Recently the Northern area of the Big Island of Hawaii, in the North Kohala District, people got together for the annual Trash Fashion and Trash Art Work Bash, as well as a recycling workshop. Events like this remind us to be kind to the Earth and fun was had by all who attended the get together.
It isn't always easy to take the time to do the proper things with our trash so Linda Damas hosted a recycling workshop which was free for all who registered for the event. Linda Damas has been active in Recycle Hawaii since its grassroots days in the l980’s. She has represented Recycle Hawaii at local events and given many recycling presentations to schools and civic groups. In 2005-2008, she became one of Hawaii County’s first Recycling Specialists to help implement the State HI5 program on the Big Island. She recently assisted with Recycle Hawaii’s Zero Waste study, which has been adopted by the County’s Department of Environmental Management.
Participant are told to bring a floorplan of their house if they have one and come learn how to set up efficient and user friendly home and recycling with Linda Damas from Recycle Hawaii.
The State of Hawaii's HI5 program is a great sucsess when ever you buy something in a bottle or can that is easily recycled you pay a deposit on the item which you get most of all of the money back if you take your items to the recycle centers near where you live, or the recyclables my be dropped of at a large number of donation points and the recycle credit goes to help community organasations.
There are currently over a dozen states with the deposit program. My question is; why don't we have a recycle deposit program in all 50 states.
Did You Know?
•An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now
•Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled.
•Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours — or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
•We use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year.
•To produce each week’s Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.
•If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year!
•If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.
•The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
•The average household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year. Most is packaging and junk mail. Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S.
•Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!
•Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!
•Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
•A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose — and even longer if it’s in the landfill.
•Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.
•About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material!
•Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
•On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.
•A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
•On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. This adds up to almost a ton of trash per person, per year.
•A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That’s a lot of containers — make sure they’re recycled!
For more information go to: http://www.yourenew.com/ and
http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html
These recycling facts have been compiled from various sources including the National Recycling Coalition, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Earth911.org.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Hawaii is the Perfect Place for Efficient Renewable Energy
When it comes to alternative energy production, the state of Hawaii has about got it all. An abundance of Sun, Wind, Waves, including both areas with strong currents predictable tides, also enormous Geothermal potential, and let us not forget about enormous feedstock potential for Biodiesel.
In the news story below it is pointed out that the land which is being used on the Big Island of Hawaii for feedstock is land that was once used in the production of sugar cane. Since almost every sugar cane plantation in Hawaii has been closed due to higher labor costs than those in Asia it may be that all of the sugar plantations have closed, at least the big commercial ones anyway. This opens up a tremendous opportunity to use the land that sits idle, to be used for the growing of sunflowers or other plant which have a high oil content and can be readily converted to the production of Biofuels. This is land where about the only thing growing is elephant grass which is a harmful invasive plant.
In the near future I will be doing several stories about the sustainability movement that is going on in Hawaii right now. This will include information about growing a good mix of Agricultural products and buying food that is grown as close to the places where people live as possible. Also Hawaii suffers from high energy costs more that any other State in the Union, making it possible for Solar Power and other forms of alternative energy to have price parity with fossil fuels sooner than that of most other places.Another interesting thing about the new biodiesel plant project is that some of the investors involved in the project are Big Island residents, in the words of Kelly King who is the wife of the company president, "We are finally moving ahead in real time with this project and I thank you all for being an early inspiration in getting our community-based biodiesel model to your island! In fact, we have at least eight B.I. residents so far who are investors in this plant, so it will truly be energy by the people, of the people and for the people".
If any of you would like to know more about this movement in Hawaii in the meantime, or would like to take an active role, please send me an email at anytime I will be happy to hear from as many of you who are interested in these topics as possible.
Biofuel expanding on the Big Island
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 8:59 AM HST
HILO -- A new biodiesel plant that will produce 2.6 million gallons a year is planned for Keaau.
A blessing of the site is scheduled this afternoon within the Shipman Industrial Park.
Now an undeveloped property, a little more than a year from now the Maui-based principals of Pacific Biodiesel and subsidiary Big Island Biodiesel hope to have the $10 million plant producing up to 8,000 gallons of biofuel a day.
"We're in the engineering and permitting phase," said Bob King, the company president. The industrial-zoned parcel was selected because all of the environmental preparation work has been completed, King said.
"Our budget timeline (for construction) is 16 months, and we'll see if we can make it any sooner than that," King said.
Initially, the company will bring used grease and vegetable oil to the Keaau facility from locations statewide, and then shift to the island's promising biofuel crops. Whether that will be sunflowers or jatropha "or what the farmers want to grow" remains to be seen, King said.
Biodiesel is a clean-burning, renewable fuel made using vegetable oils and fats. It's made through a chemical process that converts the oils and vegetables into a fuel that is refined and ready for use in any diesel engine.
The company already has biodiesel plants on Oahu and Maui. King hopes to have one on each island, and also one in West Hawaii to serve Kona's needs.
"This facility can earn its keep on used cooking oil and trap grease while we wait for biofuel crops to mature," King said.
One of those crops is adjacent to the industrial park. Hawaii Pure Plant Oil, run by the father-and-son team of Christian and James Twigg-Smith, has planted a 250-acre jatropha plantation on 1,000 leased acres of former sugar and papaya land. The company plans to crush its first crop of seeds next month.
Big Island Biodiesel isn't limited to that one crop, however. The facility will also be able to process used oils, sunflower oil, algae oil and even fish and animal fats.
Vice President Kelly King, the wife of Bob King, said Mayor Billy Kenoi and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona are among the more than 70 people who have said they'll attend the 2 p.m. blessing at the parcel, located at 16-240 Mikahala St.
In the last couple of years, the price per gallon of biodiesel was $1.50 less than regular diesel, and at other times 20 to 30 cents more expensive.
"Our (business) model is we try to price it against the cost of production," Kelly King said, adding that customers on other islands appreciated the stable prices. About a dozen permanent jobs are being created; she said the venture would indirectly create a lot more interest and jobs in agriculture.
Big Island Biodiesel has applied for a $500,000 rural agricultural grant from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already given the company a $5 million guaranteed loan.
"Right now, we're in the engineering phase," Kelly King said. The $10 million estimate was made when prices were higher a couple years ago. It's possible that the project may come in under the original price tag, she said.
"It's just very exciting to have a project moving," she said.
In the news story below it is pointed out that the land which is being used on the Big Island of Hawaii for feedstock is land that was once used in the production of sugar cane. Since almost every sugar cane plantation in Hawaii has been closed due to higher labor costs than those in Asia it may be that all of the sugar plantations have closed, at least the big commercial ones anyway. This opens up a tremendous opportunity to use the land that sits idle, to be used for the growing of sunflowers or other plant which have a high oil content and can be readily converted to the production of Biofuels. This is land where about the only thing growing is elephant grass which is a harmful invasive plant.
In the near future I will be doing several stories about the sustainability movement that is going on in Hawaii right now. This will include information about growing a good mix of Agricultural products and buying food that is grown as close to the places where people live as possible. Also Hawaii suffers from high energy costs more that any other State in the Union, making it possible for Solar Power and other forms of alternative energy to have price parity with fossil fuels sooner than that of most other places.Another interesting thing about the new biodiesel plant project is that some of the investors involved in the project are Big Island residents, in the words of Kelly King who is the wife of the company president, "We are finally moving ahead in real time with this project and I thank you all for being an early inspiration in getting our community-based biodiesel model to your island! In fact, we have at least eight B.I. residents so far who are investors in this plant, so it will truly be energy by the people, of the people and for the people".
If any of you would like to know more about this movement in Hawaii in the meantime, or would like to take an active role, please send me an email at anytime I will be happy to hear from as many of you who are interested in these topics as possible.
Biofuel expanding on the Big Island
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 8:59 AM HST
HILO -- A new biodiesel plant that will produce 2.6 million gallons a year is planned for Keaau.
A blessing of the site is scheduled this afternoon within the Shipman Industrial Park.
Now an undeveloped property, a little more than a year from now the Maui-based principals of Pacific Biodiesel and subsidiary Big Island Biodiesel hope to have the $10 million plant producing up to 8,000 gallons of biofuel a day.
"We're in the engineering and permitting phase," said Bob King, the company president. The industrial-zoned parcel was selected because all of the environmental preparation work has been completed, King said.
"Our budget timeline (for construction) is 16 months, and we'll see if we can make it any sooner than that," King said.
Initially, the company will bring used grease and vegetable oil to the Keaau facility from locations statewide, and then shift to the island's promising biofuel crops. Whether that will be sunflowers or jatropha "or what the farmers want to grow" remains to be seen, King said.
Biodiesel is a clean-burning, renewable fuel made using vegetable oils and fats. It's made through a chemical process that converts the oils and vegetables into a fuel that is refined and ready for use in any diesel engine.
The company already has biodiesel plants on Oahu and Maui. King hopes to have one on each island, and also one in West Hawaii to serve Kona's needs.
"This facility can earn its keep on used cooking oil and trap grease while we wait for biofuel crops to mature," King said.
One of those crops is adjacent to the industrial park. Hawaii Pure Plant Oil, run by the father-and-son team of Christian and James Twigg-Smith, has planted a 250-acre jatropha plantation on 1,000 leased acres of former sugar and papaya land. The company plans to crush its first crop of seeds next month.
Big Island Biodiesel isn't limited to that one crop, however. The facility will also be able to process used oils, sunflower oil, algae oil and even fish and animal fats.
Vice President Kelly King, the wife of Bob King, said Mayor Billy Kenoi and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona are among the more than 70 people who have said they'll attend the 2 p.m. blessing at the parcel, located at 16-240 Mikahala St.
In the last couple of years, the price per gallon of biodiesel was $1.50 less than regular diesel, and at other times 20 to 30 cents more expensive.
"Our (business) model is we try to price it against the cost of production," Kelly King said, adding that customers on other islands appreciated the stable prices. About a dozen permanent jobs are being created; she said the venture would indirectly create a lot more interest and jobs in agriculture.
Big Island Biodiesel has applied for a $500,000 rural agricultural grant from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already given the company a $5 million guaranteed loan.
"Right now, we're in the engineering phase," Kelly King said. The $10 million estimate was made when prices were higher a couple years ago. It's possible that the project may come in under the original price tag, she said.
"It's just very exciting to have a project moving," she said.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Ann Hand New CEO at Project FROG World-Class Green Energy Executive To Grow Markets and Scale Business for Leading Manufacturer of Smart Buildings
By: Business Wire
22 Sep 2009
10:00 AM ET Text Size SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 22, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Project FROG (www.projectfrog.com), leading manufacturer of smart building systems, announced today that Ann Hand has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer. She will provide strategic leadership as Project FROG seeks to capitalize on the high growth market for green buildings with its innovative high performance building systems.
"I am delighted that Ann has decided to join the Project FROG team," said founder Mark Miller. "I look forward to working closely with her to develop our next generation of green building products and accelerate our growth. Ann has a great track record of building scalable businesses with sustainability as a cornerstone." Ann is a highly experienced executive within the clean energy sector and comes to Project FROG from BP where she was Senior Vice President of Global Brand Marketing and Innovation with responsibility for driving operational performance across 25,000 retail gas stations. Prior to that role, she was CEO of BP's Global Liquefied Petroleum Gas business unit and oversaw 3,000 employees in 15 countries. Before BP, Ann held marketing, finance and operation positions at Exxon Mobil and McDonald's Corporation.
"I believe in the mission of this company, the quality of its people and the potential of our technology to transform the building industry," said Ann. "I was fortunate to have the satisfaction of making things 'a little better' at BP, and am compelled by the opportunity at Project FROG to change how buildings are built and redefine standards for how they perform...we can make construction a lot better." Chuck McDermott, a Project FROG board member and General Partner at RockPort Capital Partners says, "Ann is a very dynamic executive who understands how to create vision and build brands. We're confident that she will provide important leadership as Project FROG diversifies products that grow markets and monetize its game-changing innovation." About Project FROG Better, Greener, Faster. Smart. Project FROG makes the most technologically advanced, energy-efficient building systems on the planet. Employing innovative clean technology across the construction spectrum, Project FROG aims to transform the building industry by creating new standards for healthy buildings that significantly reduce energy consumption and construction waste. Venture funding from Rockport Capital facilitated entrance into education and governmental markets in California, New England and Hawaii. Near-term plans include expansion into new geographies and market sectors. Project FROG's smart building systems are frequent recipients of industry awards for their design and performance. For more information, visit http://www.projectfrog.com/.
About RockPort Capital Partners RockPort Capital Partners, www.rockportcap.com, is a leading venture capital firm partnering with clean tech entrepreneurs around the world to build innovative companies and bring disruptive technologies and products to the 21st century. RockPort's investment approach is distinguished by collaboration with management teams to foster growth and create value. Combining domain expertise with policy and international experience, RockPort has a proven track record of leveraging its insights and networks to foster growth and create value.
SOURCE: Project FROG CONTACT: Project FROG Nikki Tankursley, 415-814-8520 nikki@projectfrog.com Copyright Business Wire 2009
22 Sep 2009
10:00 AM ET Text Size SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 22, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Project FROG (www.projectfrog.com), leading manufacturer of smart building systems, announced today that Ann Hand has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer. She will provide strategic leadership as Project FROG seeks to capitalize on the high growth market for green buildings with its innovative high performance building systems.
"I am delighted that Ann has decided to join the Project FROG team," said founder Mark Miller. "I look forward to working closely with her to develop our next generation of green building products and accelerate our growth. Ann has a great track record of building scalable businesses with sustainability as a cornerstone." Ann is a highly experienced executive within the clean energy sector and comes to Project FROG from BP where she was Senior Vice President of Global Brand Marketing and Innovation with responsibility for driving operational performance across 25,000 retail gas stations. Prior to that role, she was CEO of BP's Global Liquefied Petroleum Gas business unit and oversaw 3,000 employees in 15 countries. Before BP, Ann held marketing, finance and operation positions at Exxon Mobil and McDonald's Corporation.
"I believe in the mission of this company, the quality of its people and the potential of our technology to transform the building industry," said Ann. "I was fortunate to have the satisfaction of making things 'a little better' at BP, and am compelled by the opportunity at Project FROG to change how buildings are built and redefine standards for how they perform...we can make construction a lot better." Chuck McDermott, a Project FROG board member and General Partner at RockPort Capital Partners says, "Ann is a very dynamic executive who understands how to create vision and build brands. We're confident that she will provide important leadership as Project FROG diversifies products that grow markets and monetize its game-changing innovation." About Project FROG Better, Greener, Faster. Smart. Project FROG makes the most technologically advanced, energy-efficient building systems on the planet. Employing innovative clean technology across the construction spectrum, Project FROG aims to transform the building industry by creating new standards for healthy buildings that significantly reduce energy consumption and construction waste. Venture funding from Rockport Capital facilitated entrance into education and governmental markets in California, New England and Hawaii. Near-term plans include expansion into new geographies and market sectors. Project FROG's smart building systems are frequent recipients of industry awards for their design and performance. For more information, visit http://www.projectfrog.com/.
About RockPort Capital Partners RockPort Capital Partners, www.rockportcap.com, is a leading venture capital firm partnering with clean tech entrepreneurs around the world to build innovative companies and bring disruptive technologies and products to the 21st century. RockPort's investment approach is distinguished by collaboration with management teams to foster growth and create value. Combining domain expertise with policy and international experience, RockPort has a proven track record of leveraging its insights and networks to foster growth and create value.
SOURCE: Project FROG CONTACT: Project FROG Nikki Tankursley, 415-814-8520 nikki@projectfrog.com Copyright Business Wire 2009
Hawaii Goes Even Greener with Alternative Energy Push
Published: Tuesday, 15 Sep 2009
11:09 AM ET Text Size By: Felicity Barringer
The New York Times: Two miles or so from this tiny town in the southernmost corner of the United States, across ranches where cattle herds graze beneath the distant Mauna Loa volcano, the giant turbines of a new wind farm cut through the air.
Sixty miles to the northeast, near a spot where golden-red lava streams meet the sea in clouds of steam, a small power plant extracts heat from the volcanic rock beneath it to generate electricity.
These projects are just a slice of the energy experiment unfolding across Hawaii’s six main islands. With the most diverse array of alternative energy potential of any state in the nation, Hawaii has set out to become a living laboratory for the rest of the country, hoping it can slash its dependence on fossil fuels while keeping the lights on.
Every island has at least one energy accent: waves in Maui, wind in Lanai and Molokai, solar panels in Oahu and eventually, if all goes well, biomass energy from crops grown on Kauai. Here on the Big Island of Hawaii, seawater is also being converted to electricity.
Still, the state faces enormous challenges in delivering the power to the people who need it. While the urban sprawl around Honolulu consumes the bulk of the energy, most potential renewable sources are far from the city, 150 miles southeast or 100 miles to the northwest.
Each of the state’s six electric grids belongs to its own island and is unconnected to the others. And according to state figures, Hawaii still relies on imported oil to generate 77 percent of its electricity, a level of dependency unique in the United States. Coal-fired power provides 14 percent, and 9 percent comes from renewable sources like the wind or the sun.
Hawaii’s governor, Linda Lingle, a Republican, has resolved to throw off the yoke of oil dependence and harness the state’s potential.
Under an agreement reached last year with the federal government and the dominant local utility, the Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawaii plans to generate 40 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. The state’s six grids will be connected by cables, and planners hope that conservation steps like reducing the air-conditioning load at high-rise hotels will cut Hawaii’s energy consumption by nearly a third. “The goals are very, very aggressive,” said Debra Lew, a senior project leader for the federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Three decades ago, Hawaii mapped out a similar vision, if in less detail, that came to nothing. But this time, planners say, failure is not an option. “We don’t have anywhere else to go,” said Ted Peck, the point man for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, overseen by the State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Even if the state were indifferent to the environmental costs of burning oil and gas, including carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, it would have to embrace renewable energy sources, said Robert Alm, a vice president of the Hawaiian Electric Company. “Our hedge won’t be buying oil futures, it will be buying wind,” Mr. Alm said.
Heavy reliance on imported oil has proved economically perilous. When oil prices hit $147 a barrel a year ago, electricity rates approached or briefly exceeded 50 cents per kilowatt hour on Maui and Kauai, about five times the national average.
The spike in prices lent urgency to the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which Governor Lingle unveiled in January 2008.
The technical and political obstacles have since become clearer.
Hopscotching around this brightly colored archipelago by plane, a visitor gets a vivid sense of Hawaii’s essentially rural nature and the scope of the challenge.
The biggest priority is laying undersea cables between the outer islands and Oahu. Once those connections are made — first with cables stretching from Molokai and Lanai, the islands nearest Oahu — the capital will get power through them.
Then there is the daunting challenge of feeding fluctuating wind and solar power into the small electric grids on the individual islands while devising backup systems to keep the energy output smooth and reliable.
On Maui, for instance, General Electric [ Loading... () ] is working on ways to modulate demand and store energy for later use either in electric batteries or by pump storage — filling an elevated reservoir in low-demand periods to produce hydropower when needed. “The whole trick is making the system work in the right way, like conducting an orchestra,” said Bob Gilligan, G.E.’s vice president for transmission and distribution.
On the financial side, the state must attract developers with enough financing to help underwrite their own wind, solar, wave or other renewable projects, carry out the required environmental reviews and secure local approval. Addressing local concerns can be especially challenging. As in any state with a rural-urban divide, residents of Hawaii’s less populous outlying areas are wary about being pushed around by planners in Honolulu.
The outer islands have higher concentrations of Native Hawaiians who are well versed in a local history of exploitation, from the American overthrow of their monarch in 1893 to environmental costs of sugar plantations and tourism.
Some have formed groups like the Pele Defense Fund, which sprang up here in the 1980s to protect religious gathering rights in the rain forest on the Big Island. The fund seeks to prevent desecration of Pele, the native goddess of fire and volcanoes, and finds geothermal energy projects sacrilegious.
One avenue for developers, utilities and state officials is to offer outlying communities support or financing for needs that the local population identifies, like fish conservation. “We’re asking the small islands to be significantly burdened on behalf of Oahu, so Oahu needs to do well by them,” said Mr. Alm, the utility’s vice president.
For all the optimism, planners studiously remind themselves of the detritus of past failures, like the dismembered and rusting wind turbines of a defunct wind farm near the southern end of the Big Island. “This transformation is going to take a generation,” said Ted Liu, director of the state economic development department. “There are no short-term easy solutions.”
11:09 AM ET Text Size By: Felicity Barringer
The New York Times: Two miles or so from this tiny town in the southernmost corner of the United States, across ranches where cattle herds graze beneath the distant Mauna Loa volcano, the giant turbines of a new wind farm cut through the air.
Sixty miles to the northeast, near a spot where golden-red lava streams meet the sea in clouds of steam, a small power plant extracts heat from the volcanic rock beneath it to generate electricity.
These projects are just a slice of the energy experiment unfolding across Hawaii’s six main islands. With the most diverse array of alternative energy potential of any state in the nation, Hawaii has set out to become a living laboratory for the rest of the country, hoping it can slash its dependence on fossil fuels while keeping the lights on.
Every island has at least one energy accent: waves in Maui, wind in Lanai and Molokai, solar panels in Oahu and eventually, if all goes well, biomass energy from crops grown on Kauai. Here on the Big Island of Hawaii, seawater is also being converted to electricity.
Still, the state faces enormous challenges in delivering the power to the people who need it. While the urban sprawl around Honolulu consumes the bulk of the energy, most potential renewable sources are far from the city, 150 miles southeast or 100 miles to the northwest.
Each of the state’s six electric grids belongs to its own island and is unconnected to the others. And according to state figures, Hawaii still relies on imported oil to generate 77 percent of its electricity, a level of dependency unique in the United States. Coal-fired power provides 14 percent, and 9 percent comes from renewable sources like the wind or the sun.
Hawaii’s governor, Linda Lingle, a Republican, has resolved to throw off the yoke of oil dependence and harness the state’s potential.
Under an agreement reached last year with the federal government and the dominant local utility, the Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawaii plans to generate 40 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. The state’s six grids will be connected by cables, and planners hope that conservation steps like reducing the air-conditioning load at high-rise hotels will cut Hawaii’s energy consumption by nearly a third. “The goals are very, very aggressive,” said Debra Lew, a senior project leader for the federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Three decades ago, Hawaii mapped out a similar vision, if in less detail, that came to nothing. But this time, planners say, failure is not an option. “We don’t have anywhere else to go,” said Ted Peck, the point man for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, overseen by the State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Even if the state were indifferent to the environmental costs of burning oil and gas, including carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, it would have to embrace renewable energy sources, said Robert Alm, a vice president of the Hawaiian Electric Company. “Our hedge won’t be buying oil futures, it will be buying wind,” Mr. Alm said.
Heavy reliance on imported oil has proved economically perilous. When oil prices hit $147 a barrel a year ago, electricity rates approached or briefly exceeded 50 cents per kilowatt hour on Maui and Kauai, about five times the national average.
The spike in prices lent urgency to the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which Governor Lingle unveiled in January 2008.
The technical and political obstacles have since become clearer.
Hopscotching around this brightly colored archipelago by plane, a visitor gets a vivid sense of Hawaii’s essentially rural nature and the scope of the challenge.
The biggest priority is laying undersea cables between the outer islands and Oahu. Once those connections are made — first with cables stretching from Molokai and Lanai, the islands nearest Oahu — the capital will get power through them.
Then there is the daunting challenge of feeding fluctuating wind and solar power into the small electric grids on the individual islands while devising backup systems to keep the energy output smooth and reliable.
On Maui, for instance, General Electric [ Loading... () ] is working on ways to modulate demand and store energy for later use either in electric batteries or by pump storage — filling an elevated reservoir in low-demand periods to produce hydropower when needed. “The whole trick is making the system work in the right way, like conducting an orchestra,” said Bob Gilligan, G.E.’s vice president for transmission and distribution.
On the financial side, the state must attract developers with enough financing to help underwrite their own wind, solar, wave or other renewable projects, carry out the required environmental reviews and secure local approval. Addressing local concerns can be especially challenging. As in any state with a rural-urban divide, residents of Hawaii’s less populous outlying areas are wary about being pushed around by planners in Honolulu.
The outer islands have higher concentrations of Native Hawaiians who are well versed in a local history of exploitation, from the American overthrow of their monarch in 1893 to environmental costs of sugar plantations and tourism.
Some have formed groups like the Pele Defense Fund, which sprang up here in the 1980s to protect religious gathering rights in the rain forest on the Big Island. The fund seeks to prevent desecration of Pele, the native goddess of fire and volcanoes, and finds geothermal energy projects sacrilegious.
One avenue for developers, utilities and state officials is to offer outlying communities support or financing for needs that the local population identifies, like fish conservation. “We’re asking the small islands to be significantly burdened on behalf of Oahu, so Oahu needs to do well by them,” said Mr. Alm, the utility’s vice president.
For all the optimism, planners studiously remind themselves of the detritus of past failures, like the dismembered and rusting wind turbines of a defunct wind farm near the southern end of the Big Island. “This transformation is going to take a generation,” said Ted Liu, director of the state economic development department. “There are no short-term easy solutions.”
Upcoming Summit to Focus on Biotechtechnology Tools for The Green Economy
"By: Business Wire 10 Sep 2009 02:04 PM ET Text Size WASHINGTON, Sep 10, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Developing and developed countries across the Pacific Rim are adopting biotech solutions to cut greenhouse gas emissions, efficiently utilize resources, and jumpstart economic growth. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today announced the sessions and speaker presentations to be delivered at the 2009 Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, to be held Nov. 8-11, 2009 in Honolulu.
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO's Industrial and Environmental Section, said, 'The growth and development of clean-tech and green product technologies offer opportunities for sustainable industrial production, new green jobs, and future economic growth. Current talks about the international climate change treaty have focused on possible tradeoffs between economic development and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Industrial biotechnology is a green technology and a proven engine of innovation that can help all countries develop renewable energy and products, transform industrial processes to lessen environmental impacts, and promote economic growth.' Presentations scheduled for the Pacific Rim Summit include: International Developments in Algae Commercialization Monday, Nov. 9, 10:00 a.m.
to 11:30 a.m.
-- Valerie Reed, US Department of Energy -- Patrick McGinn, Institute of Marine Biosciences NRC Canada -- Ravi Shrivastava, DRDO East Meets West: A Comparison of China, Brazil, and U.S. Biofuels Policy Monday, Nov. 9, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
-- Christina Connelly, Minnesota Department of Agriculture -- Joel Velasco, UNICA Sugar Cane Industry Association -- Dehua Liu, Tsinghua University Global Perspectives on the Bioeconomy Monday, Nov. 9, 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m." The full schedule of speakers and sessions is available at http://www.bio.org/pacrim/speakers/breakout/.
BIO also today announced that the 2010 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing will be held in Washington, D.C., at the Gaylord National Harbor, June 27-30, 2010.
About BIO BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.
The Advanced Biofuels & Climate Change Information Center presents the latest commentary and data on the environmental and other impacts of biofuel production. Drop in and add your comments, at http://biofuelsandclimate.wordpress.com/.
Upcoming BIO Events BIO Investor Forum October 28-29, 2009 San Francisco, CA Advanced Business Development Course October 30, 2009 Vienna, Austria BIO Europe International Partnering Conference November 2-4, 2009 Vienna, Austria Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy November 8-11, 2009 Honolulu, HI SOURCE: Biotechnology Industry Organization CONTACT: BIO Paul Winters 202-962-9237 pwinters@bio.org www.bio.org Copyright Business Wire 2009
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO's Industrial and Environmental Section, said, 'The growth and development of clean-tech and green product technologies offer opportunities for sustainable industrial production, new green jobs, and future economic growth. Current talks about the international climate change treaty have focused on possible tradeoffs between economic development and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Industrial biotechnology is a green technology and a proven engine of innovation that can help all countries develop renewable energy and products, transform industrial processes to lessen environmental impacts, and promote economic growth.' Presentations scheduled for the Pacific Rim Summit include: International Developments in Algae Commercialization Monday, Nov. 9, 10:00 a.m.
to 11:30 a.m.
-- Valerie Reed, US Department of Energy -- Patrick McGinn, Institute of Marine Biosciences NRC Canada -- Ravi Shrivastava, DRDO East Meets West: A Comparison of China, Brazil, and U.S. Biofuels Policy Monday, Nov. 9, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
-- Christina Connelly, Minnesota Department of Agriculture -- Joel Velasco, UNICA Sugar Cane Industry Association -- Dehua Liu, Tsinghua University Global Perspectives on the Bioeconomy Monday, Nov. 9, 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m." The full schedule of speakers and sessions is available at http://www.bio.org/pacrim/speakers/breakout/.
BIO also today announced that the 2010 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing will be held in Washington, D.C., at the Gaylord National Harbor, June 27-30, 2010.
About BIO BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.
The Advanced Biofuels & Climate Change Information Center presents the latest commentary and data on the environmental and other impacts of biofuel production. Drop in and add your comments, at http://biofuelsandclimate.wordpress.com/.
Upcoming BIO Events BIO Investor Forum October 28-29, 2009 San Francisco, CA Advanced Business Development Course October 30, 2009 Vienna, Austria BIO Europe International Partnering Conference November 2-4, 2009 Vienna, Austria Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy November 8-11, 2009 Honolulu, HI SOURCE: Biotechnology Industry Organization CONTACT: BIO Paul Winters 202-962-9237 pwinters@bio.org www.bio.org Copyright Business Wire 2009
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Clark says wind energy is a national security issue
By Karen Boman
Filed from Houston
6/4/2008 6:42:54 PM GMT
HOUSTON: Wind energy presents the best near-term solution to fill U.S. energy demand and help wean the country off its dependence on oil imports, said retired U.S. General Wesley Clark at the American Wind Energy Association WindPower 2008 conference and exhibition in Houston. However, a cap and trade system needs to be implemented in the U.S. in order for wind power to be more widely used.
Developing wind energy also is a matter of national security for the U.S., said Clark, who formerly served as Supreme Allied Commander of Europe for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and who is now director at Emergya Wind Technologies B.V. Dependence on foreign oil imports destroys economic development opportunities in the U.S., negatively impacts U.S. relationships, undercuts competitive energy development and generates cost inflation, Clark claimed.
Political representatives of both the Republican and Democratic parties are now accepting that global warming must be addressed. However, it will take the help of legislation to make alternative energy as widely used as in other countries such as Denmark, where wind power now supplies 20 percent of the Scandinavian nation's energy needs.
John Podesta, who served as chief of staff under former President Bill Clinton and now serves as president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, credits legislative-based programs to incentivize alternative fuel use for the increase in wind power and other fuels in other countries.
"We need to break the stranglehold that fossil fuels has on Congress," Podesta said.
Policy directives are needed to implement a carbon capture and trade initiative, strengthen domestic hydrocarbon supply, improve transportation efficiency of vehicles, and create incentives for wind and solar energy use.
The U.S. Senate began debating this week the Climate Security Act of 2007 (S. 2191), which would direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases. The bill was introduced by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D.-Conn.). Podesta said the bill is the most aggressive of any of the bills introduced to address global warming.
Podesta noted that the use of wind energy and other alternative energy sources needs to be driven through the economy. The Center for American Progress has released a report highlighting what kind of jobs are needed to build a green economy in the U.S. Green jobs associated with six strategies for attacking global warming include sheet metal workers, machinists and truck drivers who work on wind farm construction projects.
"There are already 14.3 million green jobs in our country. These include everything from electricians to environmental engineers," Podesta said.
With global warming, the worldwide rise in oil and natural gas prices and U.S. electricity demand expected to rise 39 percent over 2005 levels by the year 2030, energy security will be the major issue facing the new U.S. president and Congress when they take office, said Greg Wetstone, senior director of governmental and policy affairs for the American Wind Energy Association.
While natural gas is trading in the U.S. as high as $12/Mbtu, up from US$7.50/Mtbu earlier this year, it is trading a even higher prices in other parts of the world. With gas producers able to get better prices elsewhere, U.S. gas supply security is thrown into question, Wetstone said. For example, major exporters of liquefied natural gas are shelving plans for receiving terminals in the U.S. or sending LNG shipments to markets other than the U.S.
Wetstone also cited other factors in the need for wind power and other alternative fuels, noting that Dr. James Hanson with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration said that high levels of carbon in the atmosphere could have a potentially catastrophic impact on the environment.
The National Academy of Sciences also has issued a report that abrupt climatic shift due to high carbon levels was not only possible, but likely, Wetstone said. The report pointed to the deterioration of the Greenland and West Antarctic icesheets, which could cause sea level rises of between 15 feet and 20 feet (5 m to 6 m) and 12 feet and 15 feet (4 m to 5 m) respectively, and the melting of the Arctic ice cap, which could change the planet's reflective properties.
Interest in wind power also is beginning to take off with U.S. cities. The city of Cleveland is looking to retool its local industrial base, workforce and economy by constructing a wind farm in Lake Erie offshore the city. Under the plan, between two and 10 turbines would be erected between 3.1 miles and 5 miles (5 km and 8 km) offshore downtown Cleveland.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) has received 45 nominations for offshore wind leases under its interim leasing program and expects to issue a limited number of leases over the next year. Leases included for nomination include acreage offshore New Jersey, Delaware and Georgia. MMS is conducting data collection technology testing on four proposed leases offshore Florida.
MMS also hopes to issue this fall the final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Cape Wind farm, which would be the first U.S. offshore wind farm. Cape Wind has been proposed for installation in Nantucket Sound offshore Massachusetts.
http://www.energycurrent.com/index.php?id=3&storyid=10973
FPL Energy plans Mojave solar plant
Filed from Houston
3/26/2008 9:23:56 PM GMT
Update: 09/23/09
I was reading an article from the New York Times on Sunday about this massive project, the main gist of the article is that, the area where these folks wanted to build the solar plant was an area which had been donated by a trust to the United Stated Federal Government during the Clinton Administration, it was a non-development donation. During the Bush Administration the land designation was changed so that is could be developed. Well the folks who made the donation were understandably up in arms about this unseen set of events which started to unfold upon their donated land.
The bottom line is that the project developers have now agreed to move the project, so now they will have to find another location.
1forCE
USA: Alternative energy supplier FPL Energy has filed an application to construct, own and operate a 250 MW solar plant in the Mojave Desert, to be named the Beacon Solar Energy Project. The proposed plant will be located on a 2,000 acre site in eastern Kern County, California. The plant is planned to have over 500,000 parabolic mirrors assembled in rows to receive and concentrate solar energy, producing steam for powering a steam turbine generator. The generator will produce electric power for delivery to the nearby electric grid.
The company expects to begin production on the project in late 2009, and take two years to complete construction of the plant. FPL Energy has set a goal of adding at least 600 MW of new solar by 2015, and has leased, optioned or owns land in the west and southwest United States for this purpose.
3/26/2008 9:23:56 PM GMT
Update: 09/23/09
I was reading an article from the New York Times on Sunday about this massive project, the main gist of the article is that, the area where these folks wanted to build the solar plant was an area which had been donated by a trust to the United Stated Federal Government during the Clinton Administration, it was a non-development donation. During the Bush Administration the land designation was changed so that is could be developed. Well the folks who made the donation were understandably up in arms about this unseen set of events which started to unfold upon their donated land.
The bottom line is that the project developers have now agreed to move the project, so now they will have to find another location.
1forCE
USA: Alternative energy supplier FPL Energy has filed an application to construct, own and operate a 250 MW solar plant in the Mojave Desert, to be named the Beacon Solar Energy Project. The proposed plant will be located on a 2,000 acre site in eastern Kern County, California. The plant is planned to have over 500,000 parabolic mirrors assembled in rows to receive and concentrate solar energy, producing steam for powering a steam turbine generator. The generator will produce electric power for delivery to the nearby electric grid.
The company expects to begin production on the project in late 2009, and take two years to complete construction of the plant. FPL Energy has set a goal of adding at least 600 MW of new solar by 2015, and has leased, optioned or owns land in the west and southwest United States for this purpose.
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