Put In My Backyard Pimby

All things concerned, most wouldn't mind paying a little bit more for electricity or automotive fuels from renewable energy. In fact, if Congress were to enact the MARKEY-PLATTS BILL (H.R. 890) for a national renewable energy standard, consumers would save as much as 94 billion on their electricity and natural gas bills by 2030, so sacrifice might not even be necessary..However, there is a problem. The Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) syndrome, in combination with oil remaining below 50/barrel and financing uncertainties posed by the economic collapse, is effectively dampening enthusiasm for sustainable resource development.

Historically, I've been in the midst of community backlash regarding renewable energy on practically everything we tried. In the 1970's, a combination of people who moved into the Puna Region (who wanted to preserve their "new" natural lifestyle), environmentalists decrying damage to the nearby rainforests, native Hawaiians concerned about geothermal power interfering with their worship of Pele (goddess of volcanoes) and marijuana growers, convinced Federal Judge David Ezra to effectively limit geothermal development. A third of a century later, Ezra is still judge, and the Big Island now only produces about 5% of the 500 MW that was envisioned. A 25 million deepsea cable project produced by Pirelli of Italy to bring this electricity to Oahu was gathering dust for a quarter century, but, who knows, might now serve as a starting point for the Lanai/Molokai wind farms..A similar difficulty was experienced in 1987 when Hawaiian Electric and Boeing attempted to experiment on a massive 3.2 megawatt wind energy conversion system (tip-to-tip, the propeller was longer than a football field--this is now the size of choice for recent wind energy farms) in the Kahuku Hills above Turtle Bay. There was an outcry from the resort developer (worried that such a device would give the impression that this was a windy area--which it was at higher elevation), the Audobon Society (bird kills) and some homeowners (aesthetic blight, they called it). Somehow, the wind mill did get built, but it was a technological disaster, for any early generation energy system is almost destined to fail. The swooshing noise was intimidating and the gearing/materials partially failed..Turned out that almost all the solar energy projects we had at the university were unsuccessful, but this is why government invests in these efforts, for we are not smart enough to make the first, or the second, one work at this size and complexity. Your iPod or portable computer operates well because it went through a thousand generations in the company laboratory. Hawaii was the international laboratory for renewable energy, and we served the necessary white rat role. Our then experience with ignominy helped the field develop. Today, decades later, wind power is the ONLY renewable energy technology competitive with coal and nuclear for electricity.

The Advertiser yesterday provided a largely negative front page article on a 1100 MW offshore wind/wave power project that has been proposed by Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company. Already, the Molokaians, fishermen, whale people, HECO (yes, they will say they will not be able to handle so much power) and their like will effectively shoo away the wind developer. Guaranteed! But, then, maybe this company just added Hawaii as an afterthought for a couple of vacation trips, for they haven't bothered to meet with anyone of importance. Doug Carlson provides a reasonable response in his daily blog..As naive and/or dumb GHOEC might be, I still wonder why the leadership of Hawaii doesn't lay protocol aside and embrace these types of opportunity with a "let's see how this can work attitude." Sure, in this instance energy storage will be needed, and this is expensive, but what about, maybe, hydrogen production and retention in sea bladders for application as fuel for RINALDO'S HAWAIIAN HYDROGEN CLIPPER, or to double the production of METHANOL FROM THE GASIFICATION/CATALYSIS OF BIOMASS? We should be matching monumental efforts to produce a network of inter-dependent endeavors to attain critical mass progress..Otherwise, is there a solution to NIMBY? Yes, when oil goes shooting past 150/barrel everyone will suddenly become advocates. But isn't that too late?.THE OTHER OPTION IS PIMBY, PUT IN MY BACK YARD, OFFERED BY LEIGHTON CHONG IN HIS BLOG. CLICK ON THAT LINK TO READ ABOUT HIS PROPOSAL.-The Dow Jones Industrials settled minus 80 to 6547. Thank heavens, no Black Monday. World markets were mixed. Oil is now at 45.80/bbl. T. Boone Pickens reported that in February, we imported 62 percent of our oil - about 339 million barrels, costing us 13 billion or more than 328,000 per minute! At the current price of oil, we will spend 170 billion to import oil this year. If the average price of crude were 147/barrel, it would be 652 billion. But, as in December we imported 66.5 percent of our oil, is this progress? Not really, for in January it was 67.4 percent, and who knows what it will be by mid-year. Taking a cue from my Do It Now tirade, the intrepid Democrats in Congress, with the cheerleading efforts of the Obama White House, might be attempting a renewable energy and climate change coup in one magnificent step, as much as I don't like "cap and trade," and would rather they merely add a 1/gallon investment surcharge, plus a mere one cent/pound carbon dioxide tax when oil is 30/barrel (which would be 5 cents/pound carbon dioxide for 150/barrel crude). If they don't do this now, it will never happen.

-The South Indian Sea is heating up. Cyclone Hamish is now a Category 3 storm in the vicinity of Brisbane, but will weaken and head away from land. Tropical Cyclone 19 has popped up and is nowhere (86 degrees East/18 degrees South) heading northwest at this time.-