are almost certain to be announced soon; HECO has recently had good things to say about ocean energy (in August and as recently as nine days ago). If the developers’ predictions are proven in these trials, OTEC could be on the long path to provide 100 percent of the state’s electrical energy requirements.

Would an $800 million consumer-backed investment in an undersea cable from Lanai impede acceptance of large-scale OTEC development? We’re not qualified to venture an answer, but the State Consumer Advocate surely would know or should be prepared to find out. And if the answer is yes, would clean energy baseload generation be delayed due to early investment in intermittent wind power on a grand scale?

As Fidell suggests, intense scrutiny is required for all these proposals, including HECO’s new business model, to ensure decisions made in the years immediately ahead will be in the public interest and result in a clean and affordable future for our grandchildren decades from now.

* * *

Have a different view or something to contribute to the discussion? Please do so with the Comments link, below.

Gore Says Obama Should Announce a National Goal: Achieve 100% Renewable Energy Use in a Decade

It’s been a week since Barack Obama won the presidency, and already he’s being urged to announce a national goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy dependence within a decade. Al Gore doesn’t aim low.

The former Vice President and Nobel Laureate announced this goal at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco last week, striking while the iron was hot, and he outlined his five-point plan days later in a commentary for the New York Times’ wider audience.

Mr. Gore minces no words, and he’s nothing if not consistent. On July 17, we highlighted his warning that “The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk.” He writes in his Times piece:

“To those of you who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists around the world…, please wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late.”

Gore’s 5-Part Plan

1. Large-scale investment incentives for massive solar, wind and geothermal power plants.
2. Construct a smart grid for the country, including high-voltage, low-loss underground lines.
3. Help America’s automobile industry convert to electric plug-in hybrids to run on renewable energy.
4. Retrofit buildings to make them efficient.
5. Put a price on carbon emissions in the United States and lead the way at next November’s Copenhagen conference (a Kyoto successor) to establish tough emission caps.

Gore’s Plan…the Pickens Plan…they all would move us closer to a stronger, more secure America and cleaner world, but the only plan that really matters will be the Obama Plan, which the President-Elect presumably will unveil in a matter of weeks.

His home state of Hawaii is gearing up for the energy transformation to come and will be an all-in participant out of necessity. Our overwhelming dependence on imported oil demands it.

HECO, Blue Planet Hit the Road Again Promoting a Hawaii Powered Exclusively by Renewable Energy

The headline may overstate it a bit as far as Hawaiian Electric’s Robbie Alm is concerned, but that’s what entrepreneur Henk Rogers is fighting for. The two have become a “traveling truth team” about Hawaii’s extraordinary dependence on fossil fuel and the imperative to develop renewable energy alternatives here as quickly as possible.

Alm and Rogers made an impression the first time they spoke to a Nature Conservancy of Hawaii gathering a few weeks ago and were invited back for a repeat performance at breakfast yesterday. Entrepreneur Rogers (of Tetris fame) created the Blue Planet Foundation last year with a super aggressive mission to end fossil fuel use on the planet, beginning with Hawaii.

What’s extraordinary about their road show is that Alm – executive vice president of Hawaii’s largest electric utility, which in years past would have made him “Mr. Conservative” – is nearly as provocative as Rogers in advocating massive changes for his company. Here’s a summary of their remarks:

Rogers: No Rest in Paradise

The digital game pioneer led off by coaxing applause from his audience about Barack Obama’s election to the highest office in the land. (For more on the hometown pride theme, see Lee Cataluna’s “Kama`aina President” column in today’s Honolulu Advertiser.)

Rogers predicted Hawaii will be in the spotlight as the nation and world try to figure out what it is about this place that could produce someone so remarkable. And when they drop in for a look, maybe they’ll learn how Hawaii’s geographical isolation has made it overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuel for nearly all its energy.

Utilities burned oil to generate 78 percent of the state’s electricity in 2006; coal produced another 13 percent. Renewable energy contributed only a little more than 6 percent, so it’s easy to appreciate, he said, why $147/barrel oil has truly damaged the state’s economy.

With Obama’s election, Rogers said the call for new energy sources no longer can be “Drill, Baby, Drill” but something with a “green” hue. “Change we must,” he said, and that change can and should be at its most aggressive in Hawaii, out of necessity.

(11/9 UPDATE: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin's editorial today -- "Obama's energy push a natural for Hawaii" -- sees great opportunity for Hawaii to be a laboratory for renewable energy development during the Obama Administration.  11/10 UPDATE: Al Gore has urged Obama to go 100 percent renewable energy in a decade; he made the call at the Web 2.0 Summit last week.)

Rogers said individuals and businesses also can contribute to reducing fossil fuel demand by grabbing the “low-hanging fruit.” While Hawaii leads the nation in home solar water-heating units, another 75 percent of the homes here have yet to install them.

Replacing incandescent light bulbs with efficient alternatives should be encouraged, and hybrid cars have become an affordable way for families to transition to a renewable economy. (Rogers rides a plug-in electric bicycle to his in-town appointments; his wife drives their only car, a Prius.)

Rogers praised HECO and the State Administration for their recent agreement to spur renewable energy development by creating a new business model for the state’s largest utility. He encouraged his audience to support legislative and regulatory changes that will be necessary to achieve the transformation. And he invited individuals to join with Blue Planet Foundation to help end fossil fuel dependence in the Islands:

“HECO and the State have made an historic leap in the right direction, and I thank them. Blue Planet Foundation will not rest until the last oil and gas tankers and the last coal transports have left the shores of this paradise. And when I say paradise, I’m not just talking about the great State of Hawaii and not just the United States of America. I mean Mother Earth – the one and only true Blue Planet.”

Alm: Renewables to the Max

HECO’s Alm contrasted Hawaii’s energy mix with the mainland’s and noted that the Big 4 of mainland energy sources – coal, nuclear, natural gas and large-scale hydro – simply won’t work in Hawaii. The four produce 96 percent of the mainland’s energy, while renewables contribute only 2 percent. Hawaii already gets 9 percent from renewables and has the potential to dramatically drive that percentage much higher.

“We’ll be trying to push wind and solar energy to their maximum contributions with long-term contracts,” he said, and he spoke encouragingly about the anticipated investment in ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) here by Lockheed Martin, which has been working on OTEC for decades. Alm said Lockheed’s multi-million-dollar investment in this baseload generation technology will help cut into the state’s oil imports. (Alm spoke earlier this year about HECO's intent to establish "set-asides" for ocean energy technology.)

But Alm noted that intermittent power sources such as wind farms require backup from the utility to ensure a consistent supply during lulls. “From an operating standpoint, running our power plants will get harder, not easier,” he said, a message he said he tells power plant operators. Introducing large numbers of electric cars to the islands could produce the surprising benefit of greater system reliability; in a nighttime generation crisis, Alm said, thousands of plugged-in cars could feed their stored energy back into HECO’s grid.

Alm said Hawaiian Electric has to suppress the fear of operating under a different business model, no longer exercising a monopoly over electricity generation. “We’ll get there, because the last few months have been so difficult working with our customers” as the price of oil reached unprecedented levels. “We don’t want to do that again,” he said, and suggested customers put one of their electric bills from last summer on their refrigerator to remind them what oil dependency looks like.

Alm said we’ll certainly see a return to those high oil prices again as the citizens of China and India strive to emulate the consumer society America has created. “We need to convince others not to follow our energy-consumption model,” he said. (China's Premier has some ideas about developed countries' "unsustainable way of life.")

In conclusion, Alm said Hawaii has a history of cutting back and retrenching during tough economic times as her population tries to survive. “What we don’t do is pick some issue and stick to it, even in a recession, with the intent to come flying out of the downturn,” he said. The quest for renewable energy can break that pattern, he suggested, and although there will be up-front costs to facilitate renewables and transmission systems, such as underwater cables to move wind energy from Lanai and Molokai to Oahu, the long-term benefits will be immense.

Both Alm and Rogers said politicians and regulators deserve support when they undertake initiatives to usher in Hawaii’s green revolution. The Henk and Robbie Show may be bringing that message to a venue near you in the weeks ahead.

Would Obama Be Too Much of a ‘Homer' if He Made Hawaii THE World Model for Renewable Energy?

(11/9 Update: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin doesn't think so; see today's editorial.)
“President-Elect Obama” has a beautiful ring to it – especially here in his home state. Environmentalists and renewable energy advocates have reason to be happy about the election results, too.

Wind, solar and ocean energy initiatives should thrive in the Obama Administration, and we’re likely to hear precious little talk about “Drill, Baby, Drill” – and even less enthusiasm for nuclear power.

So let’s resurrect our apocryphal conversation with the President-Elect about making Hawaii a model for renewable energy development. Hawaii – the most oil-dependent of the American states, the most isolated society in the entire world, an example of ethnic harmony despite our faults and an island chain rich in renewable energy development potential that can be a model for others to follow.

If a son of Hawaii can become President of the United States, nothing is impossible. Let Hawaii's age of renewable energy leadership begin.

Energy Island Plan Includes OTEC, Wind, Currents

Posting here has dropped off this week thanks to a pre-election holiday in Maui’s Kaanapali, where the trade winds have been strong and undoubtedly are turning the nearby wind turbines impressively. We’ve restricted ourselves to the occasional renewable energy item to come through on a weak wireless connection.

Here’s one on “sustainable modular islands” that includes a video presentation showing how ocean current power, wind power and ocean thermal energy conversion technologies might be integrated in floating energy islands. The concept will be presented at an energy conference in Shanghai in a couple weeks.