Billionaire wind-farm developer urges Hawaii to declare energy emergency
The billionaire developer of a planned Lana'i wind farm that would supply power to O'ahu is urging Gov. Linda Lingle to declare a state of emergency to combat soaring energy prices by fast-tracking big clean-energy projects. David Murdock, who owns 98 percent of Lana'i and is chairman and CEO of Castle & Cooke Inc., said his wind farm project that would supply up to 20 percent of O'ahu's electricity needs will take five to seven years to gain regulatory approvals - too long in a state where overdependency on $144-a-barrel oil is hurting the economy. 07.03.08
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Algae may be biofuel source
The marine algae gets a much better yield than many plants. Where the highest producing oil palm farmers get 600 gallons an acre per year, algae can produce 5,000 to 8,000 gallons per acre annually. Moreover, algae proponents note it has the attractive environmental side effect of being able to absorb carbon dioxide waste from industrial facilities such as power plants. Thus it's hoped the production of biodiesel and other fuels from algae could reduce global-warming emissions if paired with a nearby power plant.
"That's the exciting thing about algae and why everyone is so interested," said Ed Shonsey, chief executive officer of HR Biopetroleum. "It's ideal for Hawai'i because no fresh water is required, no ag land is required and it cleans up the environment." 06.15.08
(read also – Hawaii scientists see algae's 'green' potential)
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Maui Becomes Power Player
U.S. Department of Energy selects Maui as site of demonstration project aiming to reduce energy demands and integrate renewable energy sources into the island's power grid.
On Monday, April 21, Gov. Linda Lingle and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Kevin Kolevar announced that the State of Hawai'i will take part in an innovative $15 million project aiming to reduce peak electricity demand by at least 15 percent. Hawai'i is one of nine states selected by the DOE to participate in a five-year, $50 million project designed to modernize the country's electrical grid system. 05.01.08
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Advocating 'Soft Energy' – Amory Lovins foresees a green Hawai'i
Amory Lovins, cofounder of the influential Rocky Mountain Institute, spurred Mauians to think differently about energy at the fourth Dowling Company, Inc. sponsored Focus Green Lecture on March 18, at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center's McCoy Studio Theater. Lovins is a leading proponent of "soft energy"-meaning using renewable energy resources instead of depleting finite resources. He has consistently argued for environmental protection as a path to prosperity: clean and renewable power, hybrid cars and green building industries all create jobs. 03.27.08
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Positive Energy – A legislative look at renewable energy bills
A little more than two months ago, the 2008 Hawai'i legislative session began with great fanfare about the importance of local renewable energy sources. House Speaker Calvin Say and others brought attention to our state's over-dependence on imported fuels, and the opportunities to bolster our economy by keeping our energy dollars in the state with renewable energy incentives. Now it's crunch time at the legislature, and particularly for some important energy initiatives. 03.27.08
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Clearing the Air: Wind Power and Reliability
Wind power is currently supplying 48 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually in the U.S., powering the equivalent of over 4.5 million homes. Wind power is an important part of electric utility generation portfolios. Yet some question whether wind power, being a variable resource (meaning it generates electricity when the wind is blowing, not on demand) can be relied upon as part of a system that provides reliable electricity to consumers without interruption. Based on a growing body of analytical and operational experience, the answer is a resounding "yes." 03.25.08
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PUC increases limits for renewable energy
The move is expected to increase the excess energy fed back into the grid by customers. Residents and businesses with electrical generators powered by renewable sources, such as solar or wind energy, will be allowed to generate more power under a recent ruling by the Public Utilities Commission. The ruling doubles the limit on net energy metering generators to 100 kilowatts for customers on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. Current limits of 50 kilowatts remain for Kauai. 03.22.08
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Requiring Solar Water Heaters
Last year the Senate passed SB 644 SD 3 which requires that solar water heaters be installed on all new single family and multi-family residential buildings. The bill is currently up for a joint hearing by the House Committee on Human Services & Housing (Rep Shimabukuro) and the House Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection (Rep Morita). 03.12.08
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Net Metering Cap Nears
Maui is currently at 81% of its cap. This means the cap should be met in 1-3 months. Meeting the cap will cease all net metered solar system installations in the county and will shatter hopes of a greener Maui through solar energy. 03.08.08
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India's Tata backs air-power car
An engineer has promised that within a year he will start selling a car in India that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all in towns. The project is being backed by the Indian conglomerate, Tata for an undisclosed sum. It says the technology may also be used for power generation.
The car will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks. The tanks, built into the chassis, can be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes - much quicker than a battery car. Alternatively, it can be plugged into the mains for four hours and an on-board compressor will do the job. 02.13.08
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Ocean of energy – Three wave turbines are planned for Maui waters
Waves near the surfing area known as Jaws, just off Pauwela Point on Maui's northern coast, would be used to generate enough electricity to power about 1,600 homes on the Valley Isle. The plan was announced yesterday by state officials and executives from Oceanlinx, an Australian renewable energy company. The company now is performing preliminary site work, such as environmental assessments, and expects to have the generators in place by 2009. 02.05.08
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Shell joins in Hawaii algae biofuels venture
A Hawai'i-based research firm and oil giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC are forming a joint venture with the ambitious goal of developing an alternative to petroleum-based fuels by growing algae on the Big Island and converting it into a biofuel. Barry Raleigh, retired dean of the University of Hawai'i School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, is heading the local company. Raleigh said the technology to convert algae into an alternative to diesel and other fuels has been around for years, but that his company is hoping to find an inexpensive way to produce the fuel. 12.12.07
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Ethanol Craze Cools As Doubts Multiply
Little over a year ago, ethanol was winning the hearts and wallets of both Main Street and Wall Street, with promises of greater U.S. energy independence, fewer greenhouse gases and help for the farm economy. Today, the corn-based biofuel is under siege. In the span of one growing season, ethanol has gone from panacea to pariah in the eyes of some. The critics, which include industries hurt when the price of corn rises, blame ethanol for pushing up food prices, question its environmental bona fides and dispute how much it really helps reduce the need for oil. 11.28.07
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Energy Expo illuminates isle ideas
Some of it was to talk about what's happening today in alternative energy, but the focus is on what can happen tomorrow, Mayor Charmaine Tavares said of her three-day Maui County Energy Expo 2007.
"Listening to everything that was presented and discussed . . . it was great. But it was just a jumping-off point," Tavares said Tuesday. "From this point forward, we are going to have debriefings with some of the participants and organizers, and we will look at what are the next steps we need to take."
"One of the things that we can do now is Maui County bringing its codes up to date both in land use and in the building codes to allow renewable energy devices to be incorporated in the construction of buildings and in new developments," she said. 11.15.07
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Renewable not the same as sustainable
As Maui rushes to embrace alternative energy, a local group has formed to push a bottom-up approach to sustainability. Kelly King, who put together the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance, presented it to about 20 people at a meeting of the Kahului Kiwanis Club this week. At the heart of her view is the distinction between "renewable" and "sustainable."
"Renewable energy isn't always sustainable. People are starting to figure that out," King said. 11.04.07
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Winds of change blow for Maui's energy future
Hawai'i relies on imported fuels more than any other U.S. state, with about 90 percent of energy production coming from imported petroleum. This should serve as a poignant reminder for residents that Hawai'i is geographically vulnerable and needs to pursue locally abundant renewable resources like solar and wind power.
These are among the topics for discussion at the Maui County Energy Expo 2007, to be held Nov. 7-9 at the Grand Wailea Hotel & Spa. The symposium, titled "Green Power, Green Future," should provide an informative forum of current and proposed energy solutions, conventional fossil fuel systems and renewable options. 11.01.07
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What's your energy footprint?
ChooseRenewables.com offers free evaluations of your energy usage, and can show you ways to reduce that level. Users can receive a free evaluation of potential solar and wind options they may be eligible to install at their home or business.
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A Glimpse of the Energy Future
"If we continue to construct the same kind of inefficient buildings that put high demands on the power grid, we will have to build additional supply-side infrastructure to serve them. What we need is to fundamentally change the way we approach the construction and operation of our buildings. If done right, we, as a nation, can have our cake and eat it too." 08.15.07
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Tree holds promise for future of biofuel
Unused land on the Waianae Coast and other areas of the state could one day be green with plants grown for fuel to reduce Hawaii's dependence on imported oil. That's the hope of researchers who are trying to determine if biofuel crops have the potential to re-engergize Hawaii's agriculture industry. The University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center are growing test plots of jatropha, a plant that is already being used to make biodiesel in India. But what's yet to be determined is whether the crops will be profitable for farmers. 07.22.07
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Maui vs. MECO – Palm oil proposal worries residents
"150 fires from palm oil harvests have been spotted in Indonesia over the past three days," Lance Holter nearly yelled at the presenters at a July 2 biofuel meeting. Holter, the president of the Sierra Club Hawaii chapter, was the first of many to lash out at Hawaiian Electric's plans to import palm oil for a proposed biodiesel plant on Maui. The meeting brought over 100 people to a packed lecture hall at Maui Community College. It was the last of four that HECO held across the state to gain public input on its plan. If the utility gets approval, it will build one of the largest biodiesel production facilities in the U.S. on Maui Electric's Waena Site. Karl Stahlkopf and mediator Robbie Alm represented the company. 07.18.07
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HECO greenwashing unethical fuel business
From 2001 to 2005, ten million acres of the Indonesian section of Borneo were cleared by slash and burn harvesting for palm oil plantations. This destruction is ongoing. Indonesia is the third largest contributor of carbon dioxide to the earth's atmosphere. Twenty percent of the world's global warming carbon dioxide gases are created from slash and burn logging and clearing. 07.17.07
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Palm Oil Firms Burning Indonesian Forests
Palm oil companies are burning peat forests to clear land for plantations in Indonesia's Riau province, despite government pledges to end forest fires, environment group Greenpeace said on Thursday. Forest fires are an annual menace for Indonesia and the country's neighbours, who have grown deeply frustrated at the apparent lack of success in curbing the dry-season blazes and vast smoke clouds, or haze, that smothers the region. 07.12.07
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PV Costs to Decrease 40% by 2010
The solar industry is poised for a rapid decline in costs that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells has risen sixfold since 2000 and grew 41 percent in 2006 alone. 05.23.07
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Renewable Energy Lab blessed at Hana School
Hana high school students have built what one of them called the "green shack." Not the kind made from coconut fronds with bamboo framing but the other kind of green building, the more high-tech one, an energy-saving structure with photovoltaic panels, a windmill and solar hot water system. The Alternative Energy Lab was erected by about 40 students in the Hana School Building Program Ma Ka Hana Ke 'Ike ("In Working, One Learns") and blessed by Solomon "Uncle Bully" Kahalewai Hoopai last week in a ceremony attended by about 250 students, school staff and community members. 05.18.07
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Energy Ocean 2007
August 21 – 23, 2007, Turtle Bay Resort, Oahu, Hawaii is the date and location for the 4th annual EnergyOcean Conference & Exhibition. As the premiere International conference focusing on renewable ocean energy, EnergyOcean presents an opportunity for technologists, entrepreneurs and policymakers to discuss the hard-hitting issues surrounding this emerging market.
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Historic global warming bill passes legislature
“Global climate change is the greatest challenge of our generation. Today, the legislature is rising to meet that challenge,” said Jeff Mikulina, Director of the Sierra Club, Hawai‘i Chapter. “The Global Warming Solutions Act is really a promise to future generations that we are serious about solving this problem.” 05.01.07
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Vanpool seeking Maui riders, drivers
Vanpool, an ongoing program in Hawaii for 13 years, encourages commuters to car pool - except drivers don't use their own cars, receiving instead use of a van or SUV for a fee. Deputy Transportation Director Brennon Morioka, who oversees the Highways Division, urged residents who travel to and from West Maui to sign up for Vanpool or other ride-share programs. 04.29.07
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Proposed biofuel plant surprises some
BlueEarth Biofuels LLC is just a step away from passage of Senate Bill 1718, which would authorize the issuance of $59 million in special purpose revenue bonds to plan, build and have a major biodesiel plant operating on Maui by 2009 in cooperation with Maui Electric Company. Critics of the proposal wonder about the viability of the BlueEarth proposal because very little public information about either the company or its principals can be found. 04.18.07
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Study Warns of Health Risk From Ethanol
A new study out of Stanford says pollution from ethanol could end up creating a worse health hazard than gasoline, especially for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases. "Ethanol is being promoted as a clean and renewable fuel that will reduce global warming and air pollution," Mark Z. Jacobson, the study's author and an atmospheric scientist at Stanford, said in a statement. "But our results show that a high blend of ethanol poses an equal or greater risk to public health than gasoline, which already causes significant health damage." 04.18.07
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Baldwin Ave. bicycle path: Would it be built for two?
The county is moving ahead with plans for a "separate and parallel" Baldwin Avenue bike path with a request for land acquisition funds by Mayor Charmaine Tavares. 04.18.07
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Sierra Club information on biofuels
Karen Chun, Sierra Club Maui board member and webmaster, has put together an impressive compilation of articles and information on biofuels at www.hi.sierraclub.org/maui/biodiesel.html.
Chun also offered these strategies as keys to our energy sustainability:
Decentralization: Rooftop solar hot water and photovoltaic, personal wind generation
Conservation through intelligent building design, transportation choices, infrastructure, town design, and building codes
Conservation through fewer disposable products and more efficient energy use design
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Energy from Hot Air
Last month, Former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore called for an "electranet" that would allow homeowners to "put up photovoltaic generators and small wind [turbines]... without any artificial caps." Unfortunately, he did not explain that Europe already practices the system he proposes, which has made countries like Denmark, Spain and Germany leaders in wind power. In fact, it has made cloudy Germany the world's solar leader, too, and its biomass sector is also booming. The U.S. could learn a lot from Europe, if we would only look. 04.02.07
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Pacific Biodiesel to help project that finds crops for local fuel
Maui-based Pacific Biodiesel will take part in a $100,000 demonstration project to test the potential of biodiesel from crops that can be grown in Hawaii. For the test, the feedstock will mostly be nuts and beans gathered from fields and roadsides, including kukui or castor bean. Pacific Biodiesel's laboratory will refine and test the output to see how well it matches to industry standards. 03.14.07
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Community Supported Energy Offers a Third Way
Although we have the necessary resources and technology to meet most of our energy needs in the future with renewable energy, until fairly recently one key strategy has, for the most part, been overlooked in North America. This strategy involves the cooperative or collaborative installation and ownership of renewable energy projects at the local, community level. 03.12.07
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Bills moving through Legislature would pave way for bicycle, pedestrian Hawaii
It's a shame that over the years we seem to have neglected the importance of walking. Walking is not only a cleaner method of transportation - it is the original method of transportation. The first Polynesians here crossed Hawaii's beaches and green valleys on foot. 03.11.07
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Food or fuel: Should we have to choose between biofuels and locally grown food?
The reality is that food and energy security cannot be separated. The food and biofuel industries require many of the same resources-to grow plants (and raise livestock), to harvest and process those plants (and slaughter animals), to store and transport food and fuel. Hawai'i already has limited resources for agriculture-will biofuel trump food in the islands? 02.28.07
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Pacific Biodiesel has 'momentum' - without MECO
Pacific Biodiesel, which is already refining fuel on Maui, had discussions with Hawaiian Electric Co. about renewable fuels for MECO. "We thought we were working with them," said Kelly King, the marketing director. But a new company, Blue-Earth, ended up making the deal, which was announced Saturday. King is critical of Blue-Earth's business model, for two reasons. First, she questions the use of imported palm oil as the feedstock. 02.18.07
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$61M biodiesel plant outlined
A $61 million biodiesel refining plant is being planned to turn imported palm oil into fuel to run Maui Electric Co. generators. In making the announcement yesterday, MECO President Ed Reinhardt said the project will be a first step toward eliminating use of imported petroleum-based fuel at the utility's 215-megawatt Ma'alaea Power Plant, which supplies about 85 percent of the island's electrical capacity. 02.18.07
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Potential Energy – what we're doing to make Maui more fuel-efficient
Hawai`i holds the dubious distinction of being the most petroleum-dependent state in the U.S. The Kaheawa Wind Farm overlooking Ma`alaea gives us nice, clean power, but more than 90 percent of our energy production for electrical generation and for transportation comes from imported fossil fuels, mostly petroleum from Indonesia. Additionally, our electric rates and gas prices are the nation's highest. What is being done to correct this imbalance and look to renewable energy sources? 02.15.07
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Securing America's Energy Independence Act
Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) have introduced legislation to stimulate investment in America's most abundant renewable resource - solar power. The Solar Energy Industries Association praised Senators Salazar and Smith for sponsoring S. 590, the "Securing America's Energy Independence Act." The bill would extend and expand solar energy investment tax credits for homeowners and businesses through 2016. Under current law, the credits are set to expire at the end of next year. 02.15.07
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Hyrids, Biofuels and Other False Idols – What's Being Left Out of Solutions to Fossil Fuel?
Everyone from the Republicans to Democrats to major environmental groups are singing hosannas to biofuels and hybrid cars as the salvation from peak oil and global warming. Will trusting corporations to manufacture environmentally friendly cars make a dent in the world's ecological crises? Or could the "solutions" actually be making the problem worse? The question which we obviously need to address is how to improve the quality of life while decreasing the quantity of useless junk and not throwing anyone out of work. But unflinching loyalty to a growth economy prevents corporate environmentalists from searching for serious transportation options. 02.14.07
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Maui Bus ridership soaring
Ridership on the Maui Bus has surged, mostly due, transportation officials believe, to an expansion of service in the county public transit system late last year. More than 71,000 passengers rode the bus in December, more than double the 27,173 passengers who rode in June. Ridership is so strong, said county Transportation Director Don Medeiros, that some routes have buses that are filled to standing-room-only. 02.11.07
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MIT-led Panel Backs Geothermal as Key U.S. Energy Source
A comprehensive new MIT-led study on the potential for geothermal energy within the United States has found that mining the huge amounts of heat that reside as stored thermal energy in the Earth's hard rock crust could supply a substantial portion of the electricity the country will need in the future – probably at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact. 01.23.07
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How many environmentalists does it take to change a lightbulb?
There's an awful lot of information on what is wrong with our energy use and policies, but little info on how to bring change at home today. The answer could be as easy as changing a light bulb. Those funky looking glass sculptures you see on the home appliance shelf at Wal-Mart are more then just glass art; they are a very bright idea. Compact Fluorescent Bulbs or CFLs, offer both economic and environmental savings, and they are a very easy way to reduce your family's environmental footprint. 01.02.07
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My biodiesel baby: Maui's alt-energy future?
The benefits of using biodiesel - which is derived from plant oils - are both economic and environmental. Because the state lacks its own petroleum reserves, it is entirely reliant on the volatile oil market for its fuel. The price of oil in Hawaii went up by more than 25 percent between June 2005 and June 2006, according to Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. And from an environmental perspective, says Kelly Takaya King, co-owner of Pacific Biodiesel, a Maui-based biodiesel supplier, biodiesel burns between 75 and 80 percent cleaner than petroleum. 01.02.07
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The Top Renewable Energy Stories of 2006
From the passage of SB1 in California to a solar cell breaking the 40 percent efficiency barrier to a record year for wind power in the U.S., Canada and UK, renewable energy made tremendous strides over the past 12 months. So to welcome in the New Year, RenewableEnergyAccess.com is recapping some of the highlights of 2006. 01.01.07
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Waterwheel invention promises cheap electricity
It's a mechanical problem that's troubled scientists since Archimedes and the ancient Greeks but now an electrician has come up with a new invention that could help save consumers thousands of pounds in energy bills. Scotsman Ian Gilmartin, 60, and his friend Bob Cattley, 58, both from Kendal, Cumbria have invented a mini-waterwheel capable of supplying enough electricity to power a house - for free. The contraption is designed to be used in small rivers or streams - ideal for potentially thousands of homes across Britain. It is the first off-the-shelf waterwheel system which can generate a good supply of electricity from a water fall as little as 20cm. 12.31.06
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Disposing of your old computer
You just got a shiny new desktop or laptop computer from Santa. It runs circles around your old one. But now, the eternal question: How do you get rid of your old machine? 12.26.06
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Diluted light pollution bill advances
County Council members said they were disappointed with a "watered-down" bill to restrict light pollution, but gave it an initial approval anyway Tuesday...council members said Tuesday the bill would be a first step, after six years of trying to address light pollution. 12.20.06
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Go Solar for Less than Forty Cents on the Dollar
Commercial solar got a new lease on life last week. It's only a one-year lease, but it's enough to keep business humming. As one of its final actions, the "Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006" or H.R. 6111, the 109th Congress extended the federal investment tax credits for solar, wind, geothermal and other projects for one more year. The most important element to keeping it alive is a consistent set of incentives so that everybody – from customers all the way back to the refiners of silicon – has a future they can bank on. For commercial solar this is a very big deal because the tax credit is a full 30% of the cost of the project. 12.18.06
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Energy from the motion of the ocean
A former surfer designs a buoy that can convert wave motion into electricity.
If you wanted to choose the perfect location for capturing the ocean's energy, you couldn't do much better than the Oregon coast. Waves arrive there with immense power, having traveled across thousands of miles of open water with few barrier islands, reefs or other obstructions to slow them down. Some are so large that they can be tracked by Satellite days before they arrive. Starting in 2007, those massive, ceaseless waves will help light homes and businesses along the West Coast, thanks to an entrepreneur named George Taylor. 12.15.06
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Big Energy Firms Crimping Oil Supplies
An Associated Press analysis suggests that oil companies have been crimping supplies in subtle ways across the country for years, and tighter supplies drive up prices. The analysis, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, indicates that the industry slacked off supplying oil and gasoline during the prolonged price boom between early 1999 and last summer, when prices began to fall. 11.25.06
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Companies attempt to draw energy from ocean
In the quest for oil-free power, a handful of small companies are staking claims on the boundless energy of the rising and ebbing sea. The technology that would draw energy from ocean tides to keep light bulbs and laptops aglow is largely untested, but several newly minted companies are reserving tracts of water from Alaska's Cook Inlet to Manhattan's East River in the belief that such sites could become profitable sources of electricity. 11.04.06
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Connecticut Clean Energy Fund
The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), which began operations in 2000, promotes the production and use of energy from clean and renewable sources, for the benefit of Connecticut ratepayers. The fund is administered by Connecticut Innovations, a quasi-public organization, and is funded by a surcharge on electric utility bills.
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US Geothermal Power Expanding Dramatically
Some 58 new geothermal energy projects are now under development in the US, according to a survey by the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) - the industry trade group. "This represents the US geothermal industry's most dramatic wave of expansion since the 1980s," noted Karl Gawell, GEA's Executive Director. 11.09.06
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Sugar-based ethanol is unprofitable in the long run, a study says
A new federal study questioning the long-term profitability of sugar-based ethanol "has nothing to do with us" in Hawaii, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie says. The study, released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says conversion of sugar cane, sugar beets, raw sugar and refined sugar to ethanol could be profitable in the short term because of recent high ethanol prices. But spot market prices, currently about $4 a gallon, are expected to drop as more ethanol is produced from other sources, chiefly corn, making sugar-based ethanol less profitable, the study states. 07.14.06
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