Shift from oil to renewables: sexy enough for prime time?

The conversion from a fossil fuel-based economy to one based on renewables will be expensive and could severely depress the American economy, right?

Not only is that wrong, but it's WAY wrong, according to speakers at last week's Blue Planet Summit in Honolulu.

(Photo: Lights using energy-efficient LEDs, for light-emitting diodes.)

The evidence, including entire national economies that have made the switch, is that renewable energy invigorates economies rather than depressing them.

Robert Kennedy Jr. likes to use the example of Iceland, at one time oil-based and the weakest economy in Europe. The nation fought off naysayers and converted to hyroelectric and geothermal energy. Today, it has a thriving economy—the fourth strongest in Europe, he said.

Sweden has had similar success, he said.

All the speakers at Blue Planet who addressed the issue agreed. The first Blue Planet Summit was convened to help move Hawai'i and the world from fossil fuels toward an economy that does not depend on carbon-based fuels.

They envisioned, as Dennis Hayes said, “a super-efficient national economy powered by renewable resources.” Hayes was national coordinator of the first Earth Day.

“In the 21^st century, green business is good business,” said Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona.

How to get as green as needed?

“We need an Apollo-like project on a national level,” said Sierra Club Hawaii director Jeff Mikulina.

“You have to equip young people with the idea that their decisions have consequences,” said Ramsay Taum, of the University of Hawai'i's School of Travel Industry Management.

“You've got to educate people on how to save money in their pocketbook every single month,” said Bill Paul, managing editor of EnergyTechStocks.com.

“You get transformation by transforming yourself,” said Hunter Lovins, president of Natural Capitalism Solutions.

Kennedy said that oil, coal and nuclear power are only cost-competitive with renewables today due to immense government subsidies—meaning folks are paying for much of their electrical power and gasoline through the Internal Revenue Service rather than through the electric bill and gas pump.

“None of these could survive in a truly free market...We do not have a free market economy in the energy sector,” he said.

Moving to renewables is far from an economic miss, but rather a big potential plus, others argued.

“This is the defining economic opportunity of our century,” said Mark Brownstein, managing director of the Environmental Defense Fund.

It's not just the environmental crowd that feels this way.

James Woolsey, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said America's economy and its national security are clearly improved by moving away from oil.

“We have to move away from oil. Not just import less—destroy its strategic position,” Woolsey said.

Gal Luft, of the Institute for Analysis of Global Security, said it is as much a matter of survival from a security standpoint as an environmental issue.

“There are two clocks ticking here: the melting of the icecaps, and the melting of the West,” Luft said.

Since much of the nation's oil is burned in transportation, several speakers argued for flexible fuel cars, including ones that run on electricity.

“The transportation sector is 97 percent oil, dominated by oil in all of its parts,” Woosley said.

“It is a legitimate national security enterprise to develop cars that don't run exclusively on petroleum,” said Martin Hoffert, an emeritus professor at New York University.

Moving away from oil, said Lovins, “is simply better business.”

Using existing technologies, the nation can cuts its use of fossil fuels in half, at a profit, she said.

Lovins said what's needed is simply the commitment to move in that direction.

We need a BHAG: A Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal,” she said. In case you hadn't heard the term before, she pronounced it “bee-hag.”

One of the existing technologies that can immediately save people money and reduce fossil fuel use in Hawai'i is solar water heating.

“It is an immediate low-hanging fruit,” said Robbie Alm, Hawaiian Electric's vice president for public affairs.

The question is whether people in Hawaii and the nation will make the commitment to move away from fossil fuels.

“Discontent...is needed for progress,” said Eliot Assimakopoulos, of GE Global Research and Development. In Hawai'i, he said, “certainly there is pain, but is there enough?”

© 2008 Jan W. TenBruggencate

Laysan teals ascendant at Midway

They say there are more Irish in America than in Ireland.
Same thing could happen with Laysan teal on Midway.
(Photos: Top, an adult Laysan teal flaps at the ocean's edge at Midway Atoll. Credit: USGS photo by Jimmy Breeden. Bottom, Michelle Reynolds, Jimmy Breeden and Matt Brown inspect a teal's leg band at Midway. Credit: USFWS photo by Pete Leary.)
This small native duck, once well distributed throughout the Hawaiian archipelago, until recently had its only surviving wild population on the island that gives it its name—Laysan, a sandy island in the middle of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument that has a central super-salty lake and several small fresh-water seeps.
In 2004 conservation scientists moved a flock of the ducks or teals from Laysan to Midway, where several shallow ponds had been dug to support the birds. The goal was to protect the species from extinction by a natural catastrophe that might destroy the Laysan population.
Nobody anticipated how well the birds, whose scientific name is Anas laysanensis, would take to their new home.
Forty-two birds were translocated. Within two years, there were more than 100 of them. By 2007, the third year, the population was up to 200.
“If this growth rate continues, the size of the Midway population could surpass the source population before 2010,” says a paper in the Zoological Society of London's journal, Animal Conservation. It is entitled “Translocation and early post-release demography of endangered Laysan teal.”
The paper was jointly produced by representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey's Pacific Islands Ecosystem Research Center, the Hawai'i Cooperative Studies Unit, and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. The authors are Michelle Reynolds, Nathaniel Seavy, Mark Vekasy, John Klavitter and Leona Laniawe.
The project's organizers recognize that moving the birds from one isolated low island to another isolated low island a few hundred miles away isn't perfect protection, but it's something.
“Like Laysan's, Midway's population is vulnerable to catastrophes such as tsunamis, hurricanes, accidental introduction of rats or other predators and disease. However, with the exception of global sea level rise, it is unlikely that disasters will strike both atolls simultaneously. Thus, two populations provide some degree of insurance against catastrophic events,” the authors said.
At Midway, the birds showed that they are fully capable of thriving in new locations, and will adapt to new environments, taking advantage of new foraging opportunities. But they do need some fresh water—primarily for the chicks—some vegetative cover and enough food to eat.
But the success at Midway doesn't mean the movement of Laysan ducks is easy. They disappeared from all the other islands where they existed, in the face of habitat change, predators and other problems.
And a previous attempt at relocation failed. That involved the 1967 movement of birds to Pearl and Hermes Atoll, just to the southeast of Midway. Those birds died in a year.
What happened at Pearl and Hermes, an atoll with very small sandy islets that can be quite bare, may have been the result of an absolutely inadequate habitat for the birds.
“We suspect that the small number of founders, limited land area and low elevation susceptible to storm surge, plus the marginal habitat contributed to the disappearance of Laysan teal translocated to Southeast Island of Pearl and Hermes Atoll in 1967-1968,” the authors wrote.
Researchers hope to move other populations of the ducks to other islands, to further protect the species. The Midway experiment suggests that as long as there's fresh water, cover and enough food, in the absence of predators, they should do fine.
© 2008 Jan W. TenBruggencate

Blue Planet: build energy coalition now

One overarching conclusion of the recent Blue Planet Summit is that it's time for disparate communities to join in the common goal of reducing oil dependence—to form what might be called ecumenical energy coalitions.
Ultimately, whether the concern is climate change, or terrorism, or nuclear proliferation in oil-rich states, or the fear of supply disruption, or oil spills, or the economic disruption caused by sending billions of American dollars abroad, summit participants generally agreed that petroleum and our dependence on it is a corrosive force in our world.
“We need a coalition—a big one—and the bigger the better,” said venture capitalist James Woolsey, former U.S. Director of Central Intelligence, who has solar photovoltaic panels on his roof, in part to fuel his plug-in hybrid car.
The four-day Blue Planet Summit, convened by software wizard Henk Rogers, brought together world leaders in energy, including a Nobel laureate, indigenous people from America and the Pacific, environmentalists, a utility firm, conservation folks, media, financial experts, alternative energy advocates and a significant film crew to document the proceedings.
Woolsey said there ultimately is little value in fighting over whether the measured warming in the world is caused by humans or isn't. Clearly, the warming is happening, and clearly, there is some percentage of likelihood it could have severe consequences.
“Catastrophic change is at least possible...It is a risk and we ought to deal with it,” Woolsey said.
Climatologist Stephen Schneider said it's possible to have multiple reasons for doing the right thing, and he urged participants at the summit to “build the political coalitions.”
“We have to stir some stuff up,” said Denis Hayes, coordinator of the first Earth Day. “Stop talking about climate and talk about energy.”
It's not even that it costs a lot, said Hunter Lovins, president of Natural Capitalism Solutions.
“You can go half the way to decarbonizing at a profit” and use the savings the fund the rest of the voyage toward an economy that runs on efficiency and renewables.
“We have all the technology we need. We just need to begin,” she said.
Mina Morita, a Hawaii state representative from Kaua'i, said it is a moral imperative to move forward, and she argued that the direction comes best when it comes from the bottom and moves up.
“When people lead, politicians follow,” Morita said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued: “The only way you save the environment is if you have a democracy that works.”
The message about the need to move away from fossil fuels is not lost on utilities. An oil-based system “is no longer tenable,” said Robbie Alm, an executive vice president of Hawaiian Electric.
(Disclosure: The author of this article attended the conference, moderated a panel discussion, and helped summarize its contents for summit participants.)
© 2008 Jan W. TenBruggencate

Limits in sight on wind energy?

Hawai'i is within sight of maxing on out one of its most effective alternative energy sources—wind. At least, that's the case with today's electrical grid system.
On one island—Maui--the electric utility has already rejected one wind generation plant, saying current planned windfarms are all its grid can handle.
On O'ahu, Hawaiian Electric is looking at two wind suppliers who propose to provide as much as 300 megawatts of wind power—but it is likely to only be able to handle one.
Maui already gets a lot of wind power, 30 megawatts, from the Kaheawa windfarm. To add too much more of such a variable power source would overtax the utility's ability to provide firm power to customers, the utility says.
The Big Island grid already has more than 30 megawatts from three wind fields, and Kaua'i officials are concerned about the impact of a single 12-megawatt proposed windfarm.
HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg outlined the issue with respect to Maui.
“We looked at two excellent projects, one from Shell Wind at Ulupalakua Ranch in eastern, up-country Maui and one from UPC, to roughly double their existing wind farm in Western Maui above Ma'alaea. Deciding which would go first was difficult and came down to location.
“On a small grid like Maui's, there's a limit to how much wind power it can take at one time. Having two wind farms in two locations with two different wind regimes for now will make it easier to accept more wind on Maui's system now,” he wrote via email.
A similar issue exists with the two proposals to power O'ahu. One is UPC Hawai'i Wind Partners' proposal to install a 300 megawatt windfarm on Moloka'i and run the electrical power via undersea cable to O'ahu. Another is Castle & Cooke's proposal to put a similarly sized windfarm on its land on Lāna'i, and to cable it to O'ahu.
Either one would approach a quarter of O'ahu's power. The issue for the utility is, what do you do when suddenly the wind stops blowing? With a massive power drop like that, under current grid scenarios, it could get real dark real fast on O'ahu.
On Kaua'i, where UPC has proposed a 12-megawatt windfarm, the utility asked the wind operator to include enough storage to give Kaua'i Island Utility Co-op one half-hour's notice before it will cut off power to the grid.
In essence, if the wind stops blowing, UPC calls the utility to warn it to fire up some generators. Meanwhile, batteries keep providing KIUC with firm power until it gets the generators going.
It seems to be a feasible partial solution at a small scale, but more work is needed to be able to scale it up to big systems.
Rosegg said that both storage technology and grid management technology need to move forward if the grids are to accept significantly larger proportions of wind power—or any intermittent source of power.
In the Maui scenario, he said: “We hope technology advances for storing and adapting wind power make it possible to add a third wind farm on Maui in the future.”
UPC, meanwhile, has gone to the state Public Utilities Commission to argue that Maui Electric should, in fact, accept the additional wind power.
Meanwhile, on Moloka'i, UPC is holding meetings this week and next with the community, to tell residents about its plans, and to see whether they support them.
“UPC will only build a wind farm if the community supports the project,” the firm said. The project may further be impacted by Molokai Ranch's recent announcement it was closing virtually all its Moloka'i businesses. The wind farm is proposed to be located on ranch now owned by the ranch.
The public meetings are scheduled from 6 to 8:30 p.m. As follows.
Tuesday, April 8, at Kaunakakai Elementary School (Kaunakakai)
Wednesday, April 9 at Maunaloa Elementary School (Maunaloa)
Tuesday, April 15 at the Kilohana Community Center (Mana`e – East End)
Wednesday, April 16 at the Lanikeha Facility (Ho`olehua)
© 2008 Jan W. TenBruggencate

Hawai'i citrus crop under attack by new bug

An Asian sucking insect, capable of carrying a severe citrus disease, is established in the Islands.
(Photo: life stages of the Asian citrus psyllid. Credit:USDA.)
The Asian citrus psyllid is also a problem on the popular hedge plant known as mock orangte or orange jasmine—which has leaves smaller than most citrus leaves and bears clusters of fragrant white flowers.
The critter is known as Diaphorina citri, and was first found in the Islands on a navel orange branch that had been submitted to the state Department of Agriculture by a Waiakea resident wondering what was infesting his orange tree.
The psyllid sucks the sap out of its host plants, and can cause them to be misshapen and weakened.
But it's also a bigger potential problem, because it is the main carrier of an incurable citrus disease called citrus greening disease, or huanglongbing.
So far, the psyllid is in the Hawaiian Islands, but the disease is not.
The pest has spread over much of the Big Island, along the Hilo side, up to Volcano and other parts of the island, since its discovery in 2006. It is also found extensively on Maui from Pukalani to Lahaina and other areas.
The psyllid showed up in Florida in 1998. The disease showed up in 2005.
Last year, the psyllid was discovered in Guam. Agriculture officials in Guam issued this notice in a community pest alert:
“The citrus psyllid is found on the underside of young leaves and buds. The insect sucks the sap of plants, causing leaf distortion and curling. Affected leaves may be covered with honeydew and sooty mould. Adult psyllids are 3 to 4 mm in length, and have a yellowish-brown body and greyish-brown legs. Wings are clear and mottled with brown edges. Nymphs are smaller and generally yellowish-orange in colour. Psyllids are often confused with aphids, which are of similar size and are common on tender young citrus leaves. The main difference is that aphids move slowly, whereas adult psyllids are active insects that jump when disturbed and may fly a short distance. Adult psyllids also hold an unusual posture on the leaf head down, almost touching the surface, rear end pointing up at an angle. Like aphids, psyllids are often tended by ants, which are attracted to the honeydew they produce.”
The bacterial disease that the psyllid can carry causes discolored leaves and misshapen, green and bitter fruit. It can cause a plant's vascular system to collapse. There is no known treatment for infected trees, and agriculture officials recommend they be destroyed once infected.
There appear to be some predators of the psyllid present in the Islands, including certain ladybird beetles. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working on a range of strategies for controlling the spread and impact of both the psyllid, and where it is present, the disease.
The main measure thus far seems to be to keep the disease under control by limiting the numbers of the bug— through biological control, chemical control and planting systems that limit its populations.
Information on the psyllid is available at:
http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/pi/ppc/2006-annual-report/asian-citrus-psyllid.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070201.htm.
http://ccpp.ucr.edu/news/PsyllidbrochureAug05.pdf.
© 2008 Jan W. TenBruggencate