Power Up, Hawai'i!

I have not thought of anything to write in some time; I haven't been on my second field trip yet, although I will definitely go this weekend or next, and class has been canceled twice recently. I wanted to write about the guest speaker we had last time, who pounds poi, but I was more into listening to the conversation than writing down any notes, so I don't really know where to start.

I did, however, decide to go through my emails from Lc for inspiration and found the article on geothermal power.The article talks about how, when geothermal started here, it was protested against because the people who started it did not ask the community and the technology was not yet good enough to do it without a significant environmental impact. I found it very interesting that, not too long ago, geothermal was not seen as a renewable energy, but as another bad form of energy, comparable to oil and coal. The first attempt to drill for geothermal heat on the Big Island was called a "mismatch of science, technology, [and resource management]”. This is an example of how important it is to do things right in order to make progress. Even if a person means well, and an idea is good, and will eventually have the right effects, if you go about it the wrong way it is useless. Progress can only be made while maintaining  a respect for the environment and the people who live there.

It is so important for Hawai'i to get off oil dependency. I don't know the details or all the pros and cons of geothermal, but it seems to be one of the more promising renewable energies out there, along with wind, solar and tidal power. None of these is the answer to all our problems of course, but if they are implemented in conjunction with one another, there's no reason Hawai'i can't become the leader in energy independence.

Speaking of wind power, drove to North shore the other day and there are brand new giant windmills in Kahuku! This was news to me, so I looked it up. Ground was broken over the summer (while I was home- out of the loop) and right now they are doing test runs, with expectations to start commercial operations early next year. I looked into it further and it turns out there was actually a sort of experimental wind project in Kahuku in the 1980s until the 1990s when it stopped operating. I guess they got the information they needed, because the project is up and running. When I saw them, I figured they were still testing them because they were not turning, and they were all pointed different directions. 30 megawatts for 8,000 homes sounds good to me! Power up- and off of oil!