Will OTEC Ever Deliver Lincolnesque Emancipation To Hawaii, USA from their Slavery to Imported Oil?

Enthusiastic lecture attendees had their WWW moment blurred by an inept photographer.

Melodramatic though the headline’s question may be, it does have relevance on the bicentennial of the birth of our 16th president. Some of us have thought ocean thermal energy conversion could be a potential energy game-changer (see our first post) – as dramatic in its own right as the cause for which Lincoln is most remembered and admired.

The emphasis is on “potential,” and thanks to yesterday’s OTEC lecture at the University of Hawaii by Joe Van Ryzin of Makai Ocean Engineering, we have a better appreciation of the challenges facing this technology.

This blog can’t do justice to his hour-long presentation, but we hope to have selected enough highlights to capture the right tone – a balance of sobering reality and encouraging potential.

First, an Encouraging Word

Van Ryzin said the state of Hawaii is at the key pivotal point for OTEC development in the world. He noted that no more fossil fuel power plants will be built in Hawaii according to agreements reached between Hawaiian Electric Company, the State and the Federal DOE. Hawaii will have to rely on renewable energy for the rest of its days.

“You’ve got to look at the difference between OTEC and other renewables,” he said. “OTEC will provide firm power. It’s on 24/7, and if you look to renewables for firm power, OTEC is really it for this island and for a few other islands. So you realize that we might be able to build an OTEC plant for this island, perhaps for Guam, perhaps for Puerto Rico, and provide electricity at an attractive rate today. If so, how do you get there?”

Van Ryzin said if one 100MW plant can be built for Oahu, many could be built – perhaps 10 for Oahu alone. That itself would be a pretty good business, he said, and by then you’d have an assured technology that could be used to create, for example, ammonia and hydrogen for the entire United States if it were to convert to a different energy paradigm.

Van Ryzin’s company has teamed with Lockheed Martin in analyzing how to overcome OTEC’s many challenges. We were left with the firm belief that OTEC still can be the game-changer, especially for Hawaii here in the middle of a tropical ocean that absorbs prodigious amounts of solar energy each day.

$200 Million To Pass GO

But for starters, consider the cost of the first 10MW OTEC plant that presumably would be built in Hawaii to take the concept to the next level. Van Ryzin’s estimate is $200-300 million, and the line of financial backers is short or non-existent. The Federal government may be the only entity in a position to invest the large sums necessary to build Oahu’s “starter plant.” Everything about OTEC is big, he said:

“In trying to build the first OTEC plant, you have to apply all the engineering skills you have and finesse the costs. It’s the chicken and egg. From the technology point of view, you’d like to have it, but it’s pretty expensive. Who’s going to pay for it and how's it going to get done?

“A 100 MW OTEC plant would be economically viable for a location like Oahu. When you look at a 10MW plant, it’s kinda hard to make the business case for that, because things don’t scale down. You can’t build a 10MW plant for one-tenth the cost of a 100MW plant.

“What the real challenge is for OTEC is that we’re out there trying to build the first OTEC plant, trying to build it economically and do it as fast as we can, but you’ve got to apply all the engineering skills, all the knowledge that we have and really finesse the engineering cost.”

The challenges that must be overcome to scale up from 10 to 400 MW plants one day include the design and construction of the heat exchangers; the type of platform (onshore vs. floating, and if floating, the configuration); the size of the cold water pipe (perhaps 9.5 meters in diameter); foul-weather survivability; the design of the dynamic power cable running to the shore; the environmental impacts, and of course, the financing.

Well, yes….the challenges are real and significant, but the nation has a history of setting ambitious goals and achieving them. Between 1957 and 1966, the United States attempted 164 space launches; 101 of them ended in failure, but the country didn’t walk away from the moon shot.

Aiming for 2040

Once those engineering challenges are overcome, and most in the audience of engineers, scientists and academics presumably agree they will be, OTEC’s potential is such that this excruciatingly long approach to the first plant will have been worth the wait.

“If you have OTEC plants floating in some convenient spot producing ammonia and shipping it to shore, you’re already at the point to provide either ammonia or hydrogen to the DOE hydrogen economy of 2040,” Van Ryzin said.

Sequencing the steps to get to that level is not an overwhelming process, he continued, and can be tackled with R&D projects on the technical challenges.

“In order for OTEC to be really important for the United States, it can’t be just OTEC plants for Hawaii. What impact can OTEC have for the entire United States? Could we build enough OTEC plants and put them in an equatorial region and produce either hydrogen or ammonia, transport that to the United States and be able to make it on a large enough scale that it could provide enough fuel for all the light-weight vehicles in the United States?"

That’s an immense undertaking, with perhaps 700 OTEC plants of 400MW size, tankers going back and forth all the time. But Van Ryzin said this could make sense in 30 years when oil no longer is acceptable as a fuel for a variety of reasons – cost, security, the environment.

Van Ryzin had much more to say about OTEC’s potential to eliminate fossil fuel use in Hawaii over the next three decades, thereby preserving our security and treasure and providing a major new source of employment and investment. Listening to his lecture, one understands that like our parents’ and grandparents’ generations, ours is working to solve technical challenges today for the benefit of our children and their children.

It’s always been that way and hopefully always will be. This generation is now poised to fulfill OTEC’s potential more than any other in the past 150 years since the earliest ocean energy theories were proposed. Companies like Makai Ocean Engineering, Lockheed Martin and others that are working on it and deserve our individual and collective support.

Let's hope the new Obama Administration is paying attention.

'Hawaii Clear Car Act' Hearing Set for Thursday

Two bills before the State Legislature – Senate 1233 and 1174 – are modeled after California’s clean car legislation. Taken together, the Hawaii Clean Car Act requires automakers to provide cars and trucks producing 30 percent less greenhouse gas emissions by 2016.

The Blue Planet Foundation has submitted testimony for Thursday’s hearing (4 p.m., Capitol Room 225) and is urging others to do the same via email. We kinda like the emailed testimony of someone close to this blog:

Chair Gabbard and members of the committee:

I write to you as a concerned mother and grandmother.

As you know, our Legislature now has a golden opportunity to help eliminate offensive automobile air pollution, encourage less dependency on foreign and imported oil, and make life on our islands better for all citizens--including over 154,000 citizens suffering from some sort of lung and/or respiratory disease.

We need to join the ranks of other states and progressively provide protection for the citizens of our state. Forward thinking at this time, by passing SB 1233 and SB 1174, will further the environmental policies of President Obama as well as establish Hawaii as a state willing to come forward and do whatever is necessary to help save our environment. There can be no doubt that all states and countries must work together to end dependency on oil and hence to stop global warming. 

Additionally, these two bills do not impose a tax burden on citizens during the current difficult economic downturn. The beauty of our aina is dependent upon our Legislature's good judgment when deciding environmental policy. It is now time to take a firm and aggressive stance with regard to such important policy.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Lennie J. Carlson

President Promotes Energy Efficient Mass Transit

President Barack Obama had some good things to say today about energy efficiency and transit. Since he’s from Hawaii and undoubtedly has good thoughts about his home state each and every day, we like to think he was specifically referring to the Honolulu rail transit project that’s scheduled to move from the drawing boards to groundbreaking late this year.

Our sister blog has an excerpt of the President’s town hall meeting in Ft. Meyers, FL, and you’re invited to visit.

Pacific Business News Profiles HECO’s New CEO

We normally wouldn’t take much notice of personnel matters inside Hawaii’s largest electric utility, but since what happens inside the company will affect what happens outside like never before, we’re more than a little interested in Hawaiian Electric Company's new chief executive officer.

The new Pacific Business News (Feb. 6 edition) carries an extensive profile on Dick Rosenblum, who was lured out of (a young) retirement. (Subscribers to the print edition can link to the article here; others will have to buy the business weekly.)

With the transition to a different kind of utility now underway, he takes the helm at a critical time in the company’s evolution – perhaps the equal of the transition engineered by C. Dudley Pratt, Jr. when the Hawaiian Electric Industries holding company was formed in 1981.

Rosenblum brings considerable expertise in power generation and delivery to the islands, but there’s one piece of experience we hope is mostly irrelevant during his tenure here – his role as chief nuclear officer for Southern California Edison. We filed our thoughts about nuclear power in Hawaii under our “Fuggitaboutit” post last week.

Welcome to Honolulu, Dick Rosenblum. We wish you good luck and much success in guiding HECO’s evolution to a utility that helps accelerate development of renewable energy and phases out fossil fuel for the generation of electricity in the islands.

Generations Share Experiences, Hopes for Future At FOCUS Hawaii’s Climate Change Teach-In

UH Environmental Policy undergrad David Aquino addresses group.

Two impressions stand out among many from last night’s teach-in at the University of Hawaii:

• Attendees ranged from the early 20s (if not teens) to the upper 60s (if not 70s);
• The generations spoke with and not at one another.

The local event – undoubtedly the last of many similar gatherings held yesterday across the nation – was built around the webcast “Solutions for the First 100 Days” aimed at enthusing youth to descend on Washington late this month to lobby for dramatic cuts in fossil fuel emissions. (Memo to the teach-in's organizers: Hawaii and Alaska deserve inclusion in your “action map” of the United States.)

The Presidential Climate Action Project developed at the University of Colorado over the past two years lays out an agenda for the Obama Administration’s first 100 days to “put us on a path to stabilizing the climate.” (See webcast’s text for details.)

Once the long video was out of the way, microphones were opened for an exchange of views, questions and suggestions between the panel and the audience of about 50. The older generation spoke first, since most of us have learned one place or another along the way that “the only failure is not to participate.” But eventually all age groups spoke up, and the commitment to address global change was ubiquitous.

Failure or Foundation?

We thought members the older generation were a little hard on themselves for allegedly having failed to turn the nation around with their ecological efforts decades ago. Early efforts set the right tone; the first Earth Day was held in 1970. Jimmy Carter urged the nation to lower thermostats and install solar panels, as he did on the White House roof.

It was the Ronald Reagan crowd that removed those panels, slashed federal renewable energy budgets and set the energy conservation movement back at least two decades. The lesson is clear: What happens at the top is critical, so let’s be sure the Obama Administration sets the tone for the next generation.

We made a plug for ocean thermal energy conversion, of course, and it was good to hear others mention OTEC along with wind, solar and biomass among Hawaii’s abundant renewable energy resources.

The Blue Planet Foundation – with a mission “to end the use of carbon-based fuels” and start the effort in Hawaii – was present with an offer to help one or more deserving young people travel to Washington for the national gathering in late February.

UH clean energy activists invited the audience to two campus events next week – the 2nd annual B-Day Bash of the student-led Sustainable Saunders group, and Time magazine’s “Greenest CEO” Ray Anderson’s appearance at the Campus Center. (Contact Sustainable Sanders; these events aren’t on the website’s calendar today.)

If the energy in the room last night is efficiently put to work by the organizations in attendance -- Sustainable Saunders, Blue Planet Foundation, Interfaith Power and Light and others – the teach-in will have a lasting effect. But let’s hope for a bigger turnout next time. As the seminar leader said:

“The only failure is not to participate.”

Smart Grid Aims To Connect Hawaii’s Islands

An image from GE's smart grid spot during Sunday's Super Bowl.

When inspiration fails, we do the logical thing and cockroach off someone else’s blog. After only a little searching today we found the GE Global Research Blog and a piece posted just yesterday by Devon Manz.

Manz is an engineer working on a smart grid concept applicable for the Hawaiian Islands. (We thought he looked familiar and confirmed it at the list of attendees of last April’s Blue Planet Summit.)

Manz’s post nicely states the problem facing renewable energy advocates in Hawaii: The islands are just that – standalone piles of rock in the middle of the Pacific not connected with one another by an electric grid.

Most of the renewable energy development potential (excluding ocean thermal energy conversion -- OTEC; we’ll get to that later) is on the “neighbor islands,” but most of the load is on the capital island of Oahu. What to do?

The unsurprising solution is to connect the islands with undersea cables. The distances and depths are not all that remarkable, with the possible exception of the 6100-foot-deep Alenuihaha Channel between Maui and the Big Island.  (Jan TenBruggencate of the Raising Islands blog checks in to note that the Kaieiewaho Channel between Kauai and Oahu drops to more than 11,000 feet.  You're right, Jan, but not many are pushing to go to Kauai these days -- undersea or on top of it!)

With up to 500 MW of wind energy planned for Molokai and Lanai and only minimal loads on those islands, a smart grid will be needed to connect those intermittent renewable energy sources with the load on Oahu. Manz’s piece documents the challenge and prospects for success that will enable Hawaii to maximize renewable energy contributions in the state.

About OTEC

The graphic on the GE blog doesn’t mention future contributions from this ocean energy technology to meet Oahu’s power requirements. Without an OTEC plant even under construction here and only a signed agreement to build one, it’s pretty early to make representations about the technology’s potential to provide power, firm or otherwise. For the record, however, Hawaiian Electric’s integrated resource planning has 200 MW reserved for OTEC, and its officers have been unambiguous about their willingness to embrace ocean energy and its potential to deliver non-intermittent baseload power.

No to Nukes, Part 2: Debunking an Urban Myth

Someone sent us an email after reading our “Fuggitaboutit!” post immediately below, saying Hawaii already has nuclear power thanks to nuclear-powered submarines based at Pearl Harbor. He added:

“Surely you remember that a nuclear sub powered Kauai’s grid after (Hurricane) Iniki.”

This “submarine to the rescue” urban legend needs an asterisk: It never happened. True, a plan was floated for a sub hook-up to Kauai’s grid after Hurricane Iwa devastated it on November 23, 1982 – not Iniki, which struck on 9/11, 1992. Here’s a New York Times report a week after Iwa:

“Plans to use the nuclear submarine Indianapolis to provide power for Kauai were dropped after three portable generators arrived from California.”

Once these legends start rolling, they pick up all sorts of extraneous tidbits. A website devoted to the attack submarine Indianapolis has a photo of the sub entering a Kauai harbor “to provide assistance after hurricane Iwa passed through the area on 1 May 1982.” And so it goes….

A Better, Cleaner Way

Do nuclear submarines at Pearl Harbor make civilian nuke power in Hawaii more acceptable? We think that’s also bogus. How can we even consider going down that path when Hawaii’s renewable energy resources have barely been tapped?

We won’t belabor the case for ocean thermal energy conversion here; we’ll know within a few years whether OTEC is all that it’s cracked up to be – see also our first post to this site -- and if it is, goodbye to fossil fuel imports for electrical generation here within a generation.

Then there’s solar power using photovoltaics, just now coming into their own, with even greater promise thanks to advances in power storage capabilities. Jay Fidell’s “Think Tech” column in today’s Advertiser is definitely worth your time.

So let’s put this suggestion floating around the State Legislature to rest. Building nuclear power plants in Hawaii is a ridiculous idea.
NOTE: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports today the bill to study nuke power has been killed. Be prepared for its return next year.

No No No No No! And To Be Clear --- Fuggitaboutit!

We admit to a little neglect of this blog and the world strikes back! It's been about a week since the Legislature went into session, and already some of our public servants want to study the feasibility of nuclear power in Hawaii.

We warned you this could happen – way back on August 6th after picking up the signs in downtown Honolulu.

Let’s be clear about opposition to nuclear power in Hawaii and hope it somehow gets to the newspapers: You don’t have to be an “environmentalist” or “activist” to oppose nuke power in these islands. That’s how today’s Advertiser seems to lump opponents.

You can be a realist or a pragmatist or an idealist or someone who simply knows with certainty that Hawaii’s alternatives to burning fossil fuel to generate electricity can be found in the wind, sun and ocean.

What do you suppose would happen if you asked legislators who support nuclear power for an elevator talk on ocean thermal energy conversion? Would they even know where to begin?

The tropical ocean is the largest solar energy collector on the planet, and we’re swimming in it! Plans are underway to build Hawaii’s first operating OTEC plant; when proven and built out to 100-megawatt size on off-shore platforms or ships, OTEC will be a source of unlimited baseload power that takes advantage of nuclear energy supplied by the sun.

That’s a comeback used by Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Blue Planet Foundation:

“We do have nuclear power in Hawaii; it’s called the sun and it’s safely located 93 million miles away.”

The sun’s energy is stored safely in the ocean that surrounds us, so let’s get on with ensuring a smooth and rapid transition to clean, renewable energy and stop this ridiculous talk about bringing nuclear power to Hawaii.  For more on renewable energy as "our only viable option," see Pat Takahashi's piece today at Huffington Post.

Admissions of Neglect: We’re Two-Timing This Blog

Anybody out there get nervous if you don’t post to your website for a few days? That’s what we’re feeling this week, but we can explain:

We’ve been spending time with another blog -- Yes2Rail. The Honolulu rapid transit fixed guideway project we’re affiliated with is steadily progressing and has registered some new developments; e.g., the Honolulu City Council voted yesterday to shift the route so it will pass U.S. Naval Station Pearl Harbor and Honolulu International Airport.

The route was a no-brainer from way back, but political considerations two years ago required a compromise that initially fixed the route through a predominantly residential district. The new route’s projected ridership shows higher usage, including among the thousands of workers at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and the airport.

What’s more, this will be an environmentally preferable way to commute compared to the over-reliance on the private automobile on Oahu.  The "airport route" is expected to reduce road congestion by 23 percent in the next two decades.

So there you have it; we’ve stepping out with another blog, but we promise to turn our attention back to Hawaii's renewable energy options soon enough.  (Please visit Yes2Rail; it relishes all the attention it can get.)

Governor’s State-of-State Speech Says Oil ‘Sucks’

OK, that’s a bit abrupt. Here’s the full quote for proper context:

“Oil pollutes the environment, it sucks billions of dollars out of our economy and leaves us dependent on the goodwill of foreign countries and companies for our very survival.” (Tabloid treatment in the pursuit of energy independence is no vice.)

Governor Linda Lingle’s State of the State contained a strong commitment to reducing and eventually eliminating Hawaii’s dependence on imported oil and other energy resources. Renewable energy advocates will find much to like in her speech before the Legislature today, such as:

“As the world’s most isolated set of islands and our nation’s most oil-dependent state, a clean energy future is no longer simply a desire of environmentalists, it is an absolute necessity for our long-term economic survival.”

There’s plenty more about energy in the speech, which you can both read and watch at the Governor’s website.

•  Castle & Cooke's Harry Saunders writes in the Advertiser about the company's new solar farm on Lanai.

Electric Cars Hit Hawaii Roads in Reliability Tests

Cops chasing bad guys in electric cars? No more vroooom, just swiiiiiiiish?

That may happen now that the Honolulu Police Department is testing hybrid vehicles, according to the Honolulu Advertiser. (That's Officer Ioane Ke`ehu at right in an Advertiser photo.) Numerous companies and government agencies are putting electric cars and buses to the test.

The initiative that may have generated the greatest interest locally so far is Better Place’s intent to build a $1 billion electric car infrastructure in the state.

Bring it on – and while officials are at it, how ‘bout converting one of those behemoth cement trucks to electricity? Now, that would be a test – and a simultaneous reduction in air pollution.

OTEC History, Challenges and Potential Highlighted In an ‘Invention and Technology’ Magazine Article

Much of what a reasonably curious person would want to know about ocean thermal energy conversion – including the frustrations of French inventor Georges Claude (at left) – can be found in a well-researched article by James R. Chiles in the Winter 2009 edition of Invention and Technology magazine. (Unfortunately, the link is no longer active.)

The article’s subhead draws in the reader:

“Eighty years ago, a brilliant French inventor staked – and lost – his considerable fortune on developing ocean thermal energy, but his dream of harnessing unlimited energy from the sea lives today.”

Claude tried again and again to make his OTEC dream work but was undone by bad technology, bad planning and bad weather forecasting. The piece devotes a major portion of its space to Claude’s ultimately fruitless efforts, but valuable lessons were learned about the difficulty of deploying OTEC technology, lessons that Chiles says are relevant in today’s quest to develop Hawaii's first pre-commercial OTEC plant.

Here are a couple quotes from the article:

“A natural source of power exists which is abundantly able to supply all power needed by future man.” The tropical ocean can supply “an indefinitely large storehouse of potential energy, inexhaustible” if tapped.

So wrote engineer Ben J. Campbell 96 years ago, and it’s still being said today (providing further support to the notion there's nothing new under the sun; see this blog’s first post on March 14, 2008).

Chiles’ piece is recommended reading, especially for its mention of Hawaii initiatives and personalities affiliated with OTEC, including entrepreneur Bill Spencer’s fish farming plans for Hawaii Oceanic Technologies that would use small OTEC systems to power fish pens in the open ocean.

(Mahalo to Robert Cohen, long-time OTEC enthusiast and backer, for sending us the article.)

Will 2009 Be Hawaii’s Year of the Electric Car?

(Reminder to military personnel on Oahu: Visit our Yes2Rail blog for information on how to comment on the Honolulu rail transit project's Draft EIS.)

What’s the fastest way to make cuts into Hawaii’s dependence on oil? We’ll venture the opinion that converting to electric vehicles is that way.

It would seem to be the “easiest,” implemented by individuals and requiring no land use or shoreline management permits, environmental impact assessments, legislative initiatives, new Public Utility Commission rules or hundreds of millions of dollars in power plant investment.

To be sure, Hawaii will see its share of large wind farms, solar arrays and OTEC plants in the years ahead, but individuals and businesses are switching over to electric cars in the here and now. Today’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports on a company that’s introducing its beefed-up battery pack to Hawaii that doubles the Toyota Prius's fuel economy.

We’ll all be watching Better Place in ’09 to see how far the company moves its plan to build out a $1 billion battery-charging network of 100,000 charging stations throughout the state. Hawaii is just one of Better Place's venues, so it remains to be seen where the state ranks in the company's priorities.  Here's a link to a BBC report today on Better Place and "the electric car revolution."

We wait with anticipation for other initiatives in renewable energy this year involving OTEC, battery storage and other critical fields. Whatever those initiatives are, our journey to energy independence in Hawaii will be smoother if the vehicles we use are electrified.

As Obama Assumes Leadership of the Nation, Hawaii Is Poised to Be Green Energy Example

This is the quintessential photo from the 2008 campaign as far as Hawaii Energy Options is concerned – Obama on the stump in Bend, Oregon, talking about his $150 billion commitment to green energy development.

On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration, we add our best wishes to Hawaii's favorite son and his Administration and link back to a couple posts from last year – our apocryphal “talk story” with the candidate and a suggestion for the Obama transition team.

Here’s another photo from last year, the memory of which we hope brings President Obama and his family back to the islands early and often:

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.