Energy; the Big Picture

Globally, oil, gas and coal benefited from $7tn in taxpayer subsidies and support in 2022 despite being the primary cause of today’s climate crisis

• Fossil fuels received benefited record global subsidies to the tune of $13,000,000 a minute in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The explicit gas and oil subsidies cut the price of unsustainable fossil fuels for consumers more than doubled in 2022, as countries responded to higher energy prices resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine. These implicit energy subsidies represent “enormous” costs to society and the environment by advancing global heating emissions.  Upwards to 80% of the total climate impacts and their mitigation costs are shared by the world’s population, regardless of their location as the recent Maui fire tragedy demonstrated.

Extreme weather, fueled by dirty energy, added costs for U.S. taxpayers to the tune of $165 billion in 2022.  There were 18 separate multi billion-dollar climate disasters which highlighted the growing cost of climate change on the Federal budget and those citizens and businesses otherwise directly affected.

Beyond the added cost-to-taxpayers, global heating impacts has translated into a growing economic impact on the P&C insurance sector, and by extension, the broader economy.  Homeowners, rental housing, and commercial building sectors are all experiencing an unprecedented rise in property claims and insurance costs. Whether you own or rent, insurance rates are going up and in some cases way up raising the cost of living for all affected.

In some markets such as California, major insurance providers have stopped issuing P&C insurance policies to new customers or pulled out entirely in states with rising climate-related risks and claim costs. The impact of the Maui fire this year, beyond the social and economic losses, was a wake up call to local insurers. Forthcoming P&C insurance rates on the rise, with both economic and social consequences on insured properties – impacts not yet been fully realized by the residents and businesses of Hawaii.

Hawaii’s Energy Outlook

Energy-driven climate costs in Hawaii are measured less in terms of their economic, social and environmental impacts, and more in terms of energy substitution costs.

State energy priorities are generally determined by a group of select stakeholder interests, beginning with Hawaiian Electric (HE) and its direct and indirect investments in old line combustion power plants throughout the state. Most recently, the utility’s 2023 purchase of Kauai’s only biomass burn plant.  So far, these investments have guided the utility’s decisions towards fulfilling its so-called renewable energy obligations which guide utility energy choices designed to meet statewide regulatory obligations outlined within Hawaii’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).

The deadline for the fulfillment of the utility’s 100% renewable energy RPS energy transition is 2045. A lot remains to be done within the time remaining and so far HE is off to a slow start. Beyond addressing recent liability lawsuits associated with the Maui fire, Hawaiian Electric has been increasingly saddled with multiple transition challenges, most of which are the result of the utility’s own management decisions, and not opportunities for transformational change and operating improvements.

In response to the state’s renewable energy policy (RPS), Hawaiian Electric’s transition has been driven not by regulatory necessity, but shareholder profits. These same shareholder priorities have somehow not paralyzed mainland utilities towards advancing their grid investments or meeting state-mandated clean energy alternatives and substitutions defined by similar RPS mandates and deadlines.  Yet, HE’s Hawaii Island operating unit, HELCO, has historically spent its time and ratepayers money slow walking its pursuit of fossil fuel substitutes.

The utility’s alternative energy replacements do not face significant technology challenges, rather they offer operating efficiencies, but face a wall of resistance created the utility’s own historic investments in an over-weighted energy dependency on imported diesel and oil and combustion power plants to burn fossil fuels.

Taking advantage of loopholes in the state’s RPS rules the utility help design during its legislative creation process, the utility has, and continues to vigorously pursued unsustainable biomass power plants to argument their fossil fuel investments as a means of regulatory compliance, and mostly exemplified by poor energy substitution choices. These utility actions come at time as a 21st century world is fighting a human-made, and runaway, climate experiment fueled by burning fossil fuels and biomass (from trees-to-trash) just to generate electricity.

HE’s utility energy choices matter.  These same energy choices emit GHG emissions and contribute to accelerating global heating (locally and globally). If that were not enough, the utility’s combustion power bias adds to the state’s costly air and water pollution impacts on our local communities and environment.  But the real salt-in-the-wound impact is immediately felt by ratepayers from these expensive energy choices, infamously continuing to make Hawaii the most expensive energy market in the United States.

Hawaiian Electric’s big island power profile is far from unique for an electric utility still operating in the 20th century, and one heavily invested in old line combustion power plants with an energy bias firmly rooted in obsolete profit models.

Today’s big island electric utility profile strongly supports this conclusion:

HELCO-owned Oil-fired Combustion Power Plants (Oil)

Keahole: 77.6 MW  (Combustion)
Puna: 36.7 MW  (Combustion)
Kanoelehua: 21 MW  (Combustion)
Waimea: 7.5 MW  (Combustion)
Hill: 34.7 MW  (Combustion)
Dispersed generation: 5 MW  (Combustion)

Independent Power Producers

Hamakua Energy (oil 90% / biodiesel 10%): 60 MW (Combustion)
Puna Geothermal Venture (geothermal – variable): Power Specification: 38 MW / Actual power output; 12 to 15 MW (since 2018)

Clean Power Generation:

Puueo Hydro: 3.4 MW  (HELCO owner)
Waiau Hydro: 1.1 MW  (HELCO owner)

Pakini Nui Wind: 20.5 MW  (Independent Power Producer)
Wailuku River Hydro: 12.1 MW  (Independent Power Producer)
Hawi Renewable Development (wind): 10.5 MW  (Independent Power Producer)

AES Waikoloa Solar: 30 MW + 120 MWh storage (Independent Power Producer)

Customer-sited Rooftop Solar: 121 MW  (Independent Power Producers)

HE-proposed or early qualifying stages of development (tbd):

Hale Kuawehi Solar: 30 MW + 120 MWh storage  (Independent Power Producer)
Keahole Battery Energy Storage: 12 MW storage only  (HELCO owner)
Shared solar: 0.750 MW  (Independent Power Producer)

Hu Honua BIOmass: to be determined…

Clean Energy Examples Hawaiian Electric is Failing to Lead or Follow …

Outside of Hawaii, wind, solar, and battery storage are growing exponentially as a share of a new 21st century and technology-driven electric-generating capacity which is growing exponentially each year.

In 2023, wind and solar energy generation combined with battery storage accounted for 82% of all new utility-scale generating capacity developers plan to bring online in the United States, while growing as a share of new electric-generating capacity each year.

Utility-scale solar capacity didn’t start ramping up in the United States until 2010. As the cost of solar panels dropped substantially and state and federal policies introduced generous tax incentives, solar capacity boomed. As of January 2023, 73.5 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar capacity was online and operating in the United States, representing in excess of 6% of the total U.S. grid energy generation.

Just over half of the new U.S. generating capacity expected in 2023 is solar power. If all of the planned capacity comes online this year as expected, it will be the most U.S. solar capacity added in a single year and the first year that more than half of U.S. capacity additions are solar.

Wind and solar are intermittent sources of generation; they only produce electricity when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, but with energy supplies which will never be disrupted by energy wars or the world’s fossil fuel energy monopolies controlling daily market supply fluctuations and prices.  Battery storage systems are increasingly installed with wind and solar projects, turning intermittent energy sources into firm energy outlets. This year, 2023, developers are on track to add 8.6 GigaWatts of battery storage power capacity to the national grid, which would double the total U.S. battery power capacity now in use.

None of these figures reflect the growing adoption of rooftop and battery storage at the residential level, growing from a fringe energy contributor to an integral clean energy role in freeing America from its historic imported energy dependencies, and in addressing national climate (GHG mitigation) goals.  It merits repeating; batteries turn sun and wind electricity generation from these natural and intermittent energy sources into firm energy assets with excess energy stored and available for on-demand power requirements, and later use.

HE’s (HELCO) pattern of bait and switch on its energy transformation path to renewable energy replacements from its fossil fueled power plant investments is a failure when measured in terms of lost clean energy opportunities. It is also a failure of imagination and innovation that extends back into several generations of complicit state PUC – utility decisions. The exception to this period of unenlightened PUC decisions rubber stamping the utility’s poor energy choices, was an all too brief fruitful period of PUC leadership with Jay Griffin, who chaired the Commission from 2019 – 2022, and represented a period of clean energy regulatory leadership and decisions at their best within the state.

One shining example of the Griffin-led PUC regulatory period was guiding the utility towards cleaning up its dirty energy track record of energy combustion and polluting energy sources. HE saw which way the wind was blowing at the PUC, and advance the proposal and process for the addition to Hawaii Island’s grid of the AES Solar – Storage general plant in Waikoloa.  The $47 million plant features zero GHG emissions and zero polluting energy byproducts, is fully energy free of imported and local supply chain disruptions and energy cost hikes. The AES solar plant further serves as HELCO’s show piece for doing something right for a change towards advancing the State’s and the County’s clean energy economy.

Unfortunately, this single example of 21st century clean energy power on Hawaii island (at utility scale) is just that a single example. Yes, there is some utility movement towards reconciling the island’s legacy wind farms and their future, but even those limited examples are outliers to overall poor and inefficient business decisions by the utility in serving its fiduciary role of serving ratepayer interests.

The AES solar plant features the most reliable and the lowest cost energy option the utility has to offer ratepayers.  In comparison to the HELCO’s combustion power plant the AES plant deliveries electricity to ratepayers as little as 1/3 the cost of some other utility combustion power sources within Hawaii Island energy portfolio.

When the heavily promoted Hu Honua burning trees-for-power plant was proposed, HELCO expected utility power supply costs to jump to $0.44 cent per KWh, and compared to the AES solar+battery Waikoloa plant at a mere $.09 cents per KWh.  The AES clean energy benefits represented a stark comparison in terms of ratepayer savings and climate benefits. With ratepayers picking up the entire energy cost, it had little impact the utility’s plans.

Another outstanding and differentiating AES clean power advantage of zero emissions power production is represented in offering Hawaii Island residents the highest levels of energy efficiency at the lowest cost on the Big Island grid today — areas which combustion power plants cannot compete – period.  The economics of combustion-based and legacy utility power choices on ratepayers is clear – they cost more, considerable more than clean energy alternatives available to HELCO and HE statewide.

Equally important, these inefficient and hazardous energy choices block the statewide adoption of abundant solar-wind-batteries firm energy alternatives, and achieving essential progress in transforming Hawaii into a clean, resilient. and self-sufficient energy economy.

The utility-led arguments that so-called firm energy can only be accomplished with last century combustion power plants is a false argument.  Battery storage is the game changer, along with other energy storage options including hydro transform so-called intermittent energy sources into on-demand energy assets which far more cost effective and resilient that legacy combustion power plants. It is only a matter scale, not technology limitations.

The AES solar plant is expected to result in total avoided fossil fuel consumption by HELCO of 511,086 barrels of oil within its first 25-years of operation, along the climate benefits of zero associated greenhouse emissions and no air pollution. AES solar power today fulfills over 7% of Hawaii Island’s electricity requirements, and resulted in another HELCO first — a customer a rate decrease  and corresponding cost reduction in their monthly power bills, which are the highest power rates within the state.

Conclusion

If Hawaiian Electric is unable and/or unwilling to transition itself into a clean energy utility designed to serve the interests of the state’s residents and commercial interests in a period of rapid change and increasing climate challenges, then it’s time to open up Hawaii’s electricity market to better market options — one which is designed to serve the public interest, address the state’s energy self-sufficiency and climate sustainability needs, and do it before it’s too late…

Eruption Report September 2023 –

Eruption Report June 2023 –

The summit eruption at Kīlauea volcano on the Big island has paused.  Eruptive activity — which has been confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within the summit caldera at Kīlauea has resumed its non-eruptive state, with clear skies returning to Hawaii Island. — No unusual activity has been noted along the volcano’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone, since June 19th, 2023.

Kīlauea Erupts After a 3 Month Pause

HVO volcanologists observed an increase in earthquake activity and ground deformation hours prior to the eruption, suggesting the movement of magna beneath the surface of Kīlauea.

A magnificent display featuring mesmerizing fountains of vibrant, molten lava bursting hundreds of feet into the air began on June 7, 2023 at 4:44 a.m. within Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

Fiery Deluge Mesmerizes

According to USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the eruption was first detected through webcam images showing glowing presence at the summit in the early morning. This same webcam system is available for public viewing on the USGS web site 24×7, offering various live views of the eruption in real time – it’s impressive: https://www.youtube.com/usgs/live

Opening phases of volcanic eruptions are generally dynamic, and Kilauea did not disappoint USGS scientists or the general public.

The largest lava fountain was consistently about 50 feet high; during the early phase of the eruption, with lava fountain bursts that reached at an estimated 200 feet in height as lava inundated much of the crater floor (an area of approximately 370 acres). By 8:00 a.m. on the morning of the eruption about 10 meters (33 feet) depth of new lava had been added to the crater floor. Lava fountain heights have decreased since the initial eruption onset, and as of this writing, are averaging between 20 and 30 feet high.

USGS forecasts are updated daily as to Kilauea’s eruption progress and volcanic gas emissions.  The initial Sulfur Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide volcanic emissions rate was measured on June 8th at 65,000 tons/day, but by June 12 emissions has risen to 11,000 tons/day, with prevailing winds driving emissions into West Hawaii and primarily impacting western Hawaii Island in the form of hazy skies, making it difficult to breath for many local island residents.

Vog is primarily a mixture of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas and sulfate (SO4) aerosol. SO2 (invisible) reacts with oxygen and moisture in the air to produce SO4 aerosol (visible).

Sulfur Clouds

Sulfate aerosols are very small particles consisting of particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter and are referred to as PM2.5.  Other sources of PM2.5 include vehicle exhaust and smoke from fires. Vog contains mostly SO2 and PM2.5, in contrast to urban, industrial, fossil fuel power plants, and other pollution sources, which also contain additional toxic contaminants, such as ozone and hydrocarbons.

Kilauea’s eruptive volcanic emissions, especially sulfur dioxide, can also turn local area skies into a strange yellow hazy tint, and when the tainted air comes in contact with cars and buildings. for example, it leaves a toxic residue or hazy coating on windows and can damage painted surfaces, including vehicles, and harmful to agriculture.

Kilauea’s eruptions are a wonderful reminder of the natural world’s majestic power which is so much greater than a tourist attraction, but at a price for Hawaii Island residents, and the rest of the state when the winds are right.

Eruption Updates:

Halemaʻumaʻu Lava Lake Observations June 14th:

Activity continues to decrease. Fountaining is diminished on the southwestern Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor, with only a few small fountains remaining. The extent of active lava has retreated further such that all activity is now concentrated in the southwestern and central portions of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater.

An active lava lake is centered within the central area and is fed by a vent in its northeast corner. This feature is the “western” lake from prior eruptions that has been reactivated along with a smaller circular pool just southeast of the lake.

The vent on the southwest wall of the caldera continues to spatter and feed lava onto the westernmost part of the crater floor. The surface of the western active area has not risen since yesterday. All previously active lava features in the northern and eastern portions of the crater now appear to be stagnant.

Updated story supplement; originally Published June 2, 2023

In a recent announcement, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) voted to investigate the potential development of geothermal energy sources on their lands. The DHHL decision was strongly influenced by Mike Kaleikini of Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV), a clear conflict of interest.

Part of the PGV argument is that DHHL would benefit from geothermal royalty payments, creating a new source of income for DHHL.

Geothermal development is inherently slow and high risk in terms of any potential success and return-on-investment. You really don’t know if you have a viable thermal resource until you actually spend money and drill research wells. PGV history of years of drilling occurred which has occured on on the East Rift Zone of Kilauea had been without success before a discrete pocket of fluids was found and Ormat Technologies was able to then step in and build a power plant. With the eruption of 2018, magma has since moved in at depth dramatically impacting the overall effectiveness of the geothermal resource.

Carving out a piece of the energy pie and reserving it for geothermal that may or may not happen after spending a whole lot of money on drilling wells hurts all consumers.

The current Stage 3 energy solicitations for renewables on Hawaii Island are constrained by giving a big reservation to future geothermal. Cheaper and cleaner energy projects aren’t given a chance to compete and get us off fossil fuels sooner than later. Central power plants like PGV also have “must run” contracts that force curtailments of cheaper and cleaner renewable alternatives which acts as a double whammy on ratepayers.

Solar and wind farms go in much faster and could also be sources of lease rent revenue for DHHL. Why wait around for a resource that might not never be viable? This is particularly true for smaller CBRE or community based renewable energy projects that are on a fast track process to deployment. With low risk, proven, clean energy options, as with solar plus storage, these projects would especially help Hawaiian families who are low to moderate income and would directly benefit from reduced energy bills — it’s a win-win with both revenue to DHHL and targeted to provide relief which geothermal cannot guarantee.

Hawaii has declared a Climate Emergency and public trust resources like our nearshore coastal waters are threatened. This threatens Hawaiians that rely on those resources for subsistence. We need to act fast and get off power plants that emit greenhouse gases and otherwise negatively impact Hawaii’s unique environment.

The recent fires on Maui and the Big Island have made it clear that climate change threatens us all. Droughts threaten our water supply. The future of our planet us at stake, so why would we wait around and put off moving ahead on wind and solar projects? Why give special treatment to geothermal developments that may or may not happen and that cost more?

Previously published June 2, 2023

Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) manages Hawaii’s longest operating and only geothermal power plant, temporarily closed in 2018 after a near miss from the lava flows from a major eruption by Hawaii’s most active volcano, Kilauea.  Prior to its closing, Hawaiian Electric reported that PGV supplied and fulfilled 31 percent of Hawaii Island’s electricity demand.

Geothermal energy has only a modest representation in Hawaii’s renewable energy portfolio, but strong support by backers of the energy source. In 2018, according to the state energy office, prior to PGV’s closure it supplied less than 3 percent of Hawaii’s total electricity production. At the time, future plans called for modest increases in geothermal, while solar remains the dominant clean energy source.

For decades, Hawaii’s sole geothermal power plant has been parked on top of an active rift zone of the most active volcano in the country. For PGV, their luck ran out with the 2018 eruption where a river of molten lava threatened its existence. Since then, PGV has struggled to restore power production in spite of extensive and on-going drilling. As of June 2023, PGV has still not fulfilled their power commitment (contract) levels to Hawaiian Electric (HELCO), and it has become increasingly clear that intruded magma at depth has impacted the discrete pocket of fluids that they rely on for power production.

While we can’t see down a mile into the ground, the mere fact that production and revenues remain down for PGV pretty much tells the whole story. The very notion that they might some day get up to 60 MW output (based their 2022 power provisioning negotiations with HELCO) seems highly speculative, and frankly stands in the way of meeting our renewable energy goals using other more reliable and readily available sources; solar, wind, storage energy options that don’t carry the geologic risk. It reserves a big piece of the energy pie for them.

During the time when PGV was down, utility power was supplemented from fossil fuel generation, a big step backward for the state, and Hawaii Island more specifically. The State of Hawaii has declared a climate emergency and set decarbonization targets that require faster action than just the 2045 goal of 100% renewables. We have choices on the Big Island other than geothermal like more wind and solar. Recently, Waikoloa Solar came onto the grid with 30 MW of production plus battery storage at under 10 cents per kWh – a substantial energy savings back to ratepayers.

The Social Costs of Geothermal, and …Resistance is Futile

Prior to the Kilauea eruption of 2018, Hawaii state energy office stated that 17 percent of the of Hawaii Island’s electricity was produced by the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) plant operations on the island.

Since the 2018 Kilauea eruption and PGV’s closure, Hawaiian Electric said it has used a mix of fossil fuels, solar, wind and hydropower to generate power without any issues or outages as the result of the PGV geothermal suspension of power production.

The PGV power plant, Puna Geothermal Venture, began commercial operation 25 years ago despite objections from local residents who are concerned by the company’s non-stop geothermal drilling and operations. The release of geothermal fluids and toxic hydrogen sulfide emissions, direct side effects of the company’s operations are key concerns of nearby residents. Recently, HELCO has proposed increasing the capacity charges for PGV under the new contract which will impact savings projections as they no longer receive the avoided cost of oil. Consumers islandwide would be impacted.

On May 3, 2018 earth fissures opened inside and around the Leilani Estates subdivision near the PGV plant, following hundreds of earthquakes over the first two days of May. The threat of possible toxic hydrogen sulfide gas releases and explosions at the geothermal power facility led the County to order preemptive well shutdowns and moving the storage of about 60,000 gallons of highly flammable and toxic pentane, a chemical used in the heat exchanger process.

Shortly after the 2018 volcanic eruption of Kilauea covered a large area of Puna, former State Sen. Russell Ruderman, admitted at the time that he has been protesting geothermal energy for 30 years. He described the eruption and impact on geothermal plant operations as a “triple whammy” of issues associated with PGV; 1) the toxicity of the geothermal steam, 2) the geologic instability of the area where the plant resides, and 3) the proximity to residents of the area. “Even if you don’t know anything more than that, it’s obviously not the place to put any critical infrastructure,” Ruderman said.

The main community complaints to PGV energy operations are in a word “drilling”.  What at times are around-the-clock drilling operations by PGV are for the PGV’s residential neighbors more than a just an occasional nuisance; noise, toxic gas emissions to name just two, are ongoing threats to the local community.

For PGV the problem of costly drilling operations can be summed up in two words; geothermal brine.  Geothermal brine was the power source for PGV, which results in a variety of well problems including geothermal well and line plugging, reduced steam flow, and reduced power generation capacity.  Altogether, the operation requires repeated drilling of new replacement wells.

According the company, plant operations resumed at a highly reduced level in November 2020 and to date power production remains far below minimum power production requirements under its HELCO (utility) power agreement.

Last year, PGV announced that it expected a power output goal of 46 MW in Phase 1 and then to 60 MW in Phase 2, to be achieved in power output to the grid by replacing 12 operating power-generating units with as many as four upgraded power-generating units, operating on the existing grounds of the current facility. In the meantime, PGV at community meetings has indicated output at or under 25 MW.

On the road to fulfilling PGV’s current plans for operational expansion that will result in higher power supply (capacity) agreement with the utility, is that the company must file an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with public agency stakeholders. The EIS serves as a public disclosure document with Hawaii County serving as the official accepting agency, and with the state Public Utility Commission oversight. The PUC  has already given PGV its preliminary approval to the company’s expansion plans in the form of a new Power Purchase Agreement with HELCO, and one that industry observers believe will be rubber stamped by the stakeholders advancing the company’s 2023 expansion plans.

Show Me the Money

Even today, the East Rift Zone is seeing inflation as new magma is intruded below the surface. A very dynamic situation. Something PGV’s investors will need to consider as drilling is neither cheap nor results guaranteed. Investors will be needed to spend even more on PGV to replace existing power generation much less the funds for expansion. More on drilling, too. This uncertainty and risk goes beyond just nervous investors as ratepayers are paying for expensive fossil fuel generation in the meantime.

PGV is currently receiving the avoided cost of oil and is in contract renegotiation talks, but HELCO is proposing higher capacity charges to payback drilling costs. With no end in sight on the need for even more drilling, this changes the economics. Geothermal becomes even less competitive. The new PGV contract has a “must run” provision that forces the grid (and ratepayers) to take their less than clean power over potentially cheaper and cleaner sources through what the industry calls “curtailment”. Curtailment impacts lower cost and clean energy sources solar and wind to have reduced revenues causing higher bid prices on new contracts which, of course, also gets passed onto ratepayers. A double whammy for Hawaii Island residents and commerce.

One of the utility arguments for calling geothermal energy “firm” power ignores the impact of an active volcano. It also ignores the reality that production has still not been fully restored to pre-eruption levels or that more activity could take them out again at any time, and an increase in production levels (capacity) as a part of new contract with the utility seem unreliable at best. Not exactly a definition of “firm” or reliable power.

Back to the Future

HELCO likes PGV because it fits the old central power plant model where they get revenue from transmission and distribution costs that get passed on to ratepayers. PGV, due to it’s remote location has higher line losses or reduced efficiency that also get passed on to ratepayers. Decentralized power generation is more cost effective.

The whole history of geothermal energy development should tell us that the risk is real and that many of the wells drilled historically were capped as non-productive.

The state’s geothermal resource maps are very misleading at best, or worse fully unsubstantiated. The massive 250 MW Kahaualea Geothermal project that was supposed to solve all of Hawaii’s greater energy problems with a deep water cable to Oahu was interrupted before it began with a 30 year long volcanic eruption.

We should be learning something here. Planning for and betting on a major source of power generation for Hawaii in the form of geothermal is not welcome or wise. The geothermal booster club on Oahu needs to fly over to the Big Island to better understand the geology. Flying in a helicopter with scientists back in 2018 over PGV with a raging river of lava on one side and fountaining ground cracks on the other should have been a wake-up call, but somehow geothermal boosters just see it as a temporary setback and don’t see it as a continuing threat.

 An Open Letter – updated

I received an email earlier today from a friend, a fellow full-time Hawaii resident, and community activist.

She expressed her concerns regarding a recent Wall Street Journal article, and her inability to access the full article and post a comment.

She asked if I would respond to the article. As tempting as the request was, I too do not subscribe to the WSJ or for that matter any other Murdoch publication or media outlet for reasons all too obvious to many Beyondkona subscribers. So I will attempt fulfill her request with the following response…

Today’s media generally falls into three categories:

1. investigative reporting; with the goal to reveal and educate the public on issues of importance
2. reporting & entertainment co-mingled, generally with an issue and/or agenda contained within the factual content
3. propaganda, in the name of news and designed to serve an audience generally predisposed as in “my mind is made up”; no room for counter opinions or thought

For the record, we consider BeyondKona’s reporting and content to fall within the first category, but at times it may slip into the second.

My friend’s concerns are more than just valid, they are spot-on as some might say.  The WSJ article used the tragedy in Lahaina to elevate and conflate its anti-clean energy / pro-fossil fuel agenda by loosely connecting the Maui fires with President Biden’s clean energy policies (btw, the Republican party doesn’t have one, expect to slow or stop any American-led meaningful transition to a clean energy economy).

If Hawaiian Electric’s grid management practices were purely incidental in terms of a potential connection as a source of the Maui fires, or when and if such a connection were to be proven to be false, even then WSJ article which asserts a Maui fires-grid connection, Wis really the fault the of Biden Administration’s clean energy policies, not the utility’s grid management practices, it is still a leap of faith to accept their reasoning.

The forces behind fossil fuels forever

The fossil fuel sector, as a global industry is extremely wealthy, and certainly embedded in the global economy and within governments around the world. In 2022, this group of stakeholders, adjusted for inflation, receives each year (according the World Bank and IMF reports), in excess of 6.5 Trillion dollars (USD) in global taxpayer subsidies.

Oil, Gas, Coal producers, and other FF stakeholders, include, but not limited to:

1- Saudis, joined by the Gulf oil states

2- US-Euro, and Canadian Oil-Gas interests

3- Russia, which is a master at influencing digital and conventional media outlets and minds

4- FF agents; from PACS and their money and influence directed at media channels and digital megaphone outlets (e.g., WSJ) — NPR reported earlier in the week how FF money is now pouring into TikTok for kids, brainwashing the young as to the all-saving role fossil fuels play in their lives as they grow up — insidious

5- Political Agents: the entire Republican Party to start with, and select oil-gas-coal state Democrats; e.g.; Joe Manchin

These are examples of the powerful influences that impact societal thought, policy, politics, and media from the traditional to the digital world; the internet to social media outlets.

The FF influence machine is now focused on climate responses impacting the energy status quo, as in delaying clean energy implementation actions, creating doubt where none exists, while obstructing the intent and delaying any meaningful transformational energy market reforms — everything from energy production to sales and demand.

In short, the fossil fuel sector sees clearly — a growing market reality that they face: death by thousand cuts.  Like a wounded animal, Gas, Oil and Coal interests are responding with all means at their disposal, which by any measurement is substantial.

So the WSJ article is not surprising considering the source and the “all hands on deck” Wall Street panic now underway within the fossil fuel economic sector as to their future on hold on energy markets.

It is not difficult to connect the dots between these forces and the increasing all-out, but subtle attacks on the clean energy sector. Shell’s CEO in a recent BBC, shocked viewers with his predictions that oil and gas will continue to be around and vital to the energy economy for the foreseeable.  Shell’s Chief Executive Officer, Wael Sawan told the BBC audience he in fact foresees increases in global demand for fossil fuels through the 21st century, not less to little as many expect.

The spread of climate policies across the developed world, and the economic response to changes these policies promote are directed towards economic, climate, and overall societal benefit factors which are difficult to deny, even for big oil.

But we are also talking about an extremely wealthy and powerful fossil fuel sector. Fossil energy sector has been a fundamental driver of the technological, social, economic and development progress which has followed for over 150 years.   Fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) have, and continue to, play a dominant role in global energy systems. But the negative impacts long since have the point sustainability or balance with the Earth’s biosphere, and most specifically climate impacts and its fundamental modification as greenhouse gas emission continue to rise and levels already stored in the atmosphere, ocean, and soil when burned they produce the lasting effects pf carbon dioxide (CO₂), the largest driver of global climate change. Another liability fossil fuels carry with their use is as a major contributor to local air pollution, which has been linked to millions of premature deaths each year.

Yet, oil and gas stakeholders have a long history of starting and feeding misinformation wars. Most notable, initializing global warming denial campaigns dating back to the early 1980’s. With reality of science and common observations, the industry outlets have switched to a new information strategy in their messaging; from denial-to-delay. This no happening in guise of cautious climate team player influencing global reforms and energy policy. This strategy switch is now focused on slowing down to a crawl any meaningful transition to a clean energy economy initiatives in commence, policy, and regulatory oversight. Fossil fuels interests are increasingly focused on messaging fundamentals to discredit proven clean energy solutions they neither own or control, while promoting wild and often impractical ways with any accountability towards addressing climate issues they help to create, and continue to enable.

• On whole, the future of fossil fuels and their replacement by clean zero emissions energy alternatives is well underway, out of the lab and now mainstream in both electricity and transportation sectors — and that is laying the foundation for a global transition to economic and societal electrification.

At the same time, the broader public is now beginning to embrace the science of climate change (the facts increasingly are just to difficult to ignore or deny).  Many clean energy replacement solutions are already in place, and their clean energy cost performance and reliability is now gaining marketplace momentum within the electricity energy sector.  Yes, there is, and always will be, a subset of society beliefs or lifestyle reaffirming a mantra of “my mind is made up, don’t confuse me with facts”  … but that entrenched minority will not and cannot hold back the tide of change now underway, whether it is the right thing to do or more cost effective. The end result will be the same — the slowing and eventual balance of greenhouse gas emissions being released into the global environment.

IRA to the Rescue

For the fossil fuel sector, right now there is one policy that generates clear response, that is President Biden’s highly successful (so-called) Inflation Reduction Act or IRA, a more appropriate title could have been Clean Energy Act. The few brave Republicans in the Senate needed to pass the bill insisted on a bill title that would be less telling, providing political cover, and was certainly less innocuous to their party’s fossil fuel benefactors.

The IRA bill’s first birthday since its enactment on August 16, 2022 was celebrated outside the fossil fuel sector. The bill’s success has been undeniable s based on its clear-cut objectives, and the fulfillment of objectives based on American ingenuity and the Country’s historic manufacturing prowess. It is a win-win for the nation and the planet.

The IRA’s large and lasting tax credits and subsidies are focused on clean electricity (from wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal, and battery energy storage), coupled with tax credits for electric vehicles. In less than a year, the IRA prompted investment in a massive national buildout of battery and EV manufacturing across the states.

• Nearly 80 major clean energy manufacturing facilities have been announced, an investment equal to the previous seven years combined, according to the American Clean Power Association.
• The legislation has already created 170,000 clean energy jobs and is projected to create some 1.5 million jobs over the next decade, while significantly cutting the nation’s carbon emissions.
• The legislation is already shifting the production of critical clean energy components away from China and into the United States.

While the biggest impacts will begin in 2024 and 2025, there have been more than 270 new clean energy projects announced since its passage, with investments totaling some $132 billion, according to the Bank of America.

Roughly half of those investment dollars are going to electric vehicles and batteries, while the rest are going into clean and renewable energy sectors e.g., solar, wind, and batteries. These clean and sustainable energy investments are expected to be generate over 86,000 jobs, including 50,000 jobs related to BEVs.

Earlier this week, Moody’s said the legislation is likely to support growth in gross domestic product, productivity, and innovation.

“Over the past year, there have also been signs that the IRA legislation is now contributing to a surge in clean energy manufacturing and related industries such as semiconductors, and factoring into companies’ investment decisions, including in the auto, utilities and oil and gas sectors,” Moody’s said.

BeyondKona first reported April 24, 2021 (story link above) on Japan’s Tepco announced intentions to engage in multiple controlled releases of highly radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, and near the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster of 2011.

Fukushima wastewater contains among over 50 radioactive elements, including plutonium isotopes considered to be one of, if not the most toxic, element known to humankind and exclusively created by humans and not by nature.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown in 2011 contained substantial releases of plutonium 239 which has a radioactive half-life of 24,110 years (the forever factor) and plutonium 240 which carries with it a half-life 6,561 years – also a forever radioactive and highly toxic element to humankind, now forever introduced into the Pacific Ocean — and certainly much more alarming than the self-proclaimed “careful and concerned” Japanese power utility would led its domestic audience and the world to believe.

Previously reported, 84 percent of water held at Fukushima contains concentrations of radioactive materials higher than legal limits allow to be dumped.  Among the deadly isotopes still in the Tepco wastewater discharges are cesium-137, strontium-90, cobalt-60, ruthenium, carbon-14, tritium, iodine-129, plutonium isotopes 239 and 240, and more than 54 more radioactive elements.

The implied Tepco argument and focus has been on the release of cesium-137 and its 30 year toxic lifespan into the marine ecosystem and food chain. The utility argues that its radioactive waste dumping activities are benign to the environment (meaning people, fish, and the marine ecosystem).

The utility’s public reporting focus on the 30 year toxic lifespan of cesium-137, and in the tone of its alright – no worries argument just doesn’t hold water, and further fails the truth omission test as to the less comforting reality of 6,500 – 24,110 half-life years of the plutonium elements within Tepco’s toxic wastewater presently, and planned for ocean dumping of radioactive water releases.

The cancerous outcomes radioactive wastewater releases will have on fish and people further up the food chain remains fully unqualified and unknown by the utility and Japanese government. The current wait and see attitude as to the radioactive consequences this dumping is unacceptable by any measurement of common sense.

The black rockfish caught in the ocean on 18 May 2023 by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) were found to have 18,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium-137, compared with the legal maximum level of 100 becquerels per kg. allowed.  Plutonium and other toxic radioactive wastewater elements in the ocean releases have so far not been publicly reported by the utility or government.

We do know this much, when asked about public concerns over radioactive water discharges in the Pacific Ocean, a Tepco official and spokesperson reiterated that the company was confident that “the impact on the public and environment will be minuscule”.