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Biomass Plantjpg

Hawaii Supreme Court rules against Hu Honua 5-0 – What’s Next?

March 14, 2023/1 Comment/in Climate /by Steve Holmes, Contributing Editor

Huhonua 2The Hawaii Supreme Court struck down the appeal by Hu Honua regarding PUC denial of their proposed power purchase agreement.

Justice Mike Wilson will be retiring soon and with his brilliant Concurring Opinion, he leaves a lasting legacy. It goes far beyond this permit and clearly states that the PUC has an affirmative duty to address the Hawaii Climate Emergency Declaration and its connection to the Public Trust Doctrine in our Hawaii Constitution.

Hu Honua attempted to limit their GHG emissions analysis to only comparing stack emissions from their biomass plant to fossil fuel generators. This court opinion says they had to compare their emissions to less polluting alternatives like wind and solar.

A Climate Emergency declaration means business as usual is over and the PUC needs to step up the pace of decarbonization.

The Court’s decison also means that attempts by certain pandering politicians are doomed to fail. Because of our constitutional protections and the imminent threat posed by climate change to our public trust resources like coral reefs, these would be struck down.

A better idea, and better use of ratepayer dollars?

Battery Solar WindHu Honua, for instance, has been proposed for hydrogen generation but would need PUC approval. With this Supreme Court decision, that will not happen. Burning trees to split water and make hydrogen certainly isn’t green and isn’t cost-competitive because the energy required is too expensive and very inefficient.

A better idea would be to repurpose the Hu Honua location, and its large utility connection, for grid-scale BESS (battery energy storage) and the addition of solar and/or wind. No trees to burn, no pollution to abate.

The Sierra Club has been advancing its national “Stop Coal” campaign, in which many old power plant sites have been converted over to large-scale battery storage sites, enhancing grid stability at no cost to the environment and surrounding communities.

These cost effective power conversions enhance resilience and grid efficiency, and in effect, provide voltage support that keeps grid power smoothly flowing around the clock. There is also Federal financing available for these projects, generally referred to as ESSA or energy storage service agreements, which serve as utility power purchase agreements, and where prices are locked in for 20 years at no upfront cost and which plant maintenance is included at no added costs to ratepayers.

Large new federal incentives are driving huge investments, so money is now flowing into Hawaii.  New batteries like iron flow and iron air are also bringing costs down compared to more traditional lithium battery storage. In both cases, utility scale battery systems are self-contained (containerized) and ready for quick and easy installation and modular activation after delivery to the site. Equally important, these same modular systems are easily scale up to meet future expansion, if required, and in all cases, can be paired with clean and renewable energy, as in solar and wind power generation.

Lessons Learned

Hu Honua always had an archaic approach to energy production and would have driven customer bills up instead of down.

This Hawaii Supreme Court opinion further  supported the PUC’s inclusion of its cost performance analysis in their decision-making on remand during the latest appeal, and despite Hu Honua attempting to argue the opposite.

From the start, Hu Honua has sought preferential rates outside the mandatory competitive bidding process, requiring ratepayers to pay for power than market conditions would otherwise allow. The court saw through all of this, justice and the public interest in the Court’s decision, which further served as an important environmental law precedent.

It is a great victory and our thanks to Life of the Land, Tawhiri, the Hawaii Consumer Advocate, and the PUC Commission and staff for a job well done.

 

https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Biomass-Plantjpg.png 1200 1200 Bill Bugbee https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beyond-kona-logo.png Bill Bugbee2023-03-14 10:33:282023-03-14 10:34:57Hawaii Supreme Court rules against Hu Honua 5-0 – What’s Next?
Solar Wind Bess

Hawaii Falls Behind National Transition to Clean Energy

March 13, 2023/1 Comment/in Climate /by Bill Bugbee

2023 Solar Market Share1

 


Clean energy is crushing the competition to supply new power plants for the U.S. this year, except perhaps for Hawaii’s political pursuit of last century energy options (combustion polluting power plants), as in burning trees and waste / trash for energy.

Based on January data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, clean energy will dominate new US power capacity in 2023 with Solar, Wind, and Batteries leading the way and accounting for nearly all new power plant construction.

The star of the show is Solar

This abundant clean energy resource has risen from the margins of the utility sector to make up roughly half of the new planned capacity in 2023.  Meanwhile, rooftop solar has returned as the leading self-powered energy security option addition for commercial and residential buildings, with this energy sector enjoying a rapid recovery from previous Covid-related supply issues.

Of course, solar plants don’t produce around the clock the way gas, oil, or nuclear can. That limitation is driving the surge in battery installations to store surplus solar and wind production for use as needed (firm) and when it’s more valuable.

Batteries can also be charged from the grid, especially as EV adoption increases, and clean power adoption offers the additional benefit and role of off-setting increased electricity demand and the potential for added grid-generated greenhouse gas emissions in transition to ground transportation electrification.

Meanwhile, battery storage is beating out gas (primary mainland energy source for so-called peaker plants), and representing for the first time batteries displacing combustion energy options in the role of meeting “firm energy” needs for utilities — Senator Dela Cruz (HI) infamous and incorrect statements of 4 hour battery limitations is as out-of-date as his energy agenda for the state.

Hawaii’s Energy Politics

Undeterred from his political loses of 2022, with Governor Ige’s veto of SB 2510 and 2511, were bills rammed through the political process mandating the burning of trees and trash for power. Senator Dela Cruz and his political allies misguided dirty energy priorities for Hawaii’s energy future remain steadfast, and unenlightened.

During the current 2023 legislative session, Senator Dela Cruz flexed his political muscle once again with an energy agenda that includes support of SB-72 designed to cripple Hawaii’s PUC due diligence process (in representing ratepayer interests) of non-compliant dirty energy applications which come before the Commission.  He is also pushed SB 817 through the Senate, which amends the definition of “eligible business activity” within the state’s enterprise zones to produce (with taxpayer funding), dirty energy feed-stocks for biomass-burning power plants.

Another example of how outdated and expensive combustion (burn) power sources can’t complete with zero emissions / clean energy alternatives is how solar plus battery plants consistently come in at less than half the cost of biomass burn-generated energy, even as those biomass plants will enjoy public subsidies and waivers from state rules. The poster child for this insult to injury to the public interest is best exemplified by another Dela Cruz energy agenda item; his unwavering support of the infamous and discredited Hu Honua biomass plant (see previous BeyondKona coverage of this failed power plant proposal).

As of today, with the state Supreme Court determination in a clear cut 5-0 decision, rendered on March 13th, resulting in Hu Honua suffering it greatest legal loss to date — in what has been as a bad deal for the residents and ratepayers of Hawaii Island from the first day one it was proposed.  The Hawaii Supreme Court decision denied Hu Honua’s appeal of a previous Public Utilities Commission decision citing several areas in which Hu Honua repeatedly failed to satisfy basic requirements.

Every biomass plant (trees and trash burned for energy) allowed to go forward blocks a clean and renewable energy plant, available at lower energy cost to ratepayers, and ready to take Hawaii to clean, renewable, and yes, sustainable energy future.

Beyond Hawaii; it’s all about market forces, clean-power climate mitigation, ratepayers priorities

Fossil-fueled plants are expected to make up just 16 percent of new capacity additions completed in 2023, based on January data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Adding more fossil-fuel power plants to the national grid is rapidly becoming a utility-driven decision practice of the past. It is likely, based on present trends, there will be no new fossil plants built in the US within the next 10 years. And most people look forward to the inevitability of that day when it comes.

Carbon-free power plants are on track to deliver 84 percent of new capacity — that includes solar, wind, nuclear, and battery storage. That’s a larger share than last year, when clean power plants made up 78 percent of new capacity.

Clean and renewable energy still represents a smaller share of the nation’s total electricity production.  But this snapshot of the power industry in 2023 (outside of Hawaii) shows that clean energy is already set to be the dominant choice for new power plants, seizing that mantle from fossil fuel gas plants.

It’s also a coup for battery storage, which went from extremely fringe just a few years ago to the second-place spot for new capacity coming online this year.

https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/solar-wind-bess.png 313 666 Bill Bugbee https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beyond-kona-logo.png Bill Bugbee2023-03-13 12:30:442023-03-13 18:12:46Hawaii Falls Behind National Transition to Clean Energy
Solar Person Graphic

Hawaii’s Energy Future has Arrived

February 16, 2023/0 Comments/in Climate /by BeyondKona

The energy future that we’ve long been waiting for is here.  Let’s take advantage of it.

We’ve known for decades that we should reduce the burning of fossil fuels and other materials to generate energy because of their harmful by-products on climate, health, and the global environment.  We’ve also known that solar, wind, and other clean and renewable sources are better energy options, but they were more expensive compared to most legacy energy systems.

Change is the great arbiter and in comes many forms. In this case it came in the form of new technology, Federal policy, and market forces each working to bring down the costs of clean and renewable energy.  Many of us have been waiting, and now the costs of solar and wind and battery storage have been reduced to such an extent that they are currently the least expensive and most equitable forms of energy now powering utility grids.

Bess Growth Projection 1Although macroeconomic and supply chain issues influence costs, the overall cost of PV solar and battery storage continues to drop with technology and manufacturing improvements. and efficiency advancements.  New energy projects pairing solar with battery storage are being built across the nation.  A number of them are located in Hawaii, and more are being planned.

Reliable, resilient, and clean (zero emissions) renewable energy options continue to drive down electricity costs for ratepayers. Batteries now are now fulfilling the role as on-demand firm energy assets, once the exclusive domain of expensive to build, operate, and polluting combustion-based power plants.

The recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is projected to drive nearly $3.5 trillion in the Federal government investment of new energy supply and infrastructure onto the grid, the majority of which will be intermittent renewable resources backed by batteries. The ICF Climate Center estimates IRA incentives could drive down the cost of solar energy by as much as 35% and wind by as much as 49% by 2030. The potential beneficiaries of the IRA financial incentives include Hawaii’s residents and ratepayers, businesses, and Hawaiian Electric, the state’s largest and publicly-traded utility.

Often missing in the discussion of Hawaii’s transition to a clean energy economy are the direct and quantifiable benefits this transition is contributing to the state’s economy. Certainly, lowering the cost of energy production should translate into lower utility fees for consumers, but that is just one example of the direct economic benefits to the state.

Clean energy projects by themselves are significant contributors to the state’s economy and climate goals, as exemplified by the recent AES Solar + Storage project on Hawaii Island. This one project will not only deliver unprecedented low cost clean energy to HELCO at $0.09 per kWh, but according to AES has produced 200 jobs and generated a total economic benefit for Hawai‘i’s local economy estimated upwards to $47 million. This one solar project also is expected to replace over one half million barrels of imported oil annually, while meeting the over 7% of the electricity needs for Hawaii Island.

Waikoloa Solar Storage ProjectHawaii is by no means standing still when it comes to clean and renewable energy.  Hawaii’s 100% renewable mandate by 2045 for energy powering the state’s two utilities may be a ways out, but challenges remain on the road to Hawaii’s 21st century clean energy economy.  The good news is as a state we are moving forward.

In total, recent solar projects in Hawaii demonstrate an encouraging trend and progress, including; the Lawai Solar and Energy Project on Kauai, which was at the time the largest solar plus storage peak-power generator in the world.  It combines 28 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity with lithium-ion batteries capable of storing 100 megawatt-hours, while delivering electricity on demand at only 11 cents per kilowatt-hour.  The average electricity rate for Hawaiian Electric throughout the state (excluding Kauai) ranges from 38 cents to the current high of 44 per kilowatt-hour for Hawaii Island residents.

Mililani Solar I is another example, located on former sugar-cane fields inland from Pearl Harbor, generates 39 megawatts of solar power for only 9 cents per kilowatt-hour.  Other completed and low cost solar projects include Kawailoa Solar in Haleiwa, the Waianae Solar Project, Waiawa Solar Power, and Kauai Solar.   Other solar projects in the works across the state include:

  • For Kauai, there is innovative West Kauai Solar Energy Project, the first integrated pumped storage hydropower, solar and battery project of its kind in the world.
  • Oahu: Kaukonahua Solar, AES West Oahu, Hoohana Solar 1, Kapolei Energy Storage, Kupono Solar, Mountain View Solar, Waiawa Phase 2 Solar, Kalaeloa Home Lands Solar, and Palailai Solar.
  • Molokai:  Kualapua Solar and Palaau Solar.
  • Lanai:  Lanai Solar Project.
  • Maui:  Lipoa Solar, Makawao Solar, Piiholo Road Solar, Waena Battery Energy Storage, AES Kuihelani, Kamaole Solar, and Paeahu Solar.
  • Hawaii Island:  Kalaola Solar A and B, Naalehu Solar, Keahole Battery Energy Storage, Hale Kuawehi Solar, AES Waikoloa Solar

While solar power brings down costs for both utilities and ratepayers, the pairing of battery storage with solar panels turns this once intermittent clean electricity source into a reliable and on-demand power asset better suited to the uncertainties of a changing climate than traditional combustion power plants.  Facilities that generate electricity by burning fossil fuel — or any other form of dirty energy combustion are increasingly costly and obsolete, and the sooner they are replaced the greater the public benefits.  After all, consumers benefit from lower electricity rates, and the environment benefits from fewer greenhouse gas emissions is a win-win solution for the planet, humans, and the economy.

Clean, renewable energy is the future, and the future is here.  It’s time we fully embrace it.


Special thanks to members John Kawamoto, Melodie Aduja, and Mark Koppel of Hawaii’s Clean Power Task Force for their contributions to this article. And mahalo a nui loa to the Honolulu Star Advertiser for co-publishing this article; February 21, 2023, Island Voices section.

https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Solar-Person-graphic.jpg 1091 1839 Bill Bugbee https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beyond-kona-logo.png Bill Bugbee2023-02-16 11:48:532023-03-12 07:46:13Hawaii's Energy Future has Arrived
Global Ocean Warming1

Off the Chart Temperatures Predicted as El Niño Returns in 2023

January 19, 2023/0 Comments/in Climate /by BeyondKona

El Nino 2023 MapLast year was the fifth hottest on record, but with the return of El Niño — the climate pattern that warms the surface of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean — 2023 could prove to be even hotter. The picture shows the predicted 2023 El Niño’s heating impact on the Pacific region and Hawaii.

Preliminary forecasts indicate the possibility of the return of El Niño later this year, which scientists say could cause “off the chart” temperature increases, along with record heat waves, reported The Guardian. This would make it “very likely” that Earth’s temperature will warm by more than the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature threshold, above which the risk of deadly extreme weather and related crises — like large-scale drought, water and food shortages, famine, sea level rise, species die-off and loss of ecosystems — increases dramatically.

“It’s very likely that the next big El Niño could take us over 1.5C,” said head of long range prediction at the UK Met Office professor Adam Scaife, as The Irish Times reported. “The probability of having the first year at 1.5C in the next five-year period is now about 50:50.”

In 2016, the planet experienced its hottest year ever with the influence of El Niño. Earth’s weather patterns are driven by ocean surface temperatures and winds in the Pacific Ocean. These alternate between El Niño, the cooler La Niña — which was in effect the last three years — and conditions that are neutral.

“We know that under climate change, the impacts of El Niño events are going to get stronger, and you have to add that to the effects of climate change itself, which is growing all the time,” Scaife said, as reported by The Irish Times. “You put those two things together, and we are likely to see unprecedented heatwaves during the next El Niño.”

El Niño happens during winter in the northern hemisphere, which means the heat from it is more likely to be felt the following year — in this case, in 2024.

“We suggest that 2024 is likely to be off the chart as the warmest year on record. It is unlikely that the current La Niña will continue a fourth year. Even a little futz of an El Niño should be sufficient for record global temperature,” said professor James Hansen at Columbia University last year. He added that the decrease in China’s air pollution — which obscures the sun — was also leading to a rise in heating.

To date, human emitted greenhouse gases have led to a global temperature increase of about 1.2 degrees Celsius, causing heat waves and severe drought in Europe and the U.S., catastrophic flooding in Nigeria and Pakistan and extreme weather across the globe.

In many parts of the world, the El Niño-La Niña cycle causes the most weather variations from year to year.

“Science can now tell us when these things are coming months ahead. So we really do need to use it and be more prepared, from having readiness of emergency services right down to what crops to plant,” Scaife said, as The Guardian reported.

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Climate Change Brings Record Ocean Warmth

Climate Crisis, 2023

January 11, 2023/1 Comment/in Climate /by BeyondKona

Hawaii Rain BombHawaii’s remote location can no longer be considered to be a safe distance from what are now global climate change impacts.

Hawaii is facing climate changes ranging from subtle forms of increasing air and water temperatures to changes in traditional weather patterns, accompanied by the arrival of extreme weather events occurring with greater frequency and force.

Sea level rise and droughts are a fact of life residents of Hawaii now face, but such subtle changes too often fail to gain the general public’s attention. That said, there is nothing like an outsized storm to focus the public’s attention on changes now affecting historic and local weather norms.

The short scientific explanation of this climate-driven cause and weather effects: As average temperatures at the Earth’s surface rise, more evaporation occurs, which, in turn, increases overall precipitation.

A recent trip to Kauai was a reminder how global climate changes are driving local weather changes. The conditions were serene on Kauaʻi the afternoon of Dec. 17th, 2022, but that all changed by nightfall with the arrival of an unprecedented powerful cold front which moved across the entire island chain resulting in flooding and destruction to property and infrastructure. Roads and bridges at times were near impassable, and the island’s rural infrastructure did not fair well to the extreme weather. The airport was closed for a time with planes grounded, as word spread of a Hawaiian Air flight inbound from Phoenix encountering air turbulence so extreme that a number or passengers were hospitalized on arrival in Honolulu.

Global Warming Map 2022 1

The atmospheric bedlam that erupted over eastern Oʻahu around sunset that same day was followed a few hours later with over five inches a hour of rain dumped onto Hawaiʻi Kai, which came pouring out of water-laden clouds accompanied by crashes with thunder and lightning.  The same cold front produced downpours across the rest of the state, engorging waterways, flooding roads,  and raising water in many streams by several feet in less than a hour.

By midnight, the thunderstorms and intense rainfall which followed, continued to whipped up torrents rain overall the islands and lower elevations. The Big Island leeward side did not escape the cold front which arrived with a non-stop cacophony of heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning lasting most of Sunday night.

This was no normal storm, in fact it was a series of storms connected and driven by a massive cold front uncommon to the mid-Pacific region.

It was in fact the effect of a climate now in the process of global change — courtesy of our fossil-fuel emissions and legacy energy dependences.

 


Extreme weather caused 18 disasters in US last year, costing $165bn

The US endured a particularly painful year as communities wrestled with the growing impacts of the climate crisis, with 18 major disasters wreaking havoc across the country as planet-heating emissions continued to climb.

Storms, floods, wildfires and droughts caused a total of $165bn in damages in the US last year, $10bn more than the 2021 total and the third most costly year since records of major losses began in 1980.

Last year was “part of a trend of hyperactive disaster years across the US”, said Adam Smith, an applied climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which released the data. Since 2016, there have been 122 separate billion-dollar weather and climate events that have, in total, killed more than 5,000 people and caused more than $1tn in damages.   “We are seeing several trends of climate-enhanced disasters,” said Smith, noting that the US is seeing longer, more intense wildfire seasons, severe rainfall events and the sort of huge, category four and five hurricanes in the past few years that Noaa has not documented before in its historical record, which stretches back to 1851.

Relentless rain, record heat: study finds climate crisis worsened extreme weather, but that’s no surprise …

FloodingRelentless drought in California followed by rivers of rain,  extreme rainfall in the UK, record heat in China – some of the most severe weather events that have occurred around the world in the past few years were made far more likely due to the climate crisis, new research has found.

The analysis of extreme events in 2021 and 2022 found that many of these extremes were worsened by global heating, and in some cases would have been almost impossible in terms of their severity if humans had not altered the climate through the burning of fossil fuels.

“The extreme nature of these events is very alarming,” said Stephanie Herring, a climate scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“We need to understand if these events are signs that things are getting hotter faster than we had expected. We know extreme heat is going to get worse, and additional research will help us better quantify future change.”

The fingerprint of climate change is being identified across the planet. The risk of extreme drought across California and Nevada was made six times worse by the climate crisis and a strong periodical La Niña climate event from October 2020 to September 2021, while, conversely, extreme rainfall that deluged parts of the UK in May 2021 was 1.5 times more likely due to global heating.

The world remained firmly in warming’s grip last year, with extreme summer temperatures in Europe, China and elsewhere contributing to 2022 being the fifth-hottest year on record, European climate researchers said on Tuesday.

The eight warmest years on record have now occurred since 2014, the scientists, from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, reported, and 2016 remains the hottest year ever.


Ams Climate Report CoverThe Nexus of Climate meets Weather

The American Metrological Society (AMS) annual climate report; “Explaining Extreme Events in 2021 and 2022 from a Climate Perspective” offers a plainly written recent as to cause-and-effect climate impacts and assessments of how human-caused climate change may have affected the strength and likelihood of individual extreme events.

AMS report link: https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/explaining-extreme-events-from-a-climate-perspective/

The report’s authors scientifically concluded:

    • “Human-caused climate change is an extreme disruption of the Earth system,” said Paul Higgins, associate executive director of the American Meteorological Society.
    • “We should expect it to lead to more extreme events, as this new research helps to show. We must do what we can to help people, and all life, thrive in spite of this danger.”

This was the eleventh edition of the report, offering a peer-reviewed analyses of extreme weather and climate across the world during the previous two calendar years. It features the research of scientists from across the globe looking at both historical observations and model simulations to determine whether and by how much climate change may have influenced particular extreme events.


The world’s oceans were the hottest ever recorded in 2022

Ocena Sea Temps Rise 2022 GraphMore than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions is absorbed in the oceans. The records, starting in 1958, show an inexorable rise in ocean temperature, with an acceleration in warming after 1990, demonstrating the profound and pervasive changes that human-caused emissions have made to the planet’s climate..

Sea surface temperatures are a major influence on the world’s weather. Hotter oceans help supercharge extreme weather, leading to more intense hurricanes and typhoons and more moisture in the air, which brings more intense rains and flooding. Warmer water also expands, pushing up sea levels and endangering coastal cities.

The temperature of the oceans is far less affected by natural climate variability than the temperature of the atmosphere, making the oceans an undeniable indicator of global heating.

  • Last year is expected to be the fourth or fifth hottest recorded for surface air temperatures when the final data is collated.
  • During 2022, we saw the third La Niña event in a row, which is the cooler phase of an irregular climate cycle centered on the Pacific that affects global weather patterns. When El Niño returns, global air temperatures will be boosted even higher.
  • A severe hot spell in China in February 2021 was made between four and 20 times more likely because of human-caused climate change, while acute drought in Iran, which it experienced in 2021, is now 50% more likely because of the greenhouse gases humanity has pumped into the atmosphere.
  • A swath of other severe impacts can be attributed, at least in part, to the influence of the climate crisis, including the weather that caused a dangerous wildfire in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2021 to be 90% more likely than if we had never heated up the planet and even the persistent cloudiness over the Tibetan plateau that reduced vegetation growth, caused, researchers say, by elevated global temperatures along with abnormal winds and localized pollution.

The compendium of research, presented by NOAA at a conference on Monday, draws together some of the latest examples of climate attribution, where scientists have managed to pinpoint the influence of human-induced climate change upon individual weather events and disasters.

Previously, scientists were very reluctant to talk about the climate change influence upon discrete events, preferring a more general probabilistic framing, but that this messaging has “evolved over time as the research has increased” into more exact attribution methods.

Using increasingly powerful climate models, along with historical observations, scientists are now able to provide more a precise, and rapid, assessment of the influence of the climate crisis on certain disasters. The heavy rain that caused devastating floods in Nigeria, Niger and Chad last year, for example, was made about 80 times more likely by the climate crisis, one study has found.

Herring warned that many of the temperatures now being seen are well beyond any modern historical norms and are pushing humanity into a new, dangerous state. A heatwave in South Korea in October 2021, for example, was so drastic, at almost 7F higher than normal, that it would be considered an event that would only happen every 6,250 years. But the climate models predict that this will become the new normal for South Korea by 2060 if planet-heating gases are not radically cut.

A subsequent study found the climate crisis made heatwaves 43 times more likely.

The same fate is well on its way to impacting temperature and weather norms across the Pacific region.

https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Climate-change-brings-record-ocean-warmth.png 603 1008 Bill Bugbee https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beyond-kona-logo.png Bill Bugbee2023-01-11 05:57:162023-01-11 09:05:02Climate Crisis, 2023
Biofuel

Rolling Blackouts – Hawaii’s Energy Future?

September 6, 2022/0 Comments/in Climate /by BeyondKona

Hawaiian Electric advises Big Island customers to cut their power consumption or face rolling blackouts

Last week was a big energy week for the state of Hawaii. First, there was announced shut down of the state’s last operating coal-fired power on Oahu, the state’s largest population center. It was a long time coming and part of the state’s dedicated transition off fossil fuels and onto a 100% renewable energy electricity grid by 2045. A power transition the state’s largest utility Hawaiian Electric continues to struggle with, and in what industry observers saw as a somewhat lackadaisical response to the long anticipated AES plant shut down.

Meantime, on the Big Island, Hawaiian Electric also discovered on Monday, August 29th, they had a problem with their Big Island Hamakua plant when the operators discovered they were out of an essential fuel additive, ammonia.  According to a local energy expect familiar with the matter, BeyondKona discovered that ammonia is somewhat in short supply, a supply chain issue further aggravated by the island’s remoteness to its suppliers.

Hamakua Energy PlantIt is unclear how and why Hamakua Energy Partners allowed their ammonia supplies to just run out, but the consequences were clear enough.  Without the needed ammonia additive the plant would run out of fuel within hours and would be forced to shut down its 24×7 power supply to the utility grid – all this happened with extremely short public notice.

By Friday, September 2nd, (day 5 of the power restrictions) Hawaiian Electric spokesperson Kristen Okinaka went public to announce “With Hamakua Energy back online today, we expect to have sufficient power to continue to serve our Hawaii Island community. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and thank everyone for doing their part to conserve electricity and help keep the lights on.” 

Big Island customers reported experiencing continuing power disruptions after last week’s “all clear” utility announcement, including a nearly 10 minute blackout on Friday evening, September 3rd, in the north Kona area served by Keahole, the utility’s largest Hawaii Island power plant.

Cause and Consequences

The essential ammonia fuel additive shortage was only discovered once needed for the next fuel batch for the plant boilers.  And unlike a traditional power outages which are generally unplanned and come with immediate cause and effects, Hawaiian Electric and Hamakua immediately knew the cause and the effect, and without any immediate remedies were forced to provide utility customers with a minimum same day notice of potential and forthcoming power curtailments until Hamakua was back on line.  The Hawaiian Electric warning of possible rolling blackouts was understandable because electricity provided by the Hamakua energy plant represents a 60 MW supply to Hawaii Island’s grid, the second largest grid power capacity source for Hawaiian Electric’s Big Island customers.

The last minute (same day) notice to the public by Hawaiian Electric through media outlets warned customers of possible rolling blackouts that may occur during periods of peak of evening electricity demand, due to Hawaiian Electric’s significantly reduced electricity capacity. Utility customers were further advised to reduce their power consumption during the peak evening period of 5 – 9 pm for at least 5 nights.

Electric utilities are by regulatory-mandate designed to operate and provide a 24×7 electricity supply (without interruption) to their customers. Industry practice in fulfillment of this operating mission includes power production reserves that often exceed normal customer demand and employ stand-by or backup “firm” power which can be deployed on demand when unanticipated production shortages, customer demand, and/or power outages occur.

In this specific case, Hamakua Energy and the utility both failed in service planning preparedness for events both planned and unplanned resulting in the power production shortfall.  In short, both were caught flat footed.


Firm Energy, not as reliable as you thought

The Hamakua Energy facility is often referred to as a so-called “firm” power facility, meaning the plant provides power on-demand, and in this case, at a constant power production level around the clock to the Hawaii Island’s utility grid.  The Hamakua facility is often referred to as state of the art, but is actually a product of an outdated utility operating model who’s primary purpose in Hawaiian Electric ’s case is an example of extending the operating life of its fossil fueled power plant assets.

Hamakua with its biodiesel “green” credentials is considered in 21st century power generation terms more as lipstick on a pig, and for two primary reasons; first, its life-extending “green” operation primarily serves as a fossil power plant.  Second, although biodiesel does produce lower power plant emissions than tradition fossil fuel plants, even 100% pure biodiesel power plants produce and emit toxic NOX, fine particulates into the local air shed, and greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

The Hamakua plant is designed to burn mostly naphtha as it primary fuel, one of the dirtiest forms of refined oil-based products, and a low cost oil refining by-product  better suited to the production of asphalt than being burned as Naphtha to produce electricity.  The gooey Naphtha burns very dirty by any measurement, so much so, the EPA forced Hawaiian Electric and its subsidiary Hamakua Energy into air pollution abatement actions in order to achieve compliance with the Clean Air Act. By adding a small percentage of biodiesel and other chemicals into the fuel, the process, called Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), is a technical cheat that reduces air pollution and has been applied to stationary source fossil fuel-fired combustion power units for emission control since the early 1970s.

Hamakua Energy choose to add biofuel diesel into the plant’s fuel mix in order to clean up (to a minor degree) its emissions and to just operate within the absolute emissions threshold allowed in the Clean Air Act.   Together, with ratepayer dollars, Hawaiian Electric / Hamakua Energy saw this as a win-win opportunity to further promote the project as a clean and green biofuel power plant in the name of renewable power energy while continuing to pollute the island’s local air and affecting area residents.

Recent events at the Hamakua plant demonstrate just how fragile so-called firm energy is though a common dependency on remote supply chains to fulfill ongoing fueling and other operating requirements. Unlike the Sun and wind which do not require remote supply chains to function, Hamakua shares what all combustion-based power plants and technologies have in common;

  • First, its pollutes the air and contributes significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions towards a global climate crisis now in full swing.
  • Second, regardless of the type of fuel burned to generate electricity, fuel is the Achilles Heal both in terms of fuel supply operating reliability and smokestack emissions, one of the many environmental and climate by-products.   Energy experts and other stakeholders advocating burning our way out off fossil fuels and our climate troubles is a false narrative, and with costs far greater than a gallon of fuel or the price per KWh in which most ratepayers focus their attention.

As a reliable “firm” power source, Hamakua Energy demonstrated that even under the best of conditions, the reliability label associated with firm energy is more a matter of promotion and luck, than reality.


Going Forward with Hawaii’s Zero Polluting Energy Future —

Wind SolarClimate scientists continue to discover evidence that climate change impacts are happening with greater frequency and scope than originally projected – with compounding effects worldwide. Weather patterns are changing, extreme climate events are increasingly becoming the norm rather the exception, and so the question remains, can we continue as business as usual, and can Hawaii afford to make costly energy decisions based on outdated assumptions?

Hawaii Island and the state operating within Hawaiian Electric’s grid can do better on the path 100% renewable electricity production. A night and day contrast can be found with Kauai’s KIUC electric utility cooperative. KIUC  is state’s best example of how to address climate change with respect to the land and people, and to do it cost effectively.  For KIUC, the Sun and wind mostly power of the island’s stand-alone grid.  PV solar panels produce power on cloudy days, the wind blows with some reliability, and batteries serve to ensure this zero emissions clean energy utility has power on demand for its customers, and when they need it.

Another benefit of solar and wind energy is that they are considered to be decentralized forms of electricity generation.  Decentralized electricity systems and microgrids are less prone to power failures, and are much greater in their resiliency to storm induced power shortages.  If part of a decentralized power system fails, the effect is generally isolated, with only minor effects on the larger grid system as a whole – an energy lesson painfully learned by the residents and businesses of Puerto Rico when their fossil fueled and centralized power system failed the population.  In 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, knocking out electricity across the entire island and further exposing the vulnerability of the already fragile power grid. Some residents were left without electricity for more than a year.

With battery and hydro storage options coupled to wind and solar energy sources, the 20th century energy argument that solar and wind are internment and unreliable power sources is an outdated argument which no longer applies in today’s energy technology reality.

Hawaii’s electric utilities are required in a statewide effort to tackle climate change to increase their use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity.  The State has set a goal of 100% renewable electricity generation by 2045.  The target for 2030 is at least 50% of electricity generation from renewable energy sources, KIUC Kauai has already reach 70% their renewable energy threshold, while Hawaiian Electric continues to struggle in its transition off fossil fuels and old utility operating assumptions.

During this past legislative session the State set another energy goal for 2045, to be net-negative as to greenhouse gas emissions and to be carbon neutral.  It is clear today, a great proportion of the energy produced in Hawaii need not be from polluting and climate change contributing combustion-based energy sources, when clean, zero emissions energy alternatives coupled to energy storage options are not only available, but can provide uninterrupted electrical energy for long periods as power on-demand energy sources and when only limitation is not the technology, but choosing to scale solar-wind-storage energy installation to demand.  In the meantime, battery technology continues to improve in efficiency and performance, and prices continue to drop further advancing solar to Hawaii’s number one price performance energy option.

Today’s energy reality on Hawaii Island is mostly controlled by Hawaiian Electric, and primarily fueled by a legacy of diesel-powered plants.  While the Hamakua Energy facility burns mostly naphtha, one of several “dirty” energy oil-based energy options, Puna Geothermal Ventures (PGV), another Big Island power plant promoted by Hawaiian Electric as a renewable “firm energy” replacement for fossil fuels, but has proven to be lesson in how not to do geothermal with the generating facility located on the one of world’s most active volcanos sites, a painful lesson demonstrated during the 2018 volcanic eruption of Kilauea when lava flows forced the long term shut down of PGV power plant operation.

Let the Sun shine in..

Hawaiian Electric has one forever renewable energy option largely overlooked.  An option that is supported by the wide scale deployment of proven and distributed rooftop solar; increasingly coupled to localized battery power management and backup.

Powerwall Energy ManagemntImage a zero (polluting) emissions power source at the point of power consumption, and optionally connected to the local grid.  In this alternate universe, consumer power needs are all or mostly fulfilled by solar energy produced, stored, and consumed onsite for both residential and business power consumers.  Electricity costs are substantially reduced, power reliability is greatly improved, and past industry objectives to rooftop solar without storage, noted for creating power load balancing issues for some grid operators — is an 5 year old argument which no longer applies.

The energy technology is clean, forever renewable, proven, and represents the most efficient and cost effective means to close Hawaii’s clean and renewable energy power gap. This is today’s consumer power reality.  Distributed roof top solar and storage is also faster to deploy, and certainly lower in ratepayer costs underwriting utility scale renewable projects, power grid and other utility centric upgrades needed for the state’s largest electric utility to shed a long history of centralized fossil fuel power production, and potentially replaced with distributed power generation in partnership and co-management between power consumers and electricity-provisioning utilities.

Rooftop solar today represents only 17% Hawaiian Electric’s renewable energy contribution to the state’s RPS goal and in the state’s largest utility’s transition off fossil fuels. The statewide advancement of rooftop solar and storage is Hawaii’s clean and equitable energy future — and that energy future has arrived.

Any energy transition decisions we make today will define Hawaii for the foreseeable future, not just in terms of livability and sustainability, but how well we survive the planetary climate changes we have inflicted since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.

 

https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/biofuel.png 186 271 Bill Bugbee https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beyond-kona-logo.png Bill Bugbee2022-09-06 05:23:102022-09-06 05:49:23Rolling Blackouts - Hawaii's Energy Future?
Hi Wave Crash

Greenland ice sheet meltdown will raise global sea levels faster than previously believed

August 29, 2022/0 Comments/in Climate /by BeyondKona

Human-driven climate change has set in motion massive ice losses in Greenland that couldn’t be halted even if the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, according to a new study published Monday.

The findings in Nature Climate Change project that it is now inevitable that the Greenland ice sheet will melt — equal to 110 trillion tons of ice, the researchers said. That will trigger nearly a foot of global sea-level rise.

The predictions are more dire than other forecasts, though they use different assumptions. While the study did not specify a time frame for the melting and sea-level rise, the authors suggested much of it can play out between now and the year 2100.

Ice Sheet Metldown1The new research projects a worse outcome than previous sea-level findings; first, by calculating how much ice Greenland must lose as it recalibrates to a warmer climate.

“Every study has bigger numbers than the last. It’s always faster than forecast,” William Colgan, a study co-author who studies the ice sheet from its surface with his colleagues at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, said in a video interview.

A one-foot rise in global sea levels would have severe consequences. If the sea level along the U.S. coasts rose by an average of 10 to 12 inches by 2050, a recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found, the most destructive floods would take place five times as often, and moderate floods would become 10 times as frequent, which is particularly bad news for Hawaii’s coastal population centers throughout the island chain.

Last year, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported the total ice loss from Greenland by the end of the century was projected to be round half a foot of sea-level rise from Greenland by the year 2100. That scenario assumed humans would emit a large amount of greenhouse gases for another 80 years, and even with advances with GHG reductions.

The study offers some hope.  Even if more sea-level rise is locked in than previously believed, cutting emissions fast to limit warming close to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) would prevent things from getting much worse.

Greenland is the world’s largest island and is covered with a sheet of ice that, if it melted entirely, could raise sea levels by more than 20 feet. That is not in doubt — nor is the fact that in past warm periods in Earth’s history, the ice sheet has been much smaller than it is today. The question has always been how much ice will thaw as temperatures rise — and how fast.

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American Hawaiian Flags

President Biden Signs Historic Climate Bill into Law – part 2

August 16, 2022/0 Comments/in Climate /by BeyondKona

Biden Signs Climate Bill 8 16 22With President Biden’s signature, the $437 billion “Inflation Reduction Act,” became law today. The bill focuses on healthcare reforms, energy and climate initiatives, and represents  a smaller version of the president’s “Build Back Better” plan, a centerpiece of his legislative agenda since taking office.

The Inflation Reduction Act further complements hte Presdient’s pervious bi-partisan success having already managed a massive pandemic rescue package focused on infrastructure and rebuilding America’s crumbling roads and bridges, along with needed incentive programs to turbocharge domestic computer chip production. Biden’s new bill is arguably an even bigger deal, with it’s the most significant achievement addressing global heating  through US climate legislation by targeting the reduction of four billion tons of GHG emissions with tax breaks for electric vehicles, and zero emissions solar and wind energy development.

The sweeping legislation is also expected to reduce the deficit by a tax baseline paid targeting corporations which previously paid zero income taxes through legal loopholes in the code – taxes which were slashed by Republicans during the Trump administration. Equally ground breaking, the bill finally allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, a common government practice in Canada and most EU countries.

“This is a historic moment,” Biden proclaimed at the signing ceremony. “Democrats sided with the American people and every single Republican in Congress sided with the special interests.”

The final bill language includes clean electricity incentives that are comparable in size to those in the previous House version, but scales back spending in almost every other category, from transportation to climate resilience.  The one major exception was manufacturing: Compared with previous versions of the bill, the final legislation marks a significant increase in grants, loans and tax credits to manufacture clean energy technology domestically.

Democrats have said the new bill’s deficit reduction, as well as the provisions aimed at lowering energy and prescription drug costs, will help address the rapid inflation over the past year. Most economists agree with this assessment, the bill will likely reduce price pressures, however, the overall effect is likely to be modest in the long term.


What’s in the Inflation Reduction Act

Figures are in billions and over 10 years.

HEALTH CARE

COST IN BILLIONS
Affordable Care Act subsidies
Expanded subsidies for three years
$64.1
Medicare prescription drug benefit
Increased generosity through Part D redesign and a $35 cap on co-payments for insulin
$34.2

CLEAN ENERGY – ELECTRICITY

COST IN BILLIONS
New tax credits for emissions-free electricity sources and storage
Including wind, solar, geothermal, advanced nuclear, etc.
$62.7
Extending existing tax credits for wind and solar power$51.1
Tax credit for existing nuclear reactors
To prevent them from closing
$30.0
Extend energy credit
Through 2024
$14.0
Clean energy rebates and grants for residential buildings
Rebates for installing heat pumps and retrofitting homes
$9.0
Financing for energy infrastructure
Updates and expands lending programs to make energy generation and transmission more efficient
$6.8
Tax credit for carbon capture and storage$3.2

MANUFACTURING MODERNIZATION

COST IN BILLIONS
Clean manufacturing incentives
Incentives for companies to manufacture clean energy technologies in the U.S. rather than abroad, through tax credits and the Defense Production Act
$37.4
Reduce emissions from energy-intensive industries
Such as concrete production
$5.3

INDIVIDUAL CLEAN ENERGY INCENTIVES

COST IN BILLIONS
Green energy credits for individuals
Extends and increases tax credits for energy-efficient properties
$36.9

 ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND CLEAN FUELS

COST IN BILLIONS
Tax credits for new and used electric cars
Incentives for purchasing emissions-free vehicles, with income limits, and for installing alternative fueling equipment.
$14.2
Clean hydrogen production$13.2
Fuel tax credits
Creates new credits for low-carbon car and airplane fuels, and extends credits for biodiesel and other renewable fuels
$8.6
Financing for clean energy vehicles
Loans and grants for the production of hybrid, electric and hydrogen fuel cell cars
$2.9

AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT

COST IN BILLIONS
“Green bank” for energy investments
For investments in clean energy projects, particularly in poor communities
$20.0
Other air pollution reduction
Includes funding for monitoring and reducing pollution, and grants for disadvantaged neighborhoods
$14.8

CONSERVATION, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FORESTRY

COST IN BILLIONS
Agricultural conservation
Funding for agricultural practices that improve soil carbon, reduce nitrogen losses and decrease emissions
$16.7
Rural development
Investments in clean energy technology in rural areas
$13.2
Forest conservation and restoration
Includes funding to reduce risk of wildfires
$4.8

TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

COST IN BILLIONS
Improvements to federal buildings and highways$5.2
Electric transmission
Loans and grants to finance electricity transmission, including for offshore wind energy generation
$2.3

CLIMATE-SPECIFIC SPENDING

COST IN BILLIONS
Drought resilience$4.6
Weather and climate resilience
Includes investments in coastal areas and weather forecasting resources
$4.6
Other federal research, projects and oversight
Includes funding for FEMA, D.H.S. and D.O.E.
$4.2
Zero-emissions U.S.P.S. trucks$3.0
National Park Service funding
Includes funds for climate resilience and habitat preservation
$1.0
Data collection and environmental reviews$0.8
Other$0.7
Tribal funding
Clean energy, electrification, drought relief and climate resilience for federally recognized tribes.
$0.5
Wildlife recovery and habitat climate resilience$0.3

Savings and new revenue: $764 billion

TAX CHANGES

REVENUE IN BILLIONS
15% corporate minimum tax$222.2
I.R.S. enforcement
Projected net revenue raised from $80 billion in compliance and enforcement funding.
$124.1
Stock buyback tax$73.7
Extend active loss tax limitation two years$52.8

HEALTH CARE

REVENUE IN BILLIONS
Repeal a regulation on prescription drug rebates
This regulation has never gone into effect, so the savings are mostly just on paper
$122.2
Drug price negotiation*
Medicare negotiation on prices for certain drugs
$99.0
Limits on drug price increases*$62.3
*These are estimates and subject to minor changes to the drug price provisions in exact cost and savings estimates. Savings from the drug price negotiation policy may end up being lower, and the savings from limits on drug price increases are unofficial estimates based on an analysis by Don Schneider, a former chief economist of the House Ways and Means Committee.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE-CHANGE ABATEMENT

REVENUE IN BILLIONS
Methane reduction incentives
Sets methane waste emissions thresholds and charges facilities that exceed them. (Increased revenue net of new spending.)
$4.8
Reinstatement of Superfund
Increased revenue net of new spending.
$1.2
Tax to fund the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund
Permanent extension
$1.2
New oil and gas leases
On federal land and in the Gulf of Mexico
$0.5
Other tax adjustments$0.3
Wind lease sales$0.2
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American Hawaiian Flags

U.S. Senate Passes Historic Climate Bill, Hawaii Benefits – part 1

August 16, 2022/0 Comments/in Climate /by BeyondKona
Originally published August 7th ––

With direct economic, social, and environmental benefits for Hawaii, the legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, will slash America’s planet-heating emissions by about 40% by the end of the decade, compared with 2005 levels.

Hawaii’s residents and businesses will benefit first hand from the bill’s economic assistance within a number of practical areas, as it serves as a major economic enabler for the state in transitioning to a clean energy economy and achieving Hawaii’s statewide goal of a fossil fuel-free electric grid by no later than 2045.

The bill’s emissions cut enablers will further bring the US within striking distance of a goal set by President Biden to cut emissions in half by 2030, a target that scientists say must be achieved if effects of catastrophic global heating, triggering escalating heatwaves, droughts and floods, now on the increase are mitigated.

Senator Brian Schatz (HI), described the bill’s passage as … “by far, the biggest climate action in human history”.

Billions of Federal investment dollars will go towards investments into clean and zero emissions renewable energy; such as wind, solar, battery storage, and hydrogen. The bill’s passage also includes electric vehicle purchase rebates for low-to-moderate income working families and businesses seeking to buy electric cars and trucks, support for households to run on clean electricity, while adopting energy efficiency strategies and products.

Climate Bill Headline 1

Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, on Passage of the Major Climate and Health Care reform bill – video link: https://youtu.be/LQmDwgvf49s


The Inflation Reduction Act in Summary

  • The primary benefits of the bill will be a major reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by between 31% and 44% below 2005 levels by 2030, according to Rhodium Group, a non-partisan research firm. A separate analysis by Energy Innovation, another research house, has found a similar reduction, of between 37% and 41% this decade. In total, around 1bn tons of greenhouse gases, which is more than double the total annual emissions of the UK, would be eliminated within the next 10 years.

The range of estimates depends on factors such as future economic conditions, but experts say the bill will set off a cascade of positive impacts;

  • pushing fossil fuels out of the energy grid,
  • dampening America’s thirst for oil and
  • further enable the wind and solar energy transformation of the electric grid by replacing the present day fossil fuel dependencies,
  • A new system of fees will be imposed to stem leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas drilling operations.
  • Consumer – Homeowner – Business Benefits (see below)
  • The vast fleet of trucks used by the US Postal Service today will go all-electric.

“This bill will really turbocharge that transition to clean energy, it will transform markets where already solar PV, wind and batteries are in many cases cheaper than incumbent fossil fuels,” said Anand Gopal, executive director of policy at Energy Innovation.

“This is a dramatically large climate bill, the biggest in US history, when is passes in the House later this week, and is signed into law by President Biden. It doesn’t, however, mean the US won’t need to do more to achieve its emissions goals, but it will make a meaningful difference.”

The bulk of the bill is composed of tax credits aimed at unleashing a boom in clean energy deployment, along with payments to keep ageing nuclear facilities and other sources of low-carbon energy online.

The US is, following decades of political rancor and fossil fuel industry obfuscation, almost certain to make its first significant attempt to tackle the climate crisis. Experts say it will help rewire the American economy and act as an important step in averting disastrous global heating.

Independent analysis of the proposed legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, shows it should slash America’s planet-heating emissions by about 40% by the end of the decade, compared with 2005 levels.  This cut would bring the US within striking distance of a goal set by President Biden to cut emissions in half by 2030, a target that scientists say must be achieved by the whole world if catastrophic global heating, triggering escalating heatwaves, droughts and floods, is to be avoided.


Consumer – Homeowner – Business Benefits

Blistering heatwaves, extreme storms, droughts, flooding, meltdowns in polar icecaps are just the beginning effects of global heating. Soon consumers will be able to do their part in the solution, while accessing Federal rebates of up to $7,500 for a new electric vehicle, or up to $4,000 for a used car, along with up to $8,000 to install a modern electric heat pump that can both heat and cool buildings. Further rebates are also on offer, such as $1,600 to insulate and seal a house to make it more energy efficient.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund provides $27 billion in funding, of which $15 billion will enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from zero emission technologies and other greenhouse gas pollution reductions.

The Clean Vehicle credit, or 30D, gives a $7,500 credit for new electric vehicles and a $4,000 credit for used electric vehicles. This will help everyday Americans afford to get an EV and start saving money every month. Operating an EV costs $1/gallon, which is way more affordable than an internal combustion engine car. This incentive will make clean cars the default and affordable choice for everyday Americans.

The High Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act (HEEHRA), included within the bill, provides $4.5 billion in direct rebates for low-and moderate-income households that install new, efficient electric appliances, using a framework proposed in our Appliance Rebate Plan. For instance, a low income household will receive a rebate covering the full cost of a heat pump installation for space heating, up to a cap of $8,000.

These actions would cut emissions while having other significant benefits.  In the national transition to a clean energy economy, the bill will add as many as 1.5m jobs  created within the growing clean energy sector, according to Energy Innovations.

Rewiring America forecasts that U.S. households that install, rooftop solar and drive an electric car will save $1,800 a year on energy costs, and for Hawaii state residents with the nation’s highest electric bills, that figure could be as high as $3,000 in annual  savings and households budgets.

The Energy Efficient Home Improvement credit, or 25C, allows households to deduct from their taxes up to 30 percent of the cost of upgrades to their homes, including installing heat pumps, insulation and, importantly, upgrading their breaker boxes to accommodate additional electric load. Upgrade costs include both equipment and installation/labor costs. These deductions are limited to $600 per measure, up to $1,200 per household per year—with one notable exception. Households can deduct 30 percent of the costs for buying and installing a heat pump water heater or heat pump for their space heating and cooling, up to $2,000.

The Residential Clean Energy credit, or 25D, re-ups an existing program allowing households installing solar to deduct 30 percent of the cost of the project from their taxes. This credit is guaranteed for 10 years, and now also includes residential battery storage systems.

The New Energy Efficient Home credit, or 45L, has received a substantial boost, providing up to $5,000 to developers to build homes that qualify for the Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Homes standard. This applies to new single family, multifamily and manufactured homes, as well as existing homes that undergo a deep retrofit.

The Residential Clean Energy credit, or 25D, re-ups an existing program allowing households installing solar to deduct 30 percent of the cost of the project from their taxes. This credit is guaranteed for 10 years, and now also includes residential battery storage systems.

The Commercial Buildings Energy Efficient credit, or 179D, has been significantly expanded, offering $2.50 to $5.00 per square foot for businesses achieving 25 to 50 percent reductions in energy use over existing building performance standards.

The Rebirth of U.S. Manufacturing

Climate JobsThe legislation also addresses the nation’s strategic current supply dependencies with China, which (in the last ten years) has become the world’s leading manufacturer of solar panels, batteries and other clean energy materials.

  • There are billions of dollars in incentives for the US domestic production of wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, carbon capture and storage and other clean energy technologies. Most specifically, $30 billion is available as a production tax credit to accelerate U.S. manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals processing in the U.S., and another $10 billion is allocated as an investment tax credit for building new facilities that manufacture these technologies.

Reinventing American Energy Dependency & Global Climate Creditability

The bill should change the way the US is viewed on the global stage and will encourage better pledges from other large emitters such as China and India, when fully implemented, experts estimate bill’s outcome benefits will be to keep temperature rise under 2C (3.6F).

Unfortunately, the world has passed the point of  its previous 1.5C cap on greenhouse gas impacts, which scientists now see as a stretch to reach this previous goal.

Some Climate advocates have criticized elements of the bill, specially Senator Joe Manchin’s successful insistence that oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico be included, along with a stipulation that millions of acres of federal land and water are opened up for fossil fuels if they are to be also accessed by solar and wind developers.

Energy sector researchers believe the clean energy benefits of the bill easily outweigh any extra emissions from new drilling, with every ton of new emissions offset by at least 24 tons of emissions avoided by other provisions. Yet the economics, social, environmental and climate benefits from today’s lower cost solar, wind, and storage energy increasingly  recognized by electric utilities, primary energy customers of fossil fuels outside of transportation, increasingly are choosing solar and wind options ahead of fossil fuels options, if for no other reason than cost, and the gap continues to grow in favor of clean and climate-friendly energy options.

Finally, the bill’s passage in the Senate represents the U.S. joining other large economies, in producing a long-term climate roadmap to sustainable and clean energy-driven economy.


“The Earth Can, and Will be Saved … If we work for a Sustainable Future, We will Achieve It.”

Elon Musk, Tesla (TSLA) shareholders meeting, August 4, 2022

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Beyond Kona Climate Feed

Avoiding Extreme Climate Change – time is running out

July 21, 2022/0 Comments/in Climate /by BeyondKona

Ghg Biden Pledge

President Biden, in a speech on Wednesday and before an audience at a former coal plant in Massachusetts since converted to support an offshore windfarm project, told the audience the following:

“Climate change is literally an existential threat to our nation and to the world”… 

“Right now, there are millions of people suffering from extreme heat at home so my team is also working with the states to deploy $385m right now. For the first time, states will be able to use federal funds to pay for air conditioners in homes, set up community cooling centers in schools where people can get through these extreme heat crises.”   “As president, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger, and the health of our citizens and our communities are literally at stake.”

“So my message today is this: since Congress is not acting as it should – and these guys here are, but we’re not getting many Republican votes – this is an emergency.” 

Biden’s actions include $2.3bn in funding to help communities prepare for heatwaves, droughts and floods, new guidance that allows the federal government to help provide cooling centers and air conditioning, and new planned offshore wind energy leases for the Gulf of Mexico coast.

“Right now, there are millions of people suffering from extreme heat at home so my team is also working with the states to deploy $385m right now. For the first time, states will be able to use federal funds to pay for air conditioners in homes, set up community cooling centers in schools where people can get through these extreme heat crises,” Biden went on to explain.

“For too long we have been waiting for a single piece of legislation, and a single Senate vote, to take bold action on our climate crisis,” a group of senators including the leading progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, wrote to Biden this week.  “As a result, we urge you to put us on an emergency footing and aggressively use your executive powers to address the climate crisis.”


Lessons from a Hotter World

Record Heat

More than 100 million people in the Lower 48 states are under heat alerts on Thursday amid relentlessly sweltering temperatures that have soared as high as 115 degrees in recent days.

About 60 million Americans in at least 16 states are set to experience triple-digit highs Thursday; an additional half-dozen states could see the mercury reach the upper 90s.

This summer’s heat impacts are not confined to the US. Euro Heat Wave July 2022

Scientists say that heat waves are increasing at a faster rate in Europe than in almost any other part of the world.

Scorching heat baked much of Western Europe this week, with temperatures reaching more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas.

The United Kingdom experienced major disruptions to its transportation networks, and France battled wildfires.


Is Hawaii getting hotter?

The last five years have seen peak average annual temperatures years across all islands.  Temperatures are increasing by 0.3°F every decade, at four times the rate of half a century ago.   The hottest year ever recorded on O’ahu was 2019 with the hottest day ever recorded in Honolulu’s history that year.

So yes, it’s hot and dry (a continuing drought over many parts of the state), and certainly increasingly muggy for those of us living here in sunny Hawaii.  It’s also difficult to ignore the present extreme weather events now breaking all time temperature records around the world, spurring freak and deadly storms events, warming our oceans, and raising sea levels.

The heat wave presently impacting the US and Europe has set at least 60 records, peaked this week as a historic bout of exceptional temperatures killed more than 1,000 people in Europe. Britain set a record-high temperature Tuesday as several weather stations recorded temperatures which exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time ever.


Cause and Effect –

White House officials are scrambling to advance the president’s environmental agenda after talks with Sen. Joe Manchin (D) recently stalled in a third round political compromise.  In the meantime, Europe struggles to meet climate commitments given Putin’s retaliation for Ukraine sanctions amid its dependency on Russian gas and oil.  What was an EU-sanctioned and European driven methodical transition off fossil fuels has become an all-out route.  At least the Europeans have a plan, which is more than we can say for the US Congress, we can’t even seem to agree on the time of day..

The destruction of President Biden’s climate efforts by Republicans and one Democrat—Joe Manchin from the coal state of West Virginia—has the White House readying to declare a climate emergency, and readying to take needed executive climate action. Nobody likes this option, but the GasOilPollution party holding to the interests of its paymasters, addressing climate policy through congressional means is for all intent and purposes DOA.

President Biden’s efforts since taking office has been to demonstrate his firm belief in good governance through bipartisanship, unfortunately for the Country and planet Earth for that matter, his efforts in re-establishing America a global leader addressing climate change have failed, and certainly not because of the time invested or effort. Biden has, and is, facing a firewall of political resistance that goes against all meaningful climate action and reason.  He must now assume a strongman rule that runs counter to democratic norms and govern by fiat, and for this president, the emerging climate emergency is a new governing reality that has moved the County’s welfare past politics.

Scientists have said the world must slash emissions in half this decade, and phase them out entirely by 2050, if catastrophically worse heatwaves, floods, drought and other climate impacts are to be averted. The US will fall about halfway short of such a goal absent any significant congressional action, even with presidential orders, analysts have forecast.

“President Biden cannot do it alone,” said Heather Zichal, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association. “We urge Congress to get back to the table and come to a consensus on clean energy provisions that our country so desperately needs.”

Ironically, some of the world’s biggest petro-polluters have been advocating planting trees as the magic bullet for carbon neutrality, as if they are Switzerland. Their carbon capture slogan goes like this, “…we are placing the planet on a path to a carbon neutrality (in some undetermined future) by planting millions of trees.”

The problem, accelerating global warming is creating the perfect storm for the burning of the world’s forests now on fire at unprecedented rates, and releasing massive amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The rising temperature consequences don’t end there, as ice sheets are melting in the northern and southern latitudes releasing massive volumes of methane (a highly potent greenhouse gas) compounding this human experiment on the path to extinction, as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and emitting GHG pollutants into the atmosphere at ever increasing rates.


Business as usual in unusual times

For over 30 years, science has shared with policymakers and the public hard evidence and science-based predictions of climate change and the resulting planetary warming feedback loops we’re now beginning to experience.

Beyond the increased warming and associated burning of entire forest systems, the remaining frozen areas in the northern and southern latitudes are now melting at rates not seen since humans walk the Earth, as the ice and tundra meltdown is further releasing massive amounts of once-frozen methane (a highly potent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere. All this was predicted in publicly available cause-and-effect climate-science findings. These are but two examples of climate-feedback loops compounding today’s global heating of the planet, and making the job of reversing this trend that much more urgent.

However, it’s business as usual for the fossil fuel moguls and their agents in both political parties, as petrol profits are at an all time high, driven more by fear than supply and demand. These fossil fuel stakeholders can no longer deny their way out of the consequences of their products and business practices, now driving global warming beyond worse case predictions and wreaking havoc across Europe, the US, and the entire planet for that matter; it’s much easier for the fossil fuel industrial sector to believe in business-as-usual, and ignore their obvious connection to the problem and their responsibility for genuine participation in the solution.

Perhaps its not enough to destroy global habitat on which humans are so dependent, while global taxpayers annually are paying an estimated $6.2 trillion USD in taxpayer subsidies (IMF-World Bank recent study findings adjusted for inflation) to this same fossil fuel industrial sector – which begs the question…when is enough, enough? 

As the US is blanketed with heat waves and extreme weather this summer, its another reminder we must heed the United Nations climate warning: It’s going to get worse.-


The story of two frogs

Frogs BoilingTwo frogs dove into a pot of warm water, unfortunately for them the pot was on a gas stove being heated. The frogs did not try to jump out of the pot as the temperature continued to rise, they managed to adjust their body temperature accordingly.

As the water neared its boiling point, the frogs were no longer able to adjust their body temperature to the heat and tried to jump out of the boiling pot but couldn’t (that time had passed), and were boiled alive instead.

What was the reason that the frogs didn’t save themselves?  Perhaps, blaming the hot water, and not the frogs for their demise, some would incorrectly conclude is the answer..

https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/beyond-kona-climate-feed.jpg 150 150 Bill Bugbee https://www.beyondkona.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beyond-kona-logo.png Bill Bugbee2022-07-21 15:45:502022-07-21 15:44:39Avoiding Extreme Climate Change - time is running out
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