Big Island, Hamakua Coast, Peak Oil, Sustainability

Sustainability in Hamakua

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My worlds collided on Saturday, when I led a tour that included a stop to meet Richard and see Hamakua Springs Country Farms.

Along with Hilo historian and anthropologist Judith Kirkendall, I lead van tours around East Hawai‘i. Right now we are doing a series of five tours that focus on agriculture and sustainability – what people are doing right now to be more sustainable, and how we can support them and also be more sustainable ourselves. The tours operate through Lyman Museum.

Our tour this past Saturday was called “The Garden As Provider,” and we focused on Hamakua. First we met at the Lyman Museum and heard a short talk by Sam Robinson about Let’s Grow Hilo. That’s the program she started that has volunteers planting edibles along downtown Hilo streets and in traffic medians.

“Anyone is free to help themselves to the fruit or vegetables once it’s ripe,” she told us, and she invited anyone interested in the project to come help plant and tend. They meet every last Sunday at the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center at 2 p.m.

Then we visited Barbara and Philip Williams, who live just outside Hilo near Pueopaku. Barbara grew up in Kenya, where they lived 50 miles away from the nearest railroad and so had to be self-sufficient. After she and Philip married, they lived on a plantation in East Africa. Now on the Big Island, they still grow and harvest everything they can. They have animals, including goats, and every fruit and vegetable you can imagine. “We retain the habits of being self-sufficient to the present day,” she told us.

From there we headed to Pepe‘ekeo, where Richard met us at Hamakua Springs.

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Richard is such an interesting speaker. He told us the story of how he started in farming (after flunking out of UH and consequently serving in Vietnam, he returned home and helped his father on the family’s chicken farm; then traded chicken manure for banana keiki and started farming bananas). He talked about how they decided to move the farm to Pepe‘ekeo and why (hint: free water; the farm alone has one-third as much water as supports agriculture where 234,000 people live in Leeward O‘ahu). Our tour group was totally engaged.

He told about how he started noticing prices going up (on fertilizer, boxes, all the things they were using on the farm) and how he realized it was due to oil prices and decided to attend Peak Oil conferences to learn what was happening. And how he felt bad and so didn’t tell the others there that he would return to Hawai‘i and wear shorts throughout the winter, and grow his produce throughout the winter; nor how we have geothermal to provide us with energy – which we don’t even fully take advantage of.

He spoke about how he has been positioning themselves for how conditions will be five or 10 years from now, and about the hydroelectric project that is getting going on the farm very shortly, and how since his workers first asked to borrow money for gas to get to work he has started what they call the Family of Farms, working with nearby farmers. And about how they are experimenting with how they can produce protein on the farm by raising tilapia, and giving their workers fish (and produce) every week in lieu of monetary raises they cannot afford to give right now.

There was more, and as editor of this blog for all these years, none of it was new to me, but I, too, listened intently and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was fascinating to hear Richard pull all the pieces he talks about on this blog together into one, interrelated, narrative that tells such a real, on-the-ground story of how things are (and how they are changing). The people on the tour were really interested. We all were. Afterward, I heard people talking about what a great thinker he is, and how much they enjoyed meeting him.

That Richard, he’s all right!

We also went to Hi‘ilani Eco House in Honoka‘a, an amazing house being constructed to be as “green” as it gets. Wow, that’s a fascinating place (they say it should last for 500 years!) and they are very open to groups visiting, if anyone is interested. And we stopped a couple other places as well.

It was a neat day (the upcoming tours are listed here if you’re interested), and Richard’s information really made it so good. We were all wowed. Thanks, Richard!

Government, Peak Oil

The White House’s ‘Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future: One-Year Progress Report’

If your electric bill is $300 today, with the price of oil going up 13.5 percent a year (as it has for the last 10 years) your electric bill will be $600/month by mid-2017. And by 2023, it will be about $1,200/month.

This is largely due to demand from China and India. If the trend continues, the price of oil will double every 5.5 years.

It is clear that the U.S. mainland has many resources we in Hawai‘i do not. We don’t have nuclear, large hydro, natural gas or coal. Also, the U.S. mainland only relies on oil for 2 percent of its electricity generation.

The mainland mainly has a liquid fuel transportation problem because there isn’t an easy solution for gasoline. But they are in much better shape than we in Hawai‘i because they don’t also have a liquid fuel electricity problem.

In Hawai‘i, we have both a liquid fuel transportation problem and a liquid fuel electric generation problem. The cost of both is rising with oil prices.

Except for a few spikes in the ’70s and ’80s, oil prices have been under $20 per barrel for 100 years. In 2000, the oil price was $25 per barrel and with normal inflation, the price should be $35 per barrel today. Instead, it is over $105 per barrel. Supply cannot keep up with demand.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2012
 
The Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future: One-Year Progress Report
One year ago, the President put forward a comprehensive plan in the Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future that outlined the Administration’s all-of-the-above approach to American energy – a strategy aimed at reducing our reliance on foreign oil, saving families and businesses money at the pump, and positioning the United States as the global leader in clean energy.
On Monday, the President will receive a new progress report, showcasing the Administration’s historic achievements in each of these areas. The accomplishments in this report, which represent the efforts of six Federal agencies, underscore the Administration’s commitment over the past three years to promoting an all-hands-on-deck, all-of-the-above approach to American energy and building a more secure energy future. Attached please find a copy of The Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future: One-Year Progress Report.
 
Report Highlights:
·         Increasing American Energy Independence: A year ago, the President set a bold but achievable goal of reducing oil imports by a third in a little over a decade, relative to where they were when he ran for office. Thanks to booming U.S. oil and gas production, more efficient cars and trucks, and a world-class refining sector that last year was a net exporter for the first time in sixty years, we have already cut net imports by ten percent – or a million barrels a day – in the last year alone. And with the new fuel economy standards the President announced last year, we are on pace to meet our goal by the end of the decade.
·         Expanding Domestic Oil and Gas Production: Domestic oil and natural gas production has increased every year President Obama has been in office. In 2011, American oil production reached the highest level in nearly a decade and natural gas production reached an all-time high.
·         Setting Historic New Fuel Economy Standards: The Obama Administration has put in place the first-ever fuel economy standards for heavy-duty trucks, and proposed the toughest fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles in U.S. history, requiring an average performance equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Over time, these new standards will save consumers more than $8,000 in lower fuel costs.
·         Improving Energy Efficiency in 1 Million Homes: Since October 2009, the Department of Energy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have completed energy upgrades in more than one million homes across the country. For many families, these upgrades save over $400 on their heating and cooling bills in the first year alone.
·         Doubling Renewable Energy Generation: Thanks in part to the Obama Administration’s investment in clean energy – the largest in American history – the United States has nearly doubled renewable energy generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources since 2008.
·         Developing Advanced, Alternative Fuels: In 2010, President Obama set a goal of breaking ground on at least four commercial scale cellulosic or advanced biorefineries by 2013. That goal has been accomplished, one year ahead of schedule. Together, these projects, and associated demonstration and pilot projects will produce a combined total of nearly 100 million gallons per year of advanced biofuels capacity.
·         Supporting Cutting-Edge Research: The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), which the Obama Administration funded for the first-time ever in 2009, has supported more than 120 individual projects aimed at achieving new and transformational energy breakthroughs.
Even with this progress, there is much more work to be done. Today, we are experiencing yet another painful reminder of why developing new American energy is so critical to our future. Just like last year, gas prices are climbing across the country – except this time, even earlier. While there are no silver bullets to solve these challenges, the Obama Administration will continue to build on the progress we’ve made over the past three years. Through a sustained, all-of-the-above approach to American energy we’ll work to restore middle class security, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create an economy that’s built to last.
Geothermal, Government, Peak Oil

Price of Oil Stayed the Same for 100 Years, Then Started Doubling Every 5 Years

Except for some spikes in the 70s and 80s, oil cost less than $20 per barrel for a hundred years. Until 2000.

In the year 2000, the price of oil averaged $25 per barrel. And then for 11 years, the price of oil increased an average of 13.5 percent every year. There were peaks and troughs along the way, but 13.5 percent was the average yearly increase during that period of time.

In 2011, it averaged $100 per barrel.

This means that the price of oil doubled every 5.5 years. (Here’s a shorthand way to calculate doubling time: Take the growth rate and divide that into 70. In this case, divide 70 by 13.5 percent and you get approximately 5.5 years.)

Demand is exceeding supply. Something has changed fundamentally, and we here in Hawai‘i need to pay close attention to it.

It’s why Mayor Kenoi is taking a delegation to Ormoc City, Philippines. Ormoc City has about the same population size as the Big Island, a similar ag/tourism-based economy, and a university about the same size as UH Hilo.

But they generate 700 MW of geothermal energy, compared to the Big Island’s 30 MW. The Mayor wants to see for himself, and understand what the risks and potential for reward are for the Big Island.

Bananas

Bunchy Banana Top Virus in Hilo

A fellow banana farmer recently told me of an infestation of the Bunchy Banana Top Virus in Hilo.

I drove by to look and sure enough, most of the bananas at that site were infected.

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If you see this symptom on banana plants, please call Kyle Onuma at the State of Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture.

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From the Cooperative Extension Office, College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa:

Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is one of the most serious diseases of banana. Once established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate or manage. BBTV is widespread in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Taiwan, most of the South Pacific islands, and parts of India and Africa. BBTV does not occur in Central or South America. In Hawaii, BBTV was first observed in 1989 and is now widely established on Oahu. In 1995 it was discovered in the Kona area of the island of Hawaii, and in 1997 it was found on the island of Kauai.

The virus is spread from plant to plant by aphids and from place to place by people transporting planting materials obtained from infected plants. There is no cure for BBTV. Some banana varieties, like the Cavendish types, are more readily infected with the virus, but no variety of banana is resistant. Banana plants that show symptoms rarely bear fruit, and because they are reservoirs of the virus, they must be destroyed. BBTV is a serious threat to Hawaii’s banana industry and to the productivity of banana plantings in home gardens…. Read the rest here

Banana Bunchy Top is a very serious banana virus. It adds another layer of cost to banana farming.

We need to renew our vigilance.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Government

Should Farmers Grow Biofuels Instead of Food?

Should farmers grow biofuels instead of food?

This is a fundamental question that our society will need to answer. How much do we value food production?

When farmers look at rising and uncontrolled oil prices, and are not able to raise their prices to keep up, the message they get is that our society does not, fundamentally, value farmers.

One thing that can help our farmers is geothermal – because it is cheap and its price is stable. Having cheap electricity bills would mean that the people who are the farmers’ customers will have discretionary income, which they can then use to help support farmers.

Every day I talk to many people who are very fearful about rising electricity and gas prices.

Mayor Billy Kenoi has thrown down the gauntlet. He is saying: “We have geothermal; why aren’t we using it?”

I agree with the mayor. Geothermal can help the folks that are on the verge of having their lights turned off. It’s truly about the effect on real people.

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Geothermal, Government, Renewable Energy Sources

Mayor Kenoi Asks Why We Aren’t Using Our Geothermal Resource Better

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Hawai‘i Island Mayor Billy Kenoi addressed the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce the other day. He asked, “If we have the most productive geothermal in the world, how come we are not using it?”

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The Mayor is serious! He is organizing a trip to Ormoc City, Philippines, which has an economy similar to the Big Island’s. Its populationis close to the population of the Big Island.  They produce 700MW of geothermal, which they share by cable with other islands. We only produce 30MW.

The mayor wants to see how they do it. Since “if they can do it, we can do it.” Mayor Kenoi understands energy issues very well.

People do not say that 100 percent renewable is a dumb idea, but some say it can’t be done. I agree with the Mayor – it can be done, and it will be done. Not no can. CAN!

And the beneficiary of cheap, proven-technology, environmentally benign geothermal electricity will be all the folks and businesses here who are struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps we will see jobs develop that keep our children from leaving Hawai‘i.

Right now, there are more Hawaiians living outside of the state than in the state. What’s wrong with that picture?

From a West Hawaii Today article:

How, Kenoi then asked the crowd, can the island have the most productive geothermal hotspot in the world and not use it?

“It’s not intermittent,” he said. “It’s cheap, renewable, clean power. How can we not have this opportunity to encourage investment and fully develop the island of Hawaii as a 100 percent renewable energy island?”

He said with excess geothermal electricity, “we can have hydrogen to power buses.”

On both the renewable energy issue and keeping Kona’s international airport designation, Kenoi said he is also working with Sen. Daniel Inouye’s office, seeking federal assistance….

Uncategorized

Supporting Hunters & the Kulani Forest

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Richard Ha writes:

This past Saturday evening, I went over to Nani Mau Gardens to give moral support to my friends in the Mauna Kea Recreational Users Group (MKRUG). This group includes hunters, off-road motorcyclists and mountain bikers. I was an avid off-road motorcycle and mountain bike enthusiast back in the day.

Big Island Video News covered this meeting well. Big Island Video News video: Hunters hold hearing over DLNR gencing, game eradication

Blyth

Wayne Blyth, chairman of the MKRUG

They had invited all the Big Island legislators to this meeting, in order to let them know how the "hunters" part of the coalition feels about a large part of the Kulani Forest being fenced off. They do not like it. Representatives Jerry Chang and Clifton Tsuji attended, as did Council Member Fresh Onishi. I was floored to see how many people attended the meeting, which was called on very short notice.

Although Rep. Jerry Chang congratulated the group for being well-organized, I think he misread it. It’s not that they were organized. It’s more that fencing off the forest touches a real sore spot. It threatens people's ability to get food for their families. What about the people? 

Audience

Some of the 200 people in attendance

One eloquent speaker said it was all about cost for them to go hunting for food. They had to buy the license, pay for dog food and buy gas to make it possible to go hunt for food. On the other hand, he said, the folks who fence off the forest just have to find something to justify getting a grant to do so. For him, it is a cost issue.

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It was a coalition of like-minded folks; Rep. Jerry Chang

My dad used to hunt to feed his family. This audience was made up of young people and families, and all the way up to people in their 60s and 70s who have hunted all their lives. I saw the same concern as in people worried about rising electricity bills.

It’s why people are so supportive of geothermal.

  • Low-cost electricity helps the regular folk.
  • Seventy percent of the economy is made up of consumer spending.
  • If people have extra money, they will spend.
  • This will cause our standard of living to rise.

This is not rocket science.  

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

How to Predict What Your Life Will Look Like in the Future

For about 100 years (except for a few spikes in the 70s and 80s), oil cost about $20/barrel. One hundred years!

What’s happened to the price of oil lately is significant. And since oil is a finite resource, the price will likely keep on rising.

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In 2002, everything was fine. And then in 2003, 2004, 2005 parents started telling their kids: “Hey, go turn off the lights.”

If the price of oil was just tracking inflation, it would be about $35/barrel right now. Instead, it’s $108/barrel.

We could almost use this type of a graph as a consumer price index for Hawai‘i. If I’d had this information before, I wouldn’t have needed to go to the Peak Oil conference to figure out what was going to happen.

This graph, which I prepared, predicts what your life will be like in the future. You can look at it and see, depending on how closely you’re tied to the electric grid and how much you drive your car, the direction in which your life will go.

We are lucky, though, to have an indigeous resource available to us here in Hawai‘i. Geothermal – which is low-cost, a proven technology and environmentally benign – is a gift that can help take care of all of us.

Renewable Energy Sources

A Visit to Kauai Island Utility Cooperative

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I was invited to visit the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) by its Board Chairman Phil Tacbian. He and Dennis Esaki, who is Vice President of the founding Board, gave me an orientation.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) is a not-for-profit generation, transmission and distribution cooperative owned and controlled by the members it serves. Headquartered in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, the cooperative currently serves more than 32,000 electric accounts throughout Kauai. Committed to reinventing how Kauai is powered, KIUC is aggressively pursuing diversification of its energy portfolio to include a growing percentage of hydropower, photovoltaic, bio-fuel, and biomass.

It was my first visit and I had a very favorable impression of their corporate culture. This is a model that aligns the interest of the people with the interest of the utility. It’s evident that the employees are proud of their organization. They are coming up on their 10th anniversary celebration.

I toured the Kapaia Power Station. It includes a General Electric LM2500PH steam-injected combustion turbine. The unit can burn either naphtha or No. 2 fuel oil. Steam is injected at approximately 10,000#/hr for NOx control and 56,000#/hr for power augmentation. It appeared to me to be unique in its use of steam injection to enhance power generation. A small part of the CO2 was transported next door to an open raceway algae farm.

Back in 2002, KIUC agreed to pay Citizens Communications of Connecticut $215 million for Kauai Electric’s assets. The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) had approved loans to KIUC for up to the total purchase price, plus they had a $25 million secured line of credit and a $60 million disaster recovery line of credit, which was from FEMA following Hurricane Iniki, which had happened 10 years earlier.

The combination of having a very willing seller, plus a line of credit from FEMA, was very helpful.

It did not appear there was much funding for infrastructure upgrades.

It’s clear to me that it took countless hours of volunteer time, plus careful analysis and implementation, to bring KIUC to this place it is at 10 years later. It was certainly not easy then, nor now, and the work continues. I was very impressed.

Biofuel, Geothermal

Why Biofuel at Keahole?

Why would we want to burn expensive biofuels at the Keahole plant on the Big Island? We know that will result in increasing electricity rates.

Biofuel is expensive, unproven technology. You cannot even get a sample of it. It should not be used to make electricity when there are other alternatives. Biofuel should only be used for transportation, where there are no alternatives.

Keahole is the largest-capacity generating plant on the Big Island. Locking in expensive biofuels and fossil fuels there for 20 years means locking out cheap geothermal for the same amount of time.

This will not be good for the rubbah slippah folk.