There's been a lot of talk lately in the news about what energy technologies won't work, and which ones ought to be adopted to the exclusion of all others.My own view is that these are both troublesome positions.At a time when less than 10 percent of our energy in Hawai'i comes from non-fossil fuel sources, it makes little sense to casually toss any technologies out of consideration—either due to assumptions of their pre-eminence or their perceived flaws.
I recently wrote a post in which I cited arguments for using every workable technology. One correspondent argued that with was stupid—his term—and that just because some energy systems were feasible didn't mean they were appropriate.I entirely agreed. Some technologies would not make sense from an economic standpoint, some ought to be rejected from environmental perspectives, some might be too fragile and subject to disruption.
Just because you technically can drive a Mack truck as your primary household vehicle doesn't mean it's a workable option: they use a lot of fuel, they're expensive to garage and they're hard to park downtown. A bicycle, a hybrid or a small pickup truck might better suit your personal needs.It's a dangerous game to insist that any one energy source, whether it's oil/coal, or waves or even OTEC, is all we need to be working on.
There is danger in putting all your eggs in one basket.If an earthquake can knock out an oil-fired power system, it can also probably take out a windmill. If a hurricane can take out oil platforms, it can probably impact OTEC facilities. A tsunami can probably wipe out wave systems. And so forth.We've been all-fossil-fuel-all-the-time for so long that for many of us it's a stretch to think about distributed power generation scenarios.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Big wave, wind generators proposed for Penguin Bank, Kaiwi Channel
A Seattle company has proposed a series of wave and wind energy generators in and south of the Molokai -to-O'ahu Kaiwi Channel.The wave generators would sit on the broad shallows called Penguin Bank, which extend into the Kaiwi Channel and to the southwest of western Molokai. It is an area with strong tidal flow. There are no images of what the units would look like in the application to date.
Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an application for permits for its Hawaii Ocean Energy Project. It is one of several permit requests Grays Harbor has filed, for similar projects in New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, and Rhode Island. All were filed on the same day, October 22, 2008.Life of the Land has filed an application to intervene in the permitting.
noting that “this is the first application for a large scale ocean energy system in Hawai'i and will establish policy and set the tone for this and future ocean energy proposals.”Grays Harbor proposes 100 wave energy conversion structures at maximum capacity of one megawatt each, for a total maximum production of 100 megawatts. That's the goal, but for now, the firm wants a pilot project to install just two of the 1-megawatt generators for testing.
It also says that wind generators could be built atop the wave energy structures.The firm says in its application that the project would create utility-scale renewable energy from offshore wave energy, would enable testing of new wave energy technologies, would create jobs and would improve fishing “because the supporting platforms become artificial reefs.”Of Penguin Bank, the company says this:
Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an application for permits for its Hawaii Ocean Energy Project. It is one of several permit requests Grays Harbor has filed, for similar projects in New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, and Rhode Island. All were filed on the same day, October 22, 2008.Life of the Land has filed an application to intervene in the permitting.
noting that “this is the first application for a large scale ocean energy system in Hawai'i and will establish policy and set the tone for this and future ocean energy proposals.”Grays Harbor proposes 100 wave energy conversion structures at maximum capacity of one megawatt each, for a total maximum production of 100 megawatts. That's the goal, but for now, the firm wants a pilot project to install just two of the 1-megawatt generators for testing.
It also says that wind generators could be built atop the wave energy structures.The firm says in its application that the project would create utility-scale renewable energy from offshore wave energy, would enable testing of new wave energy technologies, would create jobs and would improve fishing “because the supporting platforms become artificial reefs.”Of Penguin Bank, the company says this:
HECO/Sensus smart meters, smarter than they look
When Hawaiian Electric and Sensus Metering Systems announced a plan to put “smart” meters all over O'ahu, Maui and Hawai'i, Hawai'i media outlets missed or underplayed the significant piece of this scheme.The new meters are way smarter than they at first appear.Sure, they're wireless, meaning the electric company can get billing information without having to send its meter readers out in cars.
Just 19 towers scattered around the islands will be able to monitor the meters.But the communication won't be just one way.“This is an enabling technology. It's going to give the utility and the customers more options,” said HECO's Darren Pai.The proposal to put the “FlexNet wireless smart grid solution” meters in place requires state Public Utilities Commission approval, and any changes in service and rates will also require approvals.
But its capabilities appear to be remarkable.The utility can check on its grid any time. It can reconnect disconnected services remotely. It can diagnose trouble spots far more quickly and efficiently, thus improving reliability for the consumer.The new meters can be provided with upgrades via the wireless system of their firmware—the programs that run their electronics.
For consumers, there is the potential of much greater control over electrical use and the power bill.As an example, Hawaiian Electric could establish different rates at different times. With higher rates during peak hours, and low rates when use is low, the utility could shift demand—and reduce the need for new power plants.For the consumer, being able to shift water heating, ice-making, electric car charging and other high-demand uses to cheaper times means savings.
Just 19 towers scattered around the islands will be able to monitor the meters.But the communication won't be just one way.“This is an enabling technology. It's going to give the utility and the customers more options,” said HECO's Darren Pai.The proposal to put the “FlexNet wireless smart grid solution” meters in place requires state Public Utilities Commission approval, and any changes in service and rates will also require approvals.
But its capabilities appear to be remarkable.The utility can check on its grid any time. It can reconnect disconnected services remotely. It can diagnose trouble spots far more quickly and efficiently, thus improving reliability for the consumer.The new meters can be provided with upgrades via the wireless system of their firmware—the programs that run their electronics.
For consumers, there is the potential of much greater control over electrical use and the power bill.As an example, Hawaiian Electric could establish different rates at different times. With higher rates during peak hours, and low rates when use is low, the utility could shift demand—and reduce the need for new power plants.For the consumer, being able to shift water heating, ice-making, electric car charging and other high-demand uses to cheaper times means savings.
2009 highest tides January 10--roll up your trousers
The highest tides of 2009 for Hawai'i are just a week away as this is written, and people near the shore should be alert.From January 9 to 11, the highest tides, a few hours before dawn, will be 2.6 feet or higher in Honolulu, with the peak on the 10th. Depending on where you are in Hawai'i, the peak may be a little higher or lower, and a little earlier or later, but generally, folks will see a remarkably high high waterline when they get up on the 10th.
It means, of course, flooding in Mapunapuna, docks under water at Nawiliwili, beaches razor thin or gone entirely, and all the other features associated with the highest water.What isn't entirely clear is what other factors will be driving that water even higher or lower. That's because tides operate on top of the regional sea level, that can change due to a number of factors.
During certain climate events, like El Nino periods and strong low pressure systems, the base water level can be higher than normal. Warm water expands and can create regional high sea levels. There are oceanic gyres that can cause vast regions of the ocean to form a kind of hump. High tides atop these can drive water farther inland than normal.Strong waves atop high tides can also push flooding waters inland.
Chip Fletcher, the coastal geologist at the University of Hawai'i's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said he's not sure how severe the early January tides will be.
“Any swell that accompanies them will be a problem, but cool water this time of year should ameliorate a bit,” he wrote in an email.And all these features—tides, gyres, storms and the rest—operate atop the base sea level, which for the last century has been rising.
It means, of course, flooding in Mapunapuna, docks under water at Nawiliwili, beaches razor thin or gone entirely, and all the other features associated with the highest water.What isn't entirely clear is what other factors will be driving that water even higher or lower. That's because tides operate on top of the regional sea level, that can change due to a number of factors.
During certain climate events, like El Nino periods and strong low pressure systems, the base water level can be higher than normal. Warm water expands and can create regional high sea levels. There are oceanic gyres that can cause vast regions of the ocean to form a kind of hump. High tides atop these can drive water farther inland than normal.Strong waves atop high tides can also push flooding waters inland.
Chip Fletcher, the coastal geologist at the University of Hawai'i's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said he's not sure how severe the early January tides will be.
“Any swell that accompanies them will be a problem, but cool water this time of year should ameliorate a bit,” he wrote in an email.And all these features—tides, gyres, storms and the rest—operate atop the base sea level, which for the last century has been rising.
Polynesian voyaging curbed by climate change?
Is there a role for climate science in archaeology.Increasingly, the answer seems to be yes.
One of the mysteries of Hawaiian history has been why voyaging between the Hawaiian Islands and the South Pacific stopped several hundred years before the arrival of Europeans in the Islands.Climate researchers say that the decline in long-distance Pacific voyaging may have coincided with a significant change in climate.
which would have changed weather patterns throughout the region.For traditional navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, the link between climate and voyaging success is perfectly reasonable.
“You take a lot of your cues from the weather. If the weather changes, that changes everything,” he said.Blankenfeld is one of five Hawai'i non-instrument navigators who recently was inducted into a traditional Micronesian navigation society.
He is one of the veteran navigators of the Polynesian Voyaging Society's canoe, Hōkūle'a.Around the year 1300 the global climate began a switch from a warm period, often referred to as the Medieval Warm Period, to a cooler pattern known as the Little Ice Age.“There were changes in weather patterns and climate patterns, and there were more storm events in the Little Ice Age.
This would have made traveling much harder, less predictable and less successful,” said Oliver Timm, a paleoclimatologist with the University of Hawai'i's International Pacific Research Center.What caused the climate to cool? There are a couple of suspects, Timm told RaisingIslands.One is that solar radiation dropped at the end of the warm period, although the drop was so small, about a tenth of a percent, that Timm believes it was unlikely to be the sole cause of cooling.
One of the mysteries of Hawaiian history has been why voyaging between the Hawaiian Islands and the South Pacific stopped several hundred years before the arrival of Europeans in the Islands.Climate researchers say that the decline in long-distance Pacific voyaging may have coincided with a significant change in climate.
which would have changed weather patterns throughout the region.For traditional navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, the link between climate and voyaging success is perfectly reasonable.
“You take a lot of your cues from the weather. If the weather changes, that changes everything,” he said.Blankenfeld is one of five Hawai'i non-instrument navigators who recently was inducted into a traditional Micronesian navigation society.
He is one of the veteran navigators of the Polynesian Voyaging Society's canoe, Hōkūle'a.Around the year 1300 the global climate began a switch from a warm period, often referred to as the Medieval Warm Period, to a cooler pattern known as the Little Ice Age.“There were changes in weather patterns and climate patterns, and there were more storm events in the Little Ice Age.
This would have made traveling much harder, less predictable and less successful,” said Oliver Timm, a paleoclimatologist with the University of Hawai'i's International Pacific Research Center.What caused the climate to cool? There are a couple of suspects, Timm told RaisingIslands.One is that solar radiation dropped at the end of the warm period, although the drop was so small, about a tenth of a percent, that Timm believes it was unlikely to be the sole cause of cooling.
Emissions aren't just about climate--they're still killing us
In all the furor over carbon dioxide and global warming, many folks have lost sight of some of the other impacts of air pollution.It's still killing us.A simple search found a pile of recent research, linking air pollution to low sperm counts, low birth weights, asthma and other health problems in kids, heart and blood pressure issues in adults and on and on.Do you need another reason to be unhappy with the neighbor who climbs into her/his SUV or high-powered truck, or zoom-zoom luxury sedan
Do you need a reason to think twice when you pile clothes in the dryer that could be air-dried, flick on the air-conditioning, fail to use public transportation or neglect to insist your lawmakers pay immediate attention to these issues?How about this: It's making you, and your children, and your neighbors sick. There's plenty of evidence of it, much of it brand new, but lots more that's been around for years.
The carbon dioxide that comes out of tailpipes and smokestacks can be associated with a lot of compounds in addition to carbon dioxide—sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds, benzene, formaldehyde and the like—which aren't good for humans or the environment.Even in places like Hawai'i, where in most places, tradewinds appear to blow the skies clean. More on that later in this article.
“Primary care physicians should be aware of the acute and chronic deleterious clinical effects of diesel exhaust,” says an article in the Journal of Family Medicine, “The Toxicity of Diesel Exhaust: Implications for Primary Care,” dated Jan. 1, 2008.“Urban air pollution is associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, blood coagulation and autonomic dysfunction simultaneously in healthy young humans, with sulfate and O3 as two major traffic-related pollutants contributing to such effects,” says an article in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, “The Effect of Urban Air Pollution on Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Coagulation, and Autonomic Dysfunction in Young Adults,” published in 2007.
Do you need a reason to think twice when you pile clothes in the dryer that could be air-dried, flick on the air-conditioning, fail to use public transportation or neglect to insist your lawmakers pay immediate attention to these issues?How about this: It's making you, and your children, and your neighbors sick. There's plenty of evidence of it, much of it brand new, but lots more that's been around for years.
The carbon dioxide that comes out of tailpipes and smokestacks can be associated with a lot of compounds in addition to carbon dioxide—sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds, benzene, formaldehyde and the like—which aren't good for humans or the environment.Even in places like Hawai'i, where in most places, tradewinds appear to blow the skies clean. More on that later in this article.
“Primary care physicians should be aware of the acute and chronic deleterious clinical effects of diesel exhaust,” says an article in the Journal of Family Medicine, “The Toxicity of Diesel Exhaust: Implications for Primary Care,” dated Jan. 1, 2008.“Urban air pollution is associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, blood coagulation and autonomic dysfunction simultaneously in healthy young humans, with sulfate and O3 as two major traffic-related pollutants contributing to such effects,” says an article in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, “The Effect of Urban Air Pollution on Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Coagulation, and Autonomic Dysfunction in Young Adults,” published in 2007.
Mercury's Hawaiian connection, and is it volcanic?
We'll soon know lots more about Mercury than we once did, thanks to a voyaging spacecraft called MESSENGER.We already know that Mercury is hot, except where it's not. On the sunny side, it can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit, while on the night side, that can drop more than a thousand degrees.That it's a small planet, just a third wider in diameter than our Moon.
That it spins very slowly compared to Earth. From one Mercury noon to the next takes half an Earth year.And that, like the Moon, it gets pounded by space rocks. Since it has no atmosphere, meteorites blast to the surface without burning up as many do in Earth's atmosphere. Images of the planet make it look remarkably battered and Moon-like.But Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, is so close to Old Sol that's it's difficult to study thoroughly without being blinded by the brightness alongside.
The last time researchers had a good look was during the Mariner 10 spacecraft mission in 1991. The new mission is the Mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry and ranging effort, whose first and sometimes second letters have been cobbled together into the word messenger.University of Hawai'i researcher Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, with the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, is a member of the MESSENGER team.
“If Mercury were a puzzle, we would only have half the pieces, which makes it difficult to put geologic processes into a global perspective. MESSENGER will fill in a lot of those missing puzzle pieces this month,” Gillis-Davis said.His role is to use an array of sensors on the craft to study the planet's origin and its geologic evolution, to determine whether volcanic activity has played a role and to compare its geology to that of the other rocky planets, like Earth.
That it spins very slowly compared to Earth. From one Mercury noon to the next takes half an Earth year.And that, like the Moon, it gets pounded by space rocks. Since it has no atmosphere, meteorites blast to the surface without burning up as many do in Earth's atmosphere. Images of the planet make it look remarkably battered and Moon-like.But Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, is so close to Old Sol that's it's difficult to study thoroughly without being blinded by the brightness alongside.
The last time researchers had a good look was during the Mariner 10 spacecraft mission in 1991. The new mission is the Mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry and ranging effort, whose first and sometimes second letters have been cobbled together into the word messenger.University of Hawai'i researcher Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, with the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, is a member of the MESSENGER team.
“If Mercury were a puzzle, we would only have half the pieces, which makes it difficult to put geologic processes into a global perspective. MESSENGER will fill in a lot of those missing puzzle pieces this month,” Gillis-Davis said.His role is to use an array of sensors on the craft to study the planet's origin and its geologic evolution, to determine whether volcanic activity has played a role and to compare its geology to that of the other rocky planets, like Earth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)